OS1/34/39/10

Continued entries/extra info

[page] 10
Penny page 208

As to the hospital of St Mary Magdalene which appears to have been a small Lazar house
or infirmary its Situation was at the foot of the rising ground which you descend a quarter of
a mile east of the town and lay on the north side of the road. The rising ground is called
to this day Pingrim (corruptly for Pilgrim) Hill where pilgrims from the west as tradition
goes were wont to assemble and sing anthems as departing from and losing sight of their
country during their pilgrimage, etc,
Halfway between the hospital and the east port of the town Stood Magdalene Cross where
the town fairs were anciently held down as far as I can learn to near the end of last century,
No vestige either of the hospital or of the cross now remains
Penny's History of Linlithgow Appendix No. 8 page 207

I committed a mistake in my former letter I now find that the house Called St. Magdalene's
was not a hospital but an hospitium or hostlary for the entertainment of travellers and
what renders it an object of Curiosity is that it was that first house of the Kind here erected by
the magistrates in virtue of the act of James I. of Scotland Obliging all boroughs to provide an
hostlary at the expense of the borough for the accommodation of travellers. The hospital appears to have
been erected within what is now the town itself.
Ibid. Appendix No. 9