Bathgate ( sco, Bathket or , gd, Both Chèit) is a town in
West Lothian
West Lothian ( sco, Wast Lowden; gd, Lodainn an Iar) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, and was one of its shires of Scotland, historic counties. The county was called Linlithgowshire until 1925. The historic county was bounded geogra ...
, Scotland, west of
Livingston
Livingston may refer to:
Businesses
* Livingston Energy Flight, an Italian airline (2003–2010)
* Livingston Compagnia Aerea, an Italian airline (2011–2014), also known as Livingston Airline
* Livingston International, a North American custom ...
and adjacent to the
M8 motorway. Nearby towns are
Armadale,
Blackburn
Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the Ribble Valley, east of Preston and north-n ...
,
Linlithgow
Linlithgow (; gd, Gleann Iucha, sco, Lithgae) is a town in West Lothian, Scotland. It was historically West Lothian's county town, reflected in the county's historical name of Linlithgowshire. An ancient town, it lies in the Central Belt on a ...
, Livingston,
West Calder
West Calder ( sco, Wast Cauder, gd, Caladar an Iar) is a village in the council area of West Lothian, Scotland, located four miles west of Livingston, West Lothian, Livingston. Historically it is within the County of Midlothian. The village was ...
and
Whitburn. Situated south of the ancient
Neolithic
The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...
burial site at
Cairnpapple Hill
Cairnpapple Hill is a hill with a dominating position in central lowland Scotland with views from coast to coast. It was used and re-used as a major ritual site over about 4000 years, and in its day would have been comparable to better known site ...
, Bathgate and the surrounding area show signs of habitation since about 3500 BC and the world's oldest known reptile fossil has been found in the town. By the 12th century, Bathgate was a small settlement, with a church at Kirkton and a castle south of the present day town centre. Local mines were established in the 17th century but the town remained small in size until the coming of the industrial revolution. By the
Victorian era
In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...
, Bathgate grew in prominence as an industrial and mining centre, principally associated with the coal and
shale oil
Shale oil is an unconventional oil produced from oil shale rock fragments by pyrolysis, hydrogenation, or thermal dissolution. These processes convert the organic matter within the rock (kerogen) into synthetic oil and gas. The resulting oil ca ...
industries. By the early 20th century, much of the mining and
heavy industry
Heavy industry is an industry that involves one or more characteristics such as large and heavy products; large and heavy equipment and facilities (such as heavy equipment, large machine tools, huge buildings and large-scale infrastructure); o ...
around the town had ceased and the town developed manufacturing industries, principally in vehicle production and later electronics before these factories closed in the late 20th century. Today Bathgate is the second largest town in West Lothian, after Livingston and serves as a regional commuter town within the Scottish
Central Belt
The Central Belt of Scotland is the area of highest population density within Scotland. Depending on the definition used, it has a population of between 2.4 and 4.2 million (the country's total was around 5.4 million in 2019), including Great ...
.
History
Medieval (c1100–1500)
Bathgate first enters the chronicles of history in a confirmation charter by King
Malcolm IV of Scotland
Malcolm IV ( mga, Máel Coluim mac Eanric, label=Medieval Gaelic; gd, Maol Chaluim mac Eanraig), nicknamed Virgo, "the Maiden" (between 23 April and 24 May 11419 December 1165) was King of Scotland from 1153 until his death. He was the eldest ...
(1141 – 9 December 1165). In royal charters of the 12th, 13th and 14th centuries, the name of Bathgate has appeared as: Bathchet (1160), Bathket (1250) and Bathgetum (1316). Batket in the 14th century, and by the 15th appeared as both Bathgat and Bathcat, the latter an offshoot of Uchtred Dalrymple's feudal lineage, which ruled during ancient times. The name is a "manifest corruption" of an earlier
Cumbric
Cumbric was a variety of the Common Brittonic language spoken during the Early Middle Ages in the ''Hen Ogledd'' or "Old North" in what is now the counties of Westmorland, Cumberland and northern Lancashire in Northern England and the souther ...
name meaning 'Boar Wood' (cf. Welsh ''baedd coed'').
Early records of Bathgate are somewhat sketchy. It is recorded that, around 1160, Uchtred Dalrymple, Sheriff of
Linlithgow
Linlithgow (; gd, Gleann Iucha, sco, Lithgae) is a town in West Lothian, Scotland. It was historically West Lothian's county town, reflected in the county's historical name of Linlithgowshire. An ancient town, it lies in the Central Belt on a ...
, and
Geoffrey de Melville came to Bathgate at the command of King
Malcolm IV
Malcolm IV ( mga, Máel Coluim mac Eanric, label=Medieval Gaelic; gd, Maol Chaluim mac Eanraig), nicknamed Virgo, "the Maiden" (between 23 April and 24 May 11419 December 1165) was King of Scotland from 1153 until his death. He was the eldest ...
and measured out an area of land which was to form the basis of Bathgate Parish. The church and all its associate property were placed under the auspices of
Holyrood Abbey
Holyrood Abbey is a ruined abbey of the Canons Regular in Edinburgh, Scotland. The abbey was founded in 1128 by David I of Scotland. During the 15th century, the abbey guesthouse was developed into a royal residence, and after the Scottish Ref ...
at that time and paid a tenth of its income from the land to that institution.
