Site type ARCHERY BUTTS, PALACE
Canmore ID 49261
Site Number NT07NW 9.00
NGR NT 00196 77325
Council WEST LOTHIAN
Parish LINLITHGOW
Former Region LOTHIAN
Former District WEST LOTHIAN
Former County WEST LOTHIAN

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Recording Your Heritage Online

Linlithgow Palace, mostly 1424-1624
Even stripped of the harl or limewash that once coated its stonework to make it glow like a jewellery box, robbed of its romantic roofscape of ridges, turrets, and tall fleur-de-lis finials, bereft of its statues and stained glass, the gilding of its pediments and dormer heads having rubbed off over the centuries, the palace remains magnificent
The 16th-century palace, with its large first-floor windows, timber galleries overlooking the loch, and fairy-tale entrance up the Kirkgate, lacked even the token defence of a drawbridge. (It was defensive against very little - hence Cromwell's destructive 1650 cordon sanitaire.) It was a pleasure dome on the European model: vivid, pretty, colourful and compact around a courtyard tinkling with its gorgeous fountain.
The raised lochside site was certainly fortified by the time Edward I imported James of St George (architect of Harlech) who may have been responsible for the barbican - stumps of whose round towers lie slumped against the eastern façade. In 1424, James I rebuilt the eastern (entrance) wing around a vaulted pend lent symbolic grandeur by great statues beneath cusped canopies. Steps from the courtyard led up to the great hall, or Lion Chamber.
Between 1488 and 1513, James IV, perhaps under the guidance of John Frenssh or William Bawty, completed the quadrangle with a chapel on the south and oratory and oriel on the north-west corner.
The palace reached its zenith, 1534-6, under master mason Thomas Frenssh directed by Sir James Hamilton of Finnart. Finnart refitted the Lion Chamber and the chapel: he may have been responsible for the new screen lining the south façade, concealing transes or corridors behind its vaguely Tudor windows, reworking the western wing, and regularising the southern façade. Now that the ornamental finials and statues, stained glass, gilt armorials and painted ceilings for which he was responsible have vanished, his principal legacy is the ceremonial route up the Kirkgate - through an outer ornamented gate with all King James V's chivalric orders, over a paved outer court to another diminutive gateway, through the pend to a new stair to the piano nobile, one edge of which is to be seen embedded in the north wall
The north wing collapsed in 1607, rebuilt 1618-24, by William Wallace in the most fashionable Danish Renaissance, emulating the south wing of Kronborg; octagonal stair, each window pedimented in gilt, skyline of tall chimneystacks, designed possibly by Sir James Murray of Kilbaberton. The fountain, c.1538, comprises an elaborately carved hexagonal well, two off-set stages above, a figure on each angle, decorated by flying buttresses between each stage, culminating in a crown; restored, 2005, by Historic Scotland.
You need a lot of imagination and sunny weather to transcend the sometimes damp and dreich - and wholly unnecessary - dereliction of the palace of Linlithgow to appreciate just how fine it was. The imaginative splendours recreated in the royal palace of Kolding in Denmark bring home how wasteful is the historical fossilisations such as we see at Linlithgow. It is no more architecturally or historically valid to leave Linlithgow in the state it is now than to refuse to rebuild St George's Hall at Windsor Castle.


Taken from "West Lothian: An Illustrated Architectural Guide", by Stuart Eydmann, Richard Jaques and Charles McKean, 2008. Published by the Rutland Press http://www.rias.org.uk

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Archaeological Notes

NT07NW 9.00 00196 77325

(NT 0020 7734) Linlithgow Palace (NR) (Rems of)
(NT 0022 7744) Bow Butts (NR)
OS 6" map, (1958).

NT07NW 9.01 NT 00196 77279 Gateway
NT07NW 9.02 NT 00166 77272 Lodge
NT07NW 9.03 NT 00209 77326 Royal Chapel
NT07NW 9.04 centred NT 0035 7735 The Peel - trial excavation; buildings; fort (possible)
NT07NW 9.05 NT 00464 77422 Pond
NT07NW 9.06 NT 00201 77347 Fountain

Linlithgow Palace - fully described, planned and illustrated in DoE official guide.
J S Richardson and J Beveridge 1948.

