of the Falkirk Area
Whilst the larger burghs such as Falkirk (1903) and Bo’ness (1905) had their own electricity generating stations, others such as Grangemouth and Denny (1908) obtained their public supply from the Bonnybridge Power Station (1905). This was relayed to substations for distribution.
Slowly the network was extended outwards to the smaller communities. Slamannan also got its supply from Bonnybridge in 1914. Often connections depended upon new building developments and led to incongruous situations such as that which pervaded at Skinflats until after the Second World War where houses on one side of the main road had electric lighting and those on the other relied upon paraffin lamps. Surprisingly, Allandale which was relatively close to Bonnybridge was supplied with electricity from the adjacent brickworks right up to this time. For more remote houses and farms it was not until the 1950s before some of them were connected to the Grid. In the reminiscences of Avonbridge it was noted that right up until the 1940s and 1950s the cottages and farms around were without electricity and the people depended on paraffin lamps for lighting. Jack William went round the area with his oil lorry, sometimes accompanied by Charlie Batran. As well as paraffin he supplied many more household goods (Ligertwood 1992, 30). Agnes Clark lived at Babbithill, well to the east of Avonbridge, and was happy “But when I came to live in the village, with water and electricity and people nearby, I thought I was in heaven!” (ibid, 31).
Writing of Muiravonside parish in 1961 the minister stated that :
“The villages are well-lit and electricity is generally laid, even to remote farms, but this is an improvement effected only in the last five or so years. Previously there was some degree of truth in the contention of rural dwellers that their lighting and cooking facilities were poorer than those of remote Highland areas although their homes were only ten miles from the sources of power supplying the central area of Scotland. Even now there is some justification at the fairly frequent load-shedding and cuts in supply which take place; these are felt the more keenly because of the large number of electrical appliances of all types in use in homes” (Downie 1961).
The following notes describe the varying situations which are deeply ingrained in the social history of a variety of settlements in the area. The locations feature:
Bibliography
| Downie, J. | 1961 | Parish of Muiravonside: the Third Statistical Account. |
| Jamieson, J. | nd | Allandale Cottages: Reminiscences. |
| Ligertwood, J. | 1992 | Annals of Avonbridge |
| McKee, W. & K. | 2024 | Three Generations on Scotland’s Railway. |
| Westquarter & Redding Community Project | 2011 | Westquarter Memories. |
Falkirk Local History Society 