In 1315, the daughter of King Robert I of Scotland (
Robert The Bruce
Robert I (11 July 1274 – 7 June 1329), popularly known as Robert the Bruce (Scottish Gaelic: ''Raibeart an Bruis''), was King of Scots from 1306 to his death in 1329. One of the most renowned warriors of his generation, Robert eventual ...
),
Marjorie
Marjorie is a female given name derived from Margaret, which means pearl. It can also be spelled as Margery or Marjory. Marjorie is a medieval variant of Margery, influenced by the name of the herb marjoram. It came into English from the Old Fre ...
(alternatively spelt Margery) Bruce, married
Walter Stewart (or Steward) (1293–1326), the 6th Lord High Steward of Scotland. The dowry to her husband included the lands and castle of Bathgate. Walter died at the castle on 9 April 1326. This marriage is still celebrated in an annual pageant forming part of the
Bathgate Procession & John Newland Festival
Bathgate ( sco, Bathket or , gd, Both Chèit) is a town in West Lothian, Scotland, west of Livingston, Scotland, Livingston and adjacent to the M8 motorway (Scotland), M8 motorway. Nearby towns are Armadale, West Lothian, Armadale, Blackburn, ...
, colloquially known as the Bathgate Galaday (or Gala day).
In the 1846 book ''A Topographical Dictionary of Scotland'',
Samuel Lewis writes:
Another antiquarian, W. Jardin, in the ''Statistical Account of Scotland Vol I'' (1793), referring to Walter Stewart states:
Dating from around the same time the remains of Bathgate's former parish church still stand at Kirkton. The original 12th-century construction was absorbed by a later build in 1739 when a new church was erected on the same site. The walls of the church were consolidated in 1846.
[Buildings of Scotland; Lothian, by Colin McWilliam] This simple whitewashed edifice served the community until its last service on 9 April 1882. King Malcolm IV makes reference to the original church in a charter, granting it to the monks of
Holyrood Abbey
Holyrood Abbey is a ruined abbey of the Canons Regular in Edinburgh, Scotland. The abbey was founded in 1128 by David I of Scotland. During the 15th century, the abbey guesthouse was developed into a royal residence, and after the Scottish Ref ...
. Records show that Holyrood Abbey gave the church to the abbot and monks of
Newbattle Abbey
Newbattle Abbey ( gd, Abaid a' Bhatail Nuaidh) was a Cistercian monastery near the village of Newbattle in Midlothian, Scotland, which subsequently become a stately home and then an educational institution.
Monastery
It was founded in 1140 by mo ...
in 1327.
17th–18th centuries
![St Marys RC Church, Bathgate by Charles Menart](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/42/St_Marys_RC_Church%2C_Bathgate_by_Charles_Menart.jpg)
In 1606
silver ore
Silver is a chemical element with the symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical cond ...
was found at nearby
Hilderston, in the shadow of Cairnpapple Hill, by a prospecting
collier, Sandy Maund. This accidental discovery began a short-lived crown "project" in the area. Advisers to
King James VI of Scotland
James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until hi ...
became aware of the discovery, and in April 1608 repossessed the land for the crown. The prospector
Bevis Bulmer
Sir Bevis Bulmer (1536–1615) was an English mining engineer during the reigns of Elizabeth I and James I. He has been called "one of the great speculators of that era". Many of the events in his career were recorded by Stephen Atkinson in ''The ...
and
Thomas Foulis
Thomas Foulis ( fl. 1580–1628) was a Scottish goldsmith, mine entrepreneur, and royal financier.
Thomas Foulis was an Edinburgh goldsmith and financier, and was involved in the mint and coinage, gold and lead mining, and from May 1591 the receip ...
opened a mine called "God's Blessing". A sample of the ore was shipped to London, and assayed in the
Tower of London
The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is separa ...
by Andrew Palmer. By December 1608 it was clear that the ore in the mine was of varying quality and by March 1613 all efforts to extract silver from the area were abandoned.
Bathgate remained a very small rural community until the middle of the 19th century with only a foray by
Covenanter
Covenanters ( gd, Cùmhnantaich) were members of a 17th-century Scottish religious and political movement, who supported a Presbyterian Church of Scotland, and the primacy of its leaders in religious affairs. The name is derived from ''Covenan ...
s in the 17th century to unrest the populace.
Francis Groome
Francis Hindes Groome (30 August 1851 – 24 January 1902), son of Robert Hindes Groome, Archdeacon of Suffolk, was a writer and foremost commentator of his time on the Romani people, their language, life, history, customs, beliefs, and lore.
Li ...
, in the ''Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland'' (1882–84) writes:
Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as ''Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll a ...
, in the book ''Lay Morals, Part 2: The Pentland Rising. A Page of History'' further elucidates upon this night in November 1666:
His depiction goes on to describe how the half the army perished in the freezing weather as they headed towards the
Pentland Hills
The Pentland Hills are a range of hills southwest of Edinburgh, Scotland. The range is around in length, and runs southwest from Edinburgh towards Biggar and the upper Clydesdale.
