LINLITHGOWSHIRE

LINLITHGOWSHIRE, or WEST-LOTHIAN, a county in Scotland, having the Frith of Forth on the north, Edinburghshire, or Mid-Lothian, on the east and south-east, Lanarkshire on the south-west, and Stirlingshire on the west, is situated between 55° 49' and 56° 1' north latitude, and 3° 18' and 3° 51' west longitude from Greenwich. It is of a triangular form, about 19 miles long on its eastern boundary, and 13 on its western; but at a medium it is only about 7 miles broad and 16 long, according to the Agricultural Survey, and its area is therefore 112 square miles, or 71,680 English acres.

So large a portion of the surface of this county is either level, or gently undulating, that only a fifth part of it is stated to be unfit for cultivation. Yet a considerable space is occupied by hills. A ridge extends across it from north-west to south-east, of which Cairnpapple, the most elevated point, is about 1500 feet high. The highest ground is in the middle, and towards the west; on the south there is much moor and moss; but the hills for the most part yield good pasturage, and some of them are planted. The climate, though variable, is not severe. The prevailing winds are from the west, which blow for about two-thirds of the year. According to a register of the weather, kept at Duddingston on the coast of the Frith, about the middle of the northern boundary, the greatest number of rainy and snowy days, in any one year, for a period of thirty years, from 1778 to 1808, was 111 (in 1780), and the smallest number 22 (in 1803); but days on which slight showers fell are not included. The greatest heat in

that period was in June 1785, when the thermometer stood at 87° in the shade, in a northern exposure. In June 1787, there was a week of frost, with ice one-sixteenth of an inch thick.

Though there is a great variety of soil in this district, and considerable tracts of gravel and sand, yet clay is the most general. The better kinds of clay extend over a fourth of the area; but the inferior sorts, incumbent on a close bottom, are still more extensive.

The only streams of any note are the Almond, Waters, which rises on the border of Lanarkshire, and flows north-east for about 24 miles between this county and Edinburghshire; and the Avon, which forms the western boundary for about 12 miles. Both these rivulets fall into the Frith of Forth. On the north side of the town of Linlithgow, there is a lake about a mile long, and half a mile broad, which contains pike, perch, and eels; and a smaller one on the south, stocked with the same kind of fish. In the parishes of Linlithgow, Ecclesmachan, and Abercorn, are several sulphureous springs, and a strong chalybeate is found in the parish of Torphichen; but none of them are much resorted to.

Silver and lead were at one time got in the hills of Minerals. Bathgate, in the parish of Linlithgow, and in the neighbourhood a small vein of silver ore was found several years ago in a limestone quarry. Ironstone is wrought occasionally in the parishes of Borrowstounness and Carriden. Sandstone, in some places of an excellent quality, prevails along the coast of the Forth, and also in the interior; and there is an inexhaustible store of limestone. But the chief mineral production is coal, which abounds in almost every part of it, and is wrought in the parishes of Borrowstounness and Carriden on the Forth, in Uphall and Whitburn on the east and south, and in the parish of Bathgate in the middle. An excellent kind of coal has been wrought within these few years near Cultmuir, on the south-western border. The Union Canal, which passes through this county, will afford the means of transporting the coal of the interior to the city of Edinburgh. (See EDINBURGHSHIRE in this Supplement.)

Linlithgowshire is for the most part divided into Estates worth from £200 to £3000 a-year; but there are a few above, and several below these extremes. In the neighbourhood of the burghs of Linlithgow and Queensberry there are properties of only a few acres. Four of the greatest estates, rented at from £4000 to £10,000, belong to as many noblemen. In 1806, the number of freeholders, entitled to vote in the election of a member for the county, was 67. The valued rent, taken in 1649, is £75,027, 12s. 2d. Scots; in 1806, the real rent was £64,518, 18s. 7d. Sterling; and, in 1811, the real rent of the lands and mines was £82,947, 2s., and of the houses £5,798, 8s. Almost half the county is entailed. The principal seats are Hopetoun House, Earl of Seale. Hopetoun, two miles west of Queensberry; Barnbougle Castle and Livingston House, Earl of Rosebery; Craigiehall, Mr Hope Vere; Duddingston, Mr Dundas; Haliyards, Mr Ramsay; Houston, Mr Sharp; Kinneil, Duke of Hamilton, near Borrowstounness; and Polkemmet, Mr Baillie.

