The place names of the county of West Lothian

One of the first remarks made by the editors, of the Report on West Lothian of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (Introduction xvii) concerns the sparseness of prehistoric monuments in the Lothians. This fact may partly be due to the heavily wooded and marshy state of the land, which compelled settlers to live either on the seashore or in forest clearances; and it is possible on this hypothesis that more intensive cultivation of the country has swept away such prehistoric remains as existed; it is possible also that the small number of monuments is due to the correspondingly small number of the inhabitants.Whatever is the reason - and both suggestions may be true in part - the scarcity of monuments is evident. There are a handful of flint implements, and a number of large constructions. There are three Cairns (Cairnpapple Hill, Earl Calrnie, and Laughing Hill) and one group of standing stones (Gala Braes, Bathgate); an early Iron Age grave has been discovered at Blackness, and there are several fortified sites, at Craigie Hill, Peace Knowe, Bowden Hill, and Cockleroy; one crannog has been listed, at Loch-cote, though it is probable that there was one also at Linlithgow; and two rocks with cup-markings, at Craigie Hill and at Dalmeny, are cited in the Introductio