FALKIRK, a parish and market-town and burgh, in the county of Stirling; the
parish including the villages of Barleyside, Bonnybridge, Glen, and Laurieston, the
quoad sacra parish of Camelon, and part of the former quoad sacra parish ofGrangemouth;
and containing 1 5,62 1 inhabitants, of whom 8209 are in the town, 11
miles (S. E.) from Stirling,
and 25 (W. by N.) from Edinburgh. This place, which
is situated on the ancient boundary between the Roman
territories on the south, and those of the Caledonians on
the north, is supposed to have derived its former name,
Eccles-brae, from the position of its church on the brow
of a hill, of which position that appellation is accurately
descriptive. According to some writers, the present
name arose from the place being near the wall of Antonine,
and was originally Wall- Kirk, of which the term
Falkirk is considered a modification. From its situation,
it became at a very early period the scene of numerous
sanguinary conflicts, in one of which, between the Roman
forces and those of Fergus II., in the year 415, Robert
de Graham, the commander of the king's army, was
slain, and his remains interred in the churchyard, from
which circumstance that portion of the wall within the
parish received the appellation of Graham's Dyke. In
1298, a battle took place to the north of the town, near
the present village of Grahamston, between the army
of Edward I. of England and the Scots under William
Wallace, in which Sir John Graham of Dundaff, and Sir
John Stewart of Bonkill, who commanded divisions of
the Scottish army, were both killed. The Scots, dispirited
by the fall of their leaders, and overpowered by
numbers, were compelled to give way; and after a dreadful
carnage on each side, crossing the river Carron, they
retreated northwards. Sir John Graham and Sir John
Stewart were interred in the churchyard, where their
grave-stones are still preserved. In the reign of James
III., the town was for some time in the possession of
the discontented nobles who had risen in rebellion
against their sovereign and assembled a numerous army
at this place; but previously to the arrival of the royal
troops, which were on their march to attack them here,
the rebel forces advanced to Sauchie-Burn, near Stirling,
where a battle with the royal troops took place, which
terminated in the defeat and death of the king.
In 1543, a meeting was held at Callendar House, the
seat of Lord Livingstone, in this parish, between the
Earl of Arran, regent of Scotland, and Cardinal Beaton
and the Earl of Moray, when a treaty was concluded,
which put an end to the projected union of Mary, Queen
of Scots, and Prince Edward, son of Henry VIII. of
England. Callendar House was frequently visited by
Mary, who, with part of her retinue, halted here on her
route to the north in 1562, and in 1565 became sponsor
at the baptism of the infant son of William, sixth Lord
Livingstone. In 1567, the queen, with her infant son,
afterwards James VI., spent a night at Callendar on her
route to visit her husband, Lord Darnley, at Glasgow;
and also, on her return, accompanied by Darnley, spent
a day here, and on the following morning proceeded to
Edinburgh. After the queen's escape from the castle
of Lochleven, Lord Livingstone welcomed her arrival at
Niddry Castle; and at the battle of Langside, after distinguishing
himself for his fidelity and valour at the
head of his vassals, accompanied her in her flight from
the field, and, with Lady Livingstone, attended her in
the various prisons in which she was afterwards confined
by Elizabeth. These faithful adherents of the queen,
and companions of her misfortunes, both died in England
in 1573, and their remains were conveyed for interment
in the church of Falkirk.
During the minority of James VI., the Earl of Morton,
who had resigned the regency of Scotland, having
seized the person of the king, and obtained possession
of Stirling Castle, assembled a considerable army
of his friends, and encamped at Falkirk, where, also,
the army of his opponents soon arrived to offer him
battle; but just as the engagement was about to take
place, a truce was agreed to on both sides, and a treaty
was subsequently concluded, which was published at
the market-crosses of Stirling and this town in 1578.
In the parliamentary war in the reign of Charles I.,
James, first Earl of Callendar, who was a firm adherent
of the king, became a commander in the army which
marched to his relief when a prisoner in the Isle of
Wight, the earl being attended by a large body of his
Falkirk retainers. On the defeat of these forces, the earl
retired to Holland; and the partisans from this place,
forcing their way through the ranks of the victorious
parliamentarians, returned home. After the battle of
Dunbar, in 1650, Cromwell marched to the Torwood, in
the vicinity of Falkirk, in pursuit of the royal army,
and on his route stormed and took possession of Callendar
House, in which a garrison had been placed.
