West Lothian: New Towns, Old Palaces, and the M8 Corridor
West Lothian occupies the strategic ground between Edinburgh and Glasgow, and the M8 motorway that connects Scotland's two largest cities runs through the middle of it. Livingston, the council area's largest settlement, was designated a new town in 1962 and grew rapidly around electronics manufacturing — at one point, the local cluster of semiconductor plants earned the nickname "Silicon Glen." That industry has largely moved overseas, but the town of 57,000 people retains a young demographic and a functional, if architecturally uninspiring, centre. The Designer Outlet, Almondvale Stadium (home of Livingston FC), and several business parks keep the local economy ticking.
Linlithgow, a few miles to the north, offers a different proposition entirely. Linlithgow Palace — birthplace of Mary Queen of Scots in 1542 — stands in roofless grandeur beside a loch in the town centre. The high street retains character, with independent shops and pubs that benefit from Edinburgh day-trippers and a prosperous local population. West Lothian's other claim to historical distinction is the shale oil industry. James "Paraffin" Young pioneered the extraction of oil from shale rock here in the 1850s, decades before the first wells were drilled in Pennsylvania. The brick-red shale bings — spoil heaps from the extraction process — still dot the landscape around Broxburn, Winchburgh, and Bathgate. Housing development has been intense in recent years, with Winchburgh in particular transforming from a former mining village into a major residential expansion serving Edinburgh commuters.
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West Lothian occupies the strategic ground between Edinburgh and Glasgow, and the M8 motorway that connects Scotland's two largest cities runs through the middle of it. Livingston, the council area's largest settlement, was designated a new town in 1962 and grew rapidly around electronics manufacturing — at one point, the local cluster of semiconductor plants earned the nickname "Silicon Glen." That industry has largely moved overseas, but the town of 57,000 people retains a young demographic and a functional, if architecturally uninspiring, centre. The Designer Outlet, Almondvale Stadium (home of Livingston FC), and several business parks keep the local economy ticking.
Linlithgow, a few miles to the north, offers a different proposition entirely. Linlithgow Palace — birthplace of Mary Queen of Scots in 1542 — stands in roofless grandeur beside a loch in the town centre. The high street retains character, with independent shops and pubs that benefit from Edinburgh day-trippers and a prosperous local population. West Lothian's other claim to historical distinction is the shale oil industry. James "Paraffin" Young pioneered the extraction of oil from shale rock here in the 1850s, decades before the first wells were drilled in Pennsylvania. The brick-red shale bings — spoil heaps from the extraction process — still dot the landscape around Broxburn, Winchburgh, and Bathgate. Housing development has been intense in recent years, with Winchburgh in particular transforming from a former mining village into a major residential expansion serving Edinburgh commuters.
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