Addiewell is a former mining village in the Scottish

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 council area of West Lothian

West Lothian

West Lothian is one of the 32 unitary council areas in Scotland, and a Lieutenancy area. It borders the City of Edinburgh, Falkirk, North Lanarkshire, the Scottish Borders and South Lanarkshire....

. A new prison, HMP Addiewell

HMP Addiewell

HMP Addiewell is a prison located near to the village of Addiewell in West Lothian, Scotland. HMP Addiewell is operated by a private company, Sodexo Justice Services and contracted to the Scottish Prison Service. The prison holds adult males who have been convicted as well as those being held on...

, opened in 2008.

History

A small industrial village in West Lothian, Addiewell lies to the south of the Breich Water, 2 miles (3 km) south of Blackburn. The village developed in association with the Oil Shale industry. James 'Paraffin' Young (1811-83) opened mines and built a refinery here in the 1860s for his Light and Mineral Oil Company. The plant operated until the 1930s and the landscape retains evidence of the industry in the form of a large bing, now managed as a reserve by the Scottish Wildlife Trust.

Addiewell is now dominated by an immense whisky bond and warehouses, the property of the North British Distillery Company. This was developed alongside the A71 road from 1970 and passers-by can enjoy the smell of "the angel's share". There is also an industrial estate, primary school and an unstaffed railway station on the line from Glasgow Central to Edinburgh. Despite local opposition, a new prison was built here through public-private partnership arrangements and opened in 2008.
Addiewell grew up to support the oil shale industry

Oil shale industry

Oil shale industry is an industry of mining and processing of oil shale—a fine-grained sedimentary rock, containing significant amounts of kerogen , from which liquid hydrocarbons can be manufactured. The industry has developed in Brazil, China, Estonia and to some extent in Germany, Israel and...

. The prison opened in December 2008. It holds over 800 maximum security prisoners.

Geography

There are two separate districts, Addiebrownhill and Loganlea. Addiewell is near Stoneyburn and West Calder.

Culture and community

Addiewell has three convenience shops, a post office, a miners welfare that plays host to many functions, a hairdressers and a softplay/gym called The Pitstop.
The annual Gala Day is held on the 3rd Saturday in June.

Transport

Addiewell railway station

Addiewell railway station

Addiewell railway station is a railway station serving Addiewell in West Lothian, Scotland. It is located on the Shotts Line from Glasgow Central to Edinburgh Waverley via Shotts.-History:...

 is on the Shotts Line

Shotts Line

The Shotts Line is a suburban railway line linking Glasgow Central and Edinburgh Waverley via Shotts in Scotland. The route from Glasgow to Shotts is part of the Strathclyde Partnership for Transport network...

 from Glasgow Central to Edinburgh Waverley

Edinburgh Waverley railway station

Edinburgh Waverley railway station is the main railway station in the Scottish capital Edinburgh. Covering an area of over 25 acres in the centre of the city, it is the second-largest main line railway station in the United Kingdom in terms of area, the largest being...

, with an hourly service in each direction. It has recently been upgraded to support the new prison.

Further reading

• Alistair Findlay (2010) Shale Voices Luath Press Ltd (ISBN 978-1906307110) - memoir of the shale oil industry

External links

• Gazetter for Scotland