Tam Dalyell House, Interior

Image: © Ian Dodds Taken: 2 Sep 2022

The doorway on the immediate left, with the important-looking wooden pediment above it, leads straight into a room that serves as West Lothian's local history library. It is the endpoint of by far the grandest walk I have ever made to any public library in Britain! The building used to be the headquarters of West Lothian Council. When it was built West Lothian extended further West, and included Bo'ness - another town which, like Linlithgow, was once far more important than it is today, but whose demise is sadly more readily apparent. County (or unitary authority, to be official) boundaries were redrawn in the mid 1970s, making Linlithgow the furthest West of any of the towns within its jurisdiction. This, along with the steady (some might say relentless) expansion of the new town of Livingston meant that its functions were over time moved from here to there, so the building has recently been repurposed to provide council services in the most opulent surroundings I have ever come across for such things.

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