Provost Lamp, Marjoribanks Street

Image: © Ian Dodds Taken: 10 Sep 2021

This old lamp has stood here for the last 30 years or so, save for a brief period a couple of years back when it was taken away to get tarted up a bit, and modified so it could once again be hooked up to the electricity. In days gone by it used to move about more regularly. The Provost of Bathgate used to have the honour of having the lamp positioned directly in front of his house, and it moved from place to place over time accordingly. A provost is loosely the equivalent of a mayor in England, though the title seems to have become more ceremonial as time has gone on. Bathgate was a Burgh Council - this meant it had a certain amount of autonomy in running its own affairs - until everything to do with local administration was shook up in Scotland in the mid 1970s. All its powers were then subsumed into West Lothian Council, which itself still has a provost, along with about two-thirds of Scotland's other local council areas. The coat of arms adorning the lamp is fanciful in the extreme. There is no disputing that Bathgate once had a castle, but it is generally thought to have been uninhabited since the early 1300s, and a report of the late 1700s states that there wasn't a stone of it left at the time. Then, as now, it was a small unimpressive mound; it is currently located in the middle of Bathgate Golf Course. The flag in between the two Saltires is supposedly that of a family who lived in the castle several hundreds of years ago. The water seems to arise from artistic license, as the moat was tiny, and there are - and were - only smallish ponds in the area, but these are quite a distance away. The uninspiring and meaningless Latin motto translates as : 'The common good between the walls'. While it is perfectly fine in my book to retain the lamp in its original state, I would hope that, should there ever be a need for coats of arms here in the future, this lazy heraldry gets replaced. Quicksmart!

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