The siege was carried on with great obstinacy, and many
fell on both sides before the garrison surrendered; the
houses in the town were plundered by the troops of
Cromwell, and the church was occupied by his soldiers
as stabling for their horses. On the removal of the
old gates of the mansion of Callendar, by the late proprietor,
numerous remains of those who fell during the
siege were discovered. During the rebellion of 1/45, a
battle occurred on the moors to the south-west of the
town, between the forces under General Hawley and a
party of Highlanders in the service of the Young Pretender,
in which the numbers engaged on each side have
been estimated at 8000. The combat terminated in the
total defeat of the royal forces, of whom nearly 300 were
left dead on the field; and among those who fell were
Sir Robert Munro of Foulis, and his brother, Dr. Munro,
to whose memory a monument was raised nearly in the
centre of the churchyard.
The titles of Linlithgow and Callendar became united
in James, fifth Earl of Linlithgow and fourth Earl of
Callendar, on whose joining in the rebellion of 1745 they
became extinct; the estates had been sold in 1720 to
the York Buildings' Company, and on its dissolution
were purchased by the late William Forbes, Esq., father
of the present proprietor. The lands of Kerse, in the
parish, were bought in 16S3 from Sir William Livingstone
of Kilsyth, a branch of the Callendar family, by
Sir Thomas Hope, king's advocate, from whom they descended
to his second son, one of the lords of session, and
afterwards lord justice-general. They were subsequently
purchased by Lawrence Dundas, Esq., of Edinburgh,
whose son. Sir Thomas, was created a peer in 1794 by
the title of Lord Dundas; on his demise they passed to his
son, Lawrence, created Earl of Zetland in 1838, and they
are now the property of Thomas, the second earl.
The TOWN is situated on the road from Linlithgow
to Glasgow, and consists of one principal street nearly
a mile in length, and of several smaller streets parallel
with it, or diverging from it in various directions. The
houses, many of which are of modern date, are handsome
and well built. In the high street is the townhouse,
erected in 1813, on the site of an ancient steeple
built in 1697 and taken down in 1803; the edifice has
an elegant spire 140 feet high, and forms a great ornament
to the town. Falkirk is well paved, lighted with
gas, and amply supplied with water. Owing to its situation
on an eminence, from which is a gentle declivity on
both sides, it is always dry and clean; and, admitting
a free circulation of air, it is regarded as a healthful
place of residence. From the main street, a street called
the Kirk Wynd extends for more than a mile to the
north, connecting the town with the villages of Grahamston
and Bainsford, and having handsome ranges of
modern houses on each side. About a mile westward
of the town is the populous village of Camelon. Nearly
at the same distance to the east is Laurieston, and beyond
this, close to the junction of the Forth and Clyde
canal with the river Carron, is the populous and flourishing
town and port of Grangemouth, which, with the
various other villages in the parish, is noticed under its
own head. There are several libraries in the town, supported
by subscription, the principal of which, established
in 1792, has a collection of more than 3000 volumes;
a circulating library contains 1200, and a United-Presbyterian-
Church library 1000 volumes. Public subscription
reading and news rooms are also well supported.
A school of arts was founded in 1827, and
has continued to increase; it possesses a library of 600
volumes, and lectures on natural history and the arts
and sciences are delivered weekly by the members. A
horticultural society has been some time established in
the town, under very extensive patronage; the members
hold meetings four times during the season, when exhibitions
of fruits and flowers take place.
Many of the inhabitants are employed in the Carron
iron-works, a most important concern in the adjoining
parish of Larbert. The principal manufactures carried
on in Falkirk parish are in the immediate vicinity of
the town, and in the several villages. Of the establishments
in the vicinity of the town, the most extensive are
the Falkirk iron-works, on both sides of the Forth and
Clyde canal, about half a mile distant, and in which
about 700 persons are occupied in the manufacture of
small castings of every description, including pans,
kettles, stove-grates, and various other articles for the
home trade and for exportation. There are four tanneries
near the town, in three of which the currying of
leather is also carried on, and in the other the dressing
of sheep and lamb skins; they together afford employment
to about fifty persons. The weaving of muslin
and coarse linen, formerly much more extensive, is
carried on by about forty of the inhabitants, chiefly for
the Glasgow manufacturers. Here is a large brewery
for porter and ale, of which latter considerable quantities
are sent to London. Several persons are also
employed in building vessels for the trade on the canal,
for which there is a yard upon its banks. The making
of nails is carried on at Camelon, where is also a distillery:
at Castlecary, Bonnyside, and near Bainsford, are
extensive saw-mills; and at Grahamston are works for
the manufacture of pyroligneous acid.
