GRANGEMOUTH, a quoad sacra parish (for a time),
in the county of Stirling; comprising the sea-port
town of Grangemouth in the parish of Falkirk, and also
part of Polmont parish; the whole containing 1/22 inhabitants,
of whom 1488 are in the town, 3 miles (N. E.)
from Falkirk. This place derives its name from its
original situation at the mouth of the Grange burn, a
stream flowing round the grange of the ancient abbey of
Abbotshaugh, but now, by a recent diversion of its course,
falling into the river Carron at a considerable distance to
the east. The town was commenced in the year 1777,
by Sir Laurence Dundas, and is situated at the eastern
extremity of the Forth and Clyde canal. The streets are
regularly formed, and the houses well built and of handsome
appearance; the environs are pleasant, and the
place has generally a cheerful and prepossessing aspect.
Its trade has been progressively increasing since the
formation of the harbour, and in 1810 a custom-house
was established here. The trade consists principally in
the exportation of coal, glass, and bricks, to Russia,
Sweden, and Norway; pig and wrought iron to Denmark;
coal, soap, woollens, and pig-iron to Prussia;
coal, pig and cast iron, and cotton manufactures, to
Holland; pig and cast iron to Germany; coal, pig-iron,
glass, and bricks, to France, Portugal, Italy, and Turkey;
glass, and woollen and cotton manufactures, to 'Van
Diemen's Land; coal, bricks, cordage, woollens, and
cottons, to Canada and New Brunswick; and coal and
beer to Brazil. The imports are chiefly corn, tallow,
flax, hemp, matting, tar, bristles, and wooden wares,
from Russia; manganese ore, pitch, and linseed-cakes,
from Sweden; corn from Denmark and Germany; corn,
fla.x, timber, and wooden wares, from Prussia; bark,
cheese, madder, and geneva, from Holland; and timber
from Canada and New Brunswick. In a recent year the
number of vessels that cleared outwards to foreign ports
was 615, of the aggregate burthen of 61,979 tons; and
the number that entered inwards from foreign ports was
148, of 21,145 tons: the amount of duties paid at the
custom-house was £20,000. This amount of duties,
however, does not show the full trade of the place, as a
large part of the goods imported was removed under bond
to Glasgow, where the duties were paid. The number
of vessels registered as belonging to the port, in the
same year, was fifty-two, of 7270 tons' aggregate burthen.
A considerable coasting-trade is also carried on here
and a very extensive inland trade is pursued by means
of the Forth and Clyde canal, which is navigable for
vessels of ninety tons from this place to Port-Dundas,
near Glasgow, and also to the Clyde by Bowling bay:
the number of vessels that passed along the canal in a
late year was 2959. The custom-house establishment
consists of a collector, comptroller, clerk, two landwaiters,
six tide-waiters, and a locker; and the oBBcers
of the canal company here, are a collector, an overseer
of works, and a harbour-master.
The harbour and quays are situated near the mouth of
the river Carron, at its junction with the Forth and Clyde
canal. Considerable improvements have been recently
made under the superintendence of Sir John Macneill,
civil engineer, of London, employed for that purpose by
the late Earl of Zetland and the governor and council of
the canal company. According to the plan adopted,
the channel of the Grange burn has been changed to the
eastward, and a spacious wet-dock and entrance-lock,
east of the harbour, have been constructed: the foundation
stone was laid on the 2Sth of June, 1838, the day
of Her Majesty's coronation, and the work was opened
for the purposes of trade on the 12th of July, 1S43. The
dock is capable of receiving seventy sail of merchantmen,
and steamers of the largest class can be admitted, the
entrance-lock being 250 feet in length, fifty-five feet and a
half wide, and twenty-four feet deep. The timber-basin
has been very much enlarged; and a canal, fifteen feet in
depth, forms a communication between it and the wet-dock
and canal. An embankment, also, has been raised from
the large lock to the entrance of the river Carron on the
south-east side, and another on the north-west side has
been more recently completed, so that traders drawing
nine feet are now able to enter and depart at low water.
Thus have the local advantages of the port been rendered
available to its improvement, and the extension of its
commerce. Ship-building is carried on with success;
and there is a graving-dock, which at spring tides has a
depth of fourteen feet: it was constructed by Lord
Dundas in 1811, and is capable of receiving two vessels
of 300 tons' burthen. The first steam-boat built here,
was launched in 1S39 as a towing-vessel for the port of
Memel: the vessels generally built at this place vary
from ninety to 250 tons. The manufacture of sails and
ropes is also extensive, and considerable quantities are
exported to the colonies. The distance from the quay to
the farthest beacon at the mouth of the Carron, is nearly
a mile and a half: vessels are partly conducted by the
Carron pilots stationed here under the Trinity House of
Leith, and partly towed by steam-boats.
The parochial district that was for a time attached to
the port, was separated for ecclesiastical purposes soon
after the erection of a church here in 1837. It comprised
about 1300 acres, of which 100, forming the demesne
of Kerse House, a seat of the Earl of Zetland, are
ornamented with thriving plantations, and the remainder
are divided into farms of from sixty to 1'20 acres each.
The surface is generally flat, and the soil almost uniformly
a rich alluvial clay, with a small intermixture of fine
white sand; the lands are well cultivated, and the crops
are usually favourable. Kerse House, the principal
mansion in the district, is surrounded with thriving
plantations, and there are a few trees around some of
the farm-houses; but otherwise there is little wood in
the neighbourhood. The church was erected by the late
earl, and is situated near Kerse House; it is a handsome
structure in the Norman style of architecture, and contains
700 sittings, exclusively of the front gallery. In
the year 1843, this edifice, with the consent of the present
Earl of Zetland, passed into the hands of the members
of the Free Church, of whom there is a considerable congregation.
The only other place of worship is a small
one for Baptists. Those who belong to other denominations
are connected with places of worship at Falkirk.
Schools for boys and girls, with dwelling-houses for the
master and mistress, and a room which is used as a
library, were erected by the late Lady Dundas, in 1827.
The master has a salary of £10, and the mistress of £5,
paid by the Earl of Zetland, with an allowance for the
gratuitous instruction of poor children; and the fees
average £40 and £20 per annum, respectively.