Katie Wearie's Tree

A heritage tree and a sculpture in West Port Garden, a half-mile (0.8 km) west of the centre of Linlithgow, Katie Wearie's Tree is a willow under which an old woman (although others say a young woman) by the name of Katie Wearie would rest on her way to market each morning in the 19th C. The original tree was said to have been planted to commemorate the Reform Act of 1832. It blew down in a storm in 1910 but was replaced with a sapling raised from the original. This had to be felled in 1978 and was again replaced with another sapling - the grand-daughter of the original - in 1982 which has grown to form the current specimen.

West Lothian Council commissioned a life-size bronze sculpture of Katie Wearie by Duddingston-based artist Tim Chalk, which was unveiled in 2011. The sculpture shows the cattle drover resting beneath a bronze tree, with a large bird perched in its branches. The sculpture forms a sundial, where the passing hours are marked by the movement of the bird's shadow on granite setts on the ground below. A bench-seat forms part of the sculpture and encourages visits to linger a while.


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