Etymology
The name is first recorded for the farm of Pentlan ...
.
19th century
Established around 1800, the Glenmavis Distillery in Bathgate was purchased in 1831 by John McNab, who produced the eponymous ''MacNab's Celebrated Glenmavis Dew'' from the site until the distillery's closure in 1910. In 1885, the distillery was producing 80,000 gallons of single malt a year which was transported to Scotland, England and the colonies.
In 1831
Bathgate Academy
Bathgate Academy is a mixed secondary school in Bathgate, West Lothian, Scotland, also serving the nearby town of Blackburn.
History
Established by the will of John Newland (a Jamaican-plantation slave owner) in 1799, the school was originally ...
was built. Designed by the Edinburgh architects
R & R Dickson
Richard and Robert Dickson (usually simply referred to as R & R Dickson) were brothers, acting as architects in Scotland in the early and mid-19th century. Whilst most of their work is typified by remote country houses they are best known for th ...
this is Bathgate's only large public building of historic merit. It was endowed by a Jamaican plantation owner John Newlands.
The building later became part of Balbardie Primary School, and later still was changed into private housing.
By the opening of
Edinburgh and Bathgate Railway
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of ...
in 1849, local mines and quarries were extracting
coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen.
Coal is formed when dea ...
,
lime
Lime commonly refers to:
* Lime (fruit), a green citrus fruit
* Lime (material), inorganic materials containing calcium, usually calcium oxide or calcium hydroxide
* Lime (color), a color between yellow and green
Lime may also refer to:
Botany ...
, and
ironstone
Ironstone is a sedimentary rock, either deposited directly as a ferruginous sediment or created by chemical replacement, that contains a substantial proportion of an iron ore compound from which iron (Fe) can be smelted commercially. Not to be con ...
.
James Young's discovery of
cannel coal
Cannel coal or candle coal is a type of bituminous coal, also classified as terrestrial type oil shale. Hutton(1987) Dyni (2006), pp. 3–4 Speight (2012), pp. 6–7 Due to its physical morphology and low mineral content cannel coal is considered ...
in the Boghead area of Bathgate, and the subsequent opening of the Bathgate Chemical Works in 1852, the world's first commercial oil-works, manufacturing
paraffin Paraffin may refer to:
Substances
* Paraffin wax, a white or colorless soft solid that is used as a lubricant and for other applications
* Liquid paraffin (drug), a very highly refined mineral oil used in cosmetics and for medical purposes
* Alkane ...
oil and
paraffin wax
Paraffin wax (or petroleum wax) is a soft colorless solid derived from petroleum, coal, or oil shale that consists of a mixture of hydrocarbon molecules containing between 20 and 40 carbon atoms. It is solid at room temperature and begins to m ...
, signalled an end to the rural community of previous centuries.
When the cannel coal resources dwindled around 1866, Young started distilling paraffin from much more readily available
shale
Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4) and tiny fragments (silt-sized particles) of other minerals, especial ...
.
[Groome, Frances, Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (1882–84)] The landscape of the Lothians is still dotted with the orange spoil heaps (called bings) from this era. Collieries and quarries and the associated industries (brickworks, steelworks)
were the main employers in Bathgate as the 19th century drew to a close.
Between 1882 and 1884, Bathgate High Parish Church was constructed on Jarvey St.
Designed by Wardrop and Reid, the church was built of sandstone in
Romanesque architectural style
Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of medieval Europe characterized by semi-circular arches. There is no consensus for the beginning date of the Romanesque style, with proposals ranging from the 6th to the 11th century, this later ...
.
It is Category B listed.
20th century
![Bathgate Partnership Centre - Lindsay House](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/16/Bathgate_Partnership_Centre_-_Lindsay_House.JPG)
In 1904, St David's Church was built in Bathgate on George Street.
Designed by the Scottish architect
James Graham Fairley
James Graham Fairley FRIBA MSGS (1846–1934) was a 19th/20th century Scottish architect working mainly in the West Lothian area, specialising in churches and schools.
Life
He was born in West Calder in West Lothian the son of William Fai ...
, it is in
Early English architectural style and the church is Category B listed.
The church includes a belltower in north Italian
campanile
A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell tower ...
style.
The church is now the local Bathgate cinema.
A few years later in 1908, St Mary's Roman Catholic Church was built to a design by
Charles Ménart
Charles Jean Ménart (1876 – 7 April 1956) was a Belgian architect who worked in Scotland in the early 20th century and specialised in designing Roman Catholic churches in the Baroque Revival style.
Early life
He was born in Leuze-en-Hainaut, ...
on Livery Street.
St Mary's is in a
Gothic architectural style and is Category C listed.
In the mid-20th century, many local industries in the town had closed and West Lothian was designated a Special Development Area. In such areas, extra financial inducements were offered by the British government to assist companies wishing to relocate. As a result, in 1961, the
BMC—which consisted of the merged
Austin Motor Company
The Austin Motor Company Limited was an English manufacturer of motor vehicles, founded in 1905 by Herbert Austin in Longbridge. In 1952 it was merged with Morris Motors Limited in the new holding company British Motor Corporation (BMC) Limi ...
and
Morris Motors
Morris Motors Limited was a British privately owned motor vehicle manufacturing company formed in 1919 to take over the assets of William Morris's WRM Motors Limited and continue production of the same vehicles. By 1926 its production represent ...
