Coordinates: 55°54′08″N 3°38′35″W / 55.902359°N 3.643097°W / 55.902359; -3.643097

Bathgate
Scottish Gaelic: Both Chèit
Scots: Bathket
Bathgate  Bathgate shown within West Lothian
Population	15,068 [1] (2001 census) est. 16,300[2] (2006), excluding Blackburn
OS grid reference	NS973689
Council area	West Lothian
Lieutenancy area	West Lothian
Country	Scotland
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	BATHGATE
Postcode district	EH47, EH48
Dialling code	01506
Police	Lothian and Borders
Fire	Lothian and Borders
Ambulance	Scottish
EU Parliament	Scotland
UK Parliament	Linlithgow and East Falkirk
Scottish Parliament	Linlithgow
	Lothian
List of places: UK • Scotland •

Bathgate (Scots: Bathket, Scottish Gaelic: Both Chèit)^[3] is a town in West Lothian, Scotland, on the M8 motorway 5 miles (8 km) west of Livingston. Nearby towns are Armadale, Blackburn, Linlithgow, Livingston, West Calder, and Whitburn. Edinburgh Airport is 13 miles (21 km) away. Situated 2 miles (3 km) south of the Neolithic burial site at Cairnpapple Hill, Bathgate and the surrounding area show signs of habitation since about 3500 BC.

History[link]

Medieval (circa 1100 – 1500)[link]

Bathgate first enters the chronicles of history in a confirmation charter by King Malcolm IV of Scotland (1141 – 9 December 1165). In royal charters of the 12th, 13th and 14th centuries, the name of Bathgate has appeared as: Bathchet (1160), Bathket (1250) and Bathgetum (1316). Batket in the 14th century, and by the 15th appeared as both Bathgat and Bathcat. The name is a “manifest corruption” of the original Cumbric derivation meaning Boar Wood (baedd coed).^[4]

In 1315, the daughter of King Robert I of Scotland (Robert The Bruce), Marjorie (alternatively spelt Margery) Bruce, married Walter Stewart (or Steward) (1293– 1326), the 6th Lord High Steward of Scotland. The dowry to her husband included the lands and castle of Bathgate. Walter died at the castle on 9 April 1326. This marriage is still celebrated in an annual pageant forming part of the Bathgate Procession & John Newlands Festival, colloquially known as the Bathgate Galaday (or Gala day).

In the 1846 book A Topographical Dictionary of Scotland, Samuel Lewis writes:

Another antiquarian, W. Jardin, in the Statistical Account of Scotland Vol I (1793), referring to Walter Stewart states:

Dating from around the same time the remains of Bathgate's former parish church still stand at Kirkton. The original 12th century construction was absorbed by a later build in 1739 when a new church was erected on the same site. The walls of the church were consolidated in 1846.^[5] This simple whitewashed edifice served the community until its last service on 9 April 1882. King Malcolm IV makes reference to the original church in a charter, granting it to the monks of Holyrood Abbey. Records show that Holyrood Abbey gave the church to the abbot and monks of Newbattle Abbey in 1327.

17th – 18th century[link]

In 1606 silver ore was found at nearby Hilderston, in the shadow of Cairnpapple Hill, by a prospecting collier, Sandy Maund.^[6] This accidental discovery began a short-lived crown “project” in the area. Advisers to King James VI of Scotland became aware of the mine and in April 1608 repossessed the land for the crown. By December 1608 it was clear that the ore in the mine was of varying quality and by March 1613 all efforts to extract silver from the area were abandoned.

Bathgate remained a very small rural community until the middle of the 19th century with only a foray by Covenanters in the 17th century to unrest the populace. Francis Groome, in the Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (1882-4) writes:

Robert Louis Stevenson, in the book Lay Morals, Part 2: The Pentland Rising. A Page of History further elucidates upon this night in November 1666:

His depiction goes on to describe how the half the army perished in the freezing weather as they headed towards the Pentland Hills.

19th century[link]

Established around 1800, the Glenmavis Distillery in Bathgate was purchased in 1831 by one John McNab, who produced the eponymous MacNab's Celebrated Glenmavis Dew from the site until the distillery's closure in 1910. In 1885, the distillery was producing 80,000 gallons of single malt a year which was transported to Scotland, England and the colonies.^[7]

In 1831 Bathgate Academy was built. Designed by the Edinburgh architects R&R Dickson this is Bathgate's only large public building of historic merit. It was endowed by a Jamaican plantation owner, John Newlands.^[5]

By the opening of Edinburgh and Bathgate Railway in 1849, local mines and quarries were extracting coal, lime, and ironstone.

