Gavieside
(also known as Fell's Row)
coordinates:
55°51'41.98"N,
3°33'55.18"W
location: on minor road
between Polbeth and West Calder, West Lothian
former parish: West
Calder
current
status:
site cleared 1930's?, now rough grazing
date
constructed: c1866? to serve Gavieside Oil Works
owner/builder: West Calder
Oil Co., Young's Paraffin Light and Mineral Oil Co. from 1879
"
There are 8 single and 84 double houses, 44 of which are
back to back. Many of the houses are below the level of
the road, and rents range from 1/- to 2/3 per week. There
are no coal cellars, wash-houses or sculleries. A few stand-pipes
supply the water. The refuse is removed weekly. Dry privies
of a kind exist. These houses are of a very poor type, and
ought to be condemned. Houses are scarce."
Theodore
K. Irvine, Report on the Housing Conditions in the Scottish
Shale Field, 1914.
Gavieside viewed from the SW, c.1900. Image courtesy of West
Lothian Council Libraries
Although
Gavieside village was demolished prior to the Second World
War (?), Gavieside Primary School remained open until 1961.
Site of Gavieside village, looking West towards Five Sisters
bing. October 2009
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