Blackburn 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 Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, near both

Bathgate Bathgate ( sco, Bathket or , gd, Both Chèit) is a town in West Lothian, Scotland, west of Livingston and adjacent to the M8 motorway. Nearby towns are Armadale, Blackburn, Linlithgow, Livingston, West Calder and Whitburn. Situated sout ...

and

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 ...

, two of the larger towns in the county. It is situated approximately west of

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

and east of

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

on the old

A8 road A8, A08, A 8 or A-8 may refer to: Electronics * ARM Cortex-A8, a processor used in mobile devices * Apple A8, a 64-bit system on a chip (SoC) designed by Apple Inc. *AMD A8, an AMD Accelerated Processing Unit * Samsung Galaxy A8, various smartpho ...

History

Blackburn means "the black stream", from the

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...

''blæc'' "black" and ''burna'' "stream". The name was recorded as ''Blachebrine'' in 1152. As a small industrial centre, Blackburn originally developed as a cotton-manufacturing town. In the mid-19th century, it became a centre for coal mining. Its small population expanded rapidly from 4,302 in 1961 to around 9,000 by 1965 as a result of employment opportunities in Bathgate to the north and through in-migration following the inception of the Glasgow Overspill Plan. The closure of the

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 ...

plant in 1986 brought decline to the area, along with the destruction of many homes built during the 1960s. The railway station at Bathgate attracts commuters to live in Blackburn and provides easy access to both Glasgow and Edinburgh.

Blackburn House

Blackburn House is a category A-listed

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

building, situated to the east of the town.

Churches

Blackburn and Seafield Parish Church (

Church of Scotland The Church of Scotland ( sco, The Kirk o Scotland; gd, Eaglais na h-Alba) is the national church in Scotland. The Church of Scotland was principally shaped by John Knox, in the Scottish Reformation, Reformation of 1560, when it split from t ...

) is located in Blackburn. The congregation celebrated its centenary in 2008. Blackburn Gospel Hall (

Christian Brethren The Open Brethren, sometimes called Christian Brethren, are a group of Evangelicalism, Evangelical Christianity, Christian churches that arose in the late 1820s as part of the Assembly Movement within the Plymouth Brethren tradition. They origina ...

) meets for worship services and Bible studies in a well-kept church building originally constructed as Blackburn's village school in the late 18th century. Our Lady of Lourdes, a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

church located in Blackburn, also serves neighbouring communities and partners with a branch of the

St. Vincent de Paul Society The Society of St Vincent de Paul (SVP or SVdP or SSVP) is an international voluntary organization in the Catholic Church, founded in 1833 for the sanctification of its members by personal service of the poor. Innumerable Catholic parishes have ...

Educational facilities

The village has the Roman Catholic secondary

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 ...

, which serves students from the surrounding areas of

. Blackburn is also in the catchment area of the non-denominational secondary

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 is away. The village also houses three primary schools: Murrayfield Primary, Our Lady of Lourdes Primary and Blackburn Primary as well as Pinewood School, a combination primary/secondary additional needs school. Formerly the village had its own Blackburn Academy, a non-denominational secondary school that also served students from the surrounding areas of

. However, the academy was closed in 1992 after several new non-denominational high schools had opened in nearby

Climate

Sport

Football

Blackburn is home to Scottish football club Blackburn United who play at the Purdie Worldwide Community Stadium (New Murrayfield Park) near the centre of the town and 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 ...

Premier Division. The Club forms the pinnacle of the Blackburn United Community Sports Club.

Taekwondo

Blackburn is a big part of Scotia

TaeKwonDo ''Taekwondo'', ''Tae Kwon Do'' or ''Taekwon-Do'' (; ko, 태권도/跆拳道 ) is a Korean form of martial arts involving punching and kicking techniques, with emphasis on head-height kicks, spinning jump kicks, and fast kicking techniques. T ...