James Young’s discovery of cannel coal in the Boghead area of Bathgate, and the subsequent opening of the Bathgate Chemical Works in 1852, the world's first commercial oil-works, manufacturing paraffin oil and paraffin wax, signalled an end to the rural community of previous centuries. When the cannel coal resources dwindled around 1866, Young started distilling paraffin from much more readily available shale.^[8] The landscape of the Lothians is still dotted with the orange spoil heaps (called bings) from this era. Collieries and quarries and the associated industries (brickworks, steelworks)^[8] were the main employers in Bathgate as the 19th century drew to a close.

20th century[link]

Bathgate on a frosty day in December 2005

Bathgate Partnership Centre - Lindsay House, opened October 28th 2011

In the mid-20th century, many local industries were closed and West Lothian was designated a Special Development Area. In such areas, extra financial inducements were offered by the British government to assist companies wishing to relocate. As a result, in 1961, the BMC — which consisted of the merged Austin Motor Company and Morris Motors — located a new truck and tractor plant in Bathgate rather than expanding their Longbridge plant as originally planned. The plant closed in 1986.

On 24 March 1986,^[9] the Bathgate-Edinburgh railway line was re-opened to passengers for the first time since the 1950s. This railway line was extended as the Airdrie-Bathgate Rail Link to Airdrie allowing train services to run between Glasgow Queen Street and Edinburgh Waverley via Bathgate on time and on budget in December 2010.^[10]

The world's oldest known reptile fossil, Westlothiana lizziae (affectionately referred to as Lizzie), was discovered in East Kirkton Quarry, Bathgate in 1987; it is now in the Museum of Scotland.^[11]

Early in 1992,^[12] the US company Motorola opened a mobile phone manufacturing (Personal Communications Sector or PCS) plant at Easter Inch in Bathgate (now the Pyramids Business Park). In 2001, the global market for mobile phones dropped sharply and as a consequence, despite pressure from the highest levels of UK government,^[13] on 24 April 2001 Motorola announced the closure of the plant and the loss of 3,106 jobs.^[14] The 93-acre (380,000 m²) site is now occupied by HMRC.^[15]

Notable Bathgate residents have included David Tennant (born in Bathgate but raised in Paisley); his father Alexander McDonald, former Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland; Sir James Young Simpson, the discoverer of the anaesthetic properties of chloroform; and John Newland, one of the town's major benefactors. Newland emigrated to the West Indies. There he became a rich planter, using slaves to maintain and harvest his sugar-cane crop. His benefaction allowed the establishment of Bathgate Academy, which was founded in 1833. He is remembered today by an annual pageant (known as the Procession or Newland's day), held on the first Saturday in June.

The local secondary schools are Bathgate Academy and St Kentigern's Academy. The Bathgate primary schools are Balbardie, St Mary's, Boghall, St Columba's, and Windyknowe. A new primary school, Simpson Primary, opened on the site of the British Leyland Factory in August 2007. It serves the new area of town called Wester Inch. The school is named after James Young Simpson.

Industry and business[link]

Bathgate was a very industrial town in its time. It played host to the Menzies' Foundry ^[16] (demolished due to the railway link construction) and British Leyland was sited in Bathgate. It had two train stations, Bathgate North and South. There was a link that ran from the site of the current station, along Menzies Road, at the rear of one side of Mill Road all the way to Easton Road where the station was. This was used for the coal-mining industries and the foundries.

Shopping[link]

Bathgate has a great variety of shops. In the late 19th century the Co-operative Halls were built and the served the community^[17] until closure in the 1980s. It provided a bakery, butchery, funeral parlour, grocery store, clothing, furniture and even a dance hall. Even after the closure the Co-operative dance hall was used as the Room At The Top It caught fire in 1997 but now it has reopened in a new purpose-built venue on Menzies Road.

There are chain stores as well such as Greggs, W.H. Smith, Home Bargains.

Demographics[link]

Sport[link]

Football[link]

Bathgate is home to the junior football club Bathgate Thistle, who won the Scottish Junior Cup in 2008.^[18] They play at the Creamery Park. Their stadium is also used for activities such as football roadshows.

