Place:West Lothian, Scotland

Watchers
NameWest Lothian
Alt namesLinlithgowsource: Webster's Geographical Dictionary (1988) p 1331
Linlithgowshiresource: FamilySearch Wiki
Lodainn an Iarsource: Wikipedia
TypeTraditional county
Coordinates55.92°N 3.5°W
Located inScotland     ( - 1975)
See alsoLothian, Scotlandregional administration 1975-1996
West Lothian (council area), Scotlandunitary Council Area since 1996
Contained Places
Former village
Kinneil ( - 1975 )
Hamlet
Crofthead
Society ( - 1975 )
Inhabited place
Armadale ( - 1975 )
Bathgate (town) ( - 1975 )
Blackburn ( - 1975 )
Bo'ness (town) ( - 1975 )
Boghall ( - 1975 )
Broxburn ( - 1975 )
Carriden (village) ( - 1975 )
Dalmeny (village) ( - 1975 )
Fauldhouse ( - 1975 )
Linlithgow (town) ( - 1975 )
Livingston (town) ( - 1975 )
Pumpherston ( - 1975 )
South Queensferry ( - 1975 )
Uphall (village) ( - 1975 )
Whitburn (town) ( - 1975 )
Parish
Abercorn ( - 1975 )
Bathgate ( - 1975 )
Bo'ness ( - 1975 )
Carriden ( - 1975 )
Dalmeny ( 1628 - 1975 )
Ecclesmachen ( - 1975 )
Kirkliston ( - 1975 )
Linlithgow ( - 1975 )
Livingston ( - 1975 )
Torphichen ( - 1975 )
Uphall ( - 1975 )
Whitburn ( - 1975 )
source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names
source: Family History Library Catalog


West Lothian is a former county in east central Scotland, known until 1921 as Linlithgowshire. It had an area of 120 sq. miles (310km2) and was located on the south side of the Firth of Forth, immediately west of the City of Edinburgh and stretching up the Firth till it narrowed to a river at Falkirk in Stirlingshire. The principal internal river was the Avon.

The county town was Linlithgow, a few miles inland from the Firth. The principal coastal settlements were Bo'ness and South Queensferry. Further inland were Armadale, Bathgate and Broxburn, all centres of mining for either coal or metals.

Mining of coal and oil-shale were important industries in the 19th and early 20th centuries, along with agriculture and fishing.

In 1975 the county was incorporated into Lothian Region, with its boundaries expanded to include the Midlothian parishes of West Calder, Mid Calder and East Calder or Kirknewton. In the local government reorganisation of 1996 it was re-established as a separate entity named the West Lothian Council Area.

image:West_Lothian3.jpg

Research Tips

  • official civil (from 1855) and parish registers (from when first produced) for births, marriages and deaths for all of Scotland
  • original census images for all years available (1841-1911).
  • collections of wills and testaments and
  • property tax listings
  • an extensive collection of local maps
  • kirk session records for individual parishes (added in 2021 and not yet complete).

This site is extremely easy to use. There are charges for parish register entries, collections of wills, and census listings (the 1881 census is free to view, also on Ancestry and FindMyPast). The charges are reasonable and payable by online transfer. Viewing the kirk session records is free, but a charge will be made for a copy.

  • The National Library of Scotland have an online map collection of historic and modern day maps which can zoom in on a specific farmhouse or street in a town. Their collection also includes London and some counties of southeast England.
  • Gazetteer for Scotland contains an article for each parish from the Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland by F. H. Groome, (published 1882-4) and short details about each parish today including names of small settlements within a parish.
  • The FamilySearch Wiki explains a great many legal terms only found in Scotland and provides a gazetteer for genealogists for each parish across the county. It reviews the availablility of parish registers.
  • GENUKI Scotland which provides for each Scottish parish (indexed by county), amongst other data, complete quotations from A Topographical Dictionary of Scotland (1851) by Samuel Lewis, John Bartholomew's A Gazetteer of the British Isles (1877), and possibly other gazetteers from individual counties and regions. It is worth reviewing one of its county pages to see what is available online or in print from local archive providers. Each county page has a "Where in ---shire is .... ? section--very helpful in pinpointing the small places below parish level.
  • A list of Burial Grounds in Scotland is now available on the website of the Scottish Association of Family History Societies.
  • The Statistical Accounts of Scotland Online provides access to digitised and fully searchable versions of both the Old Statistical Account (1791-99) and the New Statistical Account (1834-45). These uniquely rich and detailed parish reports, usually written by local Church of Scotland ministers, detail social conditions in Scotland and are an invaluable resource for anyone interested in Scottish history.

Notes for West Lothian

  • The Scottish Genealogy Society has published a volume of Pre-1855 Monumental Inscriptions in West Lothian, compiled by John F Mitchell and Sheila Mitchell.
  • FreeCen has an index of 1841 census records including the whole of West Lothian. The Genealogical Society of Utah sponsored the collection of 1881 census records and these will be found at FamilySearch

Further Sources of Reference

Please note and respect the copyright warnings on these websites.

  • GENUKI article on West Lothian. Included are links to lists of coalmines and metalliferous mines active in the county in 1896.
  • Scottish Places article on the County of West Lothian. The tabs of the right provide more information, and comparitive maps.
  • The FamilySearch Wiki article on West Lothian provides direct reference to FamilySearch holdings on many topics with respect to the county.
  • The National Library of Scotland have a website devoted to maps from the 1600s right up to the present. Comparisons of modern-day and old maps of the same place can be made. From the home page click on "Find by place" and then follow the instructions on the next page. Once you are viewing the place you want, use the slider <----> at the top of the map to compare the layout of roads and the place names of smaller areas, perhaps even farms, with the landscape today. The website takes some getting used to. The One-inch 2nd edition, Scotland, 1898-1904 OS is a series of maps with the parishes delineated. Each of these maps cover an area of 18 x 24 miles and will zoom to comfortable reading size with a couple of mouse clicks on the map itself. Unfortunately, they are not geo-referenced, and it is necessary to go to the OS One Inch 1885-1900 series to locate places by latitude and longitude.
  • The Statistical Accounts for Scotland In the 1790s and again in the 1830s, the ministers of the all the parishes of the Church of Scotland were asked to provide a description of their parish to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. The original account request included 160 questions to be answered. These accounts are available in print in 20 volumes and are also online where it is freely available to browse. The browsing portal is below the viewing area of most computer screens. Scroll down to "For non-subscribers" and click on "Browse scanned pages". This brings you to another page on which one can enter the name of the parish in which you are interested.
  • Excerpts from The Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland: A Survey of Scottish Topography, Statistical, Biographical and Historical, edited by Francis H. Groome and originally published in parts by Thomas C. Jack, Grange Publishing Works, Edinburgh between 1882 and 1885 are provided by Scottish Places. Selections from Groome and other gazetteers from the 19th century are also found on GENUKI.