The Town of Livingston Scotland UK @ NOAH'S TRAVEL S2E33

DAY 8 OF 8 DAY LONDON/EDINBURGH VACATION MARCH 18, 2020

Livingston is situated in the Almond Valley, 13 miles west of Edinburgh. Built in 1962, it was the fourth of several so-called 'New Towns', and further developed in the The area around Livingston was previously an important shale oil area, the world's first oil boom occurred in West Lothian. This was based on oil extracted from shale, and by 1870 over 3 million tons of shale were being mined each year in the area around Livingston. Output declined with the discovery of liquid oil reserves around the world in the early 1900s, but shale mining only finally ceased in 1962. The "bings" that characterise oil shale mining in West Lothian have largely been flattened. Two shale bings nearby are scheduled monuments. In 1898 Livingston had several houses, a Church of Scotland church, a United Free church and a school. Around 1 mile north of Livingston there was a railway station in a settlement called Livingston Station which is now part of Deans. The old part of Livingston is now called Livingston Village.. At the heart of Scotland's 'Silicon Glen', hi-tech industry flourished and helped the growth of the town until the 1990s. Today a large retail centre proves popular with locals and visitors alike. Livingston was built as part of the New Towns Act of 1946, in part to ease overcrowding in Glasgow. Livingston was the fourth new town of five. The others were East Kilbride, Glenrothes, Cumbernauld and Irvine. Livingston was designated as a New Town on 16 April 1962.[4] The first people moved into Livingston in April 1966. Three villages (Livingston Village and Livingston Station in the old parish of Livingston and Bellsquarry in the parish of Mid Calder) and numerous farmsteads remain islands of old buildings within the new developments. In 1984 Livingston gained its first railway station on the Shotts Line called Livingston South which was followed by Livingston North on the Edinburgh to Bathgate Line in 1986. These stations replaced the former Livingston and Newpark stations which had closed before the construction of the town. In 1995 Livingston gained its professional football team, Livingston F.C. which was essentially the relocation of Meadowbank Thistle F.C. from Edinburgh.