Linlithgow

We are in Scotland for a week staying at Seton Sands, Longniddry, where we have a nicely appointed static caravan.

We are here for my cousin Hazel and her husband John's Ruby Wedding Anniversary celebration on Saturday and decided to make a week of it. 

Today Hazel had to go to Linlithgow to meet up with her sister Leslie to do the paperwork for finalising the sale of their late mum's (my Aunt Agnes's) house in Cathcart at the solicitors there. She offered to take us so we could visit the town and it's famous palace, so we went along and met up with Leslie and Donald to visit St. Michael's Church and Linlithgow Palace.

Here are some of my pictures (and one from Donald).

It was a sunny but rather windy day. While waiting for Hazel to pick us up from the bus stop outside the holiday village I crossed the road to take the picture at the top of the post and a couple more.

We can see the coastal villages of Fife . 

And the view I showed yesterday.

The journey to Linlithgow via the Edinburgh bypass was a lot quicker than Hazel anticipated as the traffic was light. We parked in the Linlithgow Palace carpark and after a little wander outside started by visiting St. Michael's Church. Leslie and Donald joined us there when they arrived.

 

St. Michael's Church has a distinctive Crown of Thorns decoration on top of the tower. It was designed in 1964 by Geoffrey Clarke and restored in 2024.

We explored the cradle roll to find Leslie and Donald's son and daughter, Graham and Louis, who had been christened here... and found them.

The Willis II pipe organ was installed here in 2001. Previously it had been in the gallery of the chapel of Queen Ethelbuga's School near Harrogate and used from its installation in 1912 until the school was demolished.

We loved this modern stained-glass window created by Crear McCartney in 1992, designed around the theme of Pentecost.

In 1885 the centre window of the apse was fitted out with stained glass in memory of Charles Wyville Thomson, the locally born oceanic explorer who died in 1882. It features a fleet of ships such as that which accompanied the explorer on his charting of the world’s oceans in HMS Challenger from 1872-76.  Leslie and Donald told us that this is the ship that the Challenger space shuttle was named after and that one of the astronauts who flew in the space shuttle came to Linlithgow especially to see the window.

Now we all visited the ruins of the palace. Birthplace of Mary Queen of Scots. Linlithgow Palace was built and added to over two centuries by the Stewart kings, resulting in a superb Renaissance residence.

Here is an aerial view (as seen on the Historic Environment Scotland site)

It is very impressive and has many storeys. Dawn. Leslie, Donald and I climbed to the top, but Hazel doesn't like heights so stayed at ground level.

The fountain.

The loch.

Views from the top.

It was very windy up there, but we were sheltered in Queen Margaret's Bower for this phot taken by Donald.

We had to take care going down as well as up.

After lunch at Leslie and Donald's we came back into town for Hazel and Leslie to do their business at the solicitors. While they were there we explored the town.

The St. Michael statue is permanently adorned with a traffic cone.

The Burgh Halls.

The cross.

Outside the library...

...we found a lamppost with fish coiled around it like those we saw in Crieff on holiday a few years ago (see here).

It also had the town logo on the lampshade (see photo at the top of this post) and this plaque below.

Over lunch Donald had showed us the local newsletter called "The Black Bitch" and explained it was a symbol of the town. He also told us that there is a pub that used to be called "The Black Bitch", but it got renamed by its new owners Greene King as "The Willow Tree", much to the annoyance of the locals, as it was deemed an offensive name. Read about the pub here.

We popped into the library to ask about the logo and the tree (which didn't look like a willow tree) and were told to google it as they didn't know... 

As described here... "According to the traditional story, many centuries ago a man was convicted of a crime in Linlithgow. His punishment was particularly cruel. He was taken to a small island in Linlithgow Loch, chained to a tree and left without food or water to die.

But something strange happened. Days passed. And the prisoner remained alive. The authorities couldn't understand how he was surviving, so they began watching the island more carefully. Eventually they discovered his secret. Every night, his faithful black female greyhound was swimming across the loch to reach him, carrying food and water to help her master survive. When the authorities discovered what was happening, they captured the dog. According to the legend, she too was chained to the tree and left to die."

We didn't get as far as The Willow Tree but we did pass The Four Marys, named after the four ladies-in-waiting of Mary Queen of Scots (who was born at the nearby palace) who were also called Mary.

We liked this plaque too.

Hazel and Leslie were still at the solicitors so we went into the Platform 3 pub opposite for a quick drink. It is quite a quirky place.

They let Dawn in, though.

There is a little train that shuttles backwards and forwards just under the ceiling.

I was pleased to get to use the First Class toilet.

We soon met up again with Hazel and she took us back to the holiday park.

A lovely day out. Thank-you Leslie and Donald for lunch and Hazel for taking us there and back (and for providing us with dinner later). You can see more of my photos (including the display boards in the palace) here on Flickr.