Culture[link]

Land art[link]

Part of the M8 Art Project saw the artist Patricia Leighton's 'Sawtooth Ramps' project being built in 1993. The sculpture is 1,000 feet (300 m) long and consists of seven 36-foot (11 m) high ramps. The artist based the design on local geographic features (drumlins) and the shape of the surrounding bings.^[19] The pyramidal shape of the sculpture gave rise to the name of the nearby Pyramids Business park. In April 2007, a local farmer painted the sheep which graze on the pyramids bright red with a harmless sheep spray.^[20]

In 1998 the artist Lumir Soukup built the earth sculpture The Bathgate Face at Wester Inch. By taking facial measurements of more than 1200 Bathgate residents, the artist was able to create an 'average profile' which was the basis for the sculpture. Development in the area in 2004 threatened to demolish the sculpture but the artist managed to persuade developers to build around his work.^[21]

Partner towns[link]

• Cran-Gevrier, France^{[citation needed]}

and as part of West Lothian with:

• Hochsauerland, Germany

References[link]

• Price, Glanville, Languages in Britain and Ireland (p122), ISBN 978-0-631-21581-3
• Lewis, Samuel, A Topographical Dictionary of Scotland (1846), ISBN 978-0-8063-1255-2
• Groome, Francis Hindes, Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland: A Survey of Scottish Topography, Statistical, Biographical and Historical, ISBN 978-1-85506-572-7
• Sinclair, Sir John, Statistical Account of Scotland, ISBN 978-0-7158-1001-9
• Stevenson, Robert Louis, Lay Morals, ISBN 978-1-4142-1587-7
• Hendrie, William Fyfe and Mackie, Allister, The Bathgate Book, ISBN 978-0-9541426-0-5
• Hendrie, William Fyfe, Bathgate, ISBN 978-0-7524-2125-4
• Hendrie, William Fyfe, Bathgate in Old Picture Postcards, ISBN 978-90-288-3167-4

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Bathgate

• Undiscovered Scotland, Bathgate
• www.westlothian.com, Bathgate
• National Library of Scotland: SCOTTISH SCREEN ARCHIVE (archive film about Bathgate Festival Week, June 1951)

Chris Bathgate
Chris Bathgate performing at Neu! Club in Madrid, Spain in 2007
Background information
Born	(1982-04-21) April 21, 1982 (age 30) Pecatonica, IL
Genres	Folk, indie folk, acoustic, indie rock, alternative rock
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, musician, guitarist
Instruments	Acoustic guitar, piano, electric guitar, vocals
Years active	1999-present
Labels	Quite Scientific Records, (UK) Tangled Up!/One Little Indian
Website	chrisbathgate.org

Chris Bathgate (born April 21, 1982) is an American indie folk singer-songwriter and musician. He is prominent in the Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti folk music scene in Michigan.^[1] In 2007, Bathgate signed to Quite Scientific Records, on which he released his most prominent album to date, A Cork Tale Wake. His most recent release was Salt Year, a full length album released on April 26, 2011.^[2] Bathgate has been compared to folk singer-songwriters Sufjan Stevens, Iron & Wine, and Damien Jurado.^[3]

Biography[link]

Early life[link]

Chris Bathgate was born in Pecatonica, IL on April 21, 1982. He began playing music at the age of 16, and relocated to Ann Arbor, Michigan to attend the University of Michigan as an Art & Design student.^[4][5]

Early career[link]

Bathgate started out in a heavy metal band for several years before turning to folk. While in Ann Arbor, Bathgate then formed the folk trio Ambitious Brothers with Michael Beauchamp and Karl Sturk, releasing a few records before breaking up in 2005.^[4]

During a trip to Northern Michigan, Bathgate and fellow University of Michigan student Jansen Swy along with other friends set music to Swy's poetry, calling the short-lived project The Descent of the Holy Ghost Church. Later on, while attending the New England Literature Program, a University of Michigan summer program in Maine, Descent resurfaced when the group managed to book itself as an opening act for Magnolia Electric Company at Detroit's Magic Stick. The group, which included Matt Jones, Louis Dickinson, and Carol Gray, disbanded in 2006.^[6]

Solo career[link]

In 2001, Bathgate launched his solo career, while continuing to experiment with different groups for several years. He self-released multiple EPs and albums including Twilight Unlimited in 2002, Create and Consume in 2003, and Silence Is For Suckers in 2005. He would often sell his records to local Ann Arbor music store Encore Records.^[7][8]

In 2006, Bathgate simultaneously released two albums, A Detailed Account of Three Dreams and Throatsleep, as well as an EP, The Single Road I Longed For. During the year, Real Detroit Weekly named Bathgate 'Best Solo Artist in Michigan'.^[1]

In 2007, Bathgate linked up with Saturday Looks Good To Me as an opening act for their European tour.

