Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland .. - National Library of Scotland

—LINLITHGOWentrance is on the S side ; and on the ground-floor to theE of it are the guard-room, into wliich Regent Murrayis said to have been at first carried, a bakehouse, andstables. In the E side are the old entrance, with guardhouseand dungeons on one side and the kitchens on theother. One of the vaults beneath the guard-room isknown as the Lion's Den, whether from its lying belowthe Great Hall, known as the Lyon Chamber, or fromits having been the actual den of a lion kept by some ofthe kings is uncertain. On the W side are vaultedchambers, probably intended for servants. On the lirstfloor to the E of the S entrance is the chapel, and thewhole of the E side is occupied by the Lyon Chamber, orparliament hall, a fine room, measuring 98J feet long,30 wide, and 35 high at the side walls. On the W sideare the so called bedroom of James III. and the roomwhere Queen Mary was born. The fountain in thecentre of the quadrangle is now very much destroyed.The E entrance seems to have been made by James V.,and the now empty niches were ' filled with statues ofthe Pope, to represent the Church ; a knight to indicatethe gentry ; and a labouring man to symbolise thecommons, each having a scroll above his head, on whichwere inscribed a few words of legend, now irretrievablylost. ' The group on the S side represented the Salutationof the Virgin, and these were originally brightlypainted, and so late as 1629 payment was made for'painting and laying over with oyle cullour, and forgelting with gold the haill foir face ' of the N side, andfor ' gelting and laying over with oyle cullour the FourOrderis above the utter yett ' i.e., the outer gate onthe S side. These four orders were carved panels, withthe badges of the four orders of knighthood that JamesV. held, viz. :—St Michael, the Golden Fleece, the Garter,and the Thistle. The sculptured panels at presentoccupying the upper part were placed there in 1848,and probably represent pretty nearly the original designs.The cannon in the palace grounds is a trophy of theCrimean war, and was brought from Bomarsund.To the S of the palace is the parish church, of whichBillings saj's that it is ' assuredly the most importantspecimen of an ancient parochial church now existing inScotland, both as to dimensions and real architecturalinterest. ' We have already seen that there was a churchhere dedicated to St Michael as early as the reign ofDavid I., and in the time of Alexander II., in 1242,there is word of a new church having been erected, andprobably some parts of this are incorporated witli thepresent building. In 13S4 Robert II. contributed26s. 8d. for the erection or repair of the church tower,and in 1424 the church was injured and considerablydestroyed by the fire that reduced the town to ashes.A considerable portion of the present building, which isScottish Decorated in style, probably dates from thetime of James III., and the steeple at least seems tohave been finished during his reign, for the open crownthat once formed the finish at the top had a vane formedby a hen, with the points below marked by chickens,which is said to have been borrowed from a favouritedevice of James's—a hen with chickens under her wings,and the motto, Non dormit qui custodit ; but manyalterations and additions were made in the time ofJames V., between 1528 and 1536. On 29 June 1559the Lords of the Congregation, on their march S fromPerth, destroyed all the altars within the building, andall the images, except that of St Michael, which stillremains. In 1646 the buUding was divided by partitions,by which chambers were formed for the accommodationof the university classes, moved from Edinburgh, asalready noticed. In 1812 it was very extensivelyrepaired, pews and galleries introduced, and a new roofand ceiling put in. The crown that formerly surmountedthe tower, being thouglit so heavy as to endanger theentire structure, was taken down about 1821. 'Theincorporated trades who, after the Reformation, hadtheir dues to the altarages changed into the upholdingof the church windows, claimed a sort of vested interestin the building, and the shoemakers held for a time theprivilege of holding the annual meeting for the electionLINLITHGOWof their deacon in the south transept, known as StKathcrine's aisle.' The part used as in; parish churchhas more recently, in 1871, had the whitewash removedand repairs made, and a fine organ has been introduced.There are about 1100 sittings. The total length of thebuilding is 185 feet, and the width 105 across the transepts,while the height is about 90 feet. Internally thelength is 146 feet, not including the apse, and thebreadth 62 feet, exclusive of the transepts. The steeplecontains three bells, the largest of which has the inscription,Lynlithgw villa me fecit. Vocor alma Maria.Domini Jacohi quarli tempore magnijici. Anno milemoqtmdringeno nonageno, with the royal arms, a copy ofthe old town seal, and a curious monogram. The nextbell, recast in 1773, has on it the names of the founders,and copies of both sides of the old town seal. The thirdbell, which was recast in 1718, seems to have borne thename of Meg Duncan for a long time, as it has theinscription, SinU quondam Meg Duncan. The windowsare noticeable for the great variety of design. The Stransept contained an altar dedicated to St Katherine,and was the place where James IV. sat when he saw theapparition that warned him against his fatal expeditionto England, an incident minutely chronicled by Pitscottie,and forming the basis of Sir David Lyndsay'stale in Marmion. 'There were in all twenty-four altarages,dedicated to different saints, but these were removedin 1559, and probably still further damage was done byCromwell's dragoons, who used the church as a stable.The vestry contains a stone altarpiece, representing thebetrayal and suSerings of Christ. The church ancientlybelonged to St Andrews priory, and was long served byperpetual vicars. John Laiug, one of its vicars, rose in1474 to be bishop of Glasgow, and George Crichton,another of them, became in 1500 abbot of Holyrood,and in 1522 bishop of Dunkeld.An ancient chapel, dedicated to St Ninian, stood inthe western part of the town, and on the S side, on theeminence still called Friars' Brae, was a Carmelite Friary,erected in 1290, and the third of this order in Scotland.Though it was in existence at the Reformation, no partnow remains, but a well not far off is known as the Friars'Well. To the E was a Dominican Friary, some tracesof which existed down to 1843, or later, 'to the SE wasa hospitium, which is noticed as early as 1335, andseems to have been an almshouse, possibly a leperhouse.It was dedicated to St Mary Magdalene. Itpossessed considerable lands, which are said to havebeen in 1526 alienated by the then preceptor to SirJames Hamilton of Finnart. An almshouse existed,however, down to 1637. St Magdalene's cross, on theold fair ground, was where St Magdalene's distillerynow stands.The Town-hall is in High Street, at the corner ofthe Kirkgate, and may nowadays be counted a somewhatplain building. The original building was erectedin 1668-70, after a design by John Mylne, the royalarchitect, with funds obtained by the charge of doublecustoms, and from an additional fair, both privilegesbeing granted after the Restoration, to compensate forlosses sustained during the time of tlie Commonwealth.Great injury was done to it by fire in 1847, but it wasrestored in the following year, and the spire, originallyadded about 1678, renewed. A clock to replace the oldone, destroyed by fire, was placed in position in 1857,funds being provided by public subscription. It wasthe first turret clock constructed in Scotland on thesame principles as the Westminster clock, with a gravityescapement. Besides the town-hall proper, the buildingalso contains the old sheriff-courtroom and the oldprison. The council chamber contains a set of oldScottish weights and measures, and a portrait of Henry,the historian (1718-90), who bequeathed his library tothe town. The county hall, behind the town-house, isa plain building with a large hall, containing portraitsof the great Earl of Hopetoun (Raeburn), second incommand under General Sir John Moore ; of his brother,General Sir Alexander Hope (Watson-Gordon), long M. P.for the county ; and of the late Earl of Rosebery. The619