0:00:06 > 0:00:09Scotland has some of the most spectacular natural landscape
0:00:09 > 0:00:11in the world.
0:00:18 > 0:00:22Its oldest rocks were formed a staggering three billion years ago.
0:00:25 > 0:00:27But some of our most interesting geology
0:00:27 > 0:00:30isn't quite as old as it might seem.
0:00:31 > 0:00:36This hill was only created around 1941.
0:00:37 > 0:00:40That's because it's a bing,
0:00:40 > 0:00:43made up from the spoils from Scotland's last shale oil works.
0:00:48 > 0:00:51More than 100 years before oil was discovered in the North Sea,
0:00:51 > 0:00:54the world's first commercial oil strike was made
0:00:54 > 0:00:58here in the flatlands between Scotland's two largest cities.
0:01:00 > 0:01:02It signalled the start of an oil boom
0:01:02 > 0:01:04that would transform this landscape.
0:01:08 > 0:01:12Workers flooded in and towns sprung up overnight.
0:01:12 > 0:01:15Fortunes were made and lives were lost.
0:01:15 > 0:01:17EXPLOSIONS BOOM
0:01:17 > 0:01:20And all in the name of this - oil shale.
0:01:22 > 0:01:24This is the tale of the rise and fall
0:01:24 > 0:01:27of the world's first oil industry,
0:01:27 > 0:01:30the forgotten story of Scotland's first oil rush.
0:01:41 > 0:01:45As a geologist, I've seen some fascinating places...
0:01:46 > 0:01:48..but nothing quite like this.
0:01:52 > 0:01:54What a crazy landscape.
0:01:58 > 0:02:01It just looks like you're, I don't know, on a Star Trek set.
0:02:03 > 0:02:06This is Albyn Bing, near Broxburn.
0:02:06 > 0:02:09At one time this was part of a massive oil works
0:02:09 > 0:02:13and to understand what's gone on here, you have to look very closely.
0:02:16 > 0:02:18Ah, this is great.
0:02:20 > 0:02:22Just a slice through the bing.
0:02:22 > 0:02:24You can look at what we call a stratigraphy,
0:02:24 > 0:02:30the layers of strata inside, except these are made of fragments of shale
0:02:30 > 0:02:33that have been processed, the oil's been taken out.
0:02:33 > 0:02:35And then it's been just dumped behind,
0:02:35 > 0:02:38so you've got these layers that would have continued
0:02:38 > 0:02:39up above our head.
0:02:41 > 0:02:44What we are seeing here is the geological evidence
0:02:44 > 0:02:47of a century of intensive shale mining.
0:02:47 > 0:02:51Not to be confused with modern-day shale gas and its controversies,
0:02:51 > 0:02:54oil shale was blasted with explosives
0:02:54 > 0:02:56then dug out of the ground by hand.
0:02:56 > 0:03:00It was subjected to intense heat before oil could be extracted.
0:03:04 > 0:03:09So this is a history - 100, 150 years of man-made geology.
0:03:14 > 0:03:17To understand the forces that created all of this,
0:03:17 > 0:03:20we have to go much further back than a couple of hundred years.
0:03:28 > 0:03:30HE GRUNTS
0:03:31 > 0:03:34- Are you sure it's this way? - Yeah, just down here.
0:03:34 > 0:03:36I trust you.
0:03:36 > 0:03:40This may seem like an unlikely place to start my search for oil,
0:03:40 > 0:03:43but this is Scotland and its landscape was never going
0:03:43 > 0:03:45to give up its treasures easily.
0:03:46 > 0:03:48Nearly went there, I nearly went there.
0:03:48 > 0:03:52'Luckily my guide is Tina Doyle, known as Teenzie,
0:03:52 > 0:03:56'and she happens to be someone who knows these woods well.'
0:03:56 > 0:03:57So how far is it from here?
0:03:57 > 0:04:00Eh, just a wee bit round the corner. It's no' far, really.
0:04:03 > 0:04:06See, the rock layers are amazing here.
0:04:06 > 0:04:09That's the shale, there should be...
0:04:09 > 0:04:10A-ha!
0:04:13 > 0:04:15As a geologist, you can never stop.
0:04:17 > 0:04:20'This is shale before oil is extracted.'
0:04:20 > 0:04:23Look at that. I always try and look to see if you get fossils.
0:04:23 > 0:04:25- Sometimes you get fossil fish and things like that.- Yeah.
0:04:25 > 0:04:28These layers are little layers of mud
0:04:28 > 0:04:31and inside, it's all the organics.
0:04:31 > 0:04:35And then in these little thin, what you call laminations, oil.
0:04:37 > 0:04:42350 million years ago, this part of Scotland was a vast lagoon
0:04:42 > 0:04:45surrounded by tropical forests.
0:04:45 > 0:04:47The mud that settled at the bottom of this lagoon
0:04:47 > 0:04:52was rich in dead plants and animals that over time decomposed
0:04:52 > 0:04:54to form kerogen-bearing oil shale.
0:04:57 > 0:05:01Lying at depths of up to 2,500 feet, these mineral-rich seams
0:05:01 > 0:05:03were to be found in a band stretching south
0:05:03 > 0:05:05from the Firth of Forth,
0:05:05 > 0:05:09an area of 75 square miles covering a large swathe
0:05:09 > 0:05:12of what is now known as West Lothian.
0:05:13 > 0:05:17But its value wasn't discovered until the mid-19th century.
0:05:18 > 0:05:21Teenzie is taking me to one of earliest known shale mines.
0:05:24 > 0:05:25How did you find it?
0:05:25 > 0:05:29- I used to play in it as a kid, eh, so...- Ah, right.
0:05:29 > 0:05:32- This was your playground?- It was. - Cool, what a cool playground.
0:05:35 > 0:05:39- Is this it?- It is. It's sort of black shadow in there.
0:05:39 > 0:05:41- That's where the entrance is. - Whereabouts?
0:05:41 > 0:05:42Just straight ahead.
0:05:42 > 0:05:45- Through there right in the back? - Yep.- I can just see a black...
0:05:45 > 0:05:48Aye, that's where the entrance is. A dark hole, aye.
0:05:49 > 0:05:52It may not look much, but this is all that is left
0:05:52 > 0:05:54of one of the first shale mines in Scotland.
0:05:57 > 0:06:00Oakbank Mine and its neighbouring oil works opened in the 1860s.
0:06:02 > 0:06:04Back then, this would have been a hive of activity.
0:06:06 > 0:06:07I'd never have spotted that.
0:06:07 > 0:06:09- It's quite hidden.- It is, isn't it?
0:06:09 > 0:06:11- Do you actually go in there? - Yeah, inside.
0:06:11 > 0:06:13We've come here in the middle of winter
0:06:13 > 0:06:15and with the river this high,
0:06:15 > 0:06:18there's no way we can get any closer today.
0:06:18 > 0:06:21Teenzie is one of a growing band of urban explorers,
0:06:21 > 0:06:25people who are drawn to forgotten or abandoned spaces.
0:06:25 > 0:06:28For her, this was a passion which began
0:06:28 > 0:06:30with the disused mines around her hometown.
0:06:34 > 0:06:36So what got you into this in the first place,
0:06:36 > 0:06:38wanting to go into places like that?
0:06:38 > 0:06:40My great-grandad used to be a miner.
0:06:40 > 0:06:42Right, so are you kind of fascinated by the mines, then?
0:06:42 > 0:06:46I am, aye. Sort of fascinated with anything underground, eh?
0:06:46 > 0:06:49- You've been born in the wrong generation.- I know, I have.
0:06:49 > 0:06:50I wish I could go back in time.
0:06:59 > 0:07:02Fortunately, along with her ropes, safety meter and torch,
0:07:02 > 0:07:04Teenzie also takes her camera
0:07:04 > 0:07:06on these excursions into the underworld.
0:07:08 > 0:07:12Her footage provides a rare glimpse into a forgotten past.
0:07:20 > 0:07:22It's a queer feeling...
0:07:23 > 0:07:29..realising how far down you are under the ground.
0:07:32 > 0:07:36Oh, you are doon below, you are doon in the bowels of the Earth.