Later in 2007, Bathgate signed to Michigan record label Quite Scientific Records,^[1] on which he released A Cork Tale Wake on June 26. He spent the remainder of the year on a national tour. The album received high praise for its "bruised sounding beauty" and short, simple songs that "let his voice do the talking".^[3] On January 15, 2008, NPR Music chose the opening track "Serpentine" as its Song of the Day.^[9] A Cork Tale Wake was released in the UK on Tangled Up!/One Little Indian.

In February 2008, Bathgate released a limited EP, Wait, Skeleton, on Quite Scientific Records.

In March 2008, 2009, and 2011, Bathgate played at the SXSW Music Festival in Austin, TX.

April 2011 saw the release of his second nationally distributed full length, "Salt Year" on Quite Scientific Records.

Musical style[link]

Bathgate's music has been described as "stripped down with liberal amounts of acoustic guitar, piano, strings, and even a little horn work here and there", with all these instruments meant to "compliment Bathgate's voice".^[3]

Lyrics and songwriting[link]

Bathgate often references hometown Ann Arbor, Michigan sites in his songs. He references a local Ann Arbor street, Ann St., in "The Last Parade On Ann St.". Bathgate lived at 609 Ann St. "Madison House" refers to the former backyard music venue Madison House in Ann Arbor.^[8]

Style of live shows[link]

Bathgate is known for a using a wide range of techniques, instruments, and supporting musicians during live shows.

Early in his career, he would play Hayden Carruth poems, read by him, through the amp, as he intertwined his music. He has used loop pedals to layer his instruments and vocals during shows, an e-bow on his electric guitar to mimic the sound of bows on strings, and a mountain dulcimer.^[8]

Influences[link]

Bathgate has cited influences including American novelists John Steinbeck and Kurt Vonnegut, poets Suzanne Hancock (Another Name For Bridge) and Josh Bell (No Planets Strike), and musicians They Were Thieves, Matt Jones, and Hezekiah Jones.^[8]

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

• Dead Eyed Stranger (2001)
• Create and Consume (2003)
• Time Heals All Wounds (2004)
• Silence Is For Suckers (2005)
• The Single Road I Longed For (2006)
• A Detailed Account of Three Dreams (2006)
• Throatsleep (2006)
• A Cork Tale Wake (2007)
• A Cork Tale Wake (2008) UK
• Salt Year (2011)

EPs and singles[link]

• Twilight Unlimited (2002)
• A Detailed Account of Three Dreams (2006)
• Auld Lang Syne (2007)
• Serpentine (2008) UK
• Restless (2008) UK
• Wait, Skeleton. (2008)
• Do What's Easy (2008) UK
• The Asheville Squints (2008)
• No Silver (2011)
• Poor Eliza (2011) CA

References[link]

External links[link]

• Home page
• MySpace page

Andrew James Bathgate (born August 28, 1932) is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey centre who played 17 seasons in the National Hockey League for the New York Rangers, Toronto Maple Leafs, Detroit Red Wings and Pittsburgh Penguins.

Playing career[link]

Andy Bathgate was a popular star player of the New York Rangers and also holds the honor of being declared the MVP of both the NHL and WHL. He started his professional career with the Cleveland Barons of the AHL in the 1952–53 season. He bounced between the Vancouver Canucks and the Rangers for two seasons before settling with the Rangers in 1954–55. He played 10 full seasons with the Rangers, where he became a popular player in New York as well as a top-tiered player in the NHL.

