A substantial pink-coloured mound in West Lothian, the Greendykes Bing lies to the east southeast of Winchburgh, providing an alien backdrop to Niddry Castle and its surrounding golf course. Growing to cover an area of 8 ha (20 acres) until 1961, it received the waste from the adjacent Niddry Castle Oil Works, which opened immediately to the west in 1902 to exploit oil shale reserves lying beneath the Hopetoun Estate. The top of the bing forms a significant plateau which reaches a height of 150m (492 feet) above sea level, or 61m (200 feet) above the surrounding landscape. Its steep slopes are remarkably stable, owing to the mixed size of the shale substrate. This bing was still being quarried in 2018, with its blaes used for hard core for roads and footpaths.
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