0:07:36 > 0:07:41That's all I can say - you are in the bowels of the Earth for shale.
0:07:43 > 0:07:47If you went away from the pit bottom into the darkness,
0:07:47 > 0:07:49you couldnae see your finger.
0:07:49 > 0:07:51Pitch-black.
0:07:55 > 0:07:57You'd never get darkness like it
0:07:57 > 0:07:59anywhere in the world than down a mine -
0:07:59 > 0:08:02it was so pitch-black, you couldnae see anything.
0:08:07 > 0:08:11It's reckoned at least 150 mines like this were sunk
0:08:11 > 0:08:13into Scotland's shale fields
0:08:13 > 0:08:16and it transformed the landscape.
0:08:24 > 0:08:27I want to find out how a rural agricultural society
0:08:27 > 0:08:30suddenly changed into one at the forefront
0:08:30 > 0:08:32of global industrial innovation.
0:08:36 > 0:08:38In the early part of the 19th century,
0:08:38 > 0:08:42Scotland had some of the leading scholars and thinkers of the time.
0:08:42 > 0:08:44It seemed that anything was possible.
0:08:47 > 0:08:50The Victorians had this unshakeable belief in the power of progress.
0:08:50 > 0:08:53They believed that the men of science and industry
0:08:53 > 0:08:57could change the world through invention and hard graft.
0:08:57 > 0:08:59One of those men was the son of a carpenter
0:08:59 > 0:09:04who would go on to become the world's first oilman -
0:09:04 > 0:09:05James Young.
0:09:06 > 0:09:10Young was one of a new breed of inventor entrepreneurs.
0:09:11 > 0:09:12Born and raised in Glasgow,
0:09:12 > 0:09:14he quit school early to work with his father
0:09:14 > 0:09:17and got his first taste of academia
0:09:17 > 0:09:20while fitting windows at what is now Strathclyde University.
0:09:21 > 0:09:23Six years later, he was teaching
0:09:23 > 0:09:27chemistry at University College London.
0:09:27 > 0:09:30He wasn't just driven by scientific curiosity,
0:09:30 > 0:09:32he was a practical and principled man
0:09:32 > 0:09:35and he wanted to leave his mark on the world.
0:09:38 > 0:09:42In 1850, Young's attention was drawn to an interesting discovery made here -
0:09:43 > 0:09:47Boghead Estate, one mile south of Bathgate...
0:09:49 > 0:09:54..home to a mysterious mineral known as torbanite.
0:09:56 > 0:09:58This is a piece of torbanite,
0:09:58 > 0:10:01and geologically it's a complicated little beast.
0:10:01 > 0:10:04It's a halfway house between coal and oil shale.
0:10:04 > 0:10:06So, like coal, it's light and it's just packed
0:10:06 > 0:10:10full of organic material - something like 90% carbon.
0:10:10 > 0:10:13But you don't get the black stuff coming off, and in terms
0:10:13 > 0:10:15of its appearance and its texture,
0:10:15 > 0:10:18it's essentially an oil shale.
0:10:19 > 0:10:23'When this rock was first discovered here, amongst the small coalmines
0:10:23 > 0:10:25'dotted around the Boghead Estate,
0:10:25 > 0:10:27'it caused great excitement.'
0:10:27 > 0:10:28Have you tried digging in here?
0:10:28 > 0:10:31'I've come to meet farmer David Dalling, whose family have
0:10:31 > 0:10:35'worked this land since the middle of the 19th century.'
0:10:35 > 0:10:38If I was here 150 years ago, what would I have seen?
0:10:38 > 0:10:41Hundreds of small mine workings.
0:10:41 > 0:10:43- All over this area?- All over.
0:10:43 > 0:10:48Digging away to power the start of the Industrial Revolution, really.
0:10:48 > 0:10:51So, how did they find the torbanite here?
0:10:51 > 0:10:55It was two guys sunk a shaft, and as they dug the shaft
0:10:55 > 0:11:00they discovered this black substance that had peculiar properties.
0:11:00 > 0:11:03- It's a really volatile material, isn't it?- It's very volatile.
0:11:03 > 0:11:05You could light it with a match,
0:11:05 > 0:11:08it would burn as easily as that.
0:11:08 > 0:11:10It was very, very rich in oil.
0:11:10 > 0:11:12It was called parrot coal
0:11:12 > 0:11:14because when you lit it, it squawked like a parrot.
0:11:14 > 0:11:16IAIN LAUGHS
0:11:16 > 0:11:19They stockpiled a large quantity
0:11:19 > 0:11:20and it went on fire.
0:11:20 > 0:11:22So, as it burned, the oil was running down the road
0:11:22 > 0:11:25into the Almond river.
0:11:25 > 0:11:27And it burned for weeks and weeks, I believe.
0:11:27 > 0:11:30According to all accounts, anyway.
0:11:30 > 0:11:31It would be something to see.
0:11:31 > 0:11:33It would have been something to see, actually.
0:11:33 > 0:11:36'These rivers of fire came to the attention of James Young,
0:11:36 > 0:11:38'who had already begun experimenting
0:11:38 > 0:11:41'with ways of extracting oil from coal.
0:11:42 > 0:11:46'He enlisted the help of a talented chemist, Edward Meldrum,
0:11:46 > 0:11:47'a friend and collaborator.
0:11:50 > 0:11:53'Here at Meldrum's cottage near Bathgate, their quest for oil
0:11:53 > 0:11:56'would occupy many late nights.'
0:11:58 > 0:12:01Meldrum's chemistry lab was at the back of the house,
0:12:01 > 0:12:04and it was here that he and Young experimented,
0:12:04 > 0:12:07trying to turn torbanite into commercial oil.
0:12:07 > 0:12:10It wasn't quite like getting blood out of a stone,
0:12:10 > 0:12:12but it wasn't far off.
0:12:14 > 0:12:19My plan is to get the oil from coal by distilling it.
0:12:19 > 0:12:21In theory it was simple.
0:12:21 > 0:12:26It had to be mined, ground into smaller pieces,
0:12:26 > 0:12:28and then heated to a vapour.
0:12:28 > 0:12:30Young realised early on that the key
0:12:30 > 0:12:35to successfully producing oil would be in the refining.
0:12:35 > 0:12:39Using every ounce of his scientific knowledge and patience,
0:12:39 > 0:12:42he finally came up with a process he believed could work.
0:12:44 > 0:12:46Here's the oil I've got from it.
0:12:48 > 0:12:51Real mineral oil.
0:12:52 > 0:12:56Putting his theory into practice required planning
0:12:56 > 0:12:58and a huge investment.
0:12:58 > 0:13:00When it was first built, Young's refinery was
0:13:00 > 0:13:02known as the Secret Works.
0:13:02 > 0:13:06It was surrounded by high stone walls, its heavy wooden gates
0:13:06 > 0:13:08were constantly guarded,
0:13:08 > 0:13:11and all workers were sworn to secrecy.
0:13:12 > 0:13:15I think it must have been very strange for the local residents.
0:13:15 > 0:13:19There were very few factories in the area at that time.
0:13:19 > 0:13:21Most people still worked in agriculture or,
0:13:21 > 0:13:23Bathgate was very much a weaving village,
0:13:23 > 0:13:26so nothing like that would've been seen before.
0:13:26 > 0:13:30It apparently had very high palisade or palling round about it
0:13:30 > 0:13:33so you really couldn't see what was going on inside.
0:13:33 > 0:13:35The workers only knew their own bit of their job,
0:13:35 > 0:13:40so they didn't have an overall idea of what was being done there.
0:13:40 > 0:13:45Central to the whole operation was a cast-iron chamber called a retort.
0:13:48 > 0:13:51The torbanite was crushed by heavy steel rollers
0:13:51 > 0:13:54and tipped into a hopper at the top of the retort.
0:13:56 > 0:13:58It was then subjected to an intense
0:13:58 > 0:14:01but controlled heat for up to 24 hours.
0:14:06 > 0:14:10This released the oil vapour from the shale.
0:14:10 > 0:14:13This vapour was drawn off and transferred into huge
0:14:13 > 0:14:15stacks of iron pipes.
0:14:15 > 0:14:19Here it was cooled and condensed into thick black crude oil.
