One of your very best Ed. On a par with any BBC TV lifestyle documentary, on a fraction of the budget I'm guessing..... You know how much we all love those old maps and photos that merge into present-day views. It can feel a bit like time-travel, which is something I'm sure we all secretly long to be able to do. Laughed out loud a few times too. "The world-wide shortage of letters" being one of those. I particularly liked the little bit of time-travel where an earlier version of you came out of the bakery bearing a pie. I like that there is always that touch of poignancy too. Thanks for telling the story of those poor young women who were killed at the wood mills. And what a harsh life people had then, grafting most of their days away and not for their own enrichment, but just to survive.....😥
Very interesting. Nearly 50 years ago I used to order lorryloads of sawdust ( to bed dairy cattle in the byres in Ayrshire ) from Anderson , Bo'ness which presumably was a byproduct of sawmilling there. I was always struck by the accent of the lady who would answer the phone , saying "Annersin Bo.nehhh'esssss " with a very pronounced up lift towards the end of the phrase, typical of the east coast and so different to the downfalling in west coast accents. Alongside all this industrial heritage there was still a strong farming industry in the surrounding countryside. My great grandfather was born at Polmonthill farm , just a few miles west of Bo'ness. The slopes of that farm became a golf course and artificial ski run. When he married c 1888 he took the farm of Bearcrofts, Grangemouth on the flat carse land on the shores of the Forth. It was just 10 to 15 ft above sea level. When my grandmother married my grandfather in 1921 and went to live at Bearcrofts she said she loved being near the sea and it was a lovely place. There was what was called the Shelly Bank along the shore which consisted of a vast amount of cockle shells ( Granny fed them to her numerous hens so the eggshells were strong - both sea shells and eggshells are calcium carbonate ). I had assumed that this was a natural formation but was astonished to learn much later that it was actually a shell midden created by early human inhabitants of the shore line. Sadly the oil works began in 1925 and Granny said the oil company would flush out oil tanks at high tide , dumping a stinking mass that would wash up onto the shoreline. My mother was born at Bearcrofts in 1925 but by 1944 the oilworks were expanding rapidly over the farm and the family had to leave . ( the farm was on the Earl of Zetland 's estate). In the closing shots of the video there was a good view of the oilworks over your shoulder - it seems they have a more uncertain future now.
Great video Ed. My late Dad grew up in Harbour Rd, his Dad moved there from Slammanan in 1940 and married a local. When I did my family tree I discovered that my Grandmothers family goes back centuries there, some of them working at the timber yard in the 19thC as well as miners, labourers etc. I love a wander round Bo'ness when I can.
@@EdExploresScotland Yes Corvi"s or Rosie Corvi"s as it used to be called by the locals been there for donkeys years and Serafini"s for the ice cream - Having said that my Grannie wouldnt ever go to Corvi"s because at some point (probably during the war or shortly thereafter) there used to be a big black cat always sat on the counter and you know what small towns were like -Doesnt take much to cause a scandal and they never ever forget
The Co-op was King back in the day in Bo"ness - At one point having individual shops - grocers, butchers, bakers, dairy, drapers, furniture shop, paint/wallpaper shop, tv/electrical shop and coffee house along with four other outlets in other parts of the town and of course the offices where all the women of Bo"ness would que up on the big day to collect their Co-op Dividend which after the Fair was probably the biggest highlight in the Bo"ness year
Falkirk council killed off bo'ness. My gran may main/ smellie loved the fair, many happy childhood memories of the toon,and the walks along the shore at grangepans😊
@@cabbygolf May Main that name rings a bell - Well i suppose it would you know what Bo"ness was like - i knew what house virtually everyone in my year at school lived in though i have no idea how i knew that as i had never been at most of them ever - was your Gran related to the McGilverys ?