In December 1959, Bathgate authored a controversial complaint about a "bloodsport" tendency he felt was discrediting the game:

"....Players in the old N.H.L. routinely tried to injure one another, and whether or not they stood up for teammates in such instances, it got so bad that in 1959 the Rangers’ Andy Bathgate was compelled to write an article for True magazine, headlined “Atrocities on Ice.” As this post from the blog Fellowship of Hockey relates, Bathgate’s article actually named the league’s guiltiest parties when it came to spearing: Montreal’s Doug Harvey and Tom Johnson, Boston’s Fern Flaman, Chicago’s Ted Lindsay and Pierre Pilote, and Lou Fontinato from Bathgate’s own Rangers. “None of them seems to care that he’ll be branded as a hockey killer,” Bathgate wrote — for which the N.H.L. fined him and installed a rule, still in force, prohibiting players from writing articles of this nature..."^[1]

In 1961–62, Bathgate and Bobby Hull led the league in points, but Bathgate lost the Art Ross Trophy to Bobby Hull because Hull had more goals.

Andy Bathgate's career was frustrated by the mediocre play of the Rangers and a nagging knee problem. He was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs during the 1963–64 season, where he immediately helped Toronto to a Stanley Cup championship, and later was dealt to the Detroit Red Wings, where he helped the team reach the Stanley Cup Finals in 1965–66. Bathgate was chosen by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 1967 NHL Expansion Draft, and after one season, he returned to the Canucks where he would help lead the team to two consecutive Lester Patrick Cup victories, in 1969 and 1970. His best professional year was with them, where he scored 108 points in 1969–70. That performance gave him the George Leader Cup, the top player award in the WHL. Andy Bathgate's final NHL year was with the Penguins in 1971; 1971–1972 he was playing coach for HC Ambri-Piotta in Switzerland. He came briefly out of retirement three seasons later to play for the Vancouver Blazers of the WHA, which he had coached the previous season, but retired for good after 11 games.

Andy Bathgate won the Hart Memorial Trophy for the MVP of the NHL in 1958–59 after scoring 40 goals, which was no easy feat in that era. He is famous for contributing to one of the greatest innovations in NHL history. Renowned for the strength of his slapshot, during a game against the Montreal Canadiens, Bathgate shot the puck into the face of Jacques Plante, forcing Plante to receive stitches. When Plante returned to the ice, he was wearing a mask. That started a trend that continues to this day.

Post-retirement[link]

Bathgate currently owns and manages a 20-acre (81,000 m²) driving range in Mississauga, Ontario. During the winters he helps coach his grandson's hockey team. He has also stated that he is unlikely to play in any more old-timer's games, citing recent hip surgery. "Those old fellas get too serious. They'll start hooking you." ^[2]

The Rangers retired his #9 along with Harry Howell's #3 in a special ceremony before the February 22, 2009, match against the Maple Leafs. Bathgate joined Adam Graves, whose #9 had been hoisted to the Madison Square Garden rafters 19 nights earlier.^[3] Graves called Bathgate "the greatest Ranger to ever wear the #9".

Family connections[link]

His grandson and namesake, Andy Bathgate, born 26 February 1991, was drafted by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft. He currently plays for the Plymouth Whalers of the Ontario Hockey League. His rights were relinquished by the Penguins on May 31, 2011, making him eligible to re-enter the 2011 NHL Entry Draft.^[4]

Awards and achievements[link]

• Memorial Cup championship (1952)
• Hart Memorial Trophy Winner (1959)
• NHL First All-Star Team right wing (1959 and 1962)
• NHL Second All-Star Team right wing (1958 and 1963)
• Stanley Cup championship (1964)
• Lester Patrick Cup (WHL) championships (1969 and 1970)
• WHL MVP (1970)
• Inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1978
• In 1998, he was ranked number 58 on The Hockey News' list of the 100 Greatest Hockey Players
• Selected to Manitoba's All-Century First All-Star Team
• “Honoured Member” of the Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame
• Inducted into the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame and Museum in 1993
• Sweater #9 retired by the New York Rangers on February 22, 2009^[5]
• Ranked No. 8 on the all-time list of New York Rangers in the book 100 Ranger Greats (John Wiley & Sons, 2009).

Career statistics[link]

See also[link]

• Captain (ice hockey)
• Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame and Museum

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Andy Bathgate

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Andy Bathgate

• Andy Bathgate's biography at Legends of Hockey
• Andy Bathgate's career stats at The Internet Hockey Database
• Andy Bathgate's biography at Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame
• Andy Bathgate’s biography at Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame and Museum
• Anderson, Dave. "Two Rangers Sweaters Will Rise Where a Cup Banner Didn't," The New York Times, Sunday, February 22, 2009.