0:14:20 > 0:14:25Young's true genius lay in the perfection of the refining process.
0:14:25 > 0:14:27By repeated distillation, he discovered
0:14:27 > 0:14:31he was able to separate this crude oil into different products.
0:14:33 > 0:14:37At first, the market for his oil was as lubricating oil.
0:14:37 > 0:14:40But he began to realise, as he refined the processes,
0:14:40 > 0:14:43that he had a very good lighting oil.
0:14:43 > 0:14:46Lamps at that time worked on whale oil,
0:14:46 > 0:14:50which apparently was quite dirty, it was smelly, and it had a
0:14:50 > 0:14:54very sad tendency to burst into flames and it was quite dangerous.
0:14:54 > 0:14:57A lot of deaths were caused in that way.
0:14:58 > 0:15:02Young's oil came on to the market at exactly the right time.
0:15:02 > 0:15:05British Empire was expanding, industrial activity was increasing,
0:15:05 > 0:15:09and people were crying out for safe, affordable light.
0:15:09 > 0:15:13Young knew that providing that would be the key to growing the business.
0:15:17 > 0:15:20Young, in another one of his flashes of inspiration, realised that
0:15:20 > 0:15:25if this light oil could be refined to a certain degree
0:15:25 > 0:15:28and if the right sort of oil lamp was there available,
0:15:28 > 0:15:31then he had this cheap, or relatively cheap,
0:15:31 > 0:15:33fuel for paraffin lamps,
0:15:33 > 0:15:37and there'd be a whole new domestic market for that product.
0:15:39 > 0:15:42He produced this lighting oil that was clean and safe
0:15:42 > 0:15:44and didn't have too bad a smell,
0:15:44 > 0:15:48and he then had to produce a market for this new product.
0:15:48 > 0:15:51So he set up a very large lamp factory and he marketed
0:15:51 > 0:15:56these lamps in a quite modern way, really, and a very intensive way.
0:15:59 > 0:16:02You buy our lamp and you buy our fuel for it.
0:16:04 > 0:16:08He created a market for the product that he had already produced.
0:16:08 > 0:16:11So, a very modern and astute businessman, I think.
0:16:13 > 0:16:16Young's lamps were bright, safe and easy to use,
0:16:16 > 0:16:19and they changed the way people set up their homes.
0:16:19 > 0:16:22Chairs were arranged to take advantage of the light,
0:16:22 > 0:16:25and that brought families closer together.
0:16:25 > 0:16:29It also made James Young and his partners very wealthy men.
0:16:39 > 0:16:42Young's high-growth, high-profits business enabled
0:16:42 > 0:16:44him to buy this place -
0:16:44 > 0:16:47Limefield House, near Polbeth.
0:16:50 > 0:16:52Known to the world as Paraffin Young,
0:16:52 > 0:16:58he moved here in 1855 and promptly gave it a Victorian makeover,
0:16:58 > 0:17:01even rekindling his carpentry skills to build these stairs.
0:17:04 > 0:17:06A devout Presbyterian, he wasn't given to
0:17:06 > 0:17:09elaborate displays of wealth.
0:17:10 > 0:17:13But he did allow himself the odd extravagance.
0:17:16 > 0:17:19This is a mini-replica of the Victoria Falls,
0:17:19 > 0:17:23which he built to celebrate his lifelong friendship with David Livingstone.
0:17:23 > 0:17:26Now, by the standard of today's oil oligarchs,
0:17:26 > 0:17:28these are pretty restrained gestures,
0:17:28 > 0:17:31but Young's fortune was vast
0:17:31 > 0:17:33and he was determined to keep it that way.
0:17:35 > 0:17:38He did everything in his power to protect his discoveries
0:17:38 > 0:17:43and his profits, taking out more than 45 patents.
0:17:43 > 0:17:46But there was one thing Young had no control over,
0:17:46 > 0:17:49and that was the finite supply of natural resources.
0:17:49 > 0:17:52His torbanite was running out.
0:17:52 > 0:17:54But rather than this being the end of the industry,
0:17:54 > 0:17:58Scotland's oil boom was just about to start.
0:18:00 > 0:18:03They may have exhausted the torbanite seam,
0:18:03 > 0:18:06but beneath West Lothian's soil another type of rock had been
0:18:06 > 0:18:08discovered that also produced oil.
0:18:12 > 0:18:15It would become known as oil shale,
0:18:15 > 0:18:17and across a swathe of fields and moors,
0:18:17 > 0:18:20there were seemingly untold reserves.
0:18:24 > 0:18:29Young wasn't alone in realising the potential of shale.
0:18:29 > 0:18:31In the 1860s, an enterprising mine owner
0:18:31 > 0:18:33by the name of Robert Bell got in on the act.
0:18:37 > 0:18:39He bought some land to mine,
0:18:39 > 0:18:40built a refinery,
0:18:40 > 0:18:44and turned Broxburn into Scotland's first boom town.
0:18:54 > 0:18:56Within a short space of time there was
0:18:56 > 0:18:59an astonishing 650 retorts
0:18:59 > 0:19:03producing 10,000 gallons of crude oil per day.
0:19:08 > 0:19:10It must have been like the Klondike back then.
0:19:10 > 0:19:13All those mines and works just popping up overnight.
0:19:13 > 0:19:17And all that noise, the smells, the clamour.
0:19:19 > 0:19:21Workmen poured in daily,
0:19:21 > 0:19:23transforming this rural village into what
0:19:23 > 0:19:25became known as Shaleopolis.
0:19:26 > 0:19:28It all happened very, very quickly,
0:19:28 > 0:19:34and there are accounts of sort of half-built cottages and muddy roads
0:19:34 > 0:19:37and odd-shaped works with big flares
0:19:37 > 0:19:40and flames coming out and holes in the ground
0:19:40 > 0:19:42all over the place where the shale was mined.
0:19:42 > 0:19:44So it must've been a really sort of lively
0:19:44 > 0:19:47and interesting place in the early days.
0:19:47 > 0:19:52The word was out - there was money to be made in shale.
0:19:52 > 0:19:54The map of West Lothian changed dramatically during
0:19:54 > 0:19:57the second part of the 19th century.
0:19:57 > 0:20:00Mines, refineries and oil works began emerging
0:20:00 > 0:20:02all over the landscape.
0:20:02 > 0:20:05And of course, those massive shale bings started
0:20:05 > 0:20:07to appear on the horizon.
0:20:07 > 0:20:10It's majestic, isn't it? Our very own Ayers Rock.
0:20:12 > 0:20:16This picture shows how quickly things changed for the people here.
0:20:18 > 0:20:20Shortly after it was taken,
0:20:20 > 0:20:22this farm was buried under the advancing
0:20:22 > 0:20:24mountain of shale looming behind it.
0:20:25 > 0:20:29Within a decade, Scotland was producing over 20 million gallons
0:20:29 > 0:20:31of crude oil a year -
0:20:31 > 0:20:34even exporting to mainland Europe and Scandinavia.
0:20:39 > 0:20:42Nowhere were these incredible changes more apparent
0:20:42 > 0:20:44than in Addiewell.
0:20:44 > 0:20:48Here, the world's biggest oil refinery was built in 1865.
0:20:48 > 0:20:52And to find out how quickly rural villages like this were transformed,
0:20:52 > 0:20:57I've come to meet retired schoolmaster John Watts.
0:20:57 > 0:21:01When the work started they were looking for a whole lot of workers,
0:21:01 > 0:21:03and so there were a high proportion
0:21:03 > 0:21:05- of single men came to the village.- Right.
0:21:05 > 0:21:08There was a shortage of beds as well,
0:21:08 > 0:21:10so what they did, apparently, was
0:21:10 > 0:21:16when the day shift men left for work the night shift men took their beds.
0:21:16 > 0:21:20- So they swapped round.- Did a kind of swap around. Yes, exactly.
0:21:21 > 0:21:24In shale towns the company built and owned the houses.
0:21:24 > 0:21:29They were hastily constructed and the majority weren't built to last.
0:21:32 > 0:21:35We're in Graham Street. It looks pretty empty,
0:21:35 > 0:21:37but in fact it would have been full of people.
