Jun 11th, 2009

Can ye direct me tae Willie Law’s tannery?

On Ancestry the other day, I came across a page of Pigot’s Directory 1825-26 for Linlithgow which relates to some of my folk. Apart from name-spotting, it’s a fascinating social document. Linlithgow was a bustling town in the 1820s, although the leather and shoe industry that had brought prosperity to its denizens was well on the decline. The centre of the town was the High Street, off which were Vennels and Wynds. The kirk of St Michael’s, in whose kirkyard many of my ancestors lie, was situated just off  High Street and behind it, facing the Loch, was the ancient remains of Linlithgow Palace.

The town layout today isn’t so very different and, coincidentally, in The Vennel, one of the lanes snuggling behind the High Street, a cousin of mine has (more…)