From its vicinity to the Carron and Falkirk ironworks,
from the extensive collieries around, and the
great cattle-trysts which are held on Stenhouse Muir,
the town of Falkirk derives its chief traffic; and it is
generally the resort of the dealers attending those markets,
and of numerous persons connected with the works
in the vicinity, who make it their head-quarters, and
for whose accommodation there are commodious inns,
and shops amply supplied with stores and merchandise
of every variety. The post-office has a considerable
delivery, and there are branch offices at Grangemouth,
Camelon, Grahamston, and Laurieston. The old Falkirk
Bank has been superseded by a branch of the Bank of
Scotland; there are branches of the National Bank
and the Clydesdale Banking Company, and the Commercial
Banking Company have a concern here, for which
a very handsome building has been erected in the Highstreet.
Facihties of communication are afforded by
good roads that intersect the parish, by the Forth and
Clyde and the Union canals, and by the railways that
pass through the parish. The Forth and Clyde canal
was commenced in I768, under an act of parliament
enabling the company to raise a capital of £150,000 in
shares of £100 each, and was completed in 1790 by a
grant of £50,000 from government. Its total length is
thirty-eight miles and a half, from Grangemouth, in this
parish, to the Clyde at Glasgow. The summit level is
141 feet above the sea, and is attained by twenty locks
on the eastern, and nineteen on the western side; the
breadth of the canal at the surface is fifty-six feet, at
the bottom twenty-seven feet, and the average depth is
nine feet. It is navigable for vessels of eighty or ninety
tons, and passes through the entire length of the parish.
The Union ciiinil, extending to Edinburgh, was coraraeuced
in 1818, and completed in 18'22; the breadth
is forty feet at the surface, and twenty feet at the
bottom, and its mean depth is five feet. It enters the
parish on the east, and runs through it for above three
miles to its junction with the Forth and Clyde canal: in
its progress through the parish it has a long tunnel. The
Edinburgh and Glasgow railway enters the parish from
Polmont, on the east, and passes in a direction almost
parallel with the Union canal. At Callendar is a tunnel
345 yards in length, twenty-six feet in width, and
twenty-two feet in height. Near the termination of the
Union canal, the railway is carried over it by an arch
130 feet in span; the line then runs in nearly the same
direction as the Forth and Clyde canal, and at Redburn
has a lofty viaduct of seven arches, soon after which it
quits the parish. This railway, which passes south of
the town, for eight miles through the parish, was opened in
1842; and the Scottish Central railway, which runs through
the north-western part of the parish, in 1848. The
latter railway, and the Caledonian railway, terminate in
the western part of the parish, in junction with the
Edinburgh and Glasgow line. In 1846 an act was obtained
for the construction of a short line from the
Edinburgh and Glasgow railway near Polmont, to proceed
on the north side of the town of Falkirk, to a junction
with the Scottish Central railway near Larbert.
The market, which is amply supplied with grain and
provisions of all kinds, is on Thursday; and exclusively
of the great cattle-trysts on Stenhouse Muir, in the adjoining
parish of Larbert, nine fairs are held in the
town on the first Thursdays in March, April, and
November, the second Thursdays in June and July, the
third Thursdays in May and August, and the last Thursdays
in January and October. They are chiefly for
cattle and horses, and are very numerously attended.
The inhabitants received a charter from James VI.,
erecting the town into a free burgh of barony; and in
the reign of Charles II., the Earl of Callendar obtained a
charter constituting it a royal burgh, with liberty to
elect magistrates, create free burgesses, to hold courts,
and have a ])rison, and the privilege of two weekly markets
and four annual fairs. The control has been for
many years vested in two separate bodies, called the
stent-masters and the feuars; the stent-masters are
twenty-four in number, of whom four are chosen by the
merchants, and two by each of the several trades. Both
these bodies elect from among themselves a president
and treasurer; the former body attend to the lighting
of the town and the supply of the inhabitants with
water, and the latter principally to the tolls and customs,
and the management of the town estates. The
burgh exercises no magisterial jurisdiction j courts of
justice are held monthly under the superintendence of
a sheriff-depute who resides here. By act of William
IV., the municipal government of the burgh was formally
vested in a provost, three bailies, a treasurer, and
seven councillors; but no funds having been assigned
for defraying expenses, the corporation do not interfere
with the established management. The police is under
a constable appointed by the sheriff of the county, and
in cases of emergency the town is watched by a body of
the inhabitants, called the town guard; the only prison
is a small apartment for temporary confinement, in the
town-house. Under the Reform act the town is associated
with the burghs of Airdrie, Hamilton, Lanark, and
Linlithgow, in sending a member to parliament, Falkirk
being the returning burgh.