Oh how i wish you could find photographs of the miners houses, not at the Snab but at Castleloan long gone, I’ve have tried everything i could but maybe you can, as part of your journey perhaps in the future.Thank you for all your videos enjoy your pint.❤❤
I dont have pictures of Castleloan ( well maybe a couple with a few houses in the background) but i do have a couple of old pictures of when a lot of the folk from Castleloan went on an outing - I think one is just up the Dean but i think the other might be Portobello - I have no idea who any of the people are in the pictures apart from my Grannie and my mum - Im guessing the pics were taken about the late 1940s My mum and her brothers and sister were brought up in Castleloan during the war and a bit after
Another excellent video thanks Ed. I guess it's good to be reminded of our history. So that we can see where we have come from to where we are today. We obviously can't change history but hopefully, we can learn from it and maybe appreciate those who have been before us. Keep up the great work Ed.
Fantastic job Ed. Like many I suppose, I came for the heritage railway last summer. Would have liked to have had time to look around a bit more. Thanks for giving me (and the world) that chance.
Enjoyed this very much Ed. That damp cold weather is rough to walk through. You’re very hardy in spite of it. Way to go! I hope you’re having a Happy Christmas and a Wonderful New Year to boot! Stay safe and well. Lynn in Naples FL. Cheers💫🌟
Great video and music Eddy, and a great education on the town, thanks for all your efforts and for sharing it with us, Hpe you had a nice Christmaas and have a gret new year, yeah, looking forward to the longer days again so ye kin git oot an aboot fur longer !
Excellent video Ed. I have never heard of this place but will definitely make a point of visiting sometime. Hope you had a fantastic Christmas and best wishes for the New Year mate
One of my ancestors was killed in the Kinneil pit by a roof fall in 1864, his wife was pregnant and at the shock of his death she went into labour and had a daughter, when tracing the family tree, his death was registered under two different spellings and his new born daughter was registered in another spelling as well, this made it quite difficult.
The second one got pulled down due to subsidence so i suspect the first one might have had the same problem - They do say that underneath what is now the town area of Bo"ness is another town that subsided though thats local folklore and if true would have been hundreds and hundreds of years ago
Well Eddy you can’t please everybody every time but there was so much of the history of Bo’ness that wasn’t😅 cover😊, Kinneil House for instance and the importance it played (right or wrong ) in the towns’ history. Rabbie Burns description of Bo’ness in 1787 ‘’a dirty ugly place”. Eddy no pint 🍺. 😂❤
And the story of Lady Hamilton who jumped to her death from Kinneil House ( who she was fleeing from im not quite sure) but they do say her ghost still haunts the place where she fell
The people of Bo'ness again rejected an independent Scotland in the recent Westminster elections...... 17years of decay under the SNP has seen to that.
One of your very best Ed. On a par with any BBC TV lifestyle documentary, on a fraction of the budget I'm guessing..... You know how much we all love those old maps and photos that merge into present-day views. It can feel a bit like time-travel, which is something I'm sure we all secretly long to be able to do. Laughed out loud a few times too. "The world-wide shortage of letters" being one of those. I particularly liked the little bit of time-travel where an earlier version of you came out of the bakery bearing a pie. I like that there is always that touch of poignancy too. Thanks for telling the story of those poor young women who were killed at the wood mills. And what a harsh life people had then, grafting most of their days away and not for their own enrichment, but just to survive.....😥
Cheers Eilean.
Thanks I wish you have a Merry Christmas and a happy new year.
Many thanks Peter. Have a great 2025.
Very interesting. Nearly 50 years ago I used to order lorryloads of sawdust ( to bed dairy cattle in the byres in Ayrshire ) from Anderson , Bo'ness which presumably was a byproduct of sawmilling there. I was always struck by the accent of the lady who would answer the phone , saying "Annersin Bo.nehhh'esssss " with a very pronounced up lift towards the end of the phrase, typical of the east coast and so different to the downfalling in west coast accents.
