What They Don't Say About Scotland's Oil

People talk about the North Sea, but did you know that Scotland was the world's first oil state? Have you heard of James Paraffin Young? Did you know that mass production of oil and by-products started in West Lothian? Scottish history tour guide Bruce Fummey takes you on the Shale Trail
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Scotland History Tours is here for people who want to learn about Scottish history and get ideas for Scottish history tours. I try to make videos which tell you tales from Scotland's past and give you information about key dates in Scottish history and historical places to visit in Scotland. Not all videos are tales from Scotland's history, some of them are about men from Scotland's past or women from Scotland's past. Basically the people who made Scotland. From April 2020 onward I've tried to give ideas for historic days out in Scotland. Essentially these are days out in Scotland for adults who are interested in historical places to visit in Scotland.
As a Scottish history tour guide people ask: Help me plan a Scottish holiday, or help me plan a Scottish vacation if your from the US. So I've tried to give a bit of history, but some places of interest in Scotland as well.

Пікірлер: 623

  • @ScotlandHistoryTours
    @ScotlandHistoryTours2 жыл бұрын

    Must see- places to see in West Lothian kzread.info/dash/bejne/qoifppicqrrFcps.html

  • @julianshepherd2038

    @julianshepherd2038

    2 жыл бұрын

    Don't play on the kids stuff. People might think you are one of those Tories

  • @alanmiller9054

    @alanmiller9054

    2 жыл бұрын

    Amazing political, economic,and industrial history another great lesson you teach us all so much .I remember using paraffin lamps ,was born in 1955.

  • @BHALT0S

    @BHALT0S

    2 жыл бұрын

    dont forget how awesome scotland was at slavery

  • @Pennyburn1688

    @Pennyburn1688

    Жыл бұрын

    When I think of Scotlands oil , I think back to the 2014 Referendum and how badly wrong the SNP got their claims about oil. Voters beware what these charlatans claim........7 years and we still do not have TWO very small boats finished!

  • @RushfanUK
    @RushfanUK2 жыл бұрын

    Misses a bit of history there about James Young, he was actually working for a chemical firm in Lancashire when the oils seeping from coal seams at a mine in Alfreton, Derbyshire was brought to his attention, he did all the work on distillation whilst living in Manchester and only returned to Scotland after the factories at Bathgate and Glasgow were established, technically the mass production of oil and by products started in Lancashire because that's where Young actually devised the processes.

  • @scenepax3277

    @scenepax3277

    Жыл бұрын

    What?

  • @BillyBobDingo1971

    @BillyBobDingo1971

    Жыл бұрын

    Learn something new every day.

  • @scottjock
    @scottjock2 жыл бұрын

    The shale bings were completely red when I was a kid. I cant believe how nature is taking over now. We used to have a parrafin heater in the hall (loaby). It stunk. Boom Boom Boom Esso Blue

  • @ScotlandHistoryTours

    @ScotlandHistoryTours

    2 жыл бұрын

    Ah you bring back memories

  • @johnowen1677

    @johnowen1677

    Жыл бұрын

    Yes we had one in the outside toilet!

  • @professor1972
    @professor19722 жыл бұрын

    When I was young, we not only used paraffin lamps but our scullery was heated by a paraffin stove. You never forget the smell.

  • @Lee-70ish

    @Lee-70ish

    2 жыл бұрын

    We used to use a posh paraffin heater it had two wicks instead of the usual one . But then we are rich southern softies in Essex. Dad used a Tilley lamp to try and heat our bathroom in the winter. It didnt help much the metal framed Crital windows still had ice on the inside.

  • @ericbeaton7211
    @ericbeaton72112 жыл бұрын

    Absolutely brilliant. I am 70 years old. I have lived in Scotland all my life and I knew nothing about any of this.

  • @ScotlandHistoryTours

    @ScotlandHistoryTours

    2 жыл бұрын

    Delighted to bring paraffin light into the darkness

  • @ericbeaton7211

    @ericbeaton7211

    2 жыл бұрын

    I had seen the bings before but didn't know how they got there.

  • @steven.ghodgson765
    @steven.ghodgson7652 жыл бұрын

    This man is a brilliant story teller !

  • @davidmcclelland2661
    @davidmcclelland26612 жыл бұрын

    When I was born in Huddersfield, my parents first house had the outside toilet. So a paraffin lantern was kept lit all night so the cistern didn't freeze over. That was the late 60's!

  • @ianpattison841
    @ianpattison8412 жыл бұрын

    Thanks, I knew sketchy facts about the oil shale, but you’ve provided the flesh on the bones!

  • @jaystewart5487
    @jaystewart54872 жыл бұрын

    I have used a paraffin lamp AND ran out side to use the bathroom at my grandparents home in rural Missouri. When they sold the house, the real estate listing described it as a 2 bedroom and 1 path house. A little rural humor for you.