0:21:37 > 0:21:40- So it was kind of a new town? - A totally new town.
0:21:40 > 0:21:43It grew from 23 souls right up to 1,300
0:21:43 > 0:21:45in the space of six years.
0:21:45 > 0:21:49They were rows of single storey houses, just one room each.
0:21:49 > 0:21:51They say that the man of the house could
0:21:51 > 0:21:54light his pipe off the fire without even moving from the bed.
0:21:54 > 0:21:56- Just stretching. - Aye, just stretch, aye.
0:21:56 > 0:21:58It did grow tremendously fast.
0:21:58 > 0:22:02The priority, of course, was to get the oil works built
0:22:02 > 0:22:06and the mines sunk and housing came a poor second
0:22:06 > 0:22:09and any social facilities a very poor third.
0:22:09 > 0:22:12So, for a long time, the population must have been living in very,
0:22:12 > 0:22:13very poor conditions.
0:22:16 > 0:22:19As demand for Scottish oil increased, so did
0:22:19 > 0:22:24the need for workers, and thousands arrived from across the Irish Sea.
0:22:24 > 0:22:27Tara Dolan's grandfather was one of them.
0:22:27 > 0:22:30He went from pit to pit, trying to get better wages.
0:22:30 > 0:22:33So, their first child was born in Tarbrax.
0:22:33 > 0:22:39But their next child was born in Livingston, Bathgate,
0:22:39 > 0:22:43Dechmont, Addiewell, before they moved to Newbury.
0:22:43 > 0:22:46My granny said her stuff was never off the cart.
0:22:46 > 0:22:49She had no sooner got her house the way she wanted it
0:22:49 > 0:22:51and then she'd have to move again.
0:22:54 > 0:22:57The Irish weren't always popular at that time
0:22:57 > 0:23:00because coming from extreme poverty in Ireland,
0:23:00 > 0:23:04they would find the wages in the shale industry very generous,
0:23:04 > 0:23:07so they would be willing to work for a penny or two a day cheaper
0:23:07 > 0:23:11than the local workforce and that of course was undercutting wages
0:23:11 > 0:23:15and made them quite unpopular at first.
0:23:15 > 0:23:18In Addiewell, the new immigrants settled in such huge numbers
0:23:18 > 0:23:22that it quickly became known as Little Ireland.
0:23:22 > 0:23:26- This village got a priest of their own.- Right.
0:23:26 > 0:23:30And when he first came, he had nowhere to live, no church,
0:23:30 > 0:23:31no nothing.
0:23:31 > 0:23:35- So eventually, they got their own church.- Yes.- Over there.- Yes.
0:23:35 > 0:23:38It took them a long time and they got their own church.
0:23:38 > 0:23:43If you look towards the church there, you'll see the land dips, but
0:23:43 > 0:23:48at first, originally, it dipped a lot more and it was all waterlogged.
0:23:48 > 0:23:51And the authorities actually said, "You cannot build there,
0:23:51 > 0:23:54"we will not allow it." So there was a real problem.
0:23:54 > 0:23:57Father Kenny gathered the men and said, "Can we help?
0:23:57 > 0:23:58"Can we do something?"
0:23:58 > 0:24:03And what they did was after their work, every day, they would come
0:24:03 > 0:24:08with wheelbarrows and they would gather spent shale
0:24:08 > 0:24:11- and bring it down and dump it. - To build it up.
0:24:11 > 0:24:15Gradually raise up the level and Father Kenny
0:24:15 > 0:24:20reckoned that they shifted 100,000 barrel loads to do it.
0:24:20 > 0:24:25- After a full day's work!- After a full day's work. And do you know?
0:24:25 > 0:24:30You could say in a sense this parish was built on shale.
0:24:30 > 0:24:32Yeah, that's a lovely story.
0:24:43 > 0:24:45Shale didn't just change the landscape.
0:24:45 > 0:24:47It changed the way people earned a living
0:24:47 > 0:24:50and although the scientists had found a way to extract
0:24:50 > 0:24:55oil from rock, those rocks still had to be dug out of the ground by hand.
0:24:55 > 0:25:01It took one tonne of shale to produce 25 gallons of oil.
0:25:01 > 0:25:04And it was down to the miners to keep the retorts fed.
0:25:10 > 0:25:14I was a miner's draw. I was drawing to my father.
0:25:14 > 0:25:16You shovelled the shale into the hutches
0:25:16 > 0:25:19and got it sent up to the surface.
0:25:19 > 0:25:26We would fill 18 hutches a day between two of us.
0:25:26 > 0:25:30So that would be like 18 tonnes.
0:25:31 > 0:25:37Shale miners were paid by the amount of shale in a hutch,
0:25:37 > 0:25:39rather than the dirt,
0:25:39 > 0:25:43so the shale inspector would go and look at the hutch and decide,
0:25:43 > 0:25:49was it 50% shale or 90% shale and therefore,
0:25:49 > 0:25:54it was a key position for deciding what the wages were.
0:25:54 > 0:25:57If they were behind, were getting held up,
0:25:57 > 0:25:59were getting their hutches full for any unknown reason,
0:25:59 > 0:26:02I used to see them hanging the piece on a string,
0:26:02 > 0:26:04take a bite of it as it went backwards and forwards
0:26:04 > 0:26:07to the hutches. There was a lot of miners did that.
0:26:09 > 0:26:11It was a competitive environment.
0:26:11 > 0:26:16The men would vie amongst themselves to produce the most shale
0:26:16 > 0:26:18and to be the strongest.
0:26:18 > 0:26:22So when you look at the pictures, just the muscles on them.
0:26:22 > 0:26:25You know, you'd have to be down the gym doing a lot of work
0:26:25 > 0:26:28nowadays to look anything like that.
0:26:28 > 0:26:32They were very proud of the fact that they could produce
0:26:32 > 0:26:33so much shale.
0:26:42 > 0:26:46I brought this along for us. This thing here is a hefty weight.
0:26:46 > 0:26:49Eddie McLean and Bert Carroll are retired shale miners
0:26:49 > 0:26:52and I'm joining them in the local pub to get a better
0:26:52 > 0:26:54idea of what life was really like underground.
0:26:54 > 0:26:58How much of that would you be shifting in a session?
0:26:58 > 0:27:02Well, we were doing maybe 20 hutches.
0:27:02 > 0:27:05So how much would be in a hutch?
0:27:05 > 0:27:08- A tonne.- Hutch is kind of the... A tonne?- A tonne.- OK.
0:27:08 > 0:27:12- So he was cutting the stuff down and your job was what?- The hutches.
0:27:12 > 0:27:14Put it in the hutches.
0:27:14 > 0:27:17- Yeah.- You work as a team, if you know.
0:27:17 > 0:27:21Everybody's doing what they can to get the money out the pit.
0:27:21 > 0:27:24The shale had to be brought down with explosives
0:27:24 > 0:27:28and it was the faceman's job to set the charges.
0:27:28 > 0:27:31- You had to drill your holes to do the blasting.- Right.
0:27:31 > 0:27:33And then you had to put the fuse in.
0:27:33 > 0:27:35The explosives went in to these holes.
0:27:35 > 0:27:38The explosives went into these holes and then you just walked away
0:27:38 > 0:27:40- and shouted "fire!" - Right.
0:27:40 > 0:27:42Hoping everybody heard it!
0:27:46 > 0:27:51Black powder was just set off by putting a strum into it.
0:27:55 > 0:27:58You'd seen on the old cowboy films where they light it
0:27:58 > 0:28:01and it goes "psss" and fizzles along.
0:28:04 > 0:28:07EXPLOSIONS
0:28:07 > 0:28:10Cos that must have been the dangerous bit.
0:28:10 > 0:28:13Just once you'd blasted and there was bit hanging off the roof.
0:28:13 > 0:28:15Blocks like this are heavy enough,
0:28:15 > 0:28:18and did you think it was a dangerous job when you were doing it?
0:28:18 > 0:28:23Oh, it was a dangerous job. We'd get the pick and do that to the roof.
0:28:23 > 0:28:27- There was - boom. You knew that had to come away.- Aye.
0:28:27 > 0:28:30Or it would come down some time.