Alongside all this industrial heritage there was still a strong farming industry in the surrounding countryside. My great grandfather was born at Polmonthill farm , just a few miles west of Bo'ness. The slopes of that farm became a golf course and artificial ski run. When he married c 1888 he took the farm of Bearcrofts, Grangemouth on the flat carse land on the shores of the Forth. It was just 10 to 15 ft above sea level.
When my grandmother married my grandfather in 1921 and went to live at Bearcrofts she said she loved being near the sea and it was a lovely place. There was what was called the Shelly Bank along the shore which consisted of a vast amount of cockle shells ( Granny fed them to her numerous hens so the eggshells were strong - both sea shells and eggshells are calcium carbonate ). I had assumed that this was a natural formation but was astonished to learn much later that it was actually a shell midden created by early human inhabitants of the shore line.
Sadly the oil works began in 1925 and Granny said the oil company would flush out oil tanks at high tide , dumping a stinking mass that would wash up onto the shoreline. My mother was born at Bearcrofts in 1925 but by 1944 the oilworks were expanding rapidly over the farm and the family had to leave . ( the farm was on the Earl of Zetland 's estate).
In the closing shots of the video there was a good view of the oilworks over your shoulder - it seems they have a more uncertain future now.
Thanks Ed, you and yours have a very merry Christmas and please keep Scotland alive while you are travelling🥳🤠
Cheers Guys. Let's hope for a great 2025.
Great video, as a resident of Bo’ness it’s great to see the wee toons history 😊
Great video Ed. My late Dad grew up in Harbour Rd, his Dad moved there from Slammanan in 1940 and married a local. When I did my family tree I discovered that my Grandmothers family goes back centuries there, some of them working at the timber yard in the 19thC as well as miners, labourers etc. I love a wander round Bo'ness when I can.
Cheers Graham. During recording I discovered Corvi's - best fish supper I've had in a long time. I'll be back. 👍
@@EdExploresScotland Yes Corvi"s or Rosie Corvi"s as it used to be called by the locals been there for donkeys years and Serafini"s for the ice cream - Having said that my Grannie wouldnt ever go to Corvi"s because at some point (probably during the war or shortly thereafter) there used to be a big black cat always sat on the counter and you know what small towns were like -Doesnt take much to cause a scandal and they never ever forget
The Co-op was King back in the day in Bo"ness - At one point having individual shops - grocers, butchers, bakers, dairy, drapers, furniture shop, paint/wallpaper shop, tv/electrical shop and coffee house along with four other outlets in other parts of the town and of course the offices where all the women of Bo"ness would que up on the big day to collect their Co-op Dividend which after the Fair was probably the biggest highlight in the Bo"ness year
Falkirk council killed off bo'ness. My gran may main/ smellie loved the fair, many happy childhood memories of the toon,and the walks along the shore at grangepans😊
@@cabbygolf May Main that name rings a bell - Well i suppose it would you know what Bo"ness was like - i knew what house virtually everyone in my year at school lived in though i have no idea how i knew that as i had never been at most of them ever - was your Gran related to the McGilverys ?
Very informative, as always, Ed, thank you. I love seeing the old photographs. Makes you wonder what our country will be like in another 100 years!
Cheers Sheila. Here's to the next century.
Oh how i wish you could find photographs of the miners houses, not at the Snab but at Castleloan long gone, I’ve have tried everything i could but maybe you can, as part of your journey perhaps in the future.Thank you for all your videos enjoy your pint.❤❤
I dont have pictures of Castleloan ( well maybe a couple with a few houses in the background) but i do have a couple of old pictures of when a lot of the folk from Castleloan went on an outing - I think one is just up the Dean but i think the other might be Portobello - I have no idea who any of the people are in the pictures apart from my Grannie and my mum - Im guessing the pics were taken about the late 1940s My mum and her brothers and sister were brought up in Castleloan during the war and a bit after
My home town❤
Another excellent video thanks Ed. I guess it's good to be reminded of our history. So that we can see where we have come from to where we are today. We obviously can't change history but hopefully, we can learn from it and maybe appreciate those who have been before us. Keep up the great work Ed.
