Skinflats
Day 20. 142.5 miles.
Here we are in Skinflats-a wee village with a population under 400 at last count (in the 2001 census). The origin of Skinflat’s wonderful name is in dispute. In fact, even the beauty of the name is disputed with more than one scholar pointing to it as the ugliest name in Scotland. For my money, it’s an interesting name that deserves better than that. Many Skinflatians believe the name was given to it by Dutch engineers who dragged the land surrounding it from the sea in the 1600’s using the skills they used to claim Holland from the North Sea. But there is no evidence of land reclamation around here, and it is also claimed that the name Skinflats can be traced back to Scots. People point out that the area is – well – flat, which could account for the second half of the name. I would point out that most of Holland is also flat. But that’s neither here nor there.
What is certain is that when Skinflats was a tiny mining town it consisted of two rows of housing, a smithy, a little school and two pubs. To those of you who ask how a tiny housing scheme could support two pubs, all I can say is welcome to Scotland, my friend!
There is a restaurant in Skinflats called the Dutch Inn. Many point to that as more evidence of the Dutch connection. I’ll let you make your own conclusion. I will point out, however, that if a bunch of engineers had decided to reclaim land in Scotland and not record it anywhere and had gone on to build a hotel there, would they name it in English? Oh, and did I mention that Skinflats is a fair way inland?
Weighing all the evidence, I think the only conclusion we can make is that it’s time to walk on towards Grangemouth.