Albyn and Greendykes shale bings near Broxburn, West Lothian.
Greendykes shale bings near Broxburn, West Lothian. The largest and highest of the distinctive pink-coloured oil shale bings of West Lothian, the Greendykes Bing lies a half-mile (1 km) north northeast of Broxburn and a similar distance south of Winchburgh. Its top forms a significant grass-covered plateau which reaches a height of 185m (606 feet) above sea level, or 95m (311 feet) above the surrounding landscape. Its steep slopes are remarkably stable, owing to the mixed size of the shale substrate. Abandoned since 1925, this remarkable landmark is a reminder of the oil shale industry pioneered in 1858 in West Lothian by James 'Paraffin' Young (1811-83), which soon comprised 120 oil works extracting more than 100 million litres (22 million gallons) of oil from 3 million tonnes of shale annually, and employing up to 40,000 people. By the second decade of the 20th century, this industry began meeting competition from crude oil pumped directly from the ground in the USA and the Middle East, but it was to continue into the 1960s.
Size: 4550px × 2763px
Location: Broxburn, West Lothian, Scotland
Photo credit: © Ian Rutherford / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: albyn, bing, bings, britain, broxburn, great, greendykes, heritage, history, industrial, industry, james, kingdom, landmark, lothian, man, oil, paraffin, relic, scotland, scottish, shale, uk, united, waste, west, winter, young
