Torphichen

Torphichen is a small village located near Bathgate, West Lothian, Scotland. The village church is said to have been founded by St. Ninian in about 400CE, a small wooden structure on the site of the present church (itself rebuilt in 1756). The Knights Hospitallers of St. John made their Scottish headquarters at Torphichen from about 1160 and the Preceptory stands as testament to their presence.Torphichen Parish "came out" in the Disruption of 1843 and the village has the oldest purpose-built Free Church, erected that same year, and now - since the reunification of the churches - the St. John's church hall.The village clustered around the church and the village Square for centuries, slowly expanding northwards, a process accelerated by the creation of the James Wood Park in 1922 and of the building of council houses from 1945 in Greenside & Bowyett.In the mid 50's council housing was built in Priorscroft in the north & St Johns Place in the south of the village At that time, the village included a branch of Bathgate Co-op Society, a miners' welfare (reflecting locally resident miners rather than any substantial colliery)and a resident PC.

In the early 60's the last council housing built in the village was erected in Northgate & Priorscroft in the north & also at Manse road in the south of the picturesque village .The 1960s and 1970s saw an expansion of the village to the south with a scattering of substantial new private houses of a poorly-planned nature. The 90's saw building of more private homes which were more in keeping with the more traditional buildings in the village this new build was at Priorsgrange & in the Loan but the village still has fewer than 350 dwellings.

Now, the commercial life of the village is focused on the post office/shop and the Torphichen Inn.A strong community life exists with an active church, SWRI, annual Children's Galaday and civic week, community centre and a range of other organisations.The Children's Galaday will celebrate its Centenary in 2008.Torphichen is part of the (UK) Falkirk East and Linlithgow Constituency (Michael Connarty, Labour); Scottish Linlithgow Constituency (Mary Mulligan, Labour); and part of the Armadale and Blackridge Ward of West Lothian Council (Stuart Borrowman, Independent; Jim Dixon, Labour; and Isabel Hutton, Scottish National Party).

Knights Hospitaller

Torphichen Preceptory is a religious house founded by Knights Hospitaller at the invitation of King David I in the 1140s. The last Preceptor of the House, Sir James Sandilands, surrendered the lands of the preceptory during the Reformation to the crown, but then bought them back as a private individual. He received the title Lord Torphichen.