Lovely Linlithgow
Willie Shand takes a walk in the hills for an overview of this fascinating town.
WHEN you think of West Lothian, hills are probably not the first things that spring to mind. Indeed, in the whole county, hardly anything rises much above 1,000 feet above sea level.
The honour of the highest point goes to the south top of Cairnpapple Hill at just 1,024 feet. Cairnpapple rises a few miles south of the town of Linlithgow and in between the two sits the little hill I was aiming for this morning – Cockleroy.
While neither of these West Lothian hills might excite the Munroist, they do have one big attraction. Both are easy to climb and both offer views as good as you might find on some mountains three times their height.
Cockleroy is an ideal wee hill for introducing youngsters to the joys of hill walking. Once they see the countryside spread out beneath them, they’ll be hooked.
There’s a small car park at the foot of the hill on the minor road that leads to Torphichen but, to make a decent more varied walk of it, I chose to start from the Beecraigs Visitor Centre.
From there, an easy-tofollow track crosses a wooden viewing bridge and leads down between fields and though woodland to Beecraigs Loch.
From the viewing bridge
we look north across the fields to the wide River Forth and far beyond. It’s a tempting taster for what we’ll find on Cockleroy.
This is a working farm and the surrounding fields are home to a variety of livestock. In one field, the Stag Park, are dozens of red deer.
Closer to, in the field known as Pole Barn, is a flock of black Hebridean sheep and, keeping them company, some Highland Cattle and a few Belted Galloway.
After the terrible foot and mouth outbreak of 2001, Belties were placed on the Rare Breeds Survival Watch List but thankfully they’re off the list again and thriving well.
The initial Beecraigs herd of three cows and a calf were established here in March 2014.
Beecraigs Loch is well stocked with rainbow trout, making it a popular haunt for anglers. A few are already out in their boats enjoying the quiet of the morning.
I thought I was seeing things when I noticed an island on the loch starting to move. I wasn’t – it’s a wee man-made island or crannog that just floats on the surface.
Beecraigs Loch is itself a man-made reservoir built in the early 20th century to address the increasing demand for water by the town of Linlithgow.
Before the days of piped water, Linlithgow was well endowed with natural springs, boasting no fewer than 10.
The Cross Well that stands in front of the Burgh Halls is a focal point in the Town Square. It’s not the original, though.
In fact, although the present well is more than two centuries old, this is about the fourth well to occupy the spot.
Unfortunately, the ancient Cross Well fell afoul of Cromwell’s army back in the 1650s.
Since earliest times Linlithgow was an important town. Its grand Palace overlooking Linlithgow Loch was the favoured seat of the Stuart monarchy.
Linlithgow expanded, and by the late 1800s the town realised to cope with demand a new reservoir would need to be built in the neighbouring hills. Beecraigs was the site chosen.
Work began on constructing Beecraigs Reservoir in 1913 and, all being well, it was estimated the job should be completed in around two years. All, however, was not well and, in 1914, WWI was to break out.
Many of the men involved in the construction work had to leave and join the forces.
The works then progressed very slowly with some labour being provided by prisoners of war, navvies and conscientious objectors.
Better late than never, the reservoir was completed in 1920 and served Linlithgow for over 50 years before favour was turned to Loch Lomond for supplies.
Beecraigs Loch isn’t that big but it holds a whopping 60 million gallons of water.
After the reservoir was no longer needed, it and the surrounding lands were purchased by West Lothian Council and the loch became a trout farm. This later evolved into Beecraigs Country Park.
At the western end of the loch we cross a minor road to continue on through Beecraigs Wood. It’s
part of the Park’s policy to open up the dense commercial forest by clear felling or by thinning and replanting with native trees, creating a much lighter woodland more friendly to wildlife and us walkers.
Eventually, the track brings us to the start of the climb up Cockleroy Hill. Through a small gate we escape the woods and take to the open grassy hillside.
It takes less than 10 minutes to reach the trig point and indicator, and the distant views across the valley of the Forth and much of Central Scotland only improve the higher we go.
The compass indicator gives the summit height of 912 feet and identifies all the hills you can see through a 360 degree sweep.
From Cockleroy on a clear day you can see as far as Goatfell on Arran, some 66 miles away. Ben Lomond, Tinto and Ben Ledi . . . they’re all there.
And, closer to, along the Forth we’ve the chimneys of Grangemouth Oil Refinery and Longannet Power Station, Linlithgow with its old port of Blackness beyond, round to the Forth Road and Rail Bridges.
With such clear all-round views it’s obvious why our distant ancestors chose this hilltop as a Bronze Age fort.
Neither did these early settlers miss the equally commanding views from Cairnpapple a mile south.
Upon Cairnpapple’s grassy summit more than 5,000 years ago stood a henge – a great circle formed with 24 wooden posts.
Befitting one of the mainland’s most important prehistoric sites, it’s in the care of Historic Environment Scotland.
A thousand years after its use as a henge, the hill top was used for burials, and one of the rewards for climbing to the top is that you can descend a ladder into a protective chamber and visit a couple of these graves.
Don’t worry – you won’t find any bodies or spooks – they’ve long since departed.
That said, in the stillness and timeless eerie silence of the chamber, we can try to imagine what life must have been like in the far off times when these folk lived and worked the land.
There have certainly been huge advances made over the past 5,000 years but maybe we shouldn’t be too quick to brand these people primitive.
In many respects they appear to have been more knowledgeable and advanced than ourselves.
Even today, scientists remain baffled as to how they could possibly set out their henges, standing stones and ley-lines that thread with accurate precision across the length and breadth of the country without today’s sophisticated computers
and satellite technology.
The erosion of time dictates that these remain untold secrets. There is one thing though that hasn’t changed too much down the intervening millennia – the magnificent views from the top.
Four or five thousand years from now I wonder if someone might stand at this very spot with the same thoughts in mind. n