0:28:32 > 0:28:36The most common injuries in mines were collapses of the roof
0:28:36 > 0:28:38when a great lump of shale would come off and
0:28:38 > 0:28:41because the seams were higher than in coal,
0:28:41 > 0:28:43the shale had further to fall and therefore,
0:28:43 > 0:28:47the injuries might be correspondingly greater or fatal.
0:28:47 > 0:28:50EXPLOSIONS
0:28:50 > 0:28:54The shots went off, the place would be full of smoke and dust.
0:28:54 > 0:28:57You'd sometimes take your light off your helmet
0:28:57 > 0:29:00and shine on the rails to find your way back in.
0:29:00 > 0:29:04And you started straight away among the dust and the smoke.
0:29:04 > 0:29:07There was no wait till it cleared.
0:29:07 > 0:29:11The roof all came in and that's when I got smashed up.
0:29:11 > 0:29:15And what I can always mind when they were getting me out,
0:29:15 > 0:29:20something else came through the roof.
0:29:20 > 0:29:24And me, when they were getting me out, it hit me
0:29:24 > 0:29:27and it split my head open.
0:29:27 > 0:29:31So that was my luck out that day.
0:29:31 > 0:29:35This technique of blasting through rock changed little over
0:29:35 > 0:29:38the years and many men lost their lives.
0:29:38 > 0:29:40The shots had been fired,
0:29:40 > 0:29:44we were getting ready to go in and start filling,
0:29:44 > 0:29:47and one of the lads didn't appear
0:29:47 > 0:29:52and we looked round to see where he was and all we saw was a slab
0:29:52 > 0:29:57that had come out of the roof and landed on top of him.
0:29:57 > 0:29:59So, that was him.
0:30:02 > 0:30:06The worst shale mining disaster happened in January 1947
0:30:06 > 0:30:10at Burngrange Pit in West Calder.
0:30:10 > 0:30:14It was a bitterly cold Friday evening when the siren sounded.
0:30:14 > 0:30:18It was a terrible time.
0:30:18 > 0:30:21It cast a gloom over everybody.
0:30:23 > 0:30:25Jean Shirlaw's father was John Stein,
0:30:25 > 0:30:28a mining agent for the oil company
0:30:28 > 0:30:32and Burngrange was one of the pits he was responsible for
0:30:32 > 0:30:33when the alarm was raised.
0:30:36 > 0:30:42He went in to the Regal Cinema and went on to the stage
0:30:42 > 0:30:49and announced that there had been a very bad accident at Burngrange.
0:30:49 > 0:30:52The lights came on, screen dimmed,
0:30:52 > 0:30:55and the manager came on to the stage and says,
0:30:55 > 0:30:59"Could any mines rescues please go to Burngrange.
0:30:59 > 0:31:00"There's been an explosion."
0:31:02 > 0:31:04The picture house emptied
0:31:04 > 0:31:08because everybody knew somebody that worked in Burngrange.
0:31:12 > 0:31:15It quickly became clear how serious the situation was.
0:31:15 > 0:31:20A large number of men had been trapped by a roof collapse.
0:31:20 > 0:31:23For three days, rescuers fought through flames
0:31:23 > 0:31:26and fallen rock to reach the miners.
0:31:26 > 0:31:30When the dust cleared, 15 were dead.
0:31:30 > 0:31:34Two of those who perished were the uncles of Bert Carroll.
0:31:37 > 0:31:39So, what age were you back then?
0:31:39 > 0:31:44I was a five-year-old, coming on six at that time.
0:31:44 > 0:31:46So you remember it? You were pretty young.
0:31:46 > 0:31:49- Can you remember it all right? - Oh, I remember the siding going off.
0:31:52 > 0:31:56An investigation into the accident determined that
0:31:56 > 0:32:00all but one of the men had died due to carbon monoxide poisoning.
0:32:00 > 0:32:03This map produced at the inquiry
0:32:03 > 0:32:06detailed the last moments of the men's lives.
0:32:07 > 0:32:12And you get this forensic data, like the jacket of D Muir,
0:32:12 > 0:32:15the piece box and flask,
0:32:15 > 0:32:19- the prop screen, some drills, some haversacks.- A-ha.
0:32:19 > 0:32:23- All the kind of paraphernalia just recorded.- Aye.
0:32:23 > 0:32:28- My uncle David's jacket. - It's got here this is a...
0:32:28 > 0:32:31Site of ignition here, then.
0:32:31 > 0:32:33- Yeah. - So I guess a blast was here.- Yeah.
0:32:33 > 0:32:36- And then the fires moving upwards. - Aye, it must have.
0:32:36 > 0:32:40- And my Uncle David, he was found here.- Where his body was found?
0:32:40 > 0:32:44That's right. He left five of our family.
0:32:44 > 0:32:48And my Uncle Willie left two of our family.
0:32:48 > 0:32:51And they were all young.
0:32:51 > 0:32:53- Right.- Young.- God.
0:32:57 > 0:33:01Behind each of these names was a family left without a son,
0:33:01 > 0:33:02brother or father,
0:33:02 > 0:33:05and as this close-knit community mourned its loss,
0:33:05 > 0:33:08there were stories of men like William Ritchie,
0:33:08 > 0:33:13who died that night only because he swapped shifts with his brother,
0:33:13 > 0:33:16whose wife had just given birth to son George.
0:33:19 > 0:33:22My father was on the black shift,
0:33:22 > 0:33:27so my mother was very ill and his brother had said to him,
0:33:27 > 0:33:32"I'll do your shift and you can do one for me later on,"
0:33:32 > 0:33:36because my mother was very ill.
0:33:36 > 0:33:42So that's what happened and of course, he perished in the disaster.
0:33:42 > 0:33:47That saved my father's life. You know what I mean?
0:33:47 > 0:33:49Unfortunately, it was at the cost of my uncle's life.
0:33:51 > 0:33:55# Poor wee bonnie laddie
0:33:55 > 0:34:00# Haud yer wheesht and gan to sleep
0:34:00 > 0:34:05# Daddy slumbers
0:34:05 > 0:34:11# We has buried him so deep. #
0:34:11 > 0:34:17What was the feeling that was left behind in that community?
0:34:17 > 0:34:19Devastation.
0:34:19 > 0:34:20Devastation.
0:34:20 > 0:34:26My granny losing her two sons, after losing her husband through
0:34:26 > 0:34:30an accident in the shale pit as well, you know?
0:34:40 > 0:34:43'Frae the black isles and the borders,
0:34:43 > 0:34:45'twa centuries ago
0:34:45 > 0:34:47'they laboured roond the calders
0:34:47 > 0:34:50'above grund and ablo'
0:34:50 > 0:34:52'and there was no idle bread.
0:34:53 > 0:34:56'Oh, thir faithers, they wir bastards'
0:34:56 > 0:34:58and their grandfaithers they say,
0:34:58 > 0:35:01but ivry man a mason grand,
0:35:01 > 0:35:03no godless Irish they.
0:35:03 > 0:35:04Oh, no.
0:35:06 > 0:35:08'But I still remember them.'
0:35:12 > 0:35:16Author and poet Alistair Findlay is the son of a shale miner.
0:35:16 > 0:35:18His father spent the first 20 years of his adult life
0:35:18 > 0:35:21working in the mines around Winchburgh.
0:35:21 > 0:35:25'I was brought up in a housing scheme in Bathgate,
0:35:25 > 0:35:28'but my parents and my grandparents, who lived with us,'
0:35:28 > 0:35:31spent all their time talking about Winchburgh.
0:35:31 > 0:35:33It was about the Winchburgh neighbours
0:35:33 > 0:35:35rather than the neighbours that we actually had.
0:35:35 > 0:35:40So it was this kind of folklore almost, you know?
0:35:43 > 0:35:46Raised on stories of the shale mines and its people,
0:35:46 > 0:35:48Alistair began researching the subject
0:35:48 > 0:35:52when, by chance, he stumbled on rare recordings of early shale miners
0:35:52 > 0:35:54recounting their experiences.
0:35:54 > 0:35:56'I discovered this treasure-trove of tapes
0:35:56 > 0:36:00'interviewing about 80 old shale miners and their wives.
