Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland .. - National Library of Scotland

LINLITHGOWAfter the Union an attempt was made to take away theprivilege, but it was successfully resisted by the burgh,tliough since the introduction of the imperial measures,the matter has ceased to be of more than mere antiquarianinterest. The iron brand for the firlot is stillto be seen in the council chamber, but the standarditself was unfortunately destroyed when the TownHouse was burned in 1847.Site and Public Bidldings.—None of the houses inthe burgh can be older than the 15th century, but anumber must date very nearly from that time, andthough modern improvements are making great alterationshere as elsewhere, the town has still an oldfashionedlook. Its site is a hollow, the lowest part ofwhich is occupied by Linlithgow Loch, which boundsthe town on the N. The principal street extends from Eto W for a little over 4 mile, and is fairly wide at theends but narrow immediately to the W of the openburgh court as early as 1552, 'The inhabitants withinthis burgh hes fishen the loueh past memory of menwithout stop soe fare as they might wade with aneguad." The greatest depth of the western half is 50feet, and of the eastern half about 10 feet. On theN side, rising 50 feet above the loch, is a promontoryon which are the ruins of Linlithgow Palace. Theearly castles on the site have been already noticed downto the time of Robert Brace. Of that erected byEdward I., the only parts now remaining are portionsof three towers at the NW corner— startingpoints for the flying buttresses by which the loftyE wall is here supported—and possibly part of theSW tower. The buildings as they now stand forma square of 168 feet from E to W, and 174 fromN to S, while the court inside measures 91 feet fromE to W, and 88 from N to S, and at each corner isa tower. The exterior looks heavy from the verylarge amount of dead wall and the small number ofwindows, but the fronts to the court are handsome andelegant, the ordinary appearance of the Scottish Baronialarchitecture being relieved by many features drawnfrom Continental sources. The whole structure, withthe exception first noted, must be of later date than1425, for the old palace or castle where the monarchslived, from David II. downwards, suffered damage inthe fire of 1424, when James I. brought home hisQueen from England. Preparations seem to havebeen at once made to rebuild the whole, and in thecourse of the next six years £2440, 10s. 74d. wasexpended, and work continued to be done throughoutthe rest of the reign of James I. and that of James II.The parts then erected seem to be about the SW corner,but they have since then probably undergone a gooddeal of alteration. The W side seems to have had, atone time, the wooden galleries in front which werecharacteristic of 15th century work. From 1451 to1467 operations were pretty much at a stand-still, butin the latter year, James III., who 'was much givento buildings and repairing of chappels, halls, andgardens,' brought his Queen here, and began to buildagain, and in the following year added considerably tothe surrounding grounds. To his reign probably maybe assigned the northern narts of the W side, and the518'LINLITHGOWJames HI. ,with the motto Belle a vous leule,* All lonely sat and wept the weary hour.original N side, which was afterwards removed. Oneof the rooms on the NW is shown as the bedroom ofand on two of the bosses in the groining of acloset opening off it are carved a stag lying under a tree,which has been supposedto be old French for 'Fair be your rising.' Inthe time of James IV., the treasurer's accounts containnotices of many sums spent on the palace, and to thisperiod may be assigned alterations on the N side at thetowers, and probably the erection of the turret on thetop of that to the N"W, which is known as Queen'Margaret's Bower,' though it must be considered assomewhat doubtful whether she ever actually in thisparticular bowerThe palace does not seem to have been very completelyfurnished, for the royal accounts contain entries of paymentsfor the conveyance of ' Arress claythes, ' or tapestry,from Edinburgh, and an organ was also carried backwardsand forwards. The floors were strewn with rushes,even on high occasions, for five shillings were paid ' forresschis to the Haw off Lythgow, the tyme of the Imbassatouris.' To James V., who was born here on10 April 1512, the present form of a large part of thebuildings is, however, due. He constructed the finefountain in the centre of the quadrangle, and thedetached gateway to the S, which then led into anenclosed court ; altered the whole of the S side and thechapel very extensively ; and probably also made alterationson the S and W sides. All this seems to havebeen done in preparation for his marriage, and thoughhis first queen was destined never to see it, his laboursspace at the Cross. From the Cross a narrow streetcalled the Eirkgate leads N to the church and palace,while at the E end High Street is continued to the NEby the Low Port, and eastwards by High East Port.At its W end is a portion known as West Port. Theother streets are chiefly short lanes and narrow alleys,leading, in some instances, to straggling outskirts. Atthe different ports there were probably gates, but therewas never any regular wall—the walls along tlie backs ofthe gardens, and then the backs of the houses themselves,being deemed sufficient for all ordinary defensive purposes.The Loch on the N is 150 feet above sealevel,and covers an extent of 102 acres, the extremelength being 6^ furlongs, and the width 2. It containsperch and eels, and may be fished by boat, onapplication to the representatives of the lessee, or from were rewarded by the declaration of Mary of Guise, ' thatthe banks free, or according to a decision given in the she had never seen a more princely palace ; ' and SirDavid Lyndsay, in his Farewell of the Papingo, writes,*Adew Lith^ow, whose palyce of plesanceMicht be ane pattern in Portugall or France.*—;It seems to have been a favourite residence with thismonarch, and it was here that he was troubled by thevision which has been already noticed under Balweakie.In the time of James VI. several alterations were madeon the W side, and the whole of the N side was rebuiltbetween 1617 and 1628. This was rendered necessaryby the fall of the original buildings in 1607, but nothingseems to have been done till the king revisited Scotlandin 1617. The style is well marked, and the design isoften attributed to Inigo Jones, but as there was a royalmaster mason or architect for Scotland at this timeWilliam Wallace, the designer of Heriot's Hospital inEdinburgh—the work is more probably his. The centrefountain seems to have been damaged by the fall, as onepart of it must be referred to this date. The walls ofthis portion have again become very much twisted, sothat there seems to be some fate attached to this side.From this time onward the palace became little morethan the occasional residence of the Earls of Livingstone,its keepers, except between 1651 and 1659, when itwas occupied by a small garrison of Cromwell's soldierspossibly even the great leader himself may have lived init for a few days, as some of his letters are dated fromLinlithgow. The eventful year 1745 found it in chargeof a housekeeper, Mrs Glen Gordon, who seems to havebeen a stanch Jacobite, and to have given a cordialwelcome to Prince Charles Edward. The next occupantswere Hawley's dragoons, after their flight from Falkirkin 1746, and by them it was, either through carelessnessor design, set on fire and completely ruined. Mrs Gordonwent to the general to remonstrate as to the behaviomofthe soldiers, and finding her complaints treated ivithindifference, is said to have taken her leave with thesarcastic remark, A- ' weel, a-weel, I can rin frae fire as fastas ony General in the King's army.' Proposals to convertthe buildings into a county courthouse and into a supplementaryregister house for Scotland were once made butabandoned, and the buildings and the park, which extendsto 15J acres, have been since 1848 cared for bythe Commissioners of Woods and Forests. The present