WEST CALDER - Extract from National Gazetteer, 1868

"WEST CALDER, a parish in the county of Edinburgh, Scotland, containing a village of the same name, 16 miles to the S.W. of Edinburgh. It lies in a hilly country on the S. side of the Breich Water, a branch of the Almond Water. Limestone is quarried extensively, and there is abundance of coal and ironstone. The living, worth £158, is in the presbytery of Linlithgow, in the patronage of John Drysdale, Esq. There is a Free Church preaching station and an United Presbyterian church. Castle Craig is the site of a Roman camp, and Roman antiquities have been found there. There are also remains of an ancient fort. The parish is about 10 miles in length and 5 in breadth.

"CROSSWOODHILL, a village in the parish of West Calder, in the county of Edinburgh, Scotland, 7 miles S. of Mid Calder."

"HARBURN, a village in county Edinburgh, Scotland, 3 miles S.E. of West Calder. It is situated under the Cairnhills, near Breich water, and is a station on the Edinburgh section of the Caledonian railway."

"HARWOOD, a village in the parish of West Calder, county Edinburgh, Scotland, 2 miles from West Calder. It is situated on the Harwood Water, a feeder of the Almond Water."

"WEST CALDER, a parish in the district of West Edinburgh, county Edinburgh, Scotland. See Calder."

[Description(s) from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868)
Transcribed by Colin Hinson ©2003]

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