The Five Sisters.

All over West Lothian there are the remains of the Shale oil industry with the 'Bings' or spent shale tips. Known locally as the red mountains. When the industry was at it's height these bings smoldered and burned. We children were frightened of them, as they looked safe with a crust on the surface, but a child could fall through and burn to death. Now they are cold and used for road building materials or landscaped with trees and flowers growing there. The Five Sisters Bing near West Calder has a preservation order upon it to remember the many communities that were dependant upon the Shale oil for their livelyhood. Nature is taking up the space again as grass and shrubs are appearing on the red dusty sides.