Lord Torphichen

Lord Torphichen is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created by Queen Mary in 1564 for Sir James Sandilands (to whom she was related), with remainder to his heirs and assigns whatsoever. Sandilands had previously served as Preceptor of the Order of St John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes, and of Malta in Scotland, and took the title from the Torphichen Preceptory in West Lothian. He was succeeded by his great-nephew James Sandilands (who was also the current feudal baron of Calder). Thereafter the Lordship of Parliament of Torphichen and the Feudal Barony of Calder were conjoined, and all later lords were descended from the second lord Torphichen. His great-grandson, the seventh Lord, was a strong supporter of the union with England. His grandson, the ninth Lord, and great-great-grandson, the twelfth Lord, sat in the House of Lords as Scottish Representative Peers. Currently the title is held by the latter's great-grandson, the fifteenth Lord, who succeeded his father in 1975. He is Chief of Clan Sandilands and also holds the feudal title of Baron of Calder, dating to the 14th century.

Torphichen

Coordinates: 55°56′02″N 3°39′14″W / 55.934°N 3.654°W / 55.934; -3.654

Torphichen (/tɔːrˈfɪxən/ tor-FIKH-ən) is a small village located near Bathgate, West Lothian, Scotland with a population of 570 (2011 Census). The placename may be Gaelic in origin, e.g., "Tóir Féichín" (the boundary/sanctuary of St Féichín), Tor Fithichean (Hill of the Ravens) or British, e.g., modern Welsh "tref fechan" (little town).

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 Hospitaller 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 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 and Bowyett. In the mid-1950s, council housing was built in Priorscroft in the north and in St. John's 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 residents parish council.