—located a new
truck and tractor plant in Bathgate rather than expanding their
Longbridge
Longbridge is an area of Northfield in the south-west of Birmingham, England, located near the border with Worcestershire.
Public Transport
Longbridge is described as a hub for public transport with a number of bus services run by Kev's Coa ...
plant as originally planned. The plant closed in 1986 under ownership of
British Leyland
British Leyland was an automotive engineering and manufacturing conglomerate formed in the United Kingdom in 1968 as British Leyland Motor Corporation Ltd (BLMC), following the merger of Leyland Motors and British Motor Holdings. It was partl ...
.
On 24 March 1986, the
Bathgate-Edinburgh railway line was re-opened to passengers for the first time since the 1950s. This railway line was extended as the
Airdrie-Bathgate Rail Link to
Airdrie allowing train services to run between
Glasgow Queen Street
, symbol_location = gb
, symbol = rail
, image = Queen Street railway station (geograph 6687389).jpg
, caption = Main entrance in 2020
, borough = Glasgow
, country = Scotland
, coordinates =
, grid_name = Grid reference
, grid_positi ...
and
Edinburgh Waverley
Edinburgh Waverley railway station (also known simply as Waverley; gd, Waverley Dhùn Èideann) is the principal railway station serving Edinburgh, Scotland. It is the second busiest station in Scotland, after Glasgow Central. It is the north ...
via on time and on budget in December 2010.
The world's oldest known reptile fossil, ''
Westlothiana lizziae
''Westlothiana'' ("animal from West Lothian") is a genus of reptile-like tetrapod that lived about 338 million years ago during the latest part of the Visean age of the Carboniferous. Members of the genus bore a superficial resemblance to modern ...
'' (affectionately referred to as ''Lizzie''), was discovered in
East Kirkton Quarry
East Kirkton Quarry is a former limestone quarry in West Lothian, Scotland (East Kirkton Limestone), now better known as a fossil site known for terrestrial fossils from the fossil-poor Romer's gap, a 15 million year period at the beginning of th ...
, Bathgate in 1987; it is now in the
Museum of Scotland
The National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, Scotland, was formed in 2006 with the merger of the new Museum of Scotland, with collections relating to Scottish antiquities, culture and history, and the adjacent Royal Scottish Museum (opened in ...
.
Early in 1992, the US company
Motorola
Motorola, Inc. () was an American Multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, United States. After having lost $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009, the company split into two independent p ...
opened a mobile phone manufacturing (Personal Communications Sector or PCS) plant at Easter Inch in Bathgate (now the Pyramids Business Park). In 2001, the global market for mobile phones dropped sharply and as a consequence, despite pressure from the highest levels of UK government, on 24 April 2001 Motorola announced the closure of the plant and the loss of 3,106 jobs. The site was occupied by
HMRC
, patch =
, patchcaption =
, logo = HM Revenue & Customs.svg
, logocaption =
, badge =
, badgecaption =
, flag =
, flagcaption =
, image_size =
, co ...
. In 2021 and early 2022, the Pyramids operated as the principal
COVID-19 vaccine
A COVID19 vaccine is a vaccine intended to provide acquired immunity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2), the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 ( COVID19).
Prior to the COVID19 pandemic, an e ...
centre in West Lothian.
In December 2021, it was announced that the Pyramids Business Park would become the site of a new large film and TV studio.
Some previous productions at the site have included the TV show
Good Omens
''Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch'' is a 1990 novel written as a collaboration between the English authors Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman.
The book is a comedy about the birth of the son of Satan and the c ...
and the film
T2 Trainspotting
''T2 Trainspotting'' is a 2017 British black comedy-drama film, directed by Danny Boyle and written by John Hodge. Set in and around Edinburgh, Scotland, it is based on characters created by Irvine Welsh in his 1993 novel ''Trainspotting'' and i ...
.
Demography
Economy
Bathgate was an industrial town in its time. It played host to the Menzies' Foundry (demolished due to the railway link construction) and
British Leyland
British Leyland was an automotive engineering and manufacturing conglomerate formed in the United Kingdom in 1968 as British Leyland Motor Corporation Ltd (BLMC), following the merger of Leyland Motors and British Motor Holdings. It was partl ...
was sited in Bathgate. It had two train stations, Bathgate North and South. There was a link that ran from the site of the current station, along Menzies Road, at the rear of one side of Mill Road all the way to Easton Road where the station was. This was used for the coal-mining industries and the foundries.
Shopping
Bathgate has a great variety of shops. In the late 19th century the
co-operative
A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-control ...
halls were built and served the community until closure in the 1980s. It provided a
bakery
A bakery is an establishment that produces and sells flour-based food baked in an oven such as bread, cookies, cakes, donuts, pastries, and pies. Some retail bakeries are also categorized as cafés, serving coffee and tea to customers who ...