  • @ScotlandHistoryTours

    @ScotlandHistoryTours

    2 жыл бұрын

    😂

  • @duneideann9241
    @duneideann92412 жыл бұрын

    Brilliant , I remember a pub in Livingston Centre called the Paraffin Lamp. Now I know why

  • @robertdaley1194
    @robertdaley11942 жыл бұрын

    I remember late 1950’s early 60s ,a small paraffin tanker went around our neighbourhood,people had special cans and would go out and purchase paraffin direct,but will always remember the smell from paraffin heaters.Also travelling from Hamilton to Midlothian and seeing the Shale Bings ,they were still very red in colour .Moran Taing Bruce.

  • @VinDieselS70
    @VinDieselS702 жыл бұрын

    Everyday is a school day and I now know the history to tell. Amazing and thank you 🙂

  • @fearthekilt
    @fearthekilt2 жыл бұрын

    That was a great story Bruce. I had no idea that this man or his method was Scottish or that they even existed. I should have though, in fact I feel a wee bit silly, like I just come up the Clyde in a banana boat. Being the Scots invented everything. Well done Bruce and good morning from America.

  • @ScotlandHistoryTours

    @ScotlandHistoryTours

    2 жыл бұрын

    Glad you enjoyed it... and good morning to you

  • @sipjedekat8525
    @sipjedekat85252 жыл бұрын

    The smell of paraffin lamps brings back memories of camping with friends, sharing a drink on warm summer nights. I feel lucky to never have an outhouse when I was young.

  • @ScotlandHistoryTours

    @ScotlandHistoryTours

    2 жыл бұрын

    Aye it wasn't a great experience

  • @euansmith3699

    @euansmith3699

    2 жыл бұрын

    @@ScotlandHistoryTours At least there was no risk of getting bitten by a poisonous spider in the dunney; like our Antipodean chums had to contend with.

  • @duncancallum

    @duncancallum

    2 жыл бұрын

    @@euansmith3699 I havnae been bitten yet by a spider or snake yet here in Queensland , but i have killed a few snakes in my time , better to be safe than sorrow ,

  • @GioMarron
    @GioMarron2 жыл бұрын

    Another amazing video, mo charaid. Moved to West Lothian from the Monte Carlo of the north, Dumbarton (don’t laugh, there’s a castle and, if you take the tour, they rely on the blood pounding so hard in your ears from all the steps that you won’t notice the stuff they get wrong… and they REALLY hate it when you tell them) so it’s great to get to know some of the history of this area

  • @ScotlandHistoryTours

    @ScotlandHistoryTours

    2 жыл бұрын

    😂

  • @BatMan-ev7zg

    @BatMan-ev7zg

    2 жыл бұрын

    Am from dumbarton...and by god there's a lot of stairs in the rock 🙌

  • @MultiZero1968
    @MultiZero19682 жыл бұрын

    I grew up in Aberdeen and now stay just outside. Back in the eighties I lost 3 friends on the piper Alpha. A close cousin on the Brent Charlie in a leg explosion. My mum worked offshore in the canteen, my son now works offshore and has done for 15 years. My husband was in charge of 84 installation and 4 oil refineries. He has now retired.

  • @stewarthill3891

    @stewarthill3891

    2 жыл бұрын

    I was brought up in West Lothian, and my pal lost his dad at Piper Alpha too.

  • @MultiZero1968

    @MultiZero1968

    2 жыл бұрын

    @@stewarthill3891 sad times. Too many accidents offshore. They were meant to start doing work offshore 5 years ago to upgrade and repair (shutdowns) and it never happened. My husband said a new piper alpha incident is due at any time. They are ticking time bombs.

  • @elizabethwinsor5140

    @elizabethwinsor5140

    Жыл бұрын

    ​@@MultiZero1968 I worked offshore for 20 years - the corporate neglect was bad then and I'm surprised it has already happened. So many died for nothing because of lack of maintenance

  • @davidlewington198
    @davidlewington1982 жыл бұрын

    Superb Bruce, literally a few miles from my house and really appreciate your videos and coverage of West lothian

  • @jimbaird8976
    @jimbaird89762 жыл бұрын

    Grandmothers house had a paraffin lamp in the toilet that was lit at night. The smell of paraffin even now is very pleasantly evocative

  • @donaldfarquar
    @donaldfarquar2 жыл бұрын

    The slag mounds near Edinburgh airport always amaze me, how big they are and the amount of time it would have take to build to that level and how nature eventually reclaims everything.

  • @johnmccallum8512

    @johnmccallum8512

    2 жыл бұрын

    There used to be more of this spoil a good deal of it is under the M8 and probibly alot more roads than that.

  • @donaldfarquar

    @donaldfarquar

    2 жыл бұрын

    @@johnmccallum8512 yeah I don't know if its from there but the main road from Dundee up to Aberdeen is obviously from the same material and I think a good part of the coastal route. To be fair seems like a better use for it than digging up fresh material to use, hopefully they preserve at least a couple of the bigger ones as I think they are monuments to our industrial past.

