Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland .. - National Library of Scotland

—LINLITHGOWsionally under tillage. The underlying rocks are sandstone,limestone, basalt, and volcanic ash, of which the twofirst are worked in several places. There are large quarriesat Kingscavil and Binny, the latter being particularlynoted for the excellence of the sandstone and the largesize of the blocks that may be obtained. Small patchesof bitumen, capable of being manufactured into brightflaming candles, are sometimes found associated withthe sandstone. There are at several places thin seamsof coal and bitumen found, but not in sufficient quantityto be worked. Silver was once obtained in somequantity from lead ore mined and smelted at Silverminein the S, but the works have long been abandoned,except during a feeble attempt made for their revivalsome years ago. A mineral spring at Carribber is nowneglected. The parish is drained on the W by the riverAvon, and by the small streams that join it, the principalbeing Loch Burn, issuing from the W corner of, andcarrying off the surplus water from, Linlithgow Loch.One or two small streams also enter the loch. In theN, NE, and centre, the rainfall is carried off by thePardovan, Haugh, and Riccarton bums, which uniteand run NE to the sea at Abeecorn ; and in the S audSE by Mains and Niddry burns (the latter being on theboundary), which unite and flow eastward to theAlmond. Besides the burgh of Linlithgow, the parishcontains the village of Kingscavil, E of Linlithgow, andpart of the village of Linlithgow Bridge to the W, bothof which are separately noticed. The northern portionof the parish is traversed by roads from Edinburgh bySouth Queensferkt and by Kirkliston, which uniteat Linlithgow and pass westward to Glasgow, and byStirling to the north ; and there are also throughoutthe whole of it a large number of excellent districtroads. The north is also traversed by the UnionCanal, which, entering on the W at the Avon to theWSW of Woodcockdale, winds eastward for 5J miles,and passes into Abercorn parish near Easter Pardovan ;and by the North British railway system, which, enteringon the E J mile NE of Wester Pardovan, passeswestwards 4J miles, and quits the parish at the AvonJ mile S of Linlithgow Bridge. There is a station atthe town of Linlithgow. The mansions are Avontoun,Charapfieurie House, Belsyde, Bonsyde, Preston House,and Woodcockdale. Besides the industries in connectionwith the town, and the paper-mill at LinlithgowBridge, there are sandstone and whinstone quarries, apaper-mill W of the outlet of Linlithgow Loch, and alarge distillery ^ mile SW of the town. On thetract of ground E of the town stillcalled Boroughmuir,Edward I. encamped on the night previous to the battleof Falkirk and the defeat of Wallace. On the sameground, in 1781, an earthen urn was found containingabout 300 Roman coins. On Cocklerue Hill are tracesof a hill fort, and on the top, which is, however, inTorphichen parish, is a hollow, associated, like so manyothers of the same sort, with the name of the greatScottish patriot, and known as Wallace's Cradle.There are traces of another hill fort in the SE, 3 furlongsS of Wester Ochiltree. There is a tradition thata battle was fought between the natives and theRomans at Irongath, but Dr Skene thinks that thoughthere really was a battle, it was post-Roman, andfought between native tribes, and the same authorityfixes Carribber as, in 736, the place where the CinelLoam branch of the Dalriadic Scots were defeated bythe Picts. About a mile W of the town along the railwayis the scene of the battle of Linlithgow Bridge,fought in Sept. 1526. The Earl of Lennox havingassembled a considerable force at Stirling, advancedtowards Linlithgow to try, at the young king's ownexpressed desire, to get James V. out of the keeping ofthe Douglases. The Earl of Arran barred the way byoccupying the bridge and the steep banks between thatand Manuel Priory, and with assistance from the Earlof Angus ultimately defeated the Lennox party. Lennoxhimself, who had surrendered to the Laird ofPardovan, was