Torphichen
| Torphichen | |
|---|---|
 The Torphichen Hills east of Torphichen, with Castlethorn prehistoric hillfort on the left |
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 Torphichen
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| Torphichen shown within West Lothian | |
| OS grid reference | NS969724 |
| Civil parish |
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| Council area | |
| Lieutenancy area | |
| Country | Scotland |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | BATHGATE |
| Postcode district | EH48 |
| Dialling code | 01506 |
| Police | Scottish |
| Fire | Scottish |
| Ambulance | Scottish |
| EU Parliament | Scotland |
| UK Parliament | |
| Scottish Parliament | |
Torphichen (/tɔːrˈfɪxən/ tor-FIKH-ən) is a small village located near Bathgate, West Lothian, Scotland with a population of 570 (2011 Census). The placename may be Gaelic in origin, e.g., "Tóir Féichín" (the boundary/sanctuary of St Féichín), Tor Fithichean (Hill of the Ravens), or Brythonic "tref fechan" (little town).
The village church is said to have been founded by St. Ninian in about 400AD, a small wooden structure on the site of the present church (itself rebuilt in 1756). The Knights Hospitaller of St. John made their Scottish headquarters at Torphichen from about 1160 and the Preceptory stands as testament to their presence.
Torphichen Parish "came out" in the Disruption and the village has the oldest purpose-built Free Church, erected that same year, and now (since the reunification of the churches) the St. John's church hall.
The village clustered around the church and the village Square for centuries, slowly expanding northwards, a process accelerated by the creation of the James Wood Park in 1922 and of the building of council houses from 1945 in Greenside and Bowyett. In the mid-1950s, council housing was built in Priorscroft in the north and in St. John's Place in the south of the village. At that time, the village included a branch of Bathgate Co-op Society, a miners' welfare (reflecting locally resident miners rather than any substantial colliery) and a residents parish council.
In the early 1960s, the last council housing built in the village was erected in Northgate and Priorscroft in the north and also at Manse road in the south of the village.
The 1960s and 1970s saw an expansion of the village to the south with a scattering of new private houses in Cathlaw Lane and Craigs Court. The 1990s saw building of more private homes at Priorsgrange and in the Loan but the village still has fewer than 350 dwellings.
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Wikipedia