Excavations were carried out between November 1966 and February 1967 by the DoE in the sector of the Peel which lies W of the Kirkgate, before the area was built on. It was hoped to discover the nature and position of the peel of Edward I, but the results were disappointing. A good stratified sequence of 13th - 17th century pottery was obtained, however. The principally medieval finds of pottery, etc, which have been made during the last century or so, and are in Linlithgow Palace Museum, are described by L R Laing 1971.
L R Laing 1968; 1971.

As described.
Visited by OS(BS) 21 March 1974.

Excavation of a 15th century cellar took place in advance of refurbishment. Shortly after construction, a mortar floor was laid in the cellar, followed by the insertion of two parallel NS lines of wooden posts, of uncertain function, along the length of the room. At about the same time a low stone platform was built against the W and N walls. The posts and floor were superceded towards the end of the 17th century by a thick layer of redeposited midden on which was laid a stone flagged and cobbled floor.
J Cannell 1987.

NT 002 773 The excavation of four small pits for earthing lightning conductors was monitored. Trench 1 was dug at the external base of the E wall of the Palace, close to the SE corner. It contained a substantial deposit of smashed sandstone (builders debris), up to 1m beneath turf and topsoil.
Trench 2 was dug at the base of the N wall of the Palace, close to the NE corner, and contained a deep deposit of midden material, including late and post-medieval pottery, overlying a clean subsoil at a depth of over 1m below present turf level.
Trenches 3 and 4 were cut against the base of the W wall of the Palace. Trench 3 was only dug to a depth of 0.5m, but revealed a rubble deposit over a dark, humic earth layer - possibly evidence of garden activity. Trench 4 was cut against a bank of redeposited loose rubble in a dark matrix, appearently dating to no later than the 19th century.
Sponsored by Historic Scotland
G Ewart 1995

NT 0020 7734 Monitoring by Kirkdale Archaeology was undertaken of engineer's boreholes extracted from areas to the W, N and E of Linlithgow Palace. The boreholes revealed that the site has seen extensive landscaping, and elements of a possible earthwork were revealed.
Sponsor: Historic Scotland
G Ewart and D Murray 1996

The palace and surrounding buildings are visible on vertical air photographs (OS 73/399/296, flown 1973).
Information from RCAHMS (DE) January 1997

NT 0029 7732 and NT 0027 7735 Approximately 60m SE of the palace, aligned NW-SE and against the upper edge of the slope down, is a rectangular stone foundation, 10 x 6m, partly covered by turf. There are three possible artificial terraces, 30m E of the entrance to the palace, in the slope down to the flat ground on the S side of the loch.
C A-Kelly 1997

NT 0020 7734 In January 1999, a watching brief was conducted on the excavation of trenches for floodlighting cables and uplighting floodlights at Linlithgow Palace. The trenches, which were positioned along the N and W walls of the palace, were excavated manually by the contractors employed to install the lighting. All trenches were excavated under the supervision of an archaeologist and were approximately 0.3m wide and 0.3m deep. On the W side of the palace the nature of the trench varied. Towards the N of the trench were midden deposits containing shells (predominantly oyster), animal bone and eroded sandstone. Excavation of the northern trench revealed further midden deposits containing more oyster shells, animal bone, eroded masonry, post-medieval pottery and some fragments of window glass. This deposit appears to represent the last phases of occupation at the palace and presumably overlies a considerable depth of midden material.
Sponsors: Historic Scotland, West Lothian Council.
L H Johnstone 1999

NT 0015 7727 A slight scarp extends W for 32m from the SW corner of the palace, towards a number of irregular slight hollows around 7m in overall width. There is a straight-sided hollow 15m from the NW corner of the palace and along the top of the slope; it is 9m long by 3m wide. For around 26m beyond that, the top of the slope is noticeably ragged. These may be the remains of the palace garden.
C A-Kelly 2000

NT 0020 7734 Archaeological monitoring was required in August 2000 during the excavation of a trench for a new tree. The site was to the E of St Michael's Church, on a terraced area believed to contain a 15th-century access route leading up to the E side of Linlithgow Palace. The hole for the tree was dug wide enough and deep enough to allow a clear view of any sub-surface features that might be found within the area of the excavation.
The excavation did not find any definitive evidence of a substantial road or track. The layers exposed comprised modern topsoil landscaping sealing a 19th-century footpath, which in turn lay over a thick layer of sandy subsoil. Presumably the access route to the James I entrance on the E side of the palace would have been a reasonably solid structure reflecting the importance of the site. No such structure was either seen or indicated by the evidence from this minor excavation. Either the route lies further E, nearer the edge of the terrace, or the road has been landscaped away or possibly buried under later levelling material.
Sponsor: Historic Scotland
D Stewart 2000

