West Lothian

Scotland > Central Scotland > West Lothian

To the west of Edinburgh, West Lothian, one of the three Lothians in Scotland lies on the south shore of the River Forth and is the location of the famous Forth Bridges which both start in South Queensferry.

The County Town is Linlithgow with its magnificent but ruined, Palace, the birthplace of Mary, Queen of Scots. Hopetoun House, the Binns and Houston are other fine examples of architecture that one would have associated more with Edinburgh - but this is rural West Lothian.

The county has excellent agricultural resources as well as valuable oil-shale industry which has now depleted but left for posterity some large "bings" or oil-shale ash hills. Although much has been done to "camouflage" these man made eye sores they are still noticeable in an otherwise fairly flat part of the world.

The north coast of the county stretches from bonnie Cramond on the outskirts of Edinburgh, past Barnbougle Castle to South Queensferry and the Forth Road and Rail Bridges. Abercorn and Hopetoun are passed enroute for Bo'ness. The southern part of the county includes the Riccarton hills before Bathgate and Armadale are reached with the comparatively new town of Livingston situated on the M8 between Edinburgh and Glasgow.

Much of West Lothian was involved in mining but with its demise new hi-tech industries have been developed in and around Livingston. The county still has some way to go to recapture the economy that it had in the past, but it is well on its way.