1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Grangemouth

GRANGEMOUTH, a police burgh and seaport of Stirlingshire, Scotland. Pop. (1901) 8386. It is situated on the south shore of the estuary of the Forth, at the mouth of the Carron and also of Grange Burn, a right-hand tributary of the Carron, 3 m. N.E. of Falkirk by the North British and Caledonian railways. It is the terminus of the Forth and Clyde Canal, from the opening of which (1789) its history may be dated. The principal buildings are the town hall (in the Greek style), public hall, public institute and free library, and there is a public park presented by the marquess of Zetland. Since 1810, when it became a head port, it has gradually attained the position of the chief port of the Forth west of Leith. The first dock (opened in 1846), the second (1859) and the third (1882) cover an area of 28 acres, with timber ponds of 44 acres and a total quayage of 2500 yards. New docks, 93 acres in extent, with an entrance from the firth, were opened in 1905 at a cost of more than £1,000,000. The works rendered it necessary to divert the influx of the Grange from the Carron to the Forth. Timber, pig-iron and iron ore are the leading imports, and coal, produce and iron the chief exports. The industries include shipbuilding, rope and sail making and iron founding. There is regular steamer communication with London, Christiania, Hamburg, Rotterdam and Amsterdam. Experiments in steam navigation were carried out in 1802 with the “Charlotte Dundas” on the Forth and Clyde Canal at Grangemouth. Kersa House adjoining the town on the S.W. is a seat of the marquess of Zetland.