NT 0020 7734 A watching brief was undertaken in January 2001 during the excavation of a service trench at Linlithgow Palace (NMRS NT07NW 9), running from the W side of the palace, some 7.9m N of it's SW corner, to an existing pipe running parallel to the W wall. The W range of the palace is thought to have been completed by 1504, and to have had formal gardens to the W.
The small area of this trench necessarily limited what could be determined from this excavation. At a depth of 450mm, a soil deposit banked up against the palace wall. This deposit may well relate to the formal gardens recorded from the area.
A further watching brief was undertaken in June 2001 during the excavation of two trenches.
Trench 1 was excavated in advance of a commemorative tree planting. The trench lay on the enhanced natural terrace which defines the S side of 'The Peel' - the area of parkland which extends to the W and SW of the palace. It is likely that the terrace formed part of the access route to the main entrance to the palace (in its W range).
There was no trace of the approach road to the palace. It appears that the profile of the terrace is either largely natural, or represents the importation of a massive amount of redeposited natural sandy soils, as part of a major landscaping programme of the natural slope S of the loch. In either case, the soils revealed to a depth of 1m were essentially clean mixtures of sandy gravelly silt with water-washed stones throughout.
Trench 2 involved the removal of a series of crude wooden steps, where a shallow trench was cleared to receive new steps. The steps run from a platform at the head of a shallow harbour, next to a boatshed, up a prominent linear earthwork which lies on the W side of the harbour.
The shoreline of the loch which lies to the N of the Palace Peel is currently adapted for pleasure craft access, anchorage and beaching, centred generally around the small harbour. The creation of the latter has clearly rationalised the natural loch side as well as any residual earthworks. The excavation did not shed any light on the date of the bank but showed at least that it was not modern. The upper fabric of the bank was also not a natural deposit scarped to form the bank; rather it was a deliberate dump of material. There was no sign of any revetting deposit other than the present turf line, but this appears to have been levelled off, giving the bank its rather flattened top surface.
The bank appears to be either part of some sort of truncated artillery work or some early jetty/wharf arrangement, in association with a similar N-S aligned bank lying some 25m further W.
Sponsor: Historic Scotland
G Ewart 2001

NT 002 773 A small excavation was undertaken in August 2002 to assess the potential damage to archaeologically significant deposits during the erection of two bollards to the W of the main entrance to the Palace. Two trenches were excavated to a depth of 750mm. It was shown that excavation below 450mm is likely to disturb significant archaeological remains.
Archive to be deposited in the NMRS.
Sponsor: HS
G Ewart 2002

NT 002 773 As part of a proposal for establishing a new shoreline path, a walkover survey was completed in December 2002 on part of the loch side to the W of the Palace. The aim of the survey was to estimate the depth of water at the edge of the loch and to characterise present land-use by the shore. It was noted that backlots/burgage plots behind (N of) the W end of the High Street extend right to the edge of the present loch side. This may indicate that the loch level has risen and the loch area expanded in the generally shallow water at the W side of the loch. It seems likely that archaeological deposits have been submerged by the present shore line.
NT 002 773 Car park. Archaeological monitoring was undertaken in March 2003 during the excavation of a small trench for the erection of a cycle rack near the SW corner of the car park. The only feature of any archaeological significance was a wall of uncertain date orientated towards the middle of what is now the Park Constabulary¿s office, to the SW corner of the Palace. It possibly acted as a boundary wall for the gardens thought to have lain on the W side of the Palace.
NT 002 773 Well. Archaeological monitoring was undertaken in March 2003 during the excavation of a shallow track in the basement chamber of the NE corner of the Palace. This showed that the footings for the well projected some 250mm out beyond the limit of the well and were built with off-white sandstone. Nothing else of archaeological significance was noted.
Archive to be deposited in the NMRS.
Sponsor: HS
G Ewart 2003

An archaeological watching brief was carried out at the palace during the installation of new flood lights on the site. Trenches were dug where the existing cables for earlier lights had been laid, so as to cause as little disturbance as possible. The new cables were layed where the originals had been buried. No archaeological features or deposits were found in any of the trenches. A layer of concrete overlay a pebble layer, which lay on top of the subsoil.
B Will 2005

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Architectural Notes

This site was surveyed as part of the Listed Buildings Recording Programme (LBRP) for 1999-2000.