  • @kredonystus7768
    @kredonystus77682 жыл бұрын

    I did have a kerosene fridge, and an outdoor toilet growing up. I'm only 27 though, we just lived rural and poor.

  • @cennethadameveson3715
    @cennethadameveson37152 жыл бұрын

    Remember seeing these hills on holidays during the 1970's . Being used to the black waste heaps here in Wales, the colour was another of the differences of Scotland.

  • @Seraphus87

    @Seraphus87

    2 жыл бұрын

    One of the most mindblowing things I've seen in that regard is an archaeological dig by the TimeTeam in Wales, they were looking for a mine with buildings, a forge and one of the world's first railways, it turned out the infrastructure they were looking for was buried under about 20 meters of mining landfill.

  • @geowidman
    @geowidman2 жыл бұрын

    As you finished the video with the story of the ambitious West Calder Cooperative Society I thought of Tennessee Ernie Ford's "Sixteen Tons," and "I owe my soul to the company store." Another great video making sense of what is seen in Scotland, and thank you!

  • @duncancallum

    @duncancallum

    2 жыл бұрын

    I remember that song well George , i loved his singing away back then .

  • @LOrealHardly
    @LOrealHardly2 жыл бұрын

    Born in Leith, I then moved to and grew up in Muirhouse in Edinburgh. The glow of the paraffin lamp on the ceiling was the strong indicator that Santa would soon be here. I now live in Livingston, have done for over thirty years , now. I never knew this about James Young but I had heard of James Paraffin Young.

  • @susanschaffner4422
    @susanschaffner44222 жыл бұрын

    A full subject made informative with its share of historical twists. Staying tuned.

  • @freddiemoretti8456
    @freddiemoretti84562 жыл бұрын

    This video brought back the memory of the night we could have lost Dad in 1958 when we lived at Middleton of Mugdock near Milngavie. Had it not been for my quick thinking Mum who hearing and then seeing Dad running out of the storage room on fire, threw him to the ground and got on top of him to smother it. Dad had been in getting feed for the horses when he knocked into the paraffin lamp which set his front on fire. My brother and I were made aware of it when they came home from the hospital with Dad was bandaged up in his chest and neck area where the burns well. Luckily the storage area didn't catch on fire as it was part of the cottage we lived in. Amazing parents we had. Enjoyed the video. Cheers...Freddie

  • @pikeyMcBarkin
    @pikeyMcBarkin2 жыл бұрын

    My Dad works on the Ninian oil field. He's worked there for almost 40 years.

  • @katherinemcintosh7247
    @katherinemcintosh72472 жыл бұрын

    Loved this. As a former Gulf of Mexico Oilfield worker (commercial diver,) I have been aware of the importance of Scotland’s place in history regarding this industry. Wonderful to get a massive bit of detail. An aside, my grandfather was a chemical engineer for Continental Oil Company (Conoco) in New Mexico and Oklahoma. Conoco also provided housing for their employees. An interesting fact of this housing was that the employees living there were not allowed to keep vegetable gardens or any sort of farm animals (including chickens and ducks) in their yards. The reasoning the company gave was that they needed to be seen in the community as a company which paid their employees enough that they could afford to buy their food at the market. This was psychologically difficult for people who came from agricultural backgrounds and had lived through the depression as my grandparents had.

  • @colinmacdonald5732

    @colinmacdonald5732

    2 жыл бұрын

    That's interesting, the agricultural connection. I know at one time, Shlumberger liked to recruit farmworkers as cement engineers, they had the right kind of mindset to fix problems on their own, useful when you're marooned on an oil rig where you need to repair things fast and tech support is 10hours away.

  • @katherinemcintosh7247

    @katherinemcintosh7247

    2 жыл бұрын

    @@colinmacdonald5732 yeah, we were all told in dive school that we would be used “from neck to deck.” But the fact of the matter is that those of us who could solve mechanical, rigging, and geometry problems on the fly were the ones who did well. We have two engineers on a boat, and they are full time working to maintain the boat. They don’t usually have time to fix a jet pump, compressor, what have you for dive operations…and if anyone thinks there is going to be a dedicated engineer for dive operations on a dive boat or lay barge, well, they just don’t understand the finite personnel capacity of such vessels. Divers and tenders have to do that stuff, and divers should not have to do basic stuff topside.😂😬😏

  • @colinmacdonald5732

    @colinmacdonald5732

    2 жыл бұрын

    @@katherinemcintosh7247 I'd say divers are a race apart! The amount of help you can all when you're working on the seabed must be fairly limited.

  • @katherinemcintosh7247

    @katherinemcintosh7247

    2 жыл бұрын

    @@colinmacdonald5732 indeed. The vast majority of the time (aside from specific saturation situations) divers are alone on the job site.

