Bridgend and Kingscavil Cottages
Bridgend and Kingscavil are two small settlements in the eastern end of the parish of Linlithgow. Both grew up as housing for the workers who mined shale for what is regarded as the first oil refining industry in the world. There were also coal mines in the area, as both minerals are often found together, and Allan Old (born 1875) and his son Alexander were underground workers in these industries.
In 1854 both locations were nothing more than a few houses in a rural setting.
By 1895 The Miners' Rows had appeared in both places, basic but sound accommodation for the workers and their families.
Strangely, by 1913, although Kingscavil remained as it was, the oil works had completely disappeared from Bridgend although a school and football park had been built for the population. I say strangely because they do appear on another map surveyed in 1913 but not published until 1922 in which the oil works are marked as disused. Whichever one is correct it was only a matter of time before all that remained of the oil works was the red shale bing.
All that survives of both sets of rows is 6 of the Bridgend buildings which are now known as Auldhill Cottages, although the village of Bridgend did develop to the south-west of the rows. These 1948 maps show the changes.
An aerial phot of Kingskavil taken just after WWII shows that although the buildings were down their previous location could still be clearly seen.
Even today, aerial photography gives a clue as to the former settlement.
If you would like to look at these maps in more detail they can be found at maps.nls.uk and on the left of the screen option 2 (select a map group) allows different scales and ages of maps to be displayed.