Forgotten Victorian Garden & Gunpowder Works(1889) - Camility Mill, West Calder

update actually built in 1889 Hidden beneath the over grown grass lays an old Victorian Ornimental Water Garden and Gunpowder Works built in 1889, at the back of West Calder. The garden was so cool, reminds me of the "Secret Garden", I love that film so much! I fell down the hill trying to get here as you can tell by my jeans lol These are both next to each other so I've just made into one video. First the Garden then the gunpower works.
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The works was set up in 1889 to produce gunpowder which was extensively used in the mining industry.
Some of the gunpowder was brought by horse and cart to West Calder Co-op, where it was sold over the counter in 1lb or 2lb bags and often stored by miners under the bed.
"It's a part of West Lothian's history that's been forgotten," says Sybil Cavanagh, the Local History Librarian.
"When I started researching the works, I just had a hazy idea of a small, rural mill.
"In fact, it was a big employer of labour and an extensive site."
After searching through the files of old newspapers held in the Local History Library and in the National Archives of Scotland, she's pieced together the whole story.
The booklet recalls the strange working conditions and the many safety rules which had to be observed, from not being allowed turn-ups on your trousers to vacating the premises in a thunderstorm.
The booklet also records the names of some 150 workers, and recalls in detail the two major explosions, in which two workers were killed.
The booklet was launched in West Calder Library last Thursday.

Copied Aticle: 2
Early one morning in 1909, West Calder's residents
were alarmed by a 'concussion' that rattled their
windows and shook their furniture, and caused
some people to rush out into the street. What
most people took to be an earthquake turned
out to be an explosion at the Camilty Gunpowder
Works, over three miles away. Camilty, nowadays
a peaceful glen, was in those days the scene of
a large industrial concern, producing barrels
of gunpowder for the mining and quarrying
industries.
In the 1909 explosion, the Camilty workers were
fortunate: no one was killed. At a subsequent
explosion in 1921, however, two workers lost their
lives, and much damage was done to the works.
These and other incidents are recalled in the latest
booklet to be published by West Lothian Libraries
Local History Library.
Despite the dangerous nature of the work, and the signifi cant numbers employed, it's a part of our local history that
has somehow been forgotten. Extensive research in old newspaper fi les and in the National Archives of Scotland has
re-discovered the fascinating story of the works, and its many connections to the major Roslin gunpowder mills in
Midlothian. Local people have lent photographs which bring the story back to life, and the names of some 150 people
who worked in the mills are listed in the book. It's hoped that interest aroused by the booklet may bring to light other
photographs and stories about the works and lead to fresh discoveries.