What They Don't Say About Scotland's Oil

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  • čas přidán 3. 06. 2022
  • 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.

Komentáře • 623

  • @ScotlandHistoryTours
    @ScotlandHistoryTours  Před 2 lety +15

    Must see- places to see in West Lothian czcams.com/video/xTkD6czW_B8/video.html

    • @julianshepherd2038
      @julianshepherd2038 Před 2 lety

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

    • @alanmiller9054
      @alanmiller9054 Před 2 lety

      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 Před 2 lety

      dont forget how awesome scotland was at slavery

    • @Pennyburn1688
      @Pennyburn1688 Před 2 lety

      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
    @RushfanUK Před 2 lety +59

    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.

  • @scottjock
    @scottjock Před 2 lety +8

    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

  • @professor1972
    @professor1972 Před 2 lety +8

    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 Před 2 lety +1

      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
    @ericbeaton7211 Před 2 lety +13

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

  • @jaystewart5487
    @jaystewart5487 Před 2 lety +14

    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.

  • @fearthekilt
    @fearthekilt Před 2 lety +36

    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.

  • @GioMarron
    @GioMarron Před 2 lety +53

    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

  • @kariannecrysler640
    @kariannecrysler640 Před 2 lety +35

    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 ❤

  • @ianpattison841
    @ianpattison841 Před 2 lety +6

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

  • @davidmcclelland2661
    @davidmcclelland2661 Před 2 lety +5

    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!

  • @MultiZero1968
    @MultiZero1968 Před 2 lety +9

    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 Před 2 lety

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

    • @MultiZero1968
      @MultiZero1968 Před 2 lety +1

      @@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 Před 2 lety

      ​@@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

  • @katherinemcintosh7247
    @katherinemcintosh7247 Před 2 lety +49

    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 Před 2 lety +3

      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 Před 2 lety +1

      @@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 Před 2 lety +2

      @@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 Před 2 lety

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

    • @oliver13809
      @oliver13809 Před 2 lety +1

      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.

  • @cennethadameveson3715
    @cennethadameveson3715 Před 2 lety +25

    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 Před 2 lety +3

      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.

  • @duneideann9241
    @duneideann9241 Před 2 lety +2

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

  • @robertdaley1194
    @robertdaley1194 Před 2 lety +2

    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.

  • @steven.ghodgson765
    @steven.ghodgson765 Před 2 lety +7

    This man is a brilliant story teller !

  • @geowidman
    @geowidman Před 2 lety +6

    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 Před 2 lety

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

  • @VinDieselS70
    @VinDieselS70 Před 2 lety +2

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

  • @melissahdawn
    @melissahdawn Před 2 lety +11

    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!

  • @davidlewington198
    @davidlewington198 Před 2 lety +3

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

  • @donaldfarquar
    @donaldfarquar Před 2 lety +9

    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 Před 2 lety +4

      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 Před 2 lety

      @@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.

  • @sipjedekat8525
    @sipjedekat8525 Před 2 lety +3

    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  Před 2 lety +2

      Aye it wasn't a great experience

    • @euansmith3699
      @euansmith3699 Před 2 lety +3

      @@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 Před 2 lety

      @@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 ,

  • @paulaneilson5110
    @paulaneilson5110 Před 2 lety +21

    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 Před 2 lety +3

      Paula, to help as well one of Bruce's mates does videos on Gaelic:
      czcams.com/users/GaelicwithJason
      Hope Bruce doesn't mind the link.

    • @paulaneilson5110
      @paulaneilson5110 Před 2 lety +2

      @@liamburge463 thanks Liam 🤗

    • @celticm6616
      @celticm6616 Před 2 lety +1

      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

  • @susanschaffner4422
    @susanschaffner4422 Před 2 lety +4

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

  • @thebanjoman1963
    @thebanjoman1963 Před 2 lety +21

    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  Před 2 lety +3

      😂

    • @pamczech5984
      @pamczech5984 Před 2 lety +3

      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 Před 2 lety +1

      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.

  • @Dinobaburas.
    @Dinobaburas. Před 2 lety +5

    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 Před rokem

      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.

  • @kredonystus7768
    @kredonystus7768 Před 2 lety +4

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

  • @callumgordon1668
    @callumgordon1668 Před 2 lety +14

    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.

  • @auldfouter8661
    @auldfouter8661 Před 2 lety +1

    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
    @waynehoobler2677 Před 2 lety +2

    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.

  • @sarimento1
    @sarimento1 Před 2 lety +1

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

  • @derekskinner4939
    @derekskinner4939 Před 2 lety +2

    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?