  • @oliver13809

    @oliver13809

    2 жыл бұрын

    I was also a commercial diver and subsea inspection engineer.working the usual oil/gas fields around the world. To include the U.K. north and southern fields.

  • @leonstevens1382
    @leonstevens1382 Жыл бұрын

    These videos should be transcribed into an encyclopedia of Scottish history, and the definitive history!

  • @kariannecrysler640
    @kariannecrysler6402 жыл бұрын

    I never knew about any of this! That’s why I love this channel and the host! You always deliver quality history with insight and a connection to today ❤

  • @melissahdawn
    @melissahdawn2 жыл бұрын

    So glad that the algorithms know what I need to see/hear because I never expected my Saturday morning I would actually want to hear about oil in Scotland, but you manage to make anything fascinating. Thank you for another amazing story of how things are!

  • @paulaneilson5110
    @paulaneilson51102 жыл бұрын

    I was born early 70’s Shotts and can vividly remember my Gran having a paraffin heater. I also was addicted to the smell of the paraffin fire lighters 😂 My Papa worked for the BMC in both Shotts and Bathgate mines. Just wanted to say a quick thanks Bruce for your videos. They have fuelled my desire to start exploring our beautiful country & I am amazed at how much is so close to me here in North Lanarkshire! Also, thank you for renewing my interest in Scottish Gaelic. I downloaded an app and started my learning last night. I’m a big believer that our kids should be taught, or even given the choice, to learn our National language at school - it’s part of our history after all. Anyway, enjoy your day Bruce. Tìoraidh an dràsta

  • @liamburge463

    @liamburge463

    2 жыл бұрын

    Paula, to help as well one of Bruce's mates does videos on Gaelic: kzread.info Hope Bruce doesn't mind the link.

  • @paulaneilson5110

    @paulaneilson5110

    2 жыл бұрын

    @@liamburge463 thanks Liam 🤗

  • @celticm6616

    @celticm6616

    Жыл бұрын

    Can remember going to the shop for my parents to get a gallon a paraffin for the heater it was quite common thing to have it for sale in the local shops

  • @auldfouter8661
    @auldfouter86612 жыл бұрын

    During the three day week and rota power cuts in 1973/74 we had to get hold of paraffin lamps so that we could do the milking. We could put a tractor onto the vacuum pump via the power take off shaft , so we had vacuum to work the milking machines , but had no lights . 5 years later I made sure we had a tractor driven generator in the new dairy set up built in 78/79 , which of course had more sophisticated electronic devices that needed electricity in emergencies. Back in 1973 those paraffin lamps had to come from W Germany who still seemed to be making them.

  • @waynehoobler2677
    @waynehoobler26772 жыл бұрын

    After having just watched this video my take was this; had Bruce Fummey been my school teacher with his enthusiasm and personality I would surely have ended up at Cambridge. As a pensioner I can declare that no one is too old to learn.

  • @ScotlandHistoryTours

    @ScotlandHistoryTours

    2 жыл бұрын

    Aye, you didnae see my student's results in the exams😂😂😂

  • @rorychisholm8863
    @rorychisholm88632 жыл бұрын

    The Ayrshire cottage I was brought up in didn't get electricity until 1960 so was still full of Tilley lamps when the 70's power cuts came along. They were much brighter than the electric lamps and I have warm memories of those times still. Alas by the time I came along all the family dwellings had indoor toilets and I had to wait until squatting in London in the 80's to appreciate the Zen qualities of the outhouse. In a gale wae driving rain at the height of the October 87 storm was the best. To her dying day my Granny was never quite convinced that indoor toilets were hygienic or necessarily an advance. As regards the oil shale. Did you ever come across the pink tarmacadam roads? I remember Cambuslang and Busbie having red and pink roads made of oil shale scalpings . Oh and thank you for introducing the world to the proper use of the word bing. Many happy memories brought up there. Sledging down them on breedboards and ferreting an' a sorts. Ta chiel

  • @thebanjoman1963
    @thebanjoman19632 жыл бұрын

    As a child I have memories of 'walking the yard' at my Great Uncles to visit the "outhouse" as we in the states called them and having to contend with an angry Rooster along the way. Imagine the fear of being 8 years old getting chased and pecked by a ruthless bird and all you could do is run..It gave me nightmares for a while. Even to this day I don't much care for the birds.. Unless they are on my plate.. 😀

  • @ScotlandHistoryTours

    @ScotlandHistoryTours

    2 жыл бұрын

    😂

  • @pamczech5984

    @pamczech5984

    2 жыл бұрын

    We had that problem with our neighbors rooster a viscous bantam rooster he could smell fear I never left their house till it was time to leave

  • @lenabreijer1311

    @lenabreijer1311

    2 жыл бұрын

    Lol yes. Visiting my aunt in the north of the Netherlands in the 50s chased by chickens to the outhouse! It was beside the manure pile. They had a picturesque thatched cottage with rings to fasten the cows in the hallway. Not that they had the cows in the hallway, they were modern and had a barn.