,
butchery
A butcher is a person who may slaughter animals, dress their flesh, sell their meat, or participate within any combination of these three tasks. They may prepare standard cuts of meat and poultry for sale in retail or wholesale food establishm ...
,
funeral parlour
A funeral home, funeral parlor or mortuary, is a business that provides burial and funeral services for the dead and their families. These services may include a prepared wake and funeral, and the provision of a chapel for the funeral.
Service ...
,
grocery store
A grocery store ( AE), grocery shop ( BE) or simply grocery is a store that primarily retails a general range of food products, which may be fresh or packaged. In everyday U.S. usage, however, "grocery store" is a synonym for supermarket, a ...
,
clothing
Clothing (also known as clothes, apparel, and attire) are items worn on the body. Typically, clothing is made of fabrics or textiles, but over time it has included garments made from animal skin and other thin sheets of materials and natural ...
,
furniture
Furniture refers to movable objects intended to support various human activities such as seating (e.g., stools, chairs, and sofas), eating (tables), storing items, eating and/or working with an item, and sleeping (e.g., beds and hammocks). Fu ...
and a dance hall. Even after the closure the
co-operative
A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-control ...
dance hall was used as the Room at the Top. It caught fire in 1997. Bathgate is also home to a popular nightclub called The Twig, located at the end of Livery Street.
There are local and chain stores as well such as
Greggs
Greggs plc is a British bakery chain. It specialises in savoury products such as bakes, sausage rolls, sandwiches and sweet items including doughnuts and vanilla slices. It is headquartered in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It is listed on t ...
,
W.H. Smith
WHSmith (also written WH Smith, and known colloquially as Smith's and formerly as W. H. Smith & Son) is a British retailer, headquartered in Swindon, England, which operates a chain of high street, railway station, airport, port, hospital and m ...
,
Home Bargains
Home Bargains is a British variety store chain founded in 1976 by Tom Morris in Liverpool, England, as Home and Bargain. It is the trading name of TJ Morris Ltd.
History
The retailer was founded by owner Tom Morris in 1976 as a single store ...
,
B&M,
Tesco
Tesco plc () is a British multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Welwyn Garden City, England. In 2011 it was the third-largest retailer in the world measured by gross revenues and the ninth-largest in th ...
, Knightly Gaming, Bathgate Bargain Stores,
Aldi
Aldi (stylised as ALDI) is the common company brand name of two German multinational family-owned discount supermarket chains operating over 10,000 stores in 20 countries. The chain was founded by brothers Karl and Theo Albrecht in 1946, when t ...
,
Argos
Argos most often refers to:
* Argos, Peloponnese, a city in Argolis, Greece
** Ancient Argos, the ancient city
* Argos (retailer), a catalogue retailer operating in the United Kingdom and Ireland
Argos or ARGOS may also refer to:
Businesses
* ...
,
Costa Coffee
Costa Coffee is a British coffeehouse chain with headquarters in Dunstable, England.
Costa Coffee was founded in London in 1971 by Sergio Costa as a wholesale operation supplying roasted coffee to caterers and specialist Italian coffee shops. ...
,
Lidl
Lidl Stiftung & Co. KG (; ) is a German international discount retailer chain that operates over 11,000 stores across Europe and the United States. Headquartered in Neckarsulm, Baden-Württemberg, the company belongs to the Schwarz Group, whi ...
,
Morrisons
Wm Morrison Supermarkets, trading as Morrisons, is the fifth largest supermarket chain in the United Kingdom. As of 2021, the company had 497 supermarkets across England, Wales and Scotland, as well as one in Gibraltar. The company is headqua ...
, and
McDonald's
McDonald's Corporation is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechri ...
.
Culture
Bathgate Procession and Community Festival
John Newland was one of the town's early major benefactors. Newland had emigrated to the West Indies and became a rich planter, using slaves to maintain and harvest his sugar-cane crop. His benefaction allowed the establishment of
Bathgate Academy
Bathgate Academy is a mixed secondary school in Bathgate, West Lothian, Scotland, also serving the nearby town of Blackburn.
History
Established by the will of John Newland (a Jamaican-plantation slave owner) in 1799, the school was originally ...
, which was founded in 1833. He was remembered by an annual pageant (known as the Procession or Newland's day), held on the first Saturday in June. In light of the
2020 Black Lives Matter protests
The George Floyd protests were a series of protests and Civil disorder, civil unrest against Police brutality in the United States, police brutality and racism that began in Minneapolis on May 26, 2020, and largely took place during 2020. Th ...
a petition to change the processions name due to Newlands slave trade past, gained hundreds of signatories. In June 2020 the name was changed to the more suitable 'Bathgate Procession and Community Festival'.
Museum
The Bennie Museum is a local community museum in the town.
The museum opened in 1989 and is run by volunteers as a charitable trust. It contains items connected with the history of Bathgate and well as exhibits of childhood life. The museum is located at 9-11 Mansefield Street in a row of cottages that are Category C listed dating between the late 18th and mid 19th century in construction.