  • @freddiemoretti8456
    @freddiemoretti8456 Před 2 lety +1

    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

  • @edmundsveikutis1698
    @edmundsveikutis1698 Před 2 lety +5

    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  Před 2 lety

      Oh I didn't know that

    • @user-jc1973
      @user-jc1973 Před 2 lety +1

      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 Před 2 lety +1

      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. ✌️😎💜🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

  • @jimbaird8976
    @jimbaird8976 Před 2 lety +1

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

  • @LOrealHardly
    @LOrealHardly Před 2 lety +1

    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.

  • @erinmcdonald7781
    @erinmcdonald7781 Před 2 lety +8

    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 Před 2 lety

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

  • @Shortfuse39
    @Shortfuse39 Před 2 lety +2

    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 Před rokem

      @ 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)

  • @rorychisholm8863
    @rorychisholm8863 Před 2 lety +6

    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

  • @colingordon5030
    @colingordon5030 Před 2 lety +2

    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.

  • @pikeyMcBarkin
    @pikeyMcBarkin Před 2 lety +2

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

  • @gerryphilly53
    @gerryphilly53 Před 2 lety +3

    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.

  • @BarryHWhite
    @BarryHWhite Před 2 lety +1

    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.

  • @scottferguson48
    @scottferguson48 Před 2 lety +1

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

  • @leonstevens1382
    @leonstevens1382 Před rokem

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

  • @Keithemery889
    @Keithemery889 Před 2 lety +18

    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 🤣🤣

  • @colinsmith1288
    @colinsmith1288 Před 2 lety +1

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

  • @jamesallardice4645
    @jamesallardice4645 Před 2 lety

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

  • @kredonystus7768
    @kredonystus7768 Před 2 lety +3

    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  Před 2 lety +3

      Who knows... it may come

    • @kredonystus7768
      @kredonystus7768 Před 2 lety

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

  • @mikeygilmour4635
    @mikeygilmour4635 Před 2 lety +1

    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.

  • @coal.sparks
    @coal.sparks Před 2 lety +5

    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.

  • @pikeyMcBarkin
    @pikeyMcBarkin Před 2 lety

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

  • @jahmah519
    @jahmah519 Před 2 lety

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

  • @islandsedition
    @islandsedition Před 2 lety +6

    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.

  • @shaunvlog
    @shaunvlog Před 2 lety +1

    Really interesting topic - thanks for sharing

  • @marthamckeehan8878
    @marthamckeehan8878 Před 2 lety +1

    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.

  • @billycaspersghost7528
    @billycaspersghost7528 Před 2 lety +3

    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 !!!

  • @kirkmorrison6131
    @kirkmorrison6131 Před 2 lety +1

    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

  • @robbieredball
    @robbieredball Před 2 lety +2

    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.

  • @jimstirling7223
    @jimstirling7223 Před 2 lety

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

  • @stevenleslie8557
    @stevenleslie8557 Před 2 lety +1

    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.

  • @craig8542
    @craig8542 Před 2 lety

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

  • @daveu88sanderson8
    @daveu88sanderson8 Před 2 lety +1

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

  • @Sidecontrol1234
    @Sidecontrol1234 Před 2 lety

    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.

  • @TheBestlaidschemes
    @TheBestlaidschemes Před rokem

    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! 😮

  • @offwiththefairiesforever2373

    Never knew that , thankyou Bruce xx

  • @kevinreillydenmylne
    @kevinreillydenmylne Před 2 lety +1

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

  • @peterkelly1665
    @peterkelly1665 Před 2 lety

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

  • @torrespearls381
    @torrespearls381 Před 2 lety

    Cheers mate, enjoyed that.

  • @andrewdowniephd
    @andrewdowniephd Před rokem

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

  • @brentwallace7096
    @brentwallace7096 Před 2 lety +2

    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.

  • @bryan7938
    @bryan7938 Před 2 lety

    Brilliant as always

  • @JimLahey21
    @JimLahey21 Před 2 lety +1

    Good work mate

  • @michaelsmyth5877
    @michaelsmyth5877 Před 2 lety +1

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

  • @rchatte100
    @rchatte100 Před 2 lety +1

    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.

