Kirkton ( Scots: Kirktoun) is a small area in the north-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 ...

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. The area is mainly occupied by an industrial estate, as well as by some residential housing areas. The Killandean burn, a small stream runs through the area.

History

Much of the area of Kirkton belonged to the estate of nearby Charlesfield House, dating to 1795 and demolished in the early 20th century. Some of the gardens and forested parts of the estate remain beside the Killandean burn. The first owner of the house was

Thomas Hardy Thomas Hardy (2 June 1840 – 11 January 1928) was an English novelist and poet. A Victorian realist in the tradition of George Eliot, he was influenced both in his novels and in his poetry by Romanticism, including the poetry of William Word ...

, a minister. The estate passed to his son, Captain William Hardy, an officer in the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...

who died in 1824. The lands then passed to his brother Thomas Hardy, FRCS a surgeon, who died in 1836. The estate was then leased by trustees to Thomas Robertson Chaplin, before it was sold to Henry Raeburn Jnr, the son of the distinguished painter

Sir Henry Raeburn Sir Henry Raeburn (; 4 March 1756 – 8 July 1823) was a Scottish portrait painter. He served as Portrait Painter to King George IV in Scotland. Biography Raeburn was born the son of a manufacturer in Stockbridge, on the Water of Leith: a fo ...

. The estate and lands then passed through his descendants until the 1960s when acquired by the Livingston Development Corporation.

Geography

Kirkton is located to the south-west of

Livingston Village Livingston Village is a village in West Lothian, dating back to the 12th century. Originally a farming village in West Lothian it is now in the heart of the town of Livingston, West Lothian, Livingston. History Pre 1962 Before 1962 Livingston V ...

, to the west of Livingston Centre and to the north of

Adambrae Adambrae is a residential area and small river (burn) in Livingston, consisting primarily of privately owned housing. There is a small nature area and pond adjacent to Bluebell Glade in Adambrae where the "Adambrae burn" runs through the area. Thi ...

. The River Almonnd flows through Kirkton and is joined by the Kileandean burn which also flows through Kirkton. The Kirkton

weir A weir or low head dam is a barrier across the width of a river that alters the flow characteristics of water and usually results in a change in the height of the river level. Weirs are also used to control the flow of water for outlets of l ...

is a two-metre-high structure originally built to power the nearby mill in Livingston village that was altered in 2017 to include a fish pass.

Kirkton Campus

Kirkton was the site of Scotland's first designed high-technology industrial park known as 'Kirkton Campus'. The site was spread over some 300 acres. The technology park was centered along either side of Simpson Parkway, a curving road near the Killandean Burn. Notable companies and buildings include Ethicon (1978), Boehringer (1982), WL Gore (1984), Seagate Micro Electronics (1986), Canon Business Machines (1989) and Logic (1994). Many of the original technology companies have disappeared and new companies occupy some of the former buildings.

Hospital

In November 2021, a £5 million private medical hospital opened in Kirkton campus, operated by Cosmedicare UK. The building had previously housed several companies including

Glenmorangie Glenmorangie distillery (pronounced with the stress on the second syllable: ; the toponym is believed to derive from either Gaelic ''Gleann Mòr na Sìth'' " vale of tranquillity" or ''Gleann Mór-innse'' " vale of big meadows") is a distill ...

, WL Gore,

Quintiles IQVIA, formerly Quintiles and IMS Health, Inc., is an American multinational company serving the combined industries of health information technology and clinical research. IQVIA is a provider of biopharmaceutical development and commercial outs ...

and

BskyB Sky UK Limited is a British broadcaster and telecommunications company that provides television and broadband Internet services, fixed line and mobile telephone services to consumers and businesses in the United Kingdom. It is a subsidiary of ...

Community facilities

A crematorium is located in the north-west part of Kirkton that opened in 2010. There is a large, historic park located in Kirkton.

References

{{Areas of Livingston, West Lothian Livingston, West Lothian Populated places in West Lothian