The size of farms is from 50 Scots acres to 600, but the greater part are between 100 and 300 English acres. The rent of the better soils, which extend over half the county, varies from £2 to more than £5 the acre; that of the inferior clays is from 14s. to 20s., and of the high grounds from 6d. to 10d.; the average rent of the whole, in 1811, being rather more than 23s. the English acre. The common term of leases is 19 or 21 years; but, in some instances, they are for 24, 38, and even 57 years; grazing farms are let on short leases, from one to four years. The crops raised are the same as in the other counties in this quarter of Scotland, which have been already described; and the general system of husbandry is not materially different, except that the dairy is more an object here than in the counties to the east and south-east.

The towns are Linlithgow, Borrowstounness, and Queensferry; and the principal villages are Whitburn and Bathgate. Linlithgow, the county town, and a royal burgh, sixteen miles west from Edinburgh, contained, in 1811, 2557 inhabitants. It was formerly a place of considerable trade, but is now in a decaying state. The manufactures of the town and parish are paper, leather, stockings, malt, and spirituous liquors, calico printing and tambouring. The standard dry measures of Scotland were committed to the charge of this burgh, and still bear its name. These are the firlet of 2199 cubic inches for wheat, rye, beans, peas, meal, and salt; and another of 3208 cubic inches for malt, barley, and oats. The Palace, situated on an eminence overlooking the lake on the north side of the town, was founded by Edward I. of England. The Regent Murray was assassinated on the streets of this town, by Hamilton of Bothwellhaugh, on 22d January 1569. Borrowstounness is a port on the Frith of Forth, eighteen miles west from Edinburgh, containing about 2200 inhabitants, who are partly employed in shipbuilding, and in the manufacture of salt, earthenware, and soap.

Queensferry, a royal burgh, is nine miles west from Linlithgow-shire. Edinburgh. The width of the Frith of Forth here is only two miles, with convenient landing-places on either side. (See QUEENSFERRY in the Encyclopaedia.) In the middle of the Frith at this place is the small island of Inchgarvie, surmounted by a ruinous fort. The village of Bathgate is eighteen miles west, and Whitburn twenty-one south-west from Edinburgh. Borrowstounness is the only place which carries on some external commerce, but its trade has declined since the Forth and Clyde Canal was opened. The chief exports are coal, salt, and soap, and the imports timber, hemp, flax, &c. The herring fishery in the Frith is prosecuted with various success; the usual season is from November to February. There is also a salmon fishery on some parts of the coast, particularly between Queensferry and Blackness.

Linlithgowshire sends one member to Parliament; Representatives, &c. and in the elections for the burghs, the town of Linlithgow unites with Selkirk, Peebles, and Lanark; and Queensferry with Stirling, Culross, Inverkeithing, and Dunfermline. It is divided into twelve entire parishes, and contains portions of other three, the rest of which belong to the county of Edinburgh. With the exception of the parish of Cramond, of which only a small part is situated in Linlithgow-shire, all these parishes belong to the Presbytery of Linlithgow, in the Synod of Lothian and Tweeddale. The poor are relieved for the most part by the rents of land and interest of money, the donations of individuals, and from the ordinary funds of the kirk-sessions; but in some parishes poor-rates are raised by assessment. The annexed tables contain an abstract of the census of 1800 and 1811.

See Beauties of Scotland, Vol. III.; Trotter's General View of the Agriculture of West Lothian, 1811; The General Report of Scotland, and Playfair's Description of Scotland, Vol. I.; and for history and antiquities, Chalmers's Caledonia, Vol. II. (A.)