  • @johnmcdonald219
    @johnmcdonald219 Před 2 lety +6

    If Scotland had held on to the revenues from North Sea oil, the question today would not be how it would manage solo, but how England would fare without its bankrollers (and now viewed as their poor cousins coming to them with our caps held out looking for more) over Hadrian's Wall.
    According to the chief economist at PricewaterhouseCoopers, John Hawksworth, had all this money been set aside and invested in ultra-safe assets it would have been worth £450bn by 2008. He admits that is a very conservative estimate: Sukhdev Johal, professor of accounting at Queen Mary University of London, thinks the total might well have been £850bn by now. Imagine the power house that Scotland would have been in the world if that money had been saved for the wellbeing of the 5.5 million people in Scotland compared to 68 million in the UK. .
    Thatcherism started a process which has contunued for the past 30 years which has been about using the powers of the state to divert more resources to the wealthy. Privatisation: the handing over of our assets at knock-down prices to corporations and supposed "investors", who then skim off the profits. The transformation of the North Sea billions into tax cuts for the wealthy is the same process but at its most squalid. This is Margaret Thatchers legacy and Scotlands loss.

    • @MrBond249
      @MrBond249 Před 2 lety +4

      Absolute bollocks

    • @theladdiesda8190
      @theladdiesda8190 Před 2 lety

      just look at Norway that's what scotland could've won.
      instead oil revenues were used to buy thatcher another term by propping up her fiscal destruction of the uk

    • @johnmcdonald219
      @johnmcdonald219 Před 2 lety

      @@MrBond249 Good rebuttle, but how about at least trying to develop a counter arguement.

    • @iangreenhorn544
      @iangreenhorn544 Před 2 lety +4

      I don't really have a counter argument ,I just know that we would have found a way to f##k it all up no matter the amount of money we would have had.

    • @johnmcdonald219
      @johnmcdonald219 Před 2 lety

      @@iangreenhorn544 You must wake up every morning singing "Always look on the bright side of life" 😜

  • @Sable413
    @Sable413 Před 2 lety +1

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

  • @alansmithee8831
    @alansmithee8831 Před 2 lety +6

    A'reyt Bruce. Five star video as usual.
    Blubbering around in the dark looked so orcad.
    Did you end up saying we cannot blame whales for the environmental damage from the oil industry, but it was down to Scotland?
    Oh and before they had the co-op they did five great big windy dumps at the bottom of the manor house garden?
    Funny and informative as ever.

  • @45O4
    @45O4 Před 2 lety +3

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

  • @chidlowt
    @chidlowt Před 2 lety

    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.

  • @stevendouglas6997
    @stevendouglas6997 Před 2 lety

    Loved this ❤️

  • @kathleenmccrory9883
    @kathleenmccrory9883 Před 2 lety +6

    That was fascinating. I'm trying to imagine the bafflement of future archeologists, who discover the buried house and car, with not 1, but 5, mountains built on it. Lol.

    • @Seraphus87
      @Seraphus87 Před 2 lety +1

      Already been done, TimeTeam was looking for one of the world's first railway bridges in Wales, and some other mining and metalworking infrastructure from the industrial revolution. They found it underneath about 20 meters of mining landfill. Well worth the watch, it's here on CZcams.

    • @kathleenmccrory9883
      @kathleenmccrory9883 Před 2 lety

      @@Seraphus87 thanks, I'll check it out.

  • @bryangillan1460
    @bryangillan1460 Před 2 lety

    This is brilliant Bruce great video !!!

  • @marcingala.
    @marcingala. Před 2 lety

    Thank You. Amazing material.

  • @soundssimple1
    @soundssimple1 Před 2 lety

    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...............

  • @Sportliveonline
    @Sportliveonline Před 2 lety

    thankyou for this brilliant information ~~~

  • @Wee_Langside
    @Wee_Langside Před rokem

    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.

  • @handsomepiper5761
    @handsomepiper5761 Před 2 lety

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

  • @davidburton7466
    @davidburton7466 Před 2 lety +1

    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...🤣

  • @alicewatt416
    @alicewatt416 Před 2 lety

    Great video👍

  • @jacobsgranddaughter
    @jacobsgranddaughter Před 2 lety +1

    ❤️👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 great history!

  • @MYEVILTWIIN
    @MYEVILTWIIN Před 2 lety +2

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

  • @coinneachreid8971
    @coinneachreid8971 Před 2 lety +1

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

  • @justiceh2o
    @justiceh2o Před 2 lety +1

    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.

  • @Campbell5339
    @Campbell5339 Před 2 lety +1

    Love the video 📹 ❤

  • @adrianrouse5148
    @adrianrouse5148 Před 2 lety

    Great video. Thanks. Realy enjoyed your presentation.

  • @ArcAudios77
    @ArcAudios77 Před 2 lety

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

  • @waypastbedtime
    @waypastbedtime Před rokem

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

  • @bleddynwolf8463
    @bleddynwolf8463 Před 2 lety

    my dad had an old paraffin lamp in case we had a power cut, loved that old thing we did