Hilderston, West Lothian

Hilderston or Hilderstone in West Lothian, Scotland, was the site of the discovery of a vein of silver in 1606 and a mining operation that attracted international interest. King James used rumours of a silver bonanza to leverage a loan in the City of London. He took over the mine works, an act sometimes regarded as an example of nationalization. The enterprise may have inspired a satirical stage play. On 8 May 1608 work commenced under royal supervision. Miners from Cornwall and Germany were employed in the works.

Hilderston is near Cairnpapple Hill in the Bathgate Hills. Contemporary descriptions of the silver ore seem to refer to native silver, mercury amalgams, arsenical content, and nickeline, found in "native silver bearing carbonate veins".

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Cairnpapple Hill

Cairnpapple Hill is a hill with a dominating position in central lowland Scotland with views from coast to coast. It was used and re-used as a major ritual site for around 4,000 years, and in its day would have been comparable to better known sites like the Standing Stones of Stenness. The summit lies 312 meters above sea level, and is about 2 miles (3 km) north of Bathgate. In the 19th century the site was completely concealed by trees, then in 1947–1948 excavations by Stuart Piggott found a series of ritual monuments from successive prehistoric periods. In 1998, Gordon Barclay re-interpreted the site for Historic Scotland. It is designated a scheduled ancient monument.

Ballencrief Toll

Ballencrief Toll is a settlement in West Lothian, Scotland. It lies just beyond the northern edge of the town of Bathgate, on the B792 road towards Torphichen. The area is marked on some maps as Ballencrieff (not to be confused with the Ballencrieff village in East Lothian). The name means "the farm by the tree", from Baile na Craoibhe. From around 1768 until 1880, the abundant limestone was processed locally in kilns to make quicklime. Immediately south-west of Ballancrieff Toll is the park which surrounded Balbardie House, a grand mansion built in the late 18th century for the influential Marjoribanks family, and demolished between 1954 and 1975. This is now Balbardie Park of Peace, which has a nine-hole golf course and sports facilities including a swimming pool, all run by the non-profit company West Lothian Leisure under their Xcite brand. A property with two small reservoirs, about half a mile to the north-east, has holiday accommodation and venues for events and weddings.

Torphichen Preceptory

Torphichen Preceptory is a church in the village of Torphichen, West Lothian, Scotland. It comprises the remains of the preceptory (headquarters) of the Knights Hospitaller of the Order of St John of Jerusalem in Scotland. The placename may be Gaelic in origin, e.g., "Tóir Féichín" (the boundary/sanctuary of St Féichín) or Brythonic, e.g., modern Welsh "tref fechan" (little town). The name "Tóir Féichín" with its Gaelic reference to the Boundary/Sanctuary stones set one mile around the village is most likely the true meaning of the village and Preceptory name rather than the modern Welsh which has no historical precedent that overrides the true meaning of those Neolithic sanctuary stones.

East Kirkton Quarry

East Kirkton Quarry, or simply East Kirkton, is a former limestone quarry in West Lothian, Scotland, now a renowned fossil site. The quarry is known for terrestrial and freshwater fossils up to 341 million years old, from the Viséan stage of the Mississippian subperiod (Early Carboniferous Period). The quarry is a 200-meter-long (~650 ft) depression located in the town of Bathgate. Geographically, it sits at the Bathgate Hills near the center of the Midland Valley, a fossil-rich region of southeast Scotland. The site is dominated by volcanic tuff, limestone, and silica deposits of large freshwater lakes associated with hot springs and local basaltic (high-iron) volcanism. Three geological intervals are exposed: the East Kirkton Limestone (oldest), Little Cliff Shale (middle), and Geikie Tuff (youngest). The East Kirkton Limestone in particular has produced numerous well-preserved fossils of tetrapods (four-limbed vertebrates) and arthropods (multi-legged chitinous invertebrates like millipedes and arachnids). East Kirkton had been ignored by paleontologists since the 1840s, but Scottish fossil collector Stan Wood managed to procure the land in 1985, sparking a rush of scientific interest. New species from East Kirkton have been named on a regular basis since 1990, and nearly all of these species have been found nowhere else. Notable discoveries include Westlothiana (one of the most reptile-like Mississippian tetrapods), Balanerpeton (a common early representative of amphibians in the group Temnospondyli), and Pulmonoscorpius (the largest known terrestrial scorpion). The East Kirkton area represents an unconventional environment: dry woodlands and mineral-rich lakes nestled among volcanic cinder cones. Aquatic animals, though not uncommon, are less diverse than those found in the swampy coal forests and coastal sediments prevalent at other Scottish Carboniferous fossil sites. The prevalence of terrestrial organisms represents a broader trend of decreasing reliance on an amphibious lifestyle during the Carboniferous Period.