Kirknewton, West Lothian
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Kirknewton (, )
is a village formerly in the county of
Midlothian Midlothian (; ) is registration county, lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area and one of 32 council areas of Scotland used for local government. Midlothian lies in the east-central Lowlands, bordering the City of Edinburgh council ar ...
and, since 1975, in
West Lothian West Lothian (; ) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, bordering (in a clockwise direction) the City of Edinburgh council area, Scottish Borders, South Lanarkshire, North Lanarkshire and Falkirk (council area), Falkirk. The modern counci ...
, Scotland. The population of the Kirknewton Community Council district is 2200, which includes the village and surrounding areas. It lies south of the A71 from
Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...
to Livingston, and north of the A70, the high-level road that runs along the north side of 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 hills take their name from the hamlet of Pe ...
from Edinburgh to
Carnwath Carnwath (Gaelic: ''A' Chathair Nuadh''; English: "New Fort") is a moorland village on the southern edge of the Pentland Hills of South Lanarkshire, Scotland. The village lies about south of both Edinburgh and Glasgow. It is bounded by the N ...
and
Lanark Lanark ( ; ; ) is a town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, located 20 kilometres to the south-east of Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Hamilton. The town lies on the River Clyde, at its confluence with Mouse Water. In 2016, the town had a populatio ...
. Much of the village stands back from the B7031, which links the two main "A" roads. To the south-east of the village is Morton.


History

The earliest signs of settlement in the area are the remains of
Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...
forts on Kaimes Hill and Dalmahoy Hill, craggy summits about a mile east of Kirknewton. In slightly more recent times, Kirknewton House, which lies just to the south of the village, had its origins (as Meadowbank House) in the 17th century. The current house is a reworking of the original by the architect
William Playfair William Playfair (22 September 1759 – 11 February 1823) was a Scottish engineer and political economist. The founder of graphical methods of statistics, Playfair invented several types of diagrams: in 1786 he introduced the line, area and ...
for
Alexander Maconochie, Lord Meadowbank The Right Honourable Alexander Maconochie, Lord Meadowbank of Garvock and Pitliver (2 March 1777–30 November 1861), was a Scottish people, Scottish advocate, judge, landowner and politician. After 1854 he took the surname Maconochie-Welwood. ...
in 1835. Kirknewton House is screened by trees from nearby roads and from the village itself. The most obvious evidence of its existence is the entrance lodge beside the start of the drive to the house at the south end of the village. Ormiston House is a Scottish baronial mansion south of Kirknewton. It was built in 1851 for Archibald Wilkie, to a design by
David Bryce David Bryce Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, FRSE FRIBA Royal Scottish Academy, RSA (3 April 1803 – 7 May 1876) was a Scotland, Scottish architect. Life Bryce was born at 5 South College Street in Edinburgh, the son of David B ...
. Kirknewton stood at the south eastern corner of the large area of West Lothian which was transformed from the 1860s by the
oil shale Oil shale is an organic-rich Granularity, fine-grained sedimentary rock containing kerogen (a solid mixture of Organic compound, organic chemical compounds) from which liquid hydrocarbons can be produced. In addition to kerogen, general compos ...
industry, with the nearest shale mine lying just to the north west of the village, between it and
East Calder East Calder is a village located in West Lothian, Scotland, about a mile east of Mid Calder and a mile west of Wilkieston. It forms part of 'the Calders (together with Mid and West Calder), three small neighbouring communities situated wes ...
. Shale from here was taken to the huge oil shale works at
Pumpherston Pumpherston is a village in West Lothian, Scotland. Originally a small industrial village housing works for the nearby shale mine and works, it now forms the eastern part of the new town of Livingston, which was constructed to the west of Pumph ...
for processing. During
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, the
Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...
built a military airfield at Whitemoss, a mile south east of Kirknewton. RAF Kirknewton, as it was known, was home to a variety of units during the war and, like many other military airfields, fell quiet afterwards. In 1952 it became home to a number of small
United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...
units tasked with providing mobile radio facilities to the USAF in Britain. The USAF left in 1966, and today Kirknewton airfield is home to a RAF(V) Gliding Unit, 661 (RAF Kirknewton) VGS.


Education

Kirknewton Primary School was built in 1924 and comprises a nursery and 7 primary classes. The school is located in the west of the village on Station Road.


The village

Kirknewton's Main Street has a very enclosed feel. Stretching from the junction with the B7031 to the old kirkyard in the centre of the village, it consists of a collection of one and two storey buildings. At the west end of the village is Kirknewton railway station, officially known as Midcalder Railway Station until 1982. Where the B7031 crosses the railway line at the west end of the station is a
level crossing A level crossing is an intersection where a railway line crosses a road, Trail, path, or (in rare situations) airport runway, at the same level, as opposed to the railway line or the road etc. crossing over or under using an Overpass#Railway, o ...
. One accident involving a motor vehicle led to a death and another involving a pedestrian had tragic consequences but the victim did survive. In 2013 the 35-year-old crossing was replaced with double-double barriers. Together with a LIDAR system to ensure trains could not proceed with anything on the crossing, this removed the possibility of previous accidents. While delays to traffic occur, this new system was planned to be substituted for a pedestrian and road-tunnel design which would have cost up to £18 million, critically damaged local farm land and required significant dynamite blasting close to a number of homes along the road to the West of the crossing. As of 2020 there is still a level crossing in place, wit no plans to construct a tunnel. The village is served by Lothian Country's bus route X28 connecting
Bathgate Bathgate ( or , ) is a town in West Lothian, Scotland, west of Livingston, Scotland, Livingston and adjacent to the M8 motorway (Scotland), M8 motorway. Nearby towns are Linlithgow, Livingston, and West Calder. A number of villages fall under ...
via Livingston and Regent Road, Edinburgh.


Kirknewton Parish Church

A parish church existed in 1571 under the control of the Presbytery of Edinburgh and was annexed to
Linlithgow Linlithgow ( ; ; ) 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 historic route between Edi ...
in 1591. The current parish church dates from 1751 when the parish was afforded a degree of autonomy. It was remodelled in the Gothic style in 1872 by Brown & Wardrop.Buildings of Lothian: Colin McWilliam 1978 The manse retains its 1750 architecture. The kirkyard, which is separate from the church, is home to a number of headstones dating back to the 18th century, and a burial enclosure for the Campbell Maconachies of Meadowbank House that dates back to 1662. The other burial enclosure was constructed by the Royal Society of Physicians as a memorial for an important founding member, William Cullen (d.1790). Professor Cullen was a significant figure in 18th century medicine, chemistry, agriculture and practised the application of science to agriculture at a nearby farm.


Notable Ministers

* Rev Alexander Bryce polymath *Very Rev
Alexander Lockhart Simpson Alexander Lockhart Simpson (1785–1861) was a Scottish minister who served as Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1849/50. Life He was born in April 1785. In 1803 he was a student at the Selkirk Hall of the Secession ...
Moderator in 1849


References


External links


kirnewton.org
*http://www.westlothian.gov.uk/media/downloaddoc/1799471/schoolhandbooks/KirknewtonPSHandbook {{authority control Villages in West Lothian Parishes formerly in Midlothian