Greendykes
Road Rows, Broxburn
coordinates:
55°56'10.60"N,
3°28'12.03"W
location: within the
town of Broxburn, West Lothian
former parish: Broxburn
current
status:
demolished during 1960's and new housing built on site
date
constructed: c.1878 - c.1884
owner/builder: Broxburn
Oil Co.
Note:
A number of small oil concerns operated in the Broxburn area
during the 1860's and 70's, some of which constructed housing
for their workforce. Further research is required to individually
identify this housing.
"
The Broxburn Oil Company own or lease over 600 houses in
and around Broxburn district. The houses are mostly built
in rows ; some form three sides of a square; they are in
blocks of six, eight, sixteen, and twenty houses each, the
two latter numbers consist of two-storey blocks. There are
about 130 single-apartment houses, many of which are back
to back. The rental is 1/8. to 1/1. per week, inclusive
of local and county rates. Most of these houses are provided
with an outside water-closet for every two tenants, and
a washhouse for every four tenants. The water is supplied
by a limited number of stand-pipes, and the drainage is
by open channel. They are, in the main, kept as clean and
orderly as is possible under such insanitary arrangements.
There
are also some 470 houses, about one-half of which consist
of room and kitchen, and the other half of room, kitchen,
scullery with sink, and water-closet. The dimensions of
these houses vary considerably, the following is an example:-
Room, 11 ft by 10 ft, also bed-recess ; kitchen, 13 ft by
10 ft, also two bed-recesses. Single apartment, 13 ft by
10 ft, also bed-recesses; height of ceiling, 9 ft. For two-apartment
houses the rental is 2/3 to 2/9 per week, and where sculleries,
sinks, and water-closets are provided, the rental is 3/3
per week, inclusive of local and county rates. In some cases
two single apartments are made into one house, and the rent
charged is 3/8 per week. Washhouses are provided for every
four tenants.
The
refuse from all the houses is deposited in ash-pits, which
are a serious source of trouble in summer time. These ash-pits
are built between the blocks of houses. Clothes poles are
studded in the space between the backs of the rows. The
existing privies are such that women cannot use them, and
men should not. They should be done away with absolutely,
as should the ash-pits, and a daily system of refuse removal
adopted. The pathways are made of ashes for the most part."
Theodore
K. Irvine, Report on the Housing Conditions in the Scottish
Shale Field, 1914
Greendykes Road, Broxburn, looking North. c1910.
Greendykes Road from the air, c.1959, with Stewartfield rows
in the background
Greendykes Road, Broxburn, looking North. October 2009.
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