  • @sarimento1
    @sarimento12 жыл бұрын

    Well done, Lord Bruce! Again, your closing remarks are pearls of wisdom! Oh, Congrats on hiking up the hill! Great drone shot as well!!

  • @callumgordon1668
    @callumgordon16682 жыл бұрын

    I grew up in Stravithie near St Andrews My mum’s home didn’t have electric lighting until the 1950s and they’d used paraffin lamps. She held onto stuff. We lived in the country so had to use open fires and a paraffin heater to heat our house, so had plenty paraffin. So when we had power cuts, particularly in the ‘70s, we used the paraffin lamps to have light, while my friends in the town were in the dark. Somehow my mum even was able to source new glasses and stuff when we had rare breakages. Last time I remember using them was the night before my Chemistry O grade in 1980. If you gave me one today, I would know how to use it.

  • @jimwatson3382
    @jimwatson33822 жыл бұрын

    If James Young was english there would be monuments in london celebrating him, But it's a case of another Great Scot swept under the carpet!

  • @stevesargent8731

    @stevesargent8731

    Жыл бұрын

    Joseph Swan (born in Sunderland) invented the incandescent lightbulb, I think he got a little plaque somewhere and most English people still believe it was that twat Edison (or dont know at all). Oh yes we have a few mostly privately funded monuments to the likes of the Stephensons and a small handful of others but it's only a matter of time before the woke mob cook up some highly tenuous link with womens voting rights or the slave trade and dump those in a river. Young is probably better off being celebrated in his homeland.

  • @marthamckeehan8878
    @marthamckeehan88782 жыл бұрын

    Hello from Colorado. My parents were both born in company housing at a mining camp and resented that their fathers were paid in what was called scrip that had to be used in the company store. History repeats itself. My father's grandmother was a Livingston, presumably from around West Lothian.

  • @derekskinner4939
    @derekskinner49392 жыл бұрын

    Even in the UK capital, where I was born & lived from 1940 - 1961 we had to use an OUTSIDE LAVVY down the garden.....the good old days?

  • @ScotlandHistoryTours

    @ScotlandHistoryTours

    2 жыл бұрын

    The bairns dinnae ken they're born

  • @wallyjansen898

    @wallyjansen898

    2 жыл бұрын

    I thought the outside lav was for the gardener when cought short.

  • @kirkmorrison6131
    @kirkmorrison61312 жыл бұрын

    It reminds me of a line from The Town I Love So Well As we play behind the gasyard wall and we played in the dust and the smell. I for years had to carry a barn lantern to the little house out back

  • @edmundsveikutis1698
    @edmundsveikutis16982 жыл бұрын

    Ime glad you’ve posted this story . I used to sell paraffin in the 60s and 70s . There was a shortage and the delivery driver said they could only supply Kerosene. This is now being sold and labelled paraffin . It is definitely Inferior. I suspect that is why pressure lamps don’t work as well as as I remember.

  • @ScotlandHistoryTours

    @ScotlandHistoryTours

    2 жыл бұрын

    Oh I didn't know that

  • @user-jc1973

    @user-jc1973

    2 жыл бұрын

    I had thought that James Young had patented the name Paraffin. When they stuck a pipe in the ground in Texas and got oil , a legal battle ensued to try and stop them selling it as parrafin. They then just sold their version as kerosene. Great video as usual Bruce. James Young also used part of his wealth to fund some of the adventures of Dr David Livingstone.

  • @erinmcdonald7781

    @erinmcdonald7781

    2 жыл бұрын

    I didn't realize there was a difference. Here in the states lamp oil is kerosene, and paraffin is a white wax derived from petroleum. Needless to say it can be confusing for us when the topic comes up. ✌️😎💜🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

  • @erinmcdonald7781
    @erinmcdonald77812 жыл бұрын

    Had no idea Scotland invented shale oil extraction, and also figured out a way to clean up afterwards with a park, beautiful hills there (or future archeological site: Five Hills Royal Tomb complete with archaic transport). Greetings from California!💜🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿😎

  • @KelticStingray

    @KelticStingray

    2 жыл бұрын

    @פלשתי partially agree. Institutions support innovators that aren't rich dandies. Scotland has a great legacy in tertiary educational institutions.

  • @robbieredball
    @robbieredball2 жыл бұрын

    brilliant, I moved to Scotland in 1998 and wondered what the hell the pink hills were. Found out they were from paraffin shale and yes, I remember paraffin heaters as a kid a long long time ago, but never knew the story.

  • @BarryHWhite
    @BarryHWhite2 жыл бұрын

    I've always been very proud to be a Bathgate bairn, as Ye ken fine. but since You have started Your series on the bras history of Bathgate and West Lothian, I have learned a heck of a lot, and had great fun doing so. Cheers again Brucie boy.

