Bathgate

Bathgate
	View over Bathgate
Coordinates	55 ° 54 ′ N , 3 ° 39 ′ W Coordinates: 55 ° 54 ′ N , 3 ° 39 ′ W
	Bathgate
	Bathgate
Residents	20,363 2011 census
administration
Post town	BATHGATE
ZIP code section	EH47, EH48
prefix	01506
Part of the country	Scotland
Council area	West Lothian
British Parliament	Linlithgow and East Falkirk
Scottish Parliament	Linlithgow

Bathgate is a city in Scotland in the county of West Lothian with 20,363 inhabitants. The city center is about three kilometers south of the Neolithic tomb of Cairnpapple Hill ; Edinburgh Airport is around 13 miles away. The Bathgate region has been around since about 3500 BC. Settled. Neighboring cities are Blackburn , Whitburn , Livingston , Stoneyburn and Linlithgow .

history

Bathgate was first mentioned in writing in 1160. In 1315 Walter III. Stewart (6th High Stewart of Scotland ) to Bathgate Castle after he received the lands as a dowry . Walter lived in the castle until his death on April 9, 1326. In 1606 a silver deposit was discovered near the city and a mine was opened until mining was stopped in 1613 due to the poor quality of the silver deposits.

Bathgate was a small town until the 19th century. The industrialization was initiated with the opening of a railway line between Edinburgh and Bathgate and the mining of coal, limestone and ore in nearby mines and quarries was taken. In 1852, Bathgate Chemical Works opened a large chemical factory. In the middle of the 20th century, most of the coal and steel industry closed due to the steel crisis and the city became part of the “Special Development Area”, a structural development area that was initiated by the British government. In 1961 the British Motor Company built a new truck and tractor plant in Bathgate, which had to close again in 1986.

The first fossil of West Lothiana , a primitive land vertebrate from the Lower Carboniferous , was found in 1987 in a quarry near Bathgate. It is on display today in the Museum of Scotland .