0:36:00 > 0:36:02'So I managed to get my hands on that.
0:36:02 > 0:36:05'And all the kind of old language,'
0:36:05 > 0:36:07you know, that I'd been brought up with
0:36:07 > 0:36:09kind of just came suddenly back to me.
0:36:09 > 0:36:12And I could see that there was a lot of social history.
0:36:14 > 0:36:19I can mind of some of the folk that used to be in Niddry.
0:36:19 > 0:36:22There was the Mallins, Devlins and the Quinns,
0:36:22 > 0:36:24McEwans and the Flynns,
0:36:24 > 0:36:27the Nichols and the Wicks,
0:36:27 > 0:36:30the Newtons, Riders and the Burns.
0:36:30 > 0:36:32As he sifted through these recordings,
0:36:32 > 0:36:35Alistair found not only the tales of hardship
0:36:35 > 0:36:39but also songs, poems and tales of a disappearing world.
0:36:39 > 0:36:41..the Donoghues.
0:36:41 > 0:36:44There were the Johnsons, Andersons and Tweedies,
0:36:44 > 0:36:47the Donways, Cannons and Banns.
0:36:47 > 0:36:50The stories about mining communities,
0:36:50 > 0:36:53about the masculinity and the hardship
0:36:53 > 0:36:55are not untrue.
0:36:55 > 0:36:57But they're not the whole story.
0:36:57 > 0:36:59And in a way, I was trying to get
0:36:59 > 0:37:02the other side of the story, the cultural side.
0:37:03 > 0:37:07- JIMMY BUCHAN:- They shut doon the old oil works.
0:37:07 > 0:37:09Aye, and they shut doon all the mines.
0:37:09 > 0:37:12And it broke many a body's heart
0:37:12 > 0:37:14wi' the changing o' the times.
0:37:14 > 0:37:18'So, in many ways, I was writing about the folk memory'
0:37:18 > 0:37:20of the shale mining community.
0:37:20 > 0:37:27I wanted to emphasise the poetry and the song side of that community.
0:37:37 > 0:37:40For the people of the shale towns of West Lothian,
0:37:40 > 0:37:44the gala day was when the workers downed tools and had some fun.
0:37:44 > 0:37:48In the early years it was their only annual holiday.
0:37:50 > 0:37:54'I think there was a huge sense of community'
0:37:54 > 0:37:57in the shale industry
0:37:57 > 0:38:03and in the works and the houses which were owned by the companies.
0:38:03 > 0:38:06All were part of one big machine, if you like.
0:38:06 > 0:38:11Certainly, a lot of rules and regulations
0:38:11 > 0:38:14'determining how people lived
0:38:14 > 0:38:17'and how they played, as well, in some circumstances.
0:38:17 > 0:38:20BRASS BAND MUSIC
0:38:20 > 0:38:24At one time, almost every shale community had its own band.
0:38:24 > 0:38:26And even though the mines are gone
0:38:26 > 0:38:29the tradition continues here in Broxburn.
0:38:38 > 0:38:41Today, they're known as the Broxburn and Livingston Brass Band
0:38:41 > 0:38:44and two of their longest-serving members
0:38:44 > 0:38:46are Alec Chalmers and Jim Ferguson.
0:38:48 > 0:38:51'It started in 1892.
0:38:51 > 0:38:54'The works managers supplied the instruments.'
0:38:54 > 0:38:58'The shale miners used to pay a penny a week for us,'
0:38:58 > 0:39:00for the band, off their wages.
0:39:02 > 0:39:03'It's a family band.'
0:39:03 > 0:39:06My dad is right in the middle.
0:39:06 > 0:39:08My uncle on the right.
0:39:08 > 0:39:10My brother.
0:39:10 > 0:39:11And, of course, me in there.
0:39:11 > 0:39:14The band all had connections with the shale.
0:39:14 > 0:39:18Downie, he actually worked with my dad down in the shale mine.
0:39:23 > 0:39:27This film shows the band leading the Broxburn parade in 1910.
0:39:27 > 0:39:29But within a few short years
0:39:29 > 0:39:31many of these men would be marching to a different tune.
0:39:33 > 0:39:36'During the first few months of the First World War
0:39:36 > 0:39:39'masses of recruiting meetings were held
0:39:39 > 0:39:41'and they would often try and have a band there
0:39:41 > 0:39:43'to dispense patriotic music.
0:39:43 > 0:39:45'And the Broxburn Public Band'
0:39:45 > 0:39:49was used to play music at these recruiting meetings.
0:39:49 > 0:39:52And I suppose, fired up with their own fervour,
0:39:52 > 0:39:54the band, en masse,
0:39:54 > 0:39:58enlisted into the 2/4th Battalion of the Royal Scots
0:39:58 > 0:40:01'and became the regimental band of the Royal Scots.'
0:40:02 > 0:40:06Tom White's grandfather David was one of those who enlisted.
0:40:07 > 0:40:10It was an adventure, you know?
0:40:10 > 0:40:12And they were going to get fed, they were going to get clothed
0:40:12 > 0:40:14and so on and so forth.
0:40:14 > 0:40:17And they were used as a recruiting band.
0:40:17 > 0:40:22So they would go round the country looking for volunteers.
0:40:22 > 0:40:24'The lads, they were only young, young men
0:40:24 > 0:40:26'and they probably thought,'
0:40:26 > 0:40:29"Well, we've got to do our bit for our country."
0:40:31 > 0:40:34As war dragged on, the men swapped their instruments for weapons.
0:40:34 > 0:40:38'And nobody expected it to last as long as it did.'
0:40:38 > 0:40:42So they were all dispersed into different regiments.
0:40:46 > 0:40:49And quite a number of them never returned.
0:40:52 > 0:40:56Among the six band members who perished on the fields of France
0:40:56 > 0:40:58were three brothers from the same family.
0:41:00 > 0:41:04James, Archie and Robert Webster.
0:41:12 > 0:41:15The war brought devastation to millions.
0:41:15 > 0:41:18But for Scottish Oil it was good for business.
0:41:18 > 0:41:23Winston Churchill, then First Lord of the Admiralty,
0:41:23 > 0:41:25converted the British naval fleet to oil
0:41:25 > 0:41:28and awarded a massive contract to Scotland.
0:41:29 > 0:41:31With so many men at the front,
0:41:31 > 0:41:35the only way to meet the increase in demand was for women to help out.
0:41:36 > 0:41:40'There was a shortage of workers in the oil works
0:41:40 > 0:41:42'and some women were certainly taken on'
0:41:42 > 0:41:46in Broxburn Oil Works and, no doubt, in most of the others, too.
0:41:46 > 0:41:48There would be a limit to the sort of work that they could do.
0:41:48 > 0:41:50I mean if it was heavy, physical labour,
0:41:50 > 0:41:52perhaps they weren't so suited for that.
0:41:52 > 0:41:55'But it's known that women, for example,
0:41:55 > 0:41:58'were emptying the hutches on the top of the bings
0:41:58 > 0:42:02'and they were doing all sorts of other jobs in the oil works.'
0:42:06 > 0:42:10When the war ended, the men returned from the trenches to the mines.
0:42:10 > 0:42:13But they didn't find a land fit for heroes.
0:42:13 > 0:42:16They came back to find their livelihoods under threat.
0:42:18 > 0:42:21Crude oil had been discovered in Pennsylvania decades earlier,
0:42:21 > 0:42:23quickly followed by the Caspian region.
0:42:25 > 0:42:28Compared to shale it was like turning on a tap.
0:42:31 > 0:42:35In an attempt to compete, the shale bosses imposed wage cuts.
0:42:35 > 0:42:40Workers became more militant and strikes were frequent.
0:42:40 > 0:42:43'Industrial action very much affected the women'
0:42:43 > 0:42:46and the families
0:42:46 > 0:42:48because, as soon as the man wasn't working,
0:42:48 > 0:42:49there was the problem of how on earth
0:42:49 > 0:42:51they were to feed the family and pay the rent.
0:42:51 > 0:42:54There was no financial cushion in those days.
0:42:54 > 0:42:59In mining families, you depended, you lived week to week on your wage.
