Addiewell

A historical perspective, drawn 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.

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Addiewell, a manufacturing village in West Calder parish, Edinburghshire, on the verge of the county, near the Cleland branch of the Caledonian railway, 1½ mile WSW of West Calder. It has a post office under Midcalder, railway connection with the Caledonian, and a Church of Scotland mission station. Founded about 1866 in connection with great chemical works, it comprises a great number of factory buildings, retort sheds, etc.: and it looks like an assemblage of numerous factories and their appurtenances for a diversity of purposes. The works cover 70 acres, produce vast quantities of paraffin oil, naphtha, paraffin candles, and ammonia, and serve also as auxiliaries to the great chemical works in the vicinity of Bathgate. A public school, with accommodation for 327 children, had (1879) an average attendance of 274, and a grant of £251, 6s. Pop. (1881) 1819.

An accompanying 19th C. Ordnance Survey map is available, or use the map tab to the right of this page.

Note: This text has been made available using a process of scanning and optical character recognition. Despite manual checking, some typographical errors may remain. Please remember this description dates from the 1880s; names may have changed, administrative divisions will certainly be different and there are known to be occasional errors of fact in the original text, which we have not corrected because we wish to maintain its integrity. This information is provided subject to our standard disclaimer