Land art
![Bathgate Pyramids Business Park](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/04/Bathgate_Pyramids_Business_Park.jpg)
Part of the M8 Art Project saw the artist Patricia Leighton's 'Sawtooth Ramps' project being built in 1993, now more commonly referred to as the
Pyramids
A pyramid (from el, πυραμίς ') is a structure whose outer surfaces are triangular and converge to a single step at the top, making the shape roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrilate ...
. The sculpture is long and consists of seven high ramps. The artist based the design on local geographic features (
drumlin
A drumlin, from the Irish word ''droimnín'' ("littlest ridge"), first recorded in 1833, in the classical sense is an elongated hill in the shape of an inverted spoon or half-buried egg formed by glacial ice acting on underlying unconsolidated ...
s) and the shape of the surrounding bings. The pyramidal shape of the sculpture gave rise to the name of the nearby Pyramids Business park. In April 2007, a local farmer painted the sheep which graze on the pyramids bright red with a harmless sheep spray.
In 1998 the artist Lumir Soukup built the earth sculpture ''The Bathgate Face'' at Wester Inch. By taking facial measurements of more than 1200 Bathgate residents, the artist was able to create an 'average profile' which was the basis for the sculpture.
Development in the area in 2004 threatened to demolish the sculpture but the artist managed to persuade developers to build around his work.
Music
Bathgate was home to rock band
Goodbye Mr Mackenzie
Goodbye Mr Mackenzie is a Scottish rock band formed in Bathgate near Edinburgh. At the band's commercial peak, the line-up consisted of Martin Metcalfe on vocals, John Duncan on guitar, Fin Wilson on bass guitar, Shirley Manson and Rona Scobi ...
in the 1980s and 1990s, a success of the local college's Music Industry course.
Transport
Road
Bathgate has easy access to the M8 motorway via Junctions 3A and 4, linking the town to Edinburgh, Inverclyde via Glasgow and towns in between. The
A801 links Bathgate to the M9 via Polmont.
Bus
Bus Services in Bathgate are co-ordinated by West Lothian Council and are provided principally by McGill's Scotland East,
Lothian Country Buses
Lothian Buses is a major bus operator based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is the largest municipal bus company in the United Kingdom: the City of Edinburgh Council (through Transport for Edinburgh) owns 91%, Midlothian Council 5%, East Lothian ...
, SD Travel and E&M Horsburgh. Frequent and daily direct services exist to Falkirk, Westfield, Armadale, Blackridge, Whitburn, Fauldhouse, Torphichen, Linlithgow, Broxburn, Uphall, Newbridge, Deans, Livingston, East Calder and Edinburgh.
A summary of the main bus routes is listed below by operator:
McGill's Scotland East:
* 21 - Livingston South - Livingston Centre - Blackburn - Bathgate - Armadale - Whitburn
* X25 - Edinburgh - Broxburn - Livingston - St. John's Hospital - Bathgate - Blackridge
* 26 - Livingston North - Livingston - West Calder - Fauldhouse - Whitburn - Bathgate
Lothian Country:
* X18 - Edinburgh - Corstorphine - Broxburn - Bathgate - Armadale - Whitburn
* X27 - Edinburgh - Sighthill - Wilkieston - East Calder - Livingston - Bathgate
* X28 - Edinburgh - Sighthill - Kirknewton - East Calder - Livingston - Bathgate
Rail
Railway Station is operated by Scotrail and is served by eastbound services to Edinburgh Waverley and westbound services to Helensburgh Central via Glasgow, Milngavie via Glasgow, and Balloch via Glasgow
Air
Edinburgh Airport
Edinburgh Airport is an airport located in the Ingliston area of Edinburgh, Scotland. It was the busiest airport in Scotland in 2019, handling over 14.7 million passengers. It was also the sixth-busiest airport in the United Kingdom by t ...
is away.
Education
![Torphichen Street School, Bathgate](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f8/Torphichen_Street_School%2C_Bathgate.jpg)
The local secondary schools are
Bathgate Academy
Bathgate Academy is a mixed secondary school in Bathgate, West Lothian, Scotland, also serving the nearby town of Blackburn.
History
Established by the will of John Newland (a Jamaican-plantation slave owner) in 1799, the school was originally ...
and
St Kentigern's Academy
St. Kentigern's Academy is a Roman Catholic, comprehensive school in Blackburn, West Lothian, Scotland.
The school was built in 1973 and refurbished in 1995/6. An extensive refurbishment of the school was completed in September 2009.
Scottish si ...
. The Bathgate primary schools are Balbardie, St Mary's, Boghall, St Columba's, and Windyknowe. A new primary school, Simpson Primary, opened on the site of the British Leyland Factory in August 2007. It serves the new area of town called Wester Inch. The school is named after
James Young Simpson
Sir James Young Simpson, 1st Baronet, (7 June 1811 – 6 May 1870) was a Scottish obstetrician and a significant figure in the history of medicine. He was the first physician to demonstrate the anaesthetic properties of chloroform on humans ...
.
Sport
Football
Bathgate is home to the
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
club
Bathgate Thistle
Bathgate Thistle Football Club are a Scottish football club, based in the town of Bathgate, West Lothian. They play in the .
