Tam Dalyell House

Image: © Ian Dodds Taken: 6 Sep 2022

Also known as the Linlithgow Partnership Centre - it now houses a library, West Lothian's local history library, Linlithgow Museum and a police station amongst other things - and formerly known as the County Buildings, this property, equally impressive inside and out, is surprisingly only a Category B listed building. This can only be because it is so new; another surprise was that it was only built in the 1930s. The building (which is the one with the ground floor lights on) takes its name from the former local MP, who died a few years ago, and represented Linlithgow for over 40 years. Tam Dalyell was one of those idiosyncrasies of the British political system - a titled (though he didn't use it) privately-educated well-off socialist who lived in a famous hereditary country mansion (House of the Binns). He taught at local comprehensive schools before entering politics properly, was big on science (he wrote a weekly column in New Scientist magazine for years) and was extremely anti-war, by all accounts becoming more rebellious and outspoken the longer he sat in parliament. Considering how quickly political parties get rid of their 'troublemakers' these days, it is fascinating to read that towards the very end of his time as an MP he publicly stated that Tony Blair, who was at the time still the Prime Minister - and his own party leader - was a war criminal who should be tried under international law in The Hague. He generally seems to have been viewed as a good guy nevertheless (or perhaps because of all this!) - hence the building name.

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