UPHALL, West Lothian - Extract from National Gazetteer, 1868

[Description(s) from The National Gazetteer (1868)]

"UPHALL, a parish in the county of Linlithgow, Scotland. It contains the village of its own name and that of Broxburn. It extends about 4 miles in length from E. to W., with an extreme breadth of about 3 miles, and is bounded on the E. and S. by Edinburghshire, and on other sides by the parishes of Livingston, Ecclesmachan, Linlithgow, and Kirkliston. The surface is undulating, its greatest altitude being about 400 feet above sea-level.

The land is fertile and well cultivated. The substratum abounds in coal, sandstone, ironstone, lime, marl, chalk, brick, potter's clay, and fuller's earth. The parish is traversed by the Union canal, the centre road from Edinburgh to Glasgow, and by the Edinburgh and Bathgate railway, which has a station here. The village is about 5 miles S.E. of Linlithgow, 13 from Edinburgh, and about 1 mile from the Winchburgh station, on the Edinburgh and Glasgow railway. It is situated on a branch of the river Almond.

This parish is in the presbytery of Linlithgow and synod of Lothian and Tweeddale. The stipend of the minister is about £269. The church contains tombs of Lord Chancellor Erskine and his brother, and a bell bearing date 1441. There are besides a Free church and parochial and other schools. The principal seats are Kirkhill House, Amondell House, Houston House, and Middleton House."

"BROXBURN, a village in the parish of Uphall, in the county of Linlithgow, Scotland, 1 mile to the E. of Uphall, and 12 miles W. by S. of Edinburgh. It is seated on the Broxburn Burn, a branch of the Almond water, and is a station on the Bathgate branch of the Edinburgh and Glasgow railway. The Union canal passes near the village. A cattle fair is held in September."

"HOUSTON, a hamlet in the parish of Uphall, county Linlithgow, Scotland, 6 miles S.E. of Linlithgow, its post town. It is a station on the Edinburgh, Bathgate, and Cowbridge section of the Edinburgh and Glasgow railway. This place, which is a meet for the Linlithgow and Stirlingshire hounds, is situated near the Union canal and a branch of the river Almond."

[Description(s) from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868)
Transcription ©2003]