Built on the former site of a medieval hospital and annual fair dedicated to a saint at Linlithgow, the distillery bears the name of the saint, although the malt is sometimes bottled under the name of the town. Linlithgow was once an important centre of malting and brewing and the distillery had its own wharf on the Union Canal. It was one of the founding members of Scottish Malt Distillers, and its whisky was well thought of, however it was closed in 1983, and turned into flats.