0:42:59 > 0:43:02So then, in times of industrial strife, actually,
0:43:02 > 0:43:05the women seemed to come into their own making ends meet.
0:43:07 > 0:43:12'The 1920s were a very difficult period for working-class families.
0:43:12 > 0:43:15'There was great social upheaval'
0:43:15 > 0:43:18and political unrest.
0:43:18 > 0:43:20I mean, I remember my aunt,
0:43:20 > 0:43:23'she would have been about six or so,
0:43:23 > 0:43:27'talking about children being hungry and having no shoes.
0:43:27 > 0:43:30'There was quite a lot of poverty at the time.'
0:43:30 > 0:43:33From the midst of this political unrest
0:43:33 > 0:43:37emerged a woman from Addiewell who would become a local legend.
0:43:38 > 0:43:40Her name was Sarah Moore.
0:43:40 > 0:43:43Known to everyone as Ma Moore, she was a mother of nine,
0:43:43 > 0:43:45a political campaigner
0:43:45 > 0:43:47and a poet.
0:43:49 > 0:43:51'The broken and the maimed came back
0:43:51 > 0:43:53'to find not peace,
0:43:53 > 0:43:55'but this instead.
0:43:55 > 0:43:57'The people they loved the best on earth,
0:43:57 > 0:43:59'unclothed, uncared for,
0:43:59 > 0:44:00'unfed.'
0:44:00 > 0:44:03Not even the right to work and live,
0:44:03 > 0:44:06not even the right to cry
0:44:06 > 0:44:08against the fate that life had spread,
0:44:08 > 0:44:10only the right to die.
0:44:11 > 0:44:15'She was an ordinary woman in many ways.
0:44:15 > 0:44:18'She had no particular education.'
0:44:18 > 0:44:20But she became active first of all,
0:44:20 > 0:44:23perhaps, in the 1925 shale strike,
0:44:23 > 0:44:26which was quite a major strike
0:44:26 > 0:44:29by the shale miners protesting against
0:44:29 > 0:44:32a proposed 10% cut in their wages.
0:44:35 > 0:44:39In those days, poor relief was paid by the parish council.
0:44:39 > 0:44:40But in this instance,
0:44:40 > 0:44:43they refused to help the families of the men on strike.
0:44:44 > 0:44:47'She was saying, "But the women and the children are starving.
0:44:47 > 0:44:48'"You must pay them."'
0:44:48 > 0:44:52And she made her point and persuaded the parish council
0:44:52 > 0:44:54that they did have to relieve that poverty
0:44:54 > 0:44:57and prevent the children, basically, from starving.
0:44:58 > 0:45:01The following year, her militancy would bring her
0:45:01 > 0:45:03into direct conflict with the authorities.
0:45:04 > 0:45:09During the General Strike of 1926, Ma Moore organised a protest here
0:45:09 > 0:45:12at what was the West Calder Parish Council Office.
0:45:13 > 0:45:15During the strike, the council had decreed
0:45:15 > 0:45:18that the miners weren't eligible for hardship benefits.
0:45:18 > 0:45:21So a bunch of miners' wives and children from Addiewell
0:45:21 > 0:45:23came here to protest.
0:45:23 > 0:45:27That demonstration was broken up by baton-wielding police.
0:45:27 > 0:45:30But the council relented and the miners got their benefits.
0:45:33 > 0:45:36Victories like this would make Ma Moore a hero
0:45:36 > 0:45:38in the shale villages of West Lothian.
0:45:38 > 0:45:41And to this day she's still revered.
0:45:48 > 0:45:51In an attempt to combat the threat from imported oil,
0:45:51 > 0:45:55the surviving companies pooled resources to form Scottish Oils.
0:45:57 > 0:46:00They set up their HQ here at Middleton Hall near Broxburn
0:46:00 > 0:46:03and the man who took charge was James Bryson.
0:46:07 > 0:46:10Bryson lost his father in a mining accident when he was 13
0:46:10 > 0:46:13and he had to become self-reliant and inventive.
0:46:15 > 0:46:17As a young man, he had designed a retort
0:46:17 > 0:46:21which could process three times the amount of shale at half the cost.
0:46:23 > 0:46:26He knew the only way to survive was by continued innovation.
0:46:27 > 0:46:30Scottish Oils held their head above water
0:46:30 > 0:46:32by just being able to produce a wider range of products
0:46:32 > 0:46:33from the oil shale.
0:46:33 > 0:46:36They were basically wringing as much as they could
0:46:36 > 0:46:38out of the rocks beneath them.
0:46:40 > 0:46:43- NEWSREEL VOICEOVER:- Paraffin coke to make carbons for electric furnaces.
0:46:43 > 0:46:45Sulphate of Ammonia,
0:46:45 > 0:46:46an effective fertiliser.
0:46:48 > 0:46:51Paraffin wax to make candles and matches,
0:46:51 > 0:46:53to render cloth and paper waterproof,
0:46:53 > 0:46:57to insulate electrical apparatus and to pack foodstuffs.
0:46:59 > 0:47:02By further improving the refining process,
0:47:02 > 0:47:06they developed a product which would be hugely profitable.
0:47:06 > 0:47:09They called it motor spirit and it was used to power
0:47:09 > 0:47:10the invention of the age.
0:47:13 > 0:47:16The internal combustion engine.
0:47:18 > 0:47:22Shale companies acted very decisively.
0:47:22 > 0:47:25They set up new distribution depots
0:47:25 > 0:47:29right through Scotland and they had little horse and carts or, latterly,
0:47:29 > 0:47:35very early motor tankers, taking this oil out to where it was needed.
0:47:35 > 0:47:39So they did respond and were very innovative in the way
0:47:39 > 0:47:42that they promoted and publicised their products.
0:47:42 > 0:47:45The new strategy seemed to be working and there was a real sense
0:47:45 > 0:47:51of optimism here at Scottish Oils - but it would be short-lived.
0:47:51 > 0:47:54These buildings might project an air of confidence but it was misplaced.
0:47:54 > 0:47:58Things were on the turn. As well as America, crude oil was now being
0:47:58 > 0:48:04produced in Russia, Romania, Indonesia, Iran and South America.
0:48:04 > 0:48:07The 1920s weren't going to be easy for the industry.
0:48:12 > 0:48:15With the support of the British Government, British drilling
0:48:15 > 0:48:19had begun in the Persian Gulf. And to process the crude oil,
0:48:19 > 0:48:21a state-of-the-art refinery was built
0:48:21 > 0:48:25on the edge of the shale field at Grangemouth.
0:48:25 > 0:48:28'Tank steamers bring crude petroleum from across the ocean
0:48:28 > 0:48:31to the new refinery at Grangemouth on the Firth of Forth,
0:48:31 > 0:48:34where it is converted into products
0:48:34 > 0:48:37similar to those obtained from the native shale.
0:48:37 > 0:48:41When the British-produced oil came in from overseas from
0:48:41 > 0:48:44British interests and started to be refined, really the whole economics
0:48:44 > 0:48:48of the shale oil industry was disturbed.
0:48:48 > 0:48:54Places like Grangemouth were built with Scottish know-how and technology
0:48:54 > 0:48:59but were soon producing oil from Persian crude at a fraction
0:48:59 > 0:49:00of the price that it cost
0:49:00 > 0:49:03to actually dig it out of the ground in West Lothian.
0:49:05 > 0:49:09Shale oil just couldn't compete and the '20s was a decade
0:49:09 > 0:49:10marked by closures.
0:49:10 > 0:49:12Addiewell refinery was the first to go.
0:49:12 > 0:49:17In 1926, the Tarbrax oil works followed.
0:49:17 > 0:49:21It was devastating for the town and its 2,000 people.
0:49:21 > 0:49:24Workers were evicted from company housing
0:49:24 > 0:49:26and then re-employed to demolish their own home.
0:49:28 > 0:49:29In 1927,
0:49:29 > 0:49:33the refinery at Broxburn, the original boom town, also shut down.
0:49:33 > 0:49:37Closure happened kind of suddenly, as well,
0:49:37 > 0:49:40so people didn't have time to adjust to it.
0:49:40 > 0:49:41People who had good jobs
0:49:41 > 0:49:45and were proud of the work they were doing suddenly found nothing.