Nicknamed ''Thistle'', they were formed in 1937 and presently play their home games at Creamery Park, which has room f ...
, winners of the
Scottish Junior Cup
The Scottish Junior Cup is an annual football competition organised by the Scottish Junior Football Association. The competition has been held every year since the inception of the SJFA in 1886 and, as of the 2022–23 edition, 108 teams compete ...
in 2008. They play at the
Creamery Park
Creamery Park is a football ground located in Bathgate, West Lothian, Scotland. It serves as the home ground of East Region Super League outfit Bathgate Thistle
Bathgate Thistle Football Club are a Scottish football club, based in the town ...
and now compete in the
East of Scotland Football League
The East of Scotland Football League (EoSFL) is a senior football league based in the east and south-east of Scotland. The league sits at levels 6–9 on the Scottish football league system, acting as a feeder to the Lowland Football League.
Fo ...
. Their stadium is also used for activities such as football roadshows.
Bathgate FC were active between 1893 and 1938 and played at
Mill Park
Mill Park is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, 18 km north-east of Melbourne's Melbourne city centre, central business district, located within the City of Whittlesea Local government areas of Victoria, loca ...
.
Motorsport
Paul di Resta
Paul di Resta (born 16 April 1986) is a British racing driver from Scotland, competing in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Peugeot Sport in their LMH entry. He drove in Formula One for Force India from to , and became a reserve driver ...
, former
Formula One
Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...
driver with
Sahara Force India
Force India Formula One Team Limited, commonly known as Force India and later Sahara Force India, was a Formula One racing team and constructor based in Silverstone, United Kingdom, with an Indian licence. The team was formed in October 200 ...
and now driving for
Mercedes
Mercedes may refer to:
People
* Mercedes (name), a Spanish feminine name, including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or last name
Automobile-related
* Mercedes (marque), the pre-1926 brand name of German automobile m ...
in the
DTM
DTM may refer to:
Sport
* Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters, a motor-racing series staged annually in Germany since 2000
* Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft, a motor-racing championship staged in Germany from 1984 to 1995
Computing
* Deterministic T ...
touring car series, grew up in the town of Bathgate. He won many admirers in his debut F1 season of 2010 and had been tipped to land a seat at a constructor challenging higher up the grid in the coming seasons, but ultimately returned to DTM in 2014 after failing to secure an F1 ride for that season. He is cousin to two other notable drivers who also hail from Bathgate—the now-retired multiple
IndyCar
INDYCAR, LLC, is an American-based auto racing sanctioning body for Indy car racing and other disciplines of open wheel car racing. The organization sanctions five racing series: the premier IndyCar Series with its centerpiece the Indianapolis ...
champion
Dario Franchitti
George Dario Marino Franchitti, MBE (born 19 May 1973) is a British former racing driver and current motorsport commentator from Scotland. He is a four time IndyCar Series champion ( 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011), a three-time winner of the Indiana ...
and his younger brother
Marino, currently racing sports cars in Europe and North America.
Notable people
Notable Bathgate residents have included
David Tennant
David John Tennant (''né'' McDonald; born 18 April 1971) is a Scottish actor. He rose to fame for his role as the tenth incarnation of the Doctor (2005–2010 and 2013) in the BBC science-fiction TV show '' Doctor Who'', reprising the rol ...
(born in Bathgate but raised in Paisley); his father
Alexander McDonald, former Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland; Sir
James Young Simpson
Sir James Young Simpson, 1st Baronet, (7 June 1811 – 6 May 1870) was a Scottish obstetrician and a significant figure in the history of medicine. He was the first physician to demonstrate the anaesthetic properties of chloroform on humans ...
, the discoverer of the anaesthetic properties of chloroform; and:
*
Richard Bladworth Angus
Richard Bladworth Angus (28 May 1831 – 17 September 1922) was a Scottish-Canadian banker, financier, and philanthropist. He was a co-founder and vice-president of the Canadian Pacific Railway, president of the Bank of Montreal, president of the ...
– Scottish-Canadian financier, banker, and philanthropist; co-founder of the
Canadian Pacific Railway
The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadi ...
*
Fern Brady
Fern Marie Brady (born 26 May 1986) is a Scottish comedian, podcaster, and writer. Before becoming a stand-up comedian Brady worked as a journalist. She achieved fame as a stand-up comedian by entering stand-up competitions such as at the Edin ...
– comedian and writer
*
Richard Brittain – professional footballer
*
Eric Brown – professional golfer
*
Elliot Bunney
Elliot John Bunney (born 11 December 1966 in Edinburgh, Midlothian) is a Scottish former athlete who competed mainly in the 100 metres. He competed for Scotland at the 1986, 1990, 1994 and 1998 Commonwealth Games, winning a bronze medal in the sp ...
– international athlete
*
Lewis Capaldi
Lewis Marc Capaldi ( ; born 7 October 1996) is a Scottish singer-songwriter and musician. He was nominated for the Critics' Choice Award at the 2019 Brit Awards. In March 2019, his single "Someone You Loved" topped the UK Singles Chart where ...