deliberately shot by Sir James Hamiltonof Finnart, and the spot where he fell, or possibly where514LINLITHGOWhe was buried,* seems to have been marked by a heapof stones, and is still known as Lennox's Cairn. Manyrelics of the fight were recovered when the railway wasbeing made, and a sword with the inscription pono legesvirtute, which was then found, is now in the burghmuseum at Linlithgow. Not far off there seems tohave been a field used for knightly sports, and knownas the joisting or jousting haugh. Nearer the town is arising-ground, traditionally a law hill, the flat groundbelow having the name of Doomsdale. At Carribberare the ruins of an old mansion, know from the ownerin the time of James V. as Rob ' Gib's Castle,' andthere is an old tower at Ochiltree. Distinguishednatives of the parish are Binny or Binnoch, Rob Gib,Stewart of Pardovan, and Sir Charles Wyville Thomson.Binny figures prominently in connection withBruce's capture of Linlithgow Peel, an exploit noticedin the following article. The Binnings of Wallyfordare said to have been descended from him, andin reference to their ancestors' deed, to have had fortheir arms a hay- wain with the motto ' Virtute doloque.'Rob or Robert Gib was stirrup-man to James V. andlaird of Carribber, and is well known in connectionwith the proverb, Rob ' Gib's contract—stark love andkindness,' which arose from his having one day describedthe courtiers as ' a set of unmercifully greedysycophants, who followed their worthy king only to seewhat they could make of him, ' while he himself servedhis master ' for stark love and kindness. ' Stewart ofPardovan represented the burgh of Linlithgow in thelast Scottish parliament, and is also author of a work ofconsiderable authority on the proceedings of Presbyterianchurch courts and the intricacies of Presbyteriallaw. Sir Charles Wyville Thomson (1830-82) was Professorof Natural History in the University of Edinburgh,and had a world-wide reputation as the chief ofthe scientific staff engaged in the deep-sea investigationscarried out by the expedition in H.M.S. Challenger in1872-76.The parish, which comprehends also the ancientparish of Binning, united to it after the Reformation,and which, prior to 15S8, had also the parishes ofIvinneil and Carriden attached to it, is the seat of apresbytery in the synod of Lothian and Tweeddale ;the living is worth £400 a year. The churches arenoticed in the following article. The landward schoolboardhas under its charge the public schools ofKingscavil and Linlithgow, and these, with accommodationrespectively for 61 and 314 pupils, had(1882) attendances of 48 and 275, and grants of£36, 6s. and £229, Is. Eleven proprietors hold eachan annual value of £500 or upwards, and there are aconsiderable number holding smaller amounts. Valuation(1860) £21,318, (1881) £23,266, (1884) £19,469,plus £4226 for railway. Pop. (1801) 3596, (1831) 4874,(1861) 5784, (1871) 5554, (1881) 5619, of whom 3913were within the burgh. Ord. Sur., shs. 31, 32,1867-57.The presbytery of Linlithgow, almost correspondingwith the old rural deanery, includes the quoad civiliaparishes of Abercorn, Bathgate, Borrowstounness, Midcalder.West Calder, Carriden, Dalmeny, Ecclesmachan,Falkirk, Kirkliston, Linlithgow, Livingston, Muiravonside,Polmont, Queensferry, Slamannan, Torphichen,Uphall, and Whitburn ; the quoad sacraparishes of Camelon, Fauldhouse, Grahamston, andGrangemouth ; and the mission stations of Armadaleand Shielhill and Blaokbraes. Pop. (1871) 79,580,(1881) 90,507, of whom 10,709 were communicants ofthe Church of Scotland in 1878.—There is also a FreeChurch presbytery of Linlithgow, with churches atArmadale, Bainsford, Bathgate, Borrowstounness, West• Pitscottie says ' the king's servants came through the fieldand saw the lord Hamilton standing mourning beside the Earl ofLennox, saying, "The wisest man, the stoutest man, the hardiestman, that ever was bom in Scotland, was slain that day," and hiscloke of scarlet cast upon him, and gart watchmen stand abouthim till the king's servants came and buried him ;' which seemsto point to his being buried on the spot.