Linlithgow, St Mary's Chapel

A chapel dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary was located in the Middleraw near the East and Low Ports (Ferguson, 1911, 329). On the other side of the town was a chapel dedicated to St.Ninian, projecting southwards into the street just outside the West Port (Beveridge, 1912, 6).

Information from ‘Historic Linlithgow: The Archaeological Implications of Development’ (1981).

(NT 0052 7715) On 6 January 1982, the supposed site of St Mary's Chapel and hospital was investigated by SUAT using a mechanical digger to excavate the trenches. Excavation consisted of three machine trenches 1.5m wide. No trace of the chapel survived on this site.

NMRS MS/991/93

The east end of the High Street widens where the road divided to pass through two town gateways, one leading into the present Blackness Road (the Low East Port) and the other into High Port/Edinburgh Road (the High East Port). The supposed position of these gateways is marked in metal setts on the roadway, the 1856 Ordnance Survey map having indicated that the High East Port lined up with the eastern gable of the Star & Garter Hotel and the Low East Port was positioned in front of 2-4 High Street.

The Low East Port was probably the town’s original eastern gateway, leading to Blackness (Linlithgow’s seaport on the Firth of Forth) and Edinburgh beyond. By the end of the Middle Ages, the High East Port was added, and this became the more important town gate by the late 18th century. As with the West Port (Item 37) and a less official checkpoint at the top of St Michael’s Wynd, the gates were closed at night to prevent entry from outsiders who might have been afflicted with the plague or illnesses, and they also served as collection points for tolls or market dues. Although they do not appear to have been substantial structures, all were removed in the late 18th century because they had lost their purpose and required expenditure on maintenance.

The wider area between and within the two ports, now occupied by the roundabout, was the position of a group of buildings called the Middleraw which was demolished around 1647 at the instigation of the Town Council. Immediately outwith the ports, approximately at the landscaped area in front of the Regent Centre offices, was once situated St Mary’s Chapel, one of five pre-Reformation religious establishments in the town (in addition to St Michael’s Church); the others being St Magdalene’s Hospital at Edinburgh Road (see Item 26), St Ninian’s Chapel at the West Port (Item 37), the Carmelite Friary up Manse Road (Item 57) and an Augustinian Friary (location unknown). St Mary’s Chapel was founded by Henry de Livingstoun of Myddilbennyng (Middle Binny?) in 1496, and attached to it was an almshouse, later known as Balderston’s Barn. Immediately to the east was the chapel’s ‘fare-you-well yard’ which contained the St Mary’s or Fairy Well, thought to have had curative properties.

Linlithgow: Architecture and History of a Scottish Royal Burgh

Ronald P A Smith,