– singer-songwriter
*
Isla Fisher
Isla Lang Fisher (; born 3 February 1976) is an Australian actress and author. Born to Scottish parents in Oman, she moved to Australia at age six where she began appearing in television commercials. Fisher came to prominence for her portrayal ...
– actress (lived here from a young age until six years old in 1982)
*
Dario Franchitti
George Dario Marino Franchitti, MBE (born 19 May 1973) is a British former racing driver and current motorsport commentator from Scotland. He is a four time IndyCar Series champion ( 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011), a three-time winner of the Indiana ...
–
IndyCar
INDYCAR, LLC, is an American-based auto racing sanctioning body for Indy car racing and other disciplines of open wheel car racing. The organization sanctions five racing series: the premier IndyCar Series with its centerpiece the Indianapolis ...
racing driver
*
Marino Franchitti
Marino Alessandro Cesare Franchitti (born 7 July 1978) is a British racing driver, and the younger brother of Dario Franchitti. He has spent the majority of his career racing in sports cars and grand tourers, with a career highlight of winning t ...
–
sports car racing
Sports car racing is a form of motorsport road racing which utilises sports cars that have two seats and enclosed wheels. They may be purpose-built prototypes or grand tourers based on road-going models. Broadly speaking, sports car racing is ...
driver; younger brother of Dario
*
Bernard Gallacher
Bernard Gallacher, OBE (born 9 February 1949) is a Scottish professional golfer.
Early life and amateur career
Gallacher was born in Bathgate, Scotland. He took up golf at the age of eleven. In 1965 he won the Lothians Golf Association Boys C ...
– professional golfer
*
Stephen Gallacher
Stephen James Gallacher (born 1 November 1974) is a Scottish professional golfer who plays on the European Tour.
Early life and amateur career
Gallacher was born in Dechmont, West Lothian and is the nephew of former European Ryder Cup captain ...
– professional golfer (nephew of Bernard)
*
Goodbye Mr Mackenzie
Goodbye Mr Mackenzie is a Scottish rock band formed in Bathgate near Edinburgh. At the band's commercial peak, the line-up consisted of Martin Metcalfe on vocals, John Duncan on guitar, Fin Wilson on bass guitar, Shirley Manson and Rona Scobi ...
–
indie rock
Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...
band
*
Hugh Murnin
Hugh Murnin (12 July 1865 – 11 March 1932) born Bathgate was a Scottish politician, Labour MP for Stirling and Falkirk Burghs from 1922 to 1923, and from 1924 to 1931.
Murnin left elementary school aged nine, entered the mines,William Knox, '' ...
MP – Member of Parliament for
Stirling and Falkirk
Stirling and Falkirk is a lieutenancy area of Scotland. It consists of the local government areas of Stirling and Falkirk
Falkirk ( gd, An Eaglais Bhreac, sco, Fawkirk) is a large town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically wit ...
1922–1923, 1924–1931
*
David Robertson – professional footballer
*
Alexander Russell Simpson
Sir Alexander Russell Simpson FRCPE FRSE LLD (20 April 1835–6 April1916) was a Scottish physician and Professor of Midwifery at the University of Edinburgh. He invented the axis-traction forceps also known as the obstetrics forceps which ...
– professor of midwifery, inventor of
obstetrical forceps
Obstetrical forceps are a medical instrument used in childbirth. Their use can serve as an alternative to the ventouse (vacuum extraction) method.
Medical uses
Forceps births, like all assisted births, should only be undertaken to help prom ...
, nephew of James Young.
Partner towns
*
Cran-Gevrier
Cran-Grevier is a former commune in the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France. On 1 January 2017, it was merged into the commune Annecy.
Geography
Cran-Gevrier is in the west of Annecy. Part of th ...
, France
and as part of
West Lothian
West Lothian ( sco, Wast Lowden; gd, Lodainn an Iar) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, and was one of its shires of Scotland, historic counties. The county was called Linlithgowshire until 1925. The historic county was bounded geogra ...
with:
*
Hochsauerland
Hochsauerlandkreis (meaning “High Sauerland District” in German) is a Kreis (district) in the east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Neighboring districts are Soest, Paderborn, Höxter, Waldeck-Frankenberg, Siegen-Wittgenstein, Olpe, Mär ...
, Germany
References
Bibliography
* Price, Glanville, ''Languages in Britain and Ireland'' (p122),
* Lewis, Samuel, ''A Topographical Dictionary of Scotland (1846)'',
* Groome, Francis Hindes, ''Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland: A Survey of Scottish Topography, Statistical, Biographical and Historical'',
* Sinclair, Sir John, ''Statistical Account of Scotland'',
* Stevenson, Robert Louis, ''Lay Morals'',
* Hendrie, William Fyfe and Mackie, Allister, ''The Bathgate Book'',
* Hendrie, William Fyfe, ''Bathgate'',
* Hendrie, William Fyfe, ''Bathgate in Old Picture Postcards'',
External links
www.westlothian.com, BathgateNational Library of Scotland: Scottish Screen Archive(archive film about Bathgate Festival Week, June 1951)
{{authority control
Towns in West Lothian
Mining communities in Scotland