The PARISH, which is situated in the eastern division
of the county, is bounded on the north by the Carron,
except that, from some alteration in the course of that
river, a few small portions are now on the northern
bank. It is about nine miles in length, and varies from
two to five miles in breadth, comprising an area of
nearly 15,000 acres, of which 11,000 are arable, 2000
meadow and pasture, 1800 woodland and plantations,
and the remainder waste. From the banks of the river
to the town the surface is an extended plain of level
carse land, in the most luxuriant state of cultivation,
with a gentle acclivity towards the town, to the south of
which the ground rises gradually to an elevation of 600
feet above the sea, and towards the east and west is
pleasingly undulated. The higher parts command extensive
and beautifully-diversified prospects over the
adjacent country, comprising various towns and villages,
with numerous elegant mansions and pleasant villas,
encircled by the heights of Kilsyth and Denny, with
the Ochil and Saline hills, and, to the north-west, the
far distant and lofty mountains of Benledi and Ben
voirlich. The river Carron, which flows in a winding
course for about fourteen miles past the parish, into
the Forth a little below Grangemouth, is navigable for
vessels of 200 tons to the village of Carronshore, beyond
which it is a limpid stream abounding with trout, perch,
and eels. At Castlecary, on the west, a rivulet, dividing
the parish from Cumbernauld in the county of Dumbarton,
forms in its progress a picturesque cascade of
eighty feet; a little to the north of which it joins a
stream called the Bonnywater, falling into the Carron
near the village of Bonnybridge. The Grange burn separates
the parish for nearly two miles from that of
Polmont on the east, and afterwards flows into the Carron.
Near the village of Camelon, the Lightwater burn,
now a small streamlet, runs through the centre of a
wide channel which appears to have been once the bed
of a very considerable river, the banks, with their several
windings, being clearly defined. The adjacent lands
have every appearance of a coast indented with bays,
and marked by projecting headlands; and in the immediate
vicinity is the site of an ancient town, supposed to
have been the city of Camelon, which, according to tradition,
was a sea-port: indeed, fragments of anchors
and boats of antique form have at various times been
found embedded in the soil. There are three small lakes
in the higher portion of the parish, but they are not distinguished
by features of importance.
The SOIL is generally fertile, and in the lower lands
luxuriantly rich. The system of agriculture is in a very
advanced state, and has been brought to great perfection
under the auspices of the Agricultural Association
of the eastern district of the county, which was established
here in 1839, and of which the Earl of Dunroore
is patron, and Mr. Forbes of Callendar president. The
crops are wheat, beans, barley, and oats, with rye-grass
and clover; and the breed of cattle has been much improved.
The farm houses and offices are substantial and
commodiously arranged, and the lands are well inclosed.
Lime is extensively used, and considerable quantities of
manure are supplied from Grangemouth; tile-draining
is generally practised, and belonging to the Earl of Zetland
are three kilns for the manufacture of the tiles.
The parish abounds with coal, particularly in the higher
districts, where are several collieries, producing not only
an abundant supply for the vicinity, but also for exportation..
Ironstone, limestone, and sandstone are also
plentiful; and veins of silver, copper, lead, and cobalt
have been found, but not in any considerable quantity.
Freestone is extensively wrought, and there are not less
than seven quarries in operation, affording employment
to 160 men; a wbinstone quarry has also been opened,
from which blocks were raised for the Edinburgh and
Glasgow railway. The annual value of real property in
the parish is £28,748. The woodland at Callendar is
supposed to have formed a portion of the ancient Caledonian
forest that occupied a considerable tract of this
part of the country. The timber is generally oak, beech,
ash, hazel, and birch; and the plantations, which are
under good management and in a thriving state, are
chiefly Scotch fir and larch, adding greatly to the variety
and beauty of the general scenery. Callendar House,
the seat of William Forbes, Esq., is a spacious and ancient
mansion with walls of great thickness and turrets
of antique character, retaining much of its original baronial
magnificence, though in some parts modernised
by the late proprietor. It is situated in a park of more
than .500 acres, embellished with timber of venerable
growth; and within the grounds is the family mausoleum,
a handsome circular building of the Grecian-Doric
order, in which are the remains of the late Mr. Forbes.
