Pride of the Bears – The Colin Stein Family History Trail
© Derek Niven
On 8 August 2022, I set out to follow a trail of historical locations in West Lothian that were all pertinent to the famous Barca Bear, Colin Stein. Stein, who scored in the final, won the European Cup Winners Cup in 1972 in Barcelona. In all, I probably walked around 11 miles, beginning in Linlithgow, and the birthplace of the ex-Rangers player. Colin Anderson Stein was born on 10 May 1947 at 61 Hope Street, Philpstoun, Linlithgow, West Lothian, to father Robert Stein, an oil shale worker, and mother Helen Anderson.
Linlithgow
I took the train from Glasgow Queen Street to Linlithgow and planned my next move in Costa Coffee on the High Street. Linlithgow is also famous as the birthplace of Mary Queen of Scots, born on 8 December 1542 at Linlithgow Palace, now a tourist attraction. Although she achieved very little for Scotland in her short life, Mary has become arguably the most famous monarch of the Stewart dynasty. I took the local F45 Bo’ness Circular bus from Linlithgow Cross to Carriden village, alighting at the parish church.
Carriden
Carriden parish is on the John Muir Trail, which runs 125 miles from Helensburgh to Dunbar via Kirkintilloch and Edinburgh. My brother-in-law and I recently completed our final stage of the John Muir Way, named after the Scots-born founder of the American National Parks. Today my initial walk of around 3 miles took me from Carriden to Blackness Castle, located in Carriden parish.

Blackness Castle
Blackness Castle was probably erected around 1440, almost certainly on the site of an older fortress, by Sir George Crichton and it was further strengthened during the time of Mary Queen of Scot’s reign. It was the main port for the Royal Burgh of Linlithgow and became Crown property in 1453 under James II of Scotland. It has more recently become famous as one of the key locations for the filming of the TV series Outlander and has also been used in film scenes, including The Bruce 1996, starring Oliver Reed and Brian Blessed.

However, it also played an important part in Colin Stein’s family history, as his parents were married there. Robert Scott Stein, 24, an oil shale miner, of 61 Hope Street, Philpstoun, Linlithgow, married Helen Scott Anderson, 25, a domestic servant, of The Binns House, Abercorn, on 16 December 1932 at nearby Blackness Castle, Carriden. The wedding was conducted by Rev Johnston Oliphant, minister at Abercorn Church of Scotland; the best man was D K Ball, of Blackness Castle, and Christina Paris Stein, of 25 Napier Road, Edinburgh, Robert’s sister. The wedding most likely took place at the home of D K Ball, either in the converted 18th-century officers or other ranks quarters within the grounds of Blackness Castle. D K Ball was almost certainly related to Colin’s grandmother Mary McMeeking Ball.

The House of the Binns, Abercorn
My next walk took me from Blackness Castle to The House of the Binns, about 2 miles inland from the castle. Walking uphill, the parklands of the Binns are on the left and the extensive Mannerston Holdings are on the right. The House of the Binns was originally a 15th-century three-storey manor house founded by James Meldrum of the Bynnis. Between 1612 and 1630, Thomas Dalyell absorbed the house to make a U-plan Renaissance mansion of two-and-a-half storeys and a garret, flanked by two northern stair turrets. In 1621, a Laigh Hall was created out of the original cellar in the main block. In the late 17th century, General Sir Tam Dalyell further extended the house, with more rooms being added in the mid-18th century. It was the family home of the late Tam Dalyell, the Labour MP for West Lothian, who is renowned for the constitutional issue which was coined by Enoch Powell MP as ‘the West Lothian Question’. The House of the Binns is now in the care of the National Trust for Scotland.
Colin’s mother Helen Scott Anderson was born on 12 June 1906 at Summerhouse Cottage, Polmont, Stirlingshire, to father Colin Thompson Anderson, a mining inspector, and mother Mary McMeeking Ball. Helen Anderson became a domestic servant below stairs at ‘The Binns House’ in Abercorn and she was living and working there when she married in 1932 at nearby Blackness Castle.

Mannerston Farm Holdings, Abercorn
About a mile west along the main road to Linlithgow lies the extensive Mannerston Farm Holdings, which again is associated with Colin Stein. Colin’s paternal grandfather Alexander Stein, aka Alex, was born on 9 July 1863 at Mannerston, Abercorn, Linlithgowshire, to father William Stein, a ploughman, and mother Elizabeth Anthony. Mannerston Farm holdings, run by the fourth generation Faulds family, now includes a farm shop, café and tearoom selling award-winning Mannerston’s ice cream.

Philpstoun
The Stein family lived and worked in Philpstoun, with the main employer being the Philpstoun Oil Company, which extensively mined and extracted oil from shale rock. After leaving Mannerston’s, I took the back road via Pardovan Holdings, which housed the large Philpstoun Facility. This would have been the original site of the Philpstoun Oil Company.

I walked on another couple of miles, crossing the M9 motorway and the main Glasgow-Edinburgh railway line, until I reached the village of Philpstoun, where Colin Stein was born in 1947. His parents had lived there at 61 Hope Street, Philpstoun since their marriage in 1932. Going further back, Colin’s grandfather Alexander Stein, only 53, and a shale miner, died on 18 February 1918, during the last year of WWI, at Kinnaird Terrace, Philpstoun. The Oil Company at Philpstoun was in the ideal location for the transportation of its goods, as it was served on its north side by the main central belt railway line, the main road between Linlithgow and Edinburgh and on its southern flank by the Union Canal between Falkirk and Edinburgh.

The Pride of the Bears: The untold story of the men and women who made the Barça BearsAt Philpstoun, I was able to join the path on the Union Canal and I walked westward for another 3 miles to complete my circuitous journey around the Colin Stein trail and finish back in Linlithgow, just in time to catch the train back to Glasgow. What initially started out as a plan to visit Blackness Castle turned into an adventure following the Colin Stein trail.