Linlithgow

The Peel, with St Michael's Church and the Palace

Linlithgow is a town with an ancient and distinguished history. Long an administrative centre it was for a while also the favourite home of Scottish royalty. Today it is the administrative centre of West Lothian and a busy shopping centre: but it also retains enough of the character and charm of its past to place it high on any list of "must visits" in central Scotland.

Town House & Linlithgow Cross Linlithgow Palace Outer Gate St Magdalene's (ex) Distillery The Vennel

The town lies principally along its east-west High Street. Parallel to it on rising ground to the south is first the main Glasgow to Edinburgh railway line, and then the Union Canal as it contours its way from Edinburgh to Falkirk. Its excellent rail links to both Glasgow and Edinburgh help make Linlithgow one of the most attractive residential locations in the country.

St Michael's RC Church

Kirkgate

The Union Canal at Linlithgow

If the canal and railway help constrain the town's development to the south, they are nothing to the barriers to the north. Immediately on this side of the High Street is the large mound on which are located St Michael's Parish Church and its even more impressive neighbour, Linlithgow Palace.

Also to the north of the High Street is the ¾ mile long Linlithgow Loch, which wraps around three sides of the Palace mound. The area around the Palace and extending along the edge of the Loch is open parkland known as The Peel. These days the far side of Linlithgow Loch marks the line of yet another major east-west transport route, the M9.

The heart of the town is the open area in front of the magnificent Town House, built in 1668 to replace a building destroyed by Oliver Cromwell in 1650. Here you find the Cross Well, built in 1807 as a copy of its 1628 predecessor. One side of this square carries a range of attractive shops which lead out into the High Street. The other proves that even Linlithgow was not immune to the whims of 1960s planners.

The view of the Town House shown top left carries straight round to the view of the Vennel development, shown bottom left. This 1967 replacement of housing from the 1800s and before is actually fairly attractive as such developments go: but did they have to put it here, right in the heart of one of Scotland's most historic towns?

Linlithgow's origins date back to at least the 1100s and probably much earlier, and its story is intimately tied up with those of St Michael's Parish Church and Linlithgow Palace. As what became the service centre for a major royal palace the town has often prospered. But as a required stop on the itinerary of every invading army that passed through central Scotland from 1300 to 1746, it also saw more than its fair share of destruction and rebuilding. Unwanted visitors included Edward I, who occupied the town from 1301; Oliver Cromwell, ditto in 1650; and depending on your point of view, either Bonnie Prince Charlie or his pursuer the Duke of Cumberland, both of whom used the Palace in early 1746 (with the latter burning it down on his departure).

Today's Linlithgow carries its history well. It offers superb visitor attractions in Linlithgow Palace and St Michael's Church interesting shopping, the Linlithgow Canal Centre on the newly restored Union Canal, excellent rail links, a beautiful park, and a large loch right on the doorstep. No surprises, then, that it can be very busy, but time it right and you can still have parts of it to yourself.