Linlithgow, The Vennel, General

The Vennel redevelopment, 1967, Rowand Anderson, Kininmonth & Paul

Comprehensive development of 90 houses which replaced 19th-century and earlier houses (1674 stone pediment from the Golden Cross Inn in the wall of the east side of the cross and some painted timber panels in Annet House Museum are the only mementos), in three well-articulated groups with shops, library and health clinic, concealed parking areas and garages, offering intriguing views through to the shimmering waters of the loch. Its open character destroyed the enclosure of the High Street, and shattered the drama on emerging from an enclosed funnel into the swelling cross. Yet the harled courtyards, more appropriate to Linlithgow than most post-war redevelopment elsewhere, were extraordinarily ambitious in trying to recapture the quality of a major burgh rather than the large shoemaking village it had become. The High Street frontage needs to be sealed again if it is to recover its sense of place. Saltire Housing Award, 1969. Houses at Cross reworked, 1995, by West Lothian District Council, and the remainder given new life, 2004, by Cooper Cromar Architects. Original 1960s blocks at St Ninian's Way have been replaced by a single tenement in blockwork and slate by Cooper Cromar Architects, 2004. The original crispness and the glazing patterns have been lost in the process.

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