  • @ScotlandHistoryTours

    @ScotlandHistoryTours

    2 жыл бұрын

    Brilliant

  • @kevinreillydenmylne
    @kevinreillydenmylne2 жыл бұрын

    great grandad lived in oakbank, worked there in the oil industry

  • @colingordon5030
    @colingordon50302 жыл бұрын

    Another fascinating video Bruce with some laughs as usual, I remember as a kid in the 70s we had a paraffin heater which my mum used to heat the bathroom on a Sunday night so my brother and I were warm when we had a bath. Good memories.

  • @gerryphilly53
    @gerryphilly532 жыл бұрын

    I always enjoy your videos but was didn’t expect there to be connections that resonated to my area. Pennsylvania has a connection to the growth of the oil industry - among the first commercial oil wells were drilled here. Company housing and stores were part of the coal mining industry here, so the fact that that existed in the oil industry in West Lothian resonates. Finally, I didn’t expect the co-operative connection. My wife works for a co-operative here, so I am aware of this powerful model for brining a measure of empowerment and some equality to the capitalist system. Once again you’ve produced excellent work. Thank you.

  • @billycaspersghost7528
    @billycaspersghost75282 жыл бұрын

    Fascinating and evocative of past times and forgotten history that people live amongst unknowingly. Every few years I visit the places of my past . I see now greening hills and pine clad slopes with new housing developments nestling between them. I remember them as "slag heaps" formed from mining spoil deposited from conveyors running 24/7. I worked under these places long ago , I remember the waste being covered over with plastic sheets to prevent leeching out of chemical waste ,to allow the houses to be built. The underground honeycomb of ancient mine working are steadily filling with brackish water . The mine pumps were turned off years back and the old drainage systems long silted and choked,down there, the water is rising ,methane collecting. Promise me Bruce , never ,ever ever buy a mock Tudor "house" in Barnsley !!!

  • @islandsedition
    @islandsedition2 жыл бұрын

    Yep. My dad finished building an external building in a house we moved into. It didn't have electricity or heating yet but I moved into it as a teen as the house was a bit crowded. I was given an old ships paraffin lamp to take the chill of the cold winter nights. Slightly fuzzy mornings as I recall.

  • @stevenleslie8557
    @stevenleslie8557 Жыл бұрын

    You've taught me a lot about Scottish people. You can come from many different places and still be Scottish. But you need to experience Scotland first hand.

  • @Shortfuse39
    @Shortfuse392 жыл бұрын

    My mothers side of the family is from Midlothian and West Lothian (Stoneyburn and Fauldhouse). In doing family research, I've learned many generations of Bowman's and Watson's were miners of different sorts. Some mined coal (which you did a very interesting video on) and some mined shale. I have often wondered why my family stayed dirt poor even though they were employed. Every video you do explaining what these people had to contend with helps me understand their plights and why it took my granny putting her foot down and emigrating to Canada then eventually America to give us a better chance at life. From the bottom of my heart Bruce, thank you.

  • @here_we_go_again2571

    @here_we_go_again2571

    Жыл бұрын

    @ Shortfuse39 I don't know about Canada; but the situation in the coal fields and the early oil fields of USA weren't any better than the situation for miners in Scotland, England and Wales. A lot of the people in the USA area of Appalachia (Western Pennsylvannia, West Virgina, Eastern Kentucky, Eastern Tennesee, North & South Carolina, came from the British Isles. People from other parts of Europe also came to the Pennsylvnia mines to work. (the demand for miners was very high)

  • @scottferguson48
    @scottferguson482 жыл бұрын

    It's always great to see you with another great video. Well done 👍 . I wish you well. From Elgin Scotland

  • @rchatte100
    @rchatte1002 жыл бұрын

    I remeber having a parrafin heater in our rented flat in the late 70's when I was a kid. Still remember the addictive smell & think the parrafin was blue in colour.

  • @Kjme413
    @Kjme4132 жыл бұрын

    My dad used to work on the oil rigs off the coast of Aberdeen.

  • @jamesallardice4645
    @jamesallardice46452 жыл бұрын

    Thank's again, great video and very well done. Keep it up, you are needed.

  • @colinsmith1288
    @colinsmith12882 жыл бұрын

    Amazing narration,a piece of scottish history l was unaware of, and those conical shaped man-made hills are a beautiful legacy to behold.

  • @MYEVILTWIIN
    @MYEVILTWIIN2 жыл бұрын

    When I was wee my dad used to tell me greendykes was Ayers Rock 😂

  • @craig8542
    @craig8542 Жыл бұрын

    brilliant Bruce. Paraffin Young and Clerk Maxwell. The BIG gamechangers. anywhere in the world but with Scots bred ingenuity !

  • @mikeygilmour4635
    @mikeygilmour46352 жыл бұрын

    Brilliant video as always, Bruce. Was up the bings myself back in March and was nearly blown off the top so I can see how their shape would've been molded by the wind.

