Linlithgow Palace

Location: Kirkgate, Linlithgow EH49 7AL
Opening times: 1 April to 30 September 9.30am – 5.00pm; 1 October to 31 March 10.00am – 4.00pm. CLOSED 25 – 26 December, 1 – 2 January
Entry: Adults £10.00, concessions £8.00, child £6.00, family various e.g. £29.00 for two adults and two children.
Access: Limited onsite parking

Linlithgow Palace was a ‘pleasure palace’ for the Stuart monarchs of the 15^th and 16^th centuries, a bolthole they could retreat to when the pressure of lording it over everyone at Edinburgh or Stirling became too much. It was also a handy home-from-home whenever the plague paid the capital a visit.

The palace was originally commissioned by James I to replace a previous royal castle or mansion destroyed by fire, along with much of Linlithgow, in 1424, and building (and rebuilding) continued through the reigns of James III, James IV, James V, and James VI. Despite the sterling contributions from this veritable parliament of Jims, Linlithgow Palace is probably most associated with Scotland’s most famous and mythologised daughter, Mary Queen of Scots, who was born here 8 December 1542.

The statue of Mary Queen of Scots in the grounds of Linlithgow Palace was unveiled in 2015. It was sculpted by David Annand, whose other works include the statue of Sir Jimmy Shand in Auchtermuchty and the statues of Robert the Bruce and Abbot Bernard holding aloft the Declaration of Arbroath.

Royal interest in the palace declined following the 1603 Union of the Crowns, when Mary’s son James VI of Scotland became James I of England and promptly moved his court to London. Disinterest was such that no repairs were undertaken when the roof of the palace’s North Quarter collapsed four years later, even though this rendered the northern walls unsafe (James VI would eventually order the necessary rebuilding when he stayed at Linlithgow in 1617).

Despite its waning importance the palace still received the occasional famous, or notorious, visitor. Charles I stayed at Linlithgow during a visit to Scotland in 1633, the last time a reigning monarch resided there. A year after his execution, the king’s nemesis Oliver Cromwell also stayed at the palace. A century on two other mortal enemies, Charles Edward Stuart and William Duke of Cumberland, made brief visits to the palace just months apart. It was upon the departure of the latter on 1 Feb 1746 that a fire broke out in the ill-fated north range, one so devastating that Linlithgow Palace ceased to be a place of residence.

The entrance to Linlithgow Palace; the car park is just through this archway. The carvings above the gate are recreations of originals placed there by James V to show his importance. The represent (left to right): The Order of the Garter, granted to James V by his uncle Henry VIII; the Order of the Thistle, bestowed upon James by, well, himself; the Order of the Golden Fleece, presented to the Scottish king by the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V; and the Order of St. Michael, given to James by Francis I of France.

When Robert Burns visited Linlithgow in 1787 he described the palace as ‘a fine but melancholy ruin’, but here in 2024 I’m changing ‘fine’ to mighty and ‘melancholy’ to magnificent (and, for that matter, ‘but’ to and). Linlithgow Palace was an impressive hulk of a building when viewed from outside, but it seemed to grow even bigger once I crossed its threshold. This is perhaps because the palace is surprisingly complete despite being a ruin. All wooden doors, floors, ceilings, and roofs are long gone, as is every pane of glass – and boy, did the wind on this cold September day know it – but the bricks still stand, the rooms are still defined, and the place is positively labyrinthine. I made to go up Queen Margaret’s Bower but stepped in to a room off to the left, which led to another which in turn led to another and on and on. About an hour later I finally made it to the bower.

The view from Queen Margaret’s Bower, with St. Michael’s Parish Church and its distinctive golden crown just beyond the palace walls. Legend says that Queen Margaret watched in vain for her husband’s return from the Battle of Flodden (1513) from here.

The Eastern Quarter, with the ornate courtyard fountain. The main entrance to the palace in Stuart times can be seen just beyond the fountain, and the large doorway halfway up the wall to the left of the entrance led to the Great Hall, which was built by James I. A wooden stairway would have led guests up to the hall. The fountain was added by James V, who, like his daughter Mary, was born at Linlithgow Palace.

Details of the fountain, which would originally have been brightly painted. Sketches from the 1700s show that by that time the fountain had been reduced to rubble, but the fragments were reassembled in the 1800s. The photographs above show 1930s recreations of what it is believed the originally carvings looked like.

*The North Quarter that James VI ordered to be built in 1617 to replace the one that had collapsed a decade earlier. No records of what the original looked like exist.*

A couple of musical angels found in the chapel. The one on the left looks as if he/she/it could be in an eighties synth-pop band, while the one on the right harks back to the skiffle era and appears to be playing a washboard. Younger readers may need to ask their grandparents what skiffle was. And a washboard. Anyway, it’s probably a harp.

*The view from the south-east tower taking in the north-west tower with Queen Margaret’s Bower on top and James V’s fountain in the courtyard.*

*I’m not exactly sure where I was in the palace by this point – possibly the chapel? – but I rather liked this archway.*

Also well worth the visit is St. Michael’s Parish Church, which stands next door to the palace. It was built in the 15th century on the site of a previous church destroyed in the 1424 fire. St. Michael’s was much patronised by the Stuart monarchy given its proximity to the palace, and Mary Queen of Scots was baptised there.

St. Michael’s golden crown seen from the palace chapel. A stone crown occupied this space for centuries but was removed in 1821 amid fears it could collapse. This aluminium crown was designed by Geoffrey Clarke and installed in 1964 to the inevitable cacophony of outrage, but it has since become the town’s go-to symbol.

Statue of St. George and a partial view of the stain glass window at the main alter. The sailing ships and marine life depict the Challenger Expedition of 1872 – 1876, a voyage that all but created the science of oceanography. The window is dedicated to Sir Charles Wyville Thomson (1830 – 1882) of the University of Edinburgh, who was the expedition’s scientific head. The Challenger space shuttle was named after the HMS Challenger.

*A souvenir from Oliver Cromwell’s time at Linlithgow. He stayed in the palace and billeted his men in the church*, where they seemed to have passed some time taking potshots at the walls with their muskets. Notice also the three chips at the lower corner of the wall; these are believed to have been created by Cromwell’s men sharpening their swords.

Destination or Diversion?

It is easy to while away a couple of hours at Linlithgow Palace, making it a destination. Add in a visit to St. Michael’s and, on a sunny scaffold-free day, a walk around Linlithgow Loch, and voila, you have a fine afternoon out. The loch, incidentally, gave the town its name; it derives from the Brythonic Llyn Laith Cau, meaning “lake in the damp hollow”.

The palace has a small gift shop and toilet facilities, and various eateries are available in the town itself.

Destination or Diversion?

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