Kerse House, the seat of the Earl of Zetland, is a very
ancient mansion with numerous additions of more modern
date, and eliiefly in the Elizabethan style, which
forms its prevailing character; it is beautifully seated
in a well- wooded park forming the chief ornament of
the eastern carse lands, and the pleasure-grounds are
tastefully laid out. Bantaskine House is a handsome modern
mansion on an elevated spot about half a mile from
the town, and ornamented with thriving plantations: the
grounds comprise a pleasing variety of scenery, and command
some extensive prospects.
This parish, which was formerly much more extensive,
including the parishes of Denny, Slamannan, Muiravonside,
and Polmont, separated from it at various
times, is ecclesiastically in the presbytery of Linlithgow,
synod of Lothian and Tweeddale. The minister's
stipend is £339, with a manse, and a glebe valued at £20
per annum; patron, the Crown. Falkirk church was
originally founded by Malcolm Canmore, in 1057, and
was a cruciform structure with a central tower: the present
church was built in 1810, with the exception of the
ancient tower, the area under which now forms a porch;
it is of quadrangular shape, and contains 1300 sittings.
Churches have been erected at Camelon and Grangemouth;
and a place of worship once belonging to the
Old-Light Associate Synod, is now in connexion with
the Independent body. There are places of worship for
the Free Church, United Presbyterian Church, and Baptists.
In the summer of 1843 there was opened a very
handsome Roman Catholic chapel, built in the pointed
style, and capable of accommodating from 700 to 800 persons
with sittings. Attached to it is the residence of
the priest, in a corresponding style of architecture.
These buildings are delightfully situated, and, in point
of appearance, are by far the most attractive in FaUiirk.
Two parochial schools are maintained, in one of which
are taught the Latin, Greek, and French languages, and
in the other only the Enghsh language, writing, and
arithmetic, with the usual branches of general education.
The master of the former has a salary of £17, with a
house and garden, and fees averaging £35 per annum;
the master of the English school has a salary of £34,
with a dwelling-house and garden, and fees amounting
to £48. There are numerous other schools in the parish,
together affording instruction to more than 1200 children:
one of these, at Falkirk, is exclusively for the
gratuitous instruction of the poor, of whom about eighty
are in attendance, and the master has a salary of £40,
arising from an annual collection at the parish church,
and private donations.
The remains of several of the forts erected by Agricola
may still be seen in the direction of the vallum built
afterwards by Antoninus. At Castlecary, at the western
extremity of the parish, the site of one of these forts, a
field six acres in extent, now covered with grass, may
be distinctly traced; part of the vaulted foundations is
remaining underneath the surface, and many of the
stones belonging to the fort have been used in the inclosure
of the field. The old tower of the castle of
Castlecary, which is a very ancient structure, and said
to be Roman, is still tolerably entire, and is inhabited by
the Earl of Zetland's forester. At this hamlet, also, is
a landing-place for passengers by the canal boats.
Stones with various inscriptions, now preserved in the
college of Glasgow, have been dug up in various parts
of the ditch which defended the Roman wall, and of
which portions are yet discernible in Callendar Park,
and in the grounds of Bantaskine House. Vestiges remain
of a Roman road that entered the parish at Castlecary,
and passed along the south side of the wall, nearly
to Roughcastle, then crossed the wall, and led to the
fort at Camelon, and thence to the river Carron, where
it entered the parish of Larbert; and in excavating the
Forth and Clyde canal, at no great distance, a Roman
granary has been discovered, in which was wheat of a
blackish colour. Part of the vertebrae of a whale has
been found embedded in the clay at Grangemouth, while
making excavations there; also in the brick-field of the
Earl of Zetland, about three miles from the sea; and in
excavating the tunnel for the Edinburgh and Glasgow
railway in 1840, the trunk of a petrified tree, about five
feet in circumference, was discovered at a depth of 129
feet below the surface.