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 nineteen miles long on its eastern boundary, and thirteen on its western; but at a medium it is only about seven miles broad and sixteen long, and its area is therefore 112 square miles, or 71,680 English acres; though, according to some surveys, the superficial[7:13:363] contents of the whole is 121 square miles, or 77,440 statute 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 northwest 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 south-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 in thickness.

Though there is a great variety of soil in this district, with considerable tracts of gravel and sand, yet clay is the most general. The coldest soil is chiefly on the south and south-western parts, which have also the coldest climate. The following estimate will show the quantity of the different kinds of soil found in the county :—Clay of good quality, 20,000 English acres; clay on cold bottom, 24,500; loam 10,000; light gravel and sand, 10,000; moors and high rocky land, 15,220; mosses, 1700; water, 500: total 81,920 English acres.

The only streams of any note are, the Almond, which rises on the border of Lanarkshire, and flows north-east for about twenty-four miles between this county and Edinburghshire; and the Avon, which forms the western boundary for about twelve 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, occupying about 150 acres, which contains pike, perch, and eels; and a smaller one on the south, called Loch Coat, which occupies about twenty-two acres, stocked with the same kinds of fish. In the parishes of Linlithgow, Ecclesmachan, and Abercorn, there 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 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 Borrowstownness and Carriden. Sandstone, in some places of an excellent quality, prevails along the coast of the Forth; and in the interior, whinstone, granite, and basalt, are also found; and there is an inexhaustible store of limestone. On Dundas Hill there is a basaltic rock 250 yards in length and about sixty feet in height, withan almost perpendicular front, consisting of a bluish granite of a very fine texture. There is also abundance of potters’ clay, brick clay, red chalk, and marl. Shell marl was dragged in considerable quantities from the lake at Linlithgow, as a manure, till the benefits of lime superseded the use of it. But the chief mineral production is coal, which abounds in almost every part of the county, and is wrought in the parishes of Borrowstownness and Carriden on the Forth, in Up-hall and Whitburn on the east and south, and in the parish of Bathgate in the middle. An excellent kind of coal has been wrought near Cultmuir, on the south-western border. The Union Canal, which passes through this county, affords excellent means of transporting the coal of the interior to the city of Edinburgh.

Linlithgowshire is for the most part divided into estates worth from L.200 to L.3000 a year; but there are a few above, and several below, these extremes. In the neighbourhood of the burghs of Linlithgow and Queensferry there are properties of only a few acres. Four of the greatest estates, rented at from L.4000 to L. 10,000, belong to as many noblemen. The valued rent, taken in 1649, was L.75,027. 12s. 2d. Scots; in 1806, the real rent was L.64,518. 18s. 7d. sterling; and, in 1811, the real rent of the lands and mines was L.82,947. 2s., and of the houses, L.5798. 8s. Almost half the county is entailed. The principal seats are, Hopetoun House, Earl of Hopetoun, two miles west of Queensferry; Barnbougle Castle and Livingston House, Earl of Rosebery; Craigichall, Mr Hope Vere; Duddingston, Mr Dundas; Hallyards, Mr Ramsay; Houston, Mr Sharp; Kinneil, Duke of Hamilton, near Borrowstownness; and Polkemmet, Mr Baillie.

The size of the farms is from fifty Scotch acres to 600, but the greater part consist of between 100 and 300 English acres. The rent of the better soils, which extend over half the county, varies from L.2 to more than L.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 nineteen or twenty-one years; but, in some instances, they are for twenty-four, thirty-eight, and even fifty-seven 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 part of Scotland, which have already been 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 county has two royal burghs, Linlithgow and Queensferry, and the towns of Bathgate and Borrowstownness; besides a number of thriving villages. It is divided into fourteen parishes, which, with two in Mid-Lothian, and four in Stirlingshire, form one presbytery. It sends one member to parliament, the constituency, according to the latest census, being 692. The annexed table contains an abstract of the population for 1811, 1821, and 1831.
[table]
[7:13:364]