Addiewell
Addiewell
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 Entrance to the Addiewell and Loganlea Memorial Garden |
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 Addiewell
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| Addiewell shown within West Lothian | |
| OS grid reference | NS989625 |
| Civil parish | |
| Council area | |
| Lieutenancy area | |
| Country | Scotland |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | WEST CALDER |
| Postcode district | EH55 |
| Dialling code | 01506 |
| Police | Scottish |
| Fire | Scottish |
| Ambulance | Scottish |
| EU Parliament | Scotland |
| UK Parliament | |
| Scottish Parliament | |
Addiewell (Scots: Aidieswall,Scottish Gaelic: Tobar Adaidh) is a former mining village in the Scottish council area of West Lothian. A new prison, HMP Addiewell, opened in 2008.
There are two separate districts, Addiebrownhill and Loganlea. Addiewell is near Stoneyburn and West Calder. There is one church, namely St Thomas the Apostle Church (of the Roman Catholic Church). The former church of Scotland is now used as a warehouse by the owner of one of the village shops.
In 1852 James Young left Manchester to return to live in Scotland. On return he bought the United States-registered patent for the production of paraffin oil by distillation of coal, known as the oil shale industry. Both the US and UK patents were subsequently upheld in both countries in a series of lawsuits, and other producers were obliged to pay him royalties. After his patents expired in 1864, in 1865 Young bought out his business partners at the Bathgate-based chemical works, and choose to build a larger factory at Addiewell, due to its location on the Breich river.
After agreeing purchase of 70 acres (28 ha) 1 mile (1.6 km) west from the village of West Calder, Young needed to develop a model village for his workers. Finding clay beneath the soil, he built a brickworks, allowing him to greatly reduce construction costs. Laid out on the principles set out by Cadbury at Bournville, and developed mainly between 1865 and 1870, a public school was built with accommodation for 327 children. Young named a number of the streets after his heroes, namely: Humphry Davy; Michael Faraday; David Livingstone; Robert Stephenson; and James Watt. However, he operated the village on the principles the developers of the South Wales Coalfield, where by workers were paid in a local currency to ensure that their wages were spent within the village, and that the men did not over drink alcohol.
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Wikipedia