A small industrial town 5 miles (8 km) west of Livingston in West Lothian, Blackburn originally developed as a cotton manufacturing town. In the mid-19th Century it became a centre for coal mining. Its small population expanded rapidly from 4302 in 1961 to around 9000 by 1965 as a result of employment opportunities in Bathgate to the north and through in-migration following the inception of the Glasgow Overspill Plan. The closure of the British Leyland plant in 1986 brought decline to the area, along with the destruction of many homes built during the 1960s. The railway station at Bathgate reopened in 1986 and the 30-minute journey to Edinburgh attracts commuters to live in Blackburn. The singer and Britain's Got Talent winner Susan Boyle (b.1961) was born and still lives here.
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