The West Lothian area has been extensively mined for a variety of minerals and metals, so much that parts of the county appear to be hollow!
The remains of a local silver mines can be found nearby and in the 17th century the Bathgate Hills were extensively mined for Silver.
In the autumn of 1606, Sandy Maund, a Scottish collier, while prospecting for coal by the "Silver bourne, under the hill called Kerne-Popple" in the Bathgate Hills, now Hilderston in the central valley of Scotland, made a chance discovery of native silver. The event was vividly described thirteen years later by Stephen Atkinson, a metals assayer who became actively involved at the mine. "And this Scotsman, by meanes of digging the ground, hitt upon the heavy peece of redd-mettle; no man thereabouts ever saw the like. It was raced with small stringes, like unto haiers, or thredds.".
Forestry work has been ongoing since the storms in January, and some areas are cordoned off.
Please respect the notices and do not enter areas which have been restricted.
Thanks to the Beecraigs Country Park Rangers for allowing these caches to be placed.