Cheers Bryce.
Fantastic job Ed. Like many I suppose, I came for the heritage railway last summer. Would have liked to have had time to look around a bit more. Thanks for giving me (and the world) that chance.
Definitely worth a return visit for the fish suppers out of Corvi's. Awesome.
My daughter has a boat. She spent some time there she loved it. Hope you had a nice Christmas ed ❤
All the best Heather.
Enjoyed this very much Ed. That damp cold weather is rough to walk through. You’re very hardy in spite of it. Way to go!
I hope you’re having a Happy Christmas and a Wonderful New Year to boot!
Stay safe and well.
Lynn in Naples FL. Cheers💫🌟
Cheers Lynn. All the best.
Great video and music Eddy, and a great education on the town, thanks for all your efforts and for sharing it with us,
Hpe you had a nice Christmaas and have a gret new year, yeah, looking forward to the longer days again so ye kin git oot an aboot fur longer !
Cheers guys. Let's hope for a more peaceful 2025.
Lived here as a boy. Brilliant as usual
Great video. Very interesting to learn about the history of the docks and the harbour.
Excellent video Ed. I have never heard of this place but will definitely make a point of visiting sometime. Hope you had a fantastic Christmas and best wishes for the New Year mate
Cheers Alan. Great fish supper in Corvi's. All the best.
A very interesting video. I've never been there, but maybe one day......... Merry Christmas and a happy new year Ed.
Definitely worth a visit. Best Fish Supper I've had in a long while in Corvi's. All the best.
Unexpected to see a little video from you today Ed - but great to see you still out & about !
Magic 👌🏼
Hope you had a Good Christmas 🎄
Hi Graham. Yeh, I'd put a video out a few days back then deleted it. Too much festive ale. All the best for next year.
Hi Ed. Happy New Year 🎆.
I enjoyed this video very much. Have a Blessed Holiday Season 💫🌟
Lynn in Naples FL
Hi Lynn. May 2025 bring warmth and lots of pies.
Great video, ..Boness much loved by many grandads and grandweans for the steam trains🚂
Cheers Rab. Lovely place indeed.
No Sneddons or Simpsons were harmed during the making of this programme ....
Back in the day there were that many Sneddons a lot of them were given nicknames - Cobbler Sneddon being one i remember my mum mentioning
Only a true native will get the reference 😊.
One of my ancestors was killed in the Kinneil pit by a roof fall in 1864, his wife was pregnant and at the shock of his death she went into labour and had a daughter, when tracing the family tree, his death was registered under two different spellings and his new born daughter was registered in another spelling as well, this made it quite difficult.
Yes, family trees can be a nightmare with spelling variations.
Have you read why the original tower is no more?.❤
The second one got pulled down due to subsidence so i suspect the first one might have had the same problem - They do say that underneath what is now the town area of Bo"ness is another town that subsided though thats local folklore and if true would have been hundreds and hundreds of years ago
Airth was a big harbour too wasn't it?
I don't know. Many harbours along the Forth long gone.
Glad you managed to get your tooth fixed.❤
The moarns the fair and i"ll be their and i"ll have up ma curly hair
Wow yer hardy Ed yer in Bo,ness i thought ya would have been at home scoffing in tae yer turkey🦃 dinner well done indeed😊
Well Eddy you can’t please everybody every time but there was so much of the history of Bo’ness that wasn’t😅 cover😊, Kinneil House for instance and the importance it played (right or wrong ) in the towns’ history. Rabbie Burns description of Bo’ness in 1787
‘’a dirty ugly place”. Eddy no pint 🍺. 😂❤
And the story of Lady Hamilton who jumped to her death from Kinneil House ( who she was fleeing from im not quite sure) but they do say her ghost still haunts the place where she fell
The people of Bo'ness again rejected an independent Scotland in the recent Westminster elections...... 17years of decay under the SNP has seen to that.