Pumpherston Village - A small Scottish village situated in the east of the County of West Lothian. It has a current population of 1337.
Pumpherston began life as a small industrial village and rapidly grew around 1884 when The Pumpherston Oil Company moved in and constructed around 220 houses in the village while introducing the shale mining industry to the area.
The houses were brick built and rough-cast although some were unfinished in appearance. A fair description of the original houses is provided by Mr Robert Hood, Chairman of the Scottish Shale Miners' Association, Mr Robert Small, General Secretary of the Shale Miners' Association; and Mr Theodore K Irvine, Architect and Builder, Bathgate, attending, advising as expert to the Scottish Shale Miners' Association to the Royal Commission on Housing:
About 173 houses consisting of a room (12 feet by 11 feet with bed-recess and press), kitchen (14.5 feet by 11 -feet, with two bed-recesses), scullery (7 .5 feet by 6 feet) with sink and water-closet. A washhouse was provided for every four tenants. The rental was 2s. 6d. to 2s. 9d. per week, inclusive of rates. In the case of thirty-six of these houses, the room and kitchen are approximately 11 feet by 16.5 feet each, and the scullery is 10 feet 5 inches by 7 feet 8 inches, which contains sink, set-in tub, boiler, and water-closet. nineteen houses consisting of three apartments, and all conveniences as above, let at from 4s. to 4s. 9d. per week. Then there are 27 single-apartment houses, with scullery and water-closet, let at 1s. 6 1/2d. per week, inclusive of rates. Some sixty houses are built back to back. The gardens were made good use of by the workers, and present a good appearance in the season. An Institute, with a good library and hall, exists. There's also a bowling green in the centre of the village, for all of which the workers subscribe weekly. - Scottish Mining Website
Pumpherston - The name doesn’t really roll off the tongue so where does the name come from? There are a couple of theories on how Pumpherston got it‘s name. The most popular thought is that ‘pump’ or ’pumper’ derives from a process involved in the oil shale mining industry which involved pumping the shale oil into tanks to be delivered to factories and homes.
The theory has some logic however, 250 years before the shale industry was started by James Paraffin Young in the late 19th century, a castle by the name of Pumpherston Castle once stood in the area. A better suggestion for the origin of the name therefore would be perhaps a person called Humphrey built the castle and passed the property on to his son. In 17th century Scotland son of Humphrey would have been known as ap Humphrey which sounds like pumphrey, hence Pumphrey’s-ton or Pumpherston.
Pumpherston Oil Works was once the central oil refinery for shale from the late 1800's to the early 1960's and the area is still well known for it‘s history of shale mining. Until recently red spent shale bings surrounded the area however most or all are now nearly completely removed. The Pumpherston works continued until it's closure in the early 1990's and the land in which it stood is now part of the extended golf course.
As well as an 18 hole golf course, the village has a bowling club and a local Junior football team. There are two Public Houses, two restaurants and four take-away shops as well as a cafe, four shops (two of which are newsagents) and a hair salon. Pumpherston has its own primary school, which is shared with the neighbouring village of Uphall Station. Pupils of secondary school age would travel to schools in nearby Livingston, Broxburn and West Calder. The village now rubs shoulders with the New Town of Livingston which was constructed in the late 1960s to help ease the overcrowding in Glasgow. Livingston quickly grew much larger than any of its neighbours, including Pumpherston.
Football in Pumpherston:
As well as the long history of the village of Pumpherston, the place itself also has a history of football... Pumpherston United FC are just the latest in a long list of previous footballing clubs or teams associated with the village.
The first was Pumpherston Rob Roy who existed at the turn of the century. Following Rob Roy were Pumpherston Rangers FC who won the Leith Burgh Cup in 1913 v Queensferry St Andrews. Pumpherston Amateur FC were formed in 1923 and at the same time there was Pumpherston Athletic FC.
The name Pumpherston United first existed in the 1930`s. That particular United won the East of Scotland Cup in 1933 and National Cup in 1935. Pumpherston Refinery had a team in the 1960s while a womans team called The Floo`ers of Pumpherston played for the village in the 1970s. Alongside the Floo'ers were Pumpherston Thistle, a youth team that featured none other than our current WLAYFC webmaster and main contributer of the football and Dukla Pumpherston history on this site. Pumpherston Juveniles represented the village in the 1980s.
Pumpherston FC are a Scottish Junior football club that currently play in the Scottish Junior FA East Region South division. They reformed in 1990 after the original club folded in 1974. The Junior ground originally opened in 1954. Pumpherston FC were runners up in the Scottish Junior Cup of 1958 where they were beaten 2-0 by Shotts Bon Accord. Pumpherston had previously won the Thornton Shield in the 1956-57 season and went on to win the Thistle Cup in 1970. The current club is managed by Jimmy Dunn who is an ex-player of the club.
Dukla Pumpherston are a charity football team captained by Chick Young, the diminutive Scottish football pundit. The name "Dukla Pumpherston" came from a play called "The Broons" held in Pumpherston Scout Hall circa 1982. It was the second play held there written by Scud Broon, the first was a play called "out for the count".
Both plays had their scripts sent to Radio Scotland with a few of Scud's poems sent by Jim McDougall. Many of the poems were read out and a few ideas from the plays were used in other things, including Dukla Pumpherston (Tony Roper added the words 'Sawmill and Tannery' in the 1980's radio show Naked Radio).
The players have been described as a motley crew of former professional players and television personalities who tour the country - indeed the world - enjoying themselves while raising cash for excellent causes.
As you can see Pumpherston United FC are just the latest footballing connection in the village. The club plans to extend it's presence in the community in the coming years and become a real part of Pumpherston's future.