, with national competitions regularly held in the Blackburn Community Centre which is adjacent to New Murrayfield Park. Classes are also a big part of the Taekwondo activity in the area.

Famous natives

Susan Boyle Susan Magdalane Boyle (born 1 April 1961) is a Scottish singer. She rose to fame in 2009 after appearing as a contestant on the third series of ''Britain's Got Talent'', singing "I Dreamed a Dream" from '. Boyle's debut studio album, ''I D ...

, singer who first came to fame as a contestant on ''

Britain's Got Talent ''Britain's Got Talent'' (often abbreviated to ''BGT'') is a televised British talent show competition, and part of the global ''Got Talent'' franchise created by Simon Cowell. Presented by Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly (colloquially ...

'' and whose 2009 debut album ''

I Dreamed a Dream "I Dreamed a Dream" is a song from the 1980 musical ''Les Misérables''. It is a solo that is sung by the character Fantine during the first act. The music is by Claude-Michel Schönberg, with orchestrations by John Cameron. The English lyric ...

'' became the fastest selling UK debut album of all time. *

John Brown John Brown most often refers to: *John Brown (abolitionist) (1800–1859), American who led an anti-slavery raid in Harpers Ferry, Virginia in 1859 John Brown or Johnny Brown may also refer to: Academia * John Brown (educator) (1763–1842), Ir ...

, footballer who attended Blackburn Academy and subsequently played for Rangers when the club won nine consecutive Scottish League titles. *

Angela Constance Angela Constance (born 15 July 1970) is a Scottish politician serving as Minister for Drug Policy since 2020, having previously served in the Scottish Cabinet from 2014 to 2018. A member of the Scottish National Party (SNP), she has been the M ...

Scottish National Party The Scottish National Party (SNP; sco, Scots National Pairty, gd, Pàrtaidh Nàiseanta na h-Alba ) is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic political party in Scotland. The SNP supports and campaigns for Scottish independence from ...

(SNP) politician and ex-Scottish Government Cabinet Minister. * Steven Craig, footballer who, amongst others, played for

Falkirk Falkirk ( gd, An Eaglais Bhreac, sco, Fawkirk) is a large town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had a ...

Motherwell Motherwell ( sco, Mitherwall, gd, Tobar na Màthar) is a town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Historically in the parish of Dalziel and part of Lanarks ...

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

and

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

. *

Jim Devine James Devine (born 21 May 1953) is a former Member of Parliament. He was the Labour Party member for Livingston from 2005 until 2010 and Chairman of the Scottish Labour Party between 1994 and 1995. On 16 June 2009, following the 2009 expenses ...

, Labour politician who was convicted of fraud and jailed in the

United Kingdom parliamentary expenses scandal The United Kingdom parliamentary expenses scandal was a major political scandal that emerged in 2009, concerning expenses claims made by members of the British Parliament in both the House of Commons and the House of Lords over the previous year ...

* Michael Gallagher, Australian paralympic gold medallist. *

Alexander Young (engineer) Alexander Young (December 14, 1833July 2, 1910) was a mechanical engineer and politician in the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi. He began as an apprentice for Alexander Chaplin & Co. in Glasgow, and then Anderson & Co. in London. He married Ruth Pearce in e ...

, mechanical engineer born in the nineteenth century and who went onto become a politician in the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi.

In British political culture

The town was notably mentioned in a famous speech by MP

Tam Dalyell Sir Thomas Dalyell, 11th Baronet, , ( ; 9 August 1932 – 26 January 2017), known as Tam Dalyell, was a Scottish Labour Party politician who was a member of the House of Commons from 1962 to 2005. He represented West Lothian from 1962 to 1983 ...

in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

on 14 November 1977 in which he posed what would become known as the

West Lothian question The West Lothian question, also known as the English question, is a political issue in the United Kingdom. It concerns the question of whether MPs from Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales who sit in the House of Commons should be able to vote ...