Fauldhouse

Coordinates: 55°49′38″N 3°42′33″W / 55.827229°N 3.709073°W / 55.827229; -3.709073

Fauldhouse (Scots: Fauldhoose,Scottish Gaelic: Falas) is a town in West Lothian, Scotland. It is about halfway between Glasgow and Edinburgh.

History

Fauldhouse is known since the Middle Ages, and was known until the 19th century by the names "Falas" or latterly "Fallas." The seventeenth century Dutch mapmaker Willem Blaeu features Fauldhouse as "Falas" on two maps in his Atlas Novus of Scotland. There are families with the surname Fallas, who obviously had ancestors who came from Fauldhouse. The name Fallas or Fauldhouse has been translated as "house on the fold", "house in the field", or "house on unploughed (fallow) land". However, the name may be older than the Middle Ages and might even be derived from the Brythonic or Welsh-type language once spoken in the Lothian region.

A desolate location on the edge of a moorland, the decline in its mining and other industries and a general reputation for being quite tough have made it a rather neglected place in recent times, though relatively cheap property prices and its proximity to the two major Scottish cities are now stimulating signs of regeneration. The population is currently increasing with hundreds of homes being built.