  • @ianbritton7534
    @ianbritton75342 жыл бұрын

    The pink paraffin man making his delivery on a Saturday. My childhood. I loved the smell.

  • @kredonystus7768
    @kredonystus77682 жыл бұрын

    Is there any chance you can do a video or two on pre-christian religion of Scotland. It was such a fascinating time and while we don't know much you have such a gift for storytelling you'll be able to make the tales come alive.

  • @ScotlandHistoryTours

    @ScotlandHistoryTours

    2 жыл бұрын

    Who knows... it may come

  • @kredonystus7768

    @kredonystus7768

    2 жыл бұрын

    @Boohoo QQlefty but we also don't know what it was called then either, only what the Romans called them them.

  • @Keithemery889
    @Keithemery8892 жыл бұрын

    You’re my favourite online historian! Keep up the good work man I haven’t had so much fun learning since I did my chainsaw and tree climbing tickets 🤣🤣

  • @ScotlandHistoryTours

    @ScotlandHistoryTours

    2 жыл бұрын

    Ah cheers man

  • @pikeyMcBarkin
    @pikeyMcBarkin2 жыл бұрын

    another banger of a video! Thanks for all the hard work!

  • @davidburton7466
    @davidburton74662 жыл бұрын

    can't remember the parafin lamp but do recall my mum and dad had a couple of parafin heaters when i was a kid...and the Esso Blue advert of course...🤣

  • @coal.sparks
    @coal.sparks2 жыл бұрын

    I have become so used to American history that when you talked of a cooperative store where workers didn't have to pay company prices, I was braced for violent responses from the company. I'm very glad that wasn't the case.

  • @jimwalsh8520

    @jimwalsh8520

    2 жыл бұрын

    Does America have any history?

  • @jahmah519
    @jahmah5192 жыл бұрын

    Bruce Fummey, you're a great honest historian, you are being considered part of the cabinet for Caledonia and Albion.

  • @ScotlandHistoryTours

    @ScotlandHistoryTours

    2 жыл бұрын

    😅😅😅

  • @chidlowt
    @chidlowt2 жыл бұрын

    We had an outside toilet attached to the house. In the winter Dad lit a parafin lamp on low under the cistern to stop it from freezing. Still love the smell of parafin.

  • @mah6183
    @mah61832 жыл бұрын

    The Oil Company Town was very much like the iron furnace towns in Pennsylvania in the early 1800s.

  • @daveu88sanderson8
    @daveu88sanderson82 жыл бұрын

    A first class historical story. I really enjoyed your enthsiasim about a really unknown event. I look forward to following you. Kind regards DS

  • @ScotlandHistoryTours

    @ScotlandHistoryTours

    2 жыл бұрын

    Welcomeonboard

  • @jimstirling7223
    @jimstirling72232 жыл бұрын

    Always a wee treat when I open KZread and see a new video from you Bruce

  • @ScotlandHistoryTours

    @ScotlandHistoryTours

    2 жыл бұрын

    Ah cheers Jim

  • @Wee_Langside
    @Wee_Langside Жыл бұрын

    I remember paraffin lamps. I grew up near Comrie in the 1950s and 1960s. We had no electricity, or any mains services for that matter. Gas light downstairs. I remember going to Thomas Ward at Inverkeithing with my dad and getting some old hurricane lamps from some ship that had been broken up there. It was a wonderful place full of useless stuff. I can remember also getting a couple of signalling flags which eventually got used for rags. The lamps proved to be much more useful. I had my first job after college in Bathgate, the old timers were proud of the history of West Lothian, Cannel Coal and the story of Paraffin Young.

  • @Sportliveonline
    @Sportliveonline2 жыл бұрын

    thankyou for this brilliant information ~~~

  • @coinneachreid8971
    @coinneachreid89712 жыл бұрын

    I always wondered what those red hills were you are a wealth of information

  • @brentwallace7096
    @brentwallace70962 жыл бұрын

    another great video, Bruce. here in the States. we call them "coal oil lamps". coal oil and kerosene are the same here. thanks again for another great video.

  • @KenElmer
    @KenElmer Жыл бұрын

    My mum kept a paraffin lamp in the outside loo ( in the garage) to stop the water from freezing. It kept it usably warm in there.

  • @allymac1314
    @allymac13142 жыл бұрын

    That zip line is just behind the house I grew up in! I vividly remember the huge orange bings all over the area which have gradually been removed and repurposed elsewhere.

  • @shaunvlog
    @shaunvlog2 жыл бұрын

    Really interesting topic - thanks for sharing

  • @ScotlandHistoryTours

    @ScotlandHistoryTours

    2 жыл бұрын

    You're welcome

  • @45O4
    @45O42 жыл бұрын

    I am very happy to have known indoor plumbing my whole life

  • @ScotlandHistoryTours

    @ScotlandHistoryTours

    2 жыл бұрын

    Aye some fowk hae it easy

  • @andrewdowniephd
    @andrewdowniephd Жыл бұрын

    Another great history lesson. Love watching your presentations and share very often on FB.

