These two photographs are interesting for their large size. Hill & Adamson favoured smaller cameras for their portraits but when it came to architecture working with a larger camera and a larger paper negative was far more preferable. In 1845 Hill & Adamson travelled to Linlithgow most likely by train and arrived in the town to photograph not only the station, but the palace, the church, and the various buildings in this small town.

These are probably among the earliest photographs of the railways in Scotland. Even though we don’t really see a steam engine, if you look carefully in one of the photographs you’ll see a railway car in the middle of the composition. In one of the views we actually get a glimpse of the railway station. In the foreground there is a horse and cart which would have been the most popular form of transportation prior to the railways coming into Scotland. Adjacent to the horse and carriage there is laundry hanging on a washing line which gives us a curious insight into the daily life of some of the residents of Linlithgow in 1845.