Explore!

Explore! Our articles cover anything and everything to do with West Lothian, West Edinburgh and Falkirk.

A selection of what goes into print is published here.

Browse the archives below or use the archive menu to sort by category, or use the search bar to find a specific reference.

Read past and current issues online

ONLINE LIBRARY

Editor

Oct 20, 20185 min read

The Ratho Poet

A time of political movement; big questions and strong feelings over Scotland and England's relationship; plus ça change. But a character...

James Gillespie, the snuff maker of Colinton

Editor

Aug 1, 20184 min read

James Gillespie, the snuff maker of Colinton

A few Edinburgh streets (Gillespie Crescent, Place, Road and Street) and ‘James Gillespie’s High School’ bear the name of a well-off and...

Gibson-Craig, Riccarton and Abolition: “old letter found in a box”

Editor

Jul 1, 20185 min read

Gibson-Craig, Riccarton and Abolition: “old letter found in a box”

In 2015 the UK government finally finished paying off the massive borrowing it undertook in 1833 in order to compensate slave-owners when...

Editor

Feb 5, 20185 min read

Marvellous Merchiston

If your home was garrisoned by soldiers and under threat of bombardment, you might pick somewhere else to get married. But 22 year old...

Editor

Feb 1, 20183 min read

Dougal Haston: From Currie to Everest

Up, always up. Currie lad Dougal Haston went from rambling around the Pentland Hills to being one of the first British climbers to...

Editor

Nov 7, 20173 min read

Edwin Lucas - Scottish Surrealist

The young man from Juniper Green who painted a mural in the scouts' “den” on Belmont Road in the early 1930s - to make it look like the...

Editor

Aug 7, 20175 min read

The Balerno Loop

There is little left for the casual observer to notice today of the picturesque branch line that ran along the Water of Leith for six...

Editor

Jun 1, 20174 min read

Redhall Castle and House

Home to a diplomat involved in nation-shaping moments in Scottish history; seige and destruction by Oliver Cromwell's canons; gracious...

Editor

Feb 1, 20174 min read

King Jamie's Silver Mines

When a local collier found some unusual stones at Hilderston, near Cairnpapple in the Bathgate Hills, he couldn’t have imagined the stir...

Editor

Jan 1, 20174 min read

When Craiglockhart was "Dottyville"

How the tranquil surrounds of Craiglockhart - and a meeting at Baberton Golf Club - produced the most graphic and moving anti-war poetry...

Editor

Aug 6, 20163 min read

West Lothian Far from Ypres

Did you know that work on Beecraigs Loch was started by German prisoners-of-war during the First World War, but due to their...

Editor

Mar 7, 20164 min read

Huly Hill and the Newbridge Chariot

Have you ever sat in the traffic by the BP garage at the bottom of Cliftonhall Road in Newbridge waiting to get onto the roundabout, and...

The Bathgate Baker's Boy who Changed the World

Editor

Feb 8, 20167 min read

The Bathgate Baker's Boy who Changed the World

The face of Bathgate bairn Dr James Young Simpson is painted on the “pioneering spirit” First buses. What is not painted there is a...

Editor

Sep 1, 20156 min read

Pentland Heist

Thirty years ago, Pentland Hills Regional Park was at the centre of a police investigation when what appeared to be little more than a...

Broxburn, the centre of the solar system

Editor

Jul 1, 20152 min read

Broxburn, the centre of the solar system

The Kirkhill estate in Broxburn was home in the 18th century to an unusual project – a model of the solar system as it was understood at...

Editor

Apr 5, 20155 min read

The White Lady of Caputhall Bog

Caputhall today is the site of the busy Deans Industrial Estate – Caputhall Road loops around the estate and there are industrial units...

Balancing Act: The main feeder for the Union Canal

Editor

Apr 3, 20154 min read

Balancing Act: The main feeder for the Union Canal

As you're enjoying a walk, cycle or boat trip along the Union Canal, you may not be aware that its serene surface level is maintained...

Editor

Nov 6, 20146 min read

Letters Home - from a young Scots Guard

A nineteen year old lad writes home to his mother from the trenches in World War 1 France: “I have seen all the life I want to see.” A...

John Newland Festival - What's it all about?

Editor

Apr 30, 20143 min read

John Newland Festival - What's it all about?

John Newland was one of the many Scots who sailed to the West Indies in the 18th century to make their fortunes out of sugar and slave

Editor

Mar 3, 20144 min read

Let's go fly a camera kite

Kite flying has timeless appeal ...but how many people realise that flying a kite can be used to discover what lies underground?...