  • @ScotlandHistoryTours

    @ScotlandHistoryTours

    Жыл бұрын

    Guid lad

  • @Sidecontrol1234
    @Sidecontrol12342 жыл бұрын

    You had me gripped for the full 11:06! Never knew this existed, subbed and look forward to watching your other videos! From the North East of Scotland.

  • @ScotlandHistoryTours

    @ScotlandHistoryTours

    2 жыл бұрын

    I'm delighted

  • @offwiththefairiesforever2373
    @offwiththefairiesforever23732 жыл бұрын

    Never knew that , thankyou Bruce xx

  • @torrespearls381
    @torrespearls3812 жыл бұрын

    Cheers mate, enjoyed that.

  • @colineaston6305
    @colineaston63052 жыл бұрын

    My great grandfather worked for James (paraffin ) Young in West Lothian.

  • @TheBestlaidschemes
    @TheBestlaidschemes Жыл бұрын

    Brilliant mate! That always puzzled me as I drove that road so often. Impossible to drive past and not make you think. So glad that you took the time to think a wee bitty deeper than me! 😮

  • @ScotlandHistoryTours

    @ScotlandHistoryTours

    Жыл бұрын

    Happy to help

  • @soundssimple1
    @soundssimple12 жыл бұрын

    Nice video, reminded me of my of my school days when my after school pocket money job was delivering paraffin to houses in the streets of Govanhill in Glasgow. Heavy metal conical tins filled with a gallon of 'pink' paraffin which stank with a smell that stayed with you. Ahh the good old days...............

  • @peterkelly1665
    @peterkelly16652 жыл бұрын

    very enjoyable who knew oil industry starting in Scotland. Another history tale to educate and inform

  • @bryan7938
    @bryan79382 жыл бұрын

    Brilliant as always

  • @adrianrouse5148
    @adrianrouse51482 жыл бұрын

    Great video. Thanks. Realy enjoyed your presentation.

  • @ScotlandHistoryTours

    @ScotlandHistoryTours

    2 жыл бұрын

    Thanks

  • @alicewatt416
    @alicewatt4162 жыл бұрын

    Great video👍

  • @JimLahey21
    @JimLahey212 жыл бұрын

    Good work mate

  • @michaelsmyth5877
    @michaelsmyth58772 жыл бұрын

    Outstanding content as always Bruce! Always wondered what those mounds were haha

  • @ScotlandHistoryTours

    @ScotlandHistoryTours

    2 жыл бұрын

    Thanks again!

  • @marcingala.
    @marcingala.2 жыл бұрын

    Thank You. Amazing material.

  • @ScotlandHistoryTours

    @ScotlandHistoryTours

    2 жыл бұрын

    Our pleasure!

  • @bryangillan1460
    @bryangillan14602 жыл бұрын

    This is brilliant Bruce great video !!!

  • @ScotlandHistoryTours

    @ScotlandHistoryTours

    2 жыл бұрын

    Thanks Bryan

  • @stevendouglas6997
    @stevendouglas69972 жыл бұрын

    Loved this ❤️

  • @waypastbedtime
    @waypastbedtime Жыл бұрын

    Cheers Bruce. Great video and topical too. Maybe we need to start extracting shale oil again this winter.

  • @ScotlandHistoryTours

    @ScotlandHistoryTours

    Жыл бұрын

    Ooooft

  • @justiceh2o
    @justiceh2o2 жыл бұрын

    Fantastic video and very informative. I have lived in the area all my life and had absolutely no idea that their was a house buried under the hills.

  • @ScotlandHistoryTours

    @ScotlandHistoryTours

    2 жыл бұрын

    Every day's a school day😎

  • @justiceh2o

    @justiceh2o

    2 жыл бұрын

    @@ScotlandHistoryTours That it is mate. Keep up the great work. 👍

  • @euansmith3699
    @euansmith36992 жыл бұрын

    Fascinating history, entertainingly presented? That'll be Bruce Fummey.

  • @ScotlandHistoryTours

    @ScotlandHistoryTours

    2 жыл бұрын

    😜

  • @ArcAudios77
    @ArcAudios772 жыл бұрын

    Was always wondered upon... Knew it was part of Mining activity. Thanks as always Sir, appreciated.

  • @ScotlandHistoryTours

    @ScotlandHistoryTours

    2 жыл бұрын

    Happy to help

  • @handsomepiper5761
    @handsomepiper57612 жыл бұрын

    Brilliant stuff as always👍. Loved this one.....well I love them all to be honest 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🥃

  • @ScotlandHistoryTours

    @ScotlandHistoryTours

    2 жыл бұрын

    Thank you you big hunk of pipyness