The purpose of the survey, as directed by the Consultative Committee of the LBRP, was to provide detailed photographs of the carvings which adorn the exterior of the building and the internal faces of the courtyard.

NMRS REFERENCE:

Guardianship Monument

Dr J S Richardson - restoration of fountain 1937-39. Executant J Wilson Paterson

Plans:
Dick Peddie & MacKay, Edinburgh Details for stained glass
Attic 2, Bin 6, Bag 3

Plans:
Dick Peddie & MacKay, Edinburgh Scheme for restoration. Details of 16/17th c. woodwork
Attic 2, Bin 6, Bag 3


EXTERNAL REFERENCE:

Scottish Record Office: MOW Records 21955/2B Parts 2 & 3

Scottish Record Office:

Linlithgow. Reparation of the Palace of Linlithgow.
Receipted account from Robert Levin, wright for #12.7.0.
His work included: Taking the roof off the Gardener's house in the Peill and taking out the old timber.
Supporting the roof above the stables.
Closing up of windows 'in the old work' and mending 3 windows 'in the new work', and closing up of doors to fence the towers and leads.
1721 GD 220/6/1333/17

Reparation of the Palace of Linlithgow.
Receipted account from Thomas Millar, slater, for #41.0.0.
His work included: Taking the rigging stone and slates of the Gardener's House in the Peill.
Casting the whole scarsements of the North work of the Palace with pan cratch and oyster shells.
Pointing the North East Tower.
1721. GD 220/6/1333/16

Reparation of the Palace of Linlithgow.
Receipted account from Thomas Moir, Wright, for #36 (Scots) for work at the Palace.
1725 GD 220/6/1333/20

Reparation of the Palace of Linlithgow.
Receipted account from John Scott, plumber, for #30.15.10 for lead work.
1725 GD 220/6/1333/19

Reparations of the Palace of Linlithgow.
Account of sums paid by the factor for deals for closing up the windows and for wright and smithwork.
1726 GD 220/6/1334/6

Reparations of the Palace of Linlithgow.
Receipted account from Alexander Colquhoun, slater, for work at the Palace for the Duke of Montrose.
1729 GD 220/6/1334/22

Mason work at the Palace of Linlithgow.
Receipted account from Alexander Bayers, mason.
It includes furnishing a stone 3'8" and 2' broad to close the entry 'wher the corps gos down to the burial place of the familie of Linlithgow'.
1732 GD 220/6/1335/15

Reparation of the Palace of Linlithgow.
Receipted accounts, and receipts for materials and work.
1731-1735 GD 220/6/1335/12-20

James I and VI to Earl of Mar, Treasurer.
Need to finish work on Palace of Linlithgow.
1621 GD 124/10/194

Repair of the Palace.
Note of sums paid to plumber and wright.
cash Book.
1720 GD 220/6/30/Page 564

Linlithgow Palace. Letters and report relating to state of building (6 items), including
(1) Letter from James Rae, sheriff clerk, Linlithgow, describing nuisances in courtyard, 18 Nov. 1820
(2) Letter from Donald Mackenzie, tenant of park, complaining of vandalism, 18 May 1825.
(3) Letter from John Gay, sheriff of Linlithgowshire, reporting that a 'flying buttress' on east side is giving way, 19 June 1832.
(4) Letter from Robert Reid on remedial work required, 25 June 1832.
SRO/E342/35

Notes and Activities

20 April 2010

WATCHING BRIEF

Notes NT 002 773 (centred on)
A watching brief was carried out on 20 April 2010 during the relocation of a sign (near the S elevation) to c0.5m SW of its original position and the installation of a new sign at the entrance to the Palace. Shallow trenches were excavated to house the new signs and the existing ‘Kirk’ sign removed. There were no finds
or features of archaeological significance.
Archive: RCAHMS (intended)
Funder: Historic Scotland
D Gorman 2010

Further details

Books and References

A-Kelly, C (1997e) 'Linlithgow Palace (Linlithgow parish), building and landscaping remains', Discovery Excav Scot
Page(s): 83

A-Kelly, C (2000i) 'Linlithgow Palace, West Lothian (Linlithgow parish), earthwork remains', Discovery Excav Scot, vol.1
Page(s): 93

Anon (1855a) 'Linlithgow: improvements at the palace', Building Chron, vol.1, 14 (1 May 1855)
Page(s): 188

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