0:49:49 > 0:49:51It would be a slow and lingering death.
0:49:54 > 0:49:57The industry was kept alive by government subsidies
0:49:57 > 0:49:58and defence contracts.
0:50:03 > 0:50:06And somehow managed to survive a further three decades.
0:50:09 > 0:50:14The end finally came in 1962 with the closure of the last oil works
0:50:14 > 0:50:18at Westwood in the shadow of what became known as
0:50:18 > 0:50:20the Five Sisters Bing.
0:50:25 > 0:50:29Nae mair to hear the hutches timmin' ower the tips
0:50:29 > 0:50:33Nae mair tae go oan the auld haey cairts
0:50:33 > 0:50:35tae our annual trips
0:50:35 > 0:50:38Nae mair tae hear the auld pug's whussle
0:50:38 > 0:50:40Or the works horn's blaws
0:50:40 > 0:50:42Nae mair tae wander up the brae,
0:50:42 > 0:50:45tae jist staun there and pause
0:50:47 > 0:50:52Or linger oan the memories o' dear auld niddry raws.
0:51:02 > 0:51:04The houses, mines and oil works may be gone,
0:51:04 > 0:51:08but there is a very visible reminder of this fascinating chapter
0:51:08 > 0:51:11of Scotland's past and it's hard to ignore.
0:51:15 > 0:51:18The Shale bings have their own story to tell,
0:51:18 > 0:51:21as botanist Barbra Harvey explains.
0:51:22 > 0:51:24As we go up here,
0:51:24 > 0:51:28you'll notice we've got quite strong shrubs on either side.
0:51:28 > 0:51:29Yeah.
0:51:29 > 0:51:33It's unusual that they're just appearing in this avenue
0:51:33 > 0:51:36and they're mainly hawthorn, a few rosehip trees...
0:51:36 > 0:51:39- This is the hawthorn? - This is the hawthorn, it is.
0:51:39 > 0:51:43- There are some berries just here...- Look at that.- Yup.
0:51:43 > 0:51:47And this is because the guys that worked at the top of the bings
0:51:47 > 0:51:51would take a lift on the bogies that were carrying the shale.
0:51:51 > 0:51:54- That's the trollies going up, yeah.- As they were going up,
0:51:54 > 0:51:56they were catching a lift they would be eating their pieces as
0:51:56 > 0:52:00they were going along and throwing the crusts out
0:52:00 > 0:52:04cos they didn't fancy them and birds would come along to eat the crusts
0:52:04 > 0:52:07- and deposit the seeds... - Seeds!- ..on either side.- Ah...
0:52:07 > 0:52:09To get this kind of avenue?
0:52:09 > 0:52:12- Yes.- So that's a kind of sandwich ecology?- Definitely, yes.
0:52:12 > 0:52:14So I wonder if the workers had any idea
0:52:14 > 0:52:16that throwing away their jeely pieces,
0:52:16 > 0:52:20- they were creating a new ecosystem here?- I doubt it very much.
0:52:22 > 0:52:24This is Greendykes Bing near Broxburn,
0:52:24 > 0:52:27one of the few still intact.
0:52:27 > 0:52:31In the '60s, when the oil works shut down, there were 27 of them
0:52:31 > 0:52:34containing 200 million tonnes of burnt shale.
0:52:34 > 0:52:37Much of that was put to good use.
0:52:37 > 0:52:41'These great rosy hills, the crushed remains of rocks that once
0:52:41 > 0:52:44'provided oil, are providing a new source of wealth.
0:52:44 > 0:52:48'Motorways are based on this gravel, for so long disused
0:52:48 > 0:52:50'and seemingly worthless.
0:52:50 > 0:52:52'It provides raw material for bricks to raise homes.
0:52:54 > 0:52:57'It is an unexpected asset for the new town of Livingston
0:52:57 > 0:53:00'where they are building for a population of 75,000.'
0:53:08 > 0:53:12In recent times, the bings have been shown a bit more appreciation.
0:53:12 > 0:53:15In 1995, Greendykes and the Five Sisters
0:53:15 > 0:53:18were declared national monuments by Historic Scotland
0:53:18 > 0:53:21and they have a unique ecology all of their own.
0:53:24 > 0:53:28Individual species of grass are completely different up here
0:53:28 > 0:53:32from the ones that you see in the countryside round about.
0:53:33 > 0:53:37In the summer months, these bings are in their full glory.
0:53:37 > 0:53:40Teeming with wildlife, there's more than 350 different types
0:53:40 > 0:53:45of plant life, including a rarely found species of orchid.
0:53:47 > 0:53:50The climb up here is rewarded with a stunning view.
0:53:50 > 0:53:52- This is the climax.- This is it.
0:53:52 > 0:53:54- What a vista!- Absolutely.
0:53:54 > 0:53:57And this is on a cold wet day in January!
0:53:57 > 0:54:00Not everyone comes up here to enjoy the scenery.
0:54:06 > 0:54:09So they are getting used... they are actively getting
0:54:09 > 0:54:14- used as leisure places?- Very much actively getting used as leisure.
0:54:14 > 0:54:17They may be noisy but it's good to know this piece of industrial
0:54:17 > 0:54:22heritage is as much a part of West Lothian's present as it is its past.
0:54:24 > 0:54:27I just think they are really quite beautiful, though.
0:54:27 > 0:54:31Yes, I think they are amazing celebrations of the work
0:54:31 > 0:54:34of the men that actually built them with their own hands.
0:54:34 > 0:54:38And when you talk to some of the older miners, they're really
0:54:38 > 0:54:41proud of what they have created.
0:54:48 > 0:54:51I like to think of these bings as man-made volcanoes.
0:54:51 > 0:54:54Not just because of their shape but because the rocks
0:54:54 > 0:54:57that they are built on have been thrown up from inside the Earth.
0:55:01 > 0:55:05Few of the men who spent their working lives hauling
0:55:05 > 0:55:08these rocks out of the ground have seen inside a shale mine
0:55:08 > 0:55:11since finishing their last shift more than half a century ago.
0:55:17 > 0:55:19For ex-miners Eddie and Bert,
0:55:19 > 0:55:21Teenzie's exploration of an abandoned mine
0:55:21 > 0:55:24is a vivid reminder of those times.
0:55:32 > 0:55:36- I thought there would've been mair collapse.- Aye.
0:55:40 > 0:55:43It's like as if it's just been abandoned.
0:55:43 > 0:55:48It's when you see how old it is
0:55:48 > 0:55:51and it looks desolate.
0:55:53 > 0:55:56I dinnae think that I would like to go down there now.
0:56:03 > 0:56:04Brave girl!
0:56:10 > 0:56:12One, two, three four...
0:56:12 > 0:56:15BAND STARTS UP
0:56:39 > 0:56:42The story of Scotland's first oil rush
0:56:42 > 0:56:47is one of an epic 100-year struggle to exploit our natural wealth.
0:56:50 > 0:56:53The breakthroughs made by James Young and those that followed him
0:56:53 > 0:56:57are still very much the basis for oil production today
0:56:57 > 0:57:01and that expertise has been exported far and wide.
0:57:03 > 0:57:06What is most striking is the determination
0:57:06 > 0:57:10and hard work of the people whose lives depended on shale.
0:57:12 > 0:57:18'Then in later years they started to knock doon the oil works...
0:57:21 > 0:57:24'..and that was the beginning of the end
0:57:24 > 0:57:29'to one of the finest communities that I've ever known.
0:57:29 > 0:57:33'Course, all mining villages were the same.'
0:57:38 > 0:57:42Spend a bit of time around here and you quickly realise that
0:57:42 > 0:57:45Scotland's oil shale story is fading away.
0:57:45 > 0:57:47Being consigned to the history books.
0:57:47 > 0:57:50And with the move away from fossil fuels,
0:57:50 > 0:57:52it's something that's never coming back.
0:57:52 > 0:57:56And yet the ingenuity and the sheer hard graft of those times
0:57:56 > 0:57:58has helped build modern Scotland.
0:58:00 > 0:58:04Those bings...those bings are our pyramids
0:58:04 > 0:58:06and we should celebrate them.
0:58:06 > 0:58:09BAND PLAYS