Blackburn

Herd of cattle had just entered field

On the East side of the North end of the brilliantly-named Hen's Nest Road there is a mazy network of paths, mostly through woodland. This is the only real bit of open ground in amongst it all, and this spot is just off one of the soft (ie muddy) paths. Paper maps still show a small pond here, and it is obvious from the lower vegetation and fresh gravelly surface that it can't have disappeared that long ago. As is the case with a lot of laid-out recreational walking areas in West Lothian, the paths sit on the site of a former mineworks, in this case Whitrigg Colliery. Therefore it is a possibility that the water was polluted, and that the pond was deemed too small to go to the trouble of planting reeds in, in order to lessen the pollution, so just got filled in.

While it is fairly common to see occasional tributes to former pets dotted about local walking paths, I have never encountered anything on this scale before. I counted at least 50 graves without trying very hard; there are no doubt far more further back from the path than I ventured. The vast majority of the graves sit on one side of this path but there are a few more at a path junction not too far left of camera - one of these came with such an emotional epitaph I did wonder for a while whether there was actually a human child buried there! The graves are at the top of Whitrigg Bing, a landscaped spoil heap which owes its existence to the former colliery based here. The bing is on the edge of Whitrigg Community Woodland - a faded wooden sign leading from the straight path running along the West of the site indicated Forestry Commission (or whatever they are called these days - like most organizations they too used recent lockdowns to undertake unnecessary rebranding exercises) involvement.

I suppose that this does just about qualify as a pond, as indicated on the map, but it is really just the wettest bit of a fairly extensive marsh. Wellingtons are recommended, particularly if heading from the West, as the water was regularly way over the top of my boots when on the 'ground' beyond the trees. There must have been about twenty smallish birds taking cover in the long grass around the pond - that is presuming that they all took to the air when I approached. The presence of a shooting platform in the tree straight ahead hints that there are probably sometimes bigger water birds around this area too.

This road once led to a huge truck and tractor manufacturing plant owned by British Leyland; it now leads to a footpath running alongside the houses at the South end of the Wester Inch area of Bathgate, which occupies the land the former factory was situated on. A railway line once ran under the bridge to the left, transporting coal from Riddochill Colliery to Bathgate's former second station, 'Bathgate Lower'. There is an interesting (and easily-found online) report detailing the reasons behind the factory's demise, written just prior to its eventual closure in the mid 1980s, by none other than Alex Salmond, former First Minister of Scotland. It is obviously therefore very much of its time, and doesn't anticipate the extent of the subsequent decline in British manufacturing and, as would be expected from Mr Salmond, focuses on perceived regional injustices (which may or may not be the case), but reading it today you get the feeling that the writing was already on the wall. It is astounding these days to learn that in the mid 1960s, 40% of all vehicles on the road were produced by British Leyland (or whatever it happened to be calling itself at the time) and its subsidiaries. The road under the bridge was actually just a slip road leading from and to the road above - now called the A7066 but previously the A8, which before the M8 motorway was built was the main road connecting Edinburgh and Glasgow. Behind camera to the right is the old slip road, now covered in thick moss but still very obvious.

It is quite a nice short walk along the South bank of the Almond, between the two roads running North to South, South of Blackburn. There are lots of flat banks, steep banks and hollows, none of which appear to be the result of industrial activity, unlike a lot of the features in West Lothian, big and small. And since there are no paths, there is virtually no litter. The river, still fairly small at this point, is just to the left of camera.

Only a small fraction of this grid-square isn't taken over by urban development. This land sits between houses at the NorthEast of Blackburn and the M8 motorway; it contains a number of paths - unmarked on even the most detailed online mapping - and a great deal of rubbish. Like a lot of semi-wasteland it has a certain appeal and feeling of discovery about it. The piles of mossy stones in the foreground sadly don't seem to tie in with any previous structure around here though - they are probably just the result of ground getting cleared for woodland or drainage ditches.

It is unlikely this beautiful old tree will be around for many more years, so catch it while you can! It isn't huge; it's more the fact that it looks like an old tree should look that makes it special. The wood on the inside of the hollow trunk is damp and flaking, but not properly rotten yet. It sits just off a muddy path leading into a small woodland, which is opposite a long line of old terraced garages. The nailed-on sign is a bit curious - maybe it pointed somewhere once, but nowadays it just points to some thickets at the back of garden fences on Beechwood Gardens.

Well, that's what I'm saying anyway! 'The Moss' appears on old maps highlighting an area North of here, and between the Northern part of the bog (mosses form bogs, and the words seem interchangeable in this part of Scotland - it is therefore a very unimaginative name) and here once stood Riddochill Colliery. Now it is the M8 motorway that separates the two sections. OS maps inexplicably show this as being an area of coniferous woodland. It is in fact a half-bog, with small thickets of deciduous trees dotted about. And lots of heather at various points like here, though there are large grassy areas too. There is always some moss kicking about somewhere. If you exit the M8 at Junction 4 and head towards Blackburn/Whitburn there is a gravel area in front of a gate on the left of the short road leading from the roundabout. For some reason there is a hardcore track leading for quite a way from there into this area. It stops just short of a load of power lines so it may have been put down to access these - it doesn't appear on any old maps. There was a proposal to build about 20 glamping pods near here several years ago, so it could possibly have something to do with that though. This was rejected on account of the proposed development's potential for being too noisy, and the odours generated by outdoor cooking. It is interesting how powerful public opinion can be when not dealing with multimillion pound housing developers. On the right of the pictures some light-coloured corrugated plastic dams are visible. These serve to increase the water level in a drain, meaning there is some attempt being made to restore the water level in the bog, but by whom I have not been able to find out so far.

This ruined stone building was built at some stage between the 1850s and the 1890s. Although small, the presence of the doorway and what look like spaces for windows, indicate that somebody - probably a farm worker (or farm workers) - once lived here. It is still shown as having a roof in the late 1950s. Behind the ruin is one of the ancillary buildings at 2 Blackburn Hall Holdings. No 1, an old farm which was originally just called Blackburn Hall, and predates the dozen or so holdings (as does the ruin), is opposite, behind and to the left of shot.

This was quite an odd spectacle to stumble across, looking a little like the remnants of some exotic irrigation farming system. Recent OS maps provide a big clue as until a few years ago there were trees in the field immediately ahead. Therefore as this is boggy land presumably the ridges and ditches were put in both fields in order to keep trees above water. The lines in the field further away are more complete, and present throughout; the ridges are covered in heather whilst the ditches, though still wet, have grass growing in them. It is possible, if care is taken, to get across both fields without getting your feet wet.

This narrow basin is hidden away between Easter Inch Industrial Estate and the road to Easter Inch Farm Steadings. There is one inlet at its Southern end leading from the industrial units and no obvious outlet, so maybe it just drains into the land. Which seems odd as there is a great deal of noisy water moving along somewhere behind the concrete wall; there is also an overflow built into the wall high above the little drainage area. The liferings seem a bit unnecessary, but perhaps it gets deeper sometimes.

Mill Road, Blackburn after overnight snow.

These reed beds filter the water that drains from the bing of the former Whitrigg Pit before it enters the Latch burn.

Footpath through the Whitrigg woods on the former mine workings of Whitrigg Mine.