A vision of Britain through time
A vision of Britain from 1801 to now.
Including maps, statistical trends and historical descriptions.
A vision of Britain through time
A vision of Britain from 1801 to now.
Including maps, statistical trends and historical descriptions.
Muiravonside (popularly Moranside), a parish of SE Stirlingshire, traversed by the Slamannan and the Edinburgh and Glasgow sections of the North British railway, with the stations of Manuel, Causewayend, Bowhouse, Blackstone, and Avonbridge. It also contains Almond Iron-works, Blackbraes, Maddiston, and Standrigg villages, with parts of Linlithgow Bridge, Rumford, and Avonbridge. It was anciently part of Falkirk parish, and does not appear on record as a separate parish till the year 1606. It is bounded S by Slamannan, NW by Falkirk and Polmont, and on all other sides by Linlithgowshire, viz., N by Borrowstounness, and SE by Linlithgow and Torphichen. Its utmost length, from ENE to WSW, is 67/8 miles; its utmost breadth is 3 miles; and its area is 8015¼ acres, of which 51¾ are water. The river Aven, from which Muiravonside derives its name, winds 9¼ miles north-eastward and west-by-northward along all the Linlithgowshire border, though the point where it first touches and that where it quits the parish are barely 5 miles distant. Over most of its course it is curtained with wood, or flanked with the sides of a romantic dell, or otherwise picturesque. The Hollock, Manuel, Sandyford, and other burns, rise in the interior and run to the Aven, but are all short and small. Sinking in the extreme N to less than 200 feet above sea-level, the surface thence rises south-westward to 493 feet at Whiterig, 524 near Glenend, 547 near Candie House, 641 at Greencraig, and 546 near Blackhillend. Thus the extreme W of the parish is part of the moorish plateau which flanks the S side of the great dingle traversed by the Forth and Clyde Canal, whilst the rest of it all declines in ever varying ridges toward the dell of the Aven and the Carse of Forth. The higher grounds have rarely an elevation of more than 200 feet above the hollows at their base; yet they command a gorgeous prospect of the basin of the Forth, from Stirling to the Lothians, and from the flanks of the Carse to the Ochil Hills. The rocks are partly eruptive, partly carboniferous. A fine-grained blue trap has been largely quarried, as also has sandstone of very close grain, with a fracture resembling that of marble, and with capacity of retaining sculpture uninjured through centuries. Coal, which was formerly worked on only a limited scale, is now mined very extensively; and ironstone, yielding metal of the finest quality, but containing a large percentage of refuse, is worked by the Carron Company. The soil of the western district is partly spongy, and nearly all cold and wet; of the eastern district is light and gravelly, encumbered with many stones; and in parts of the interior is clayey. Much that was formerly moor and moss has nearly all been brought under the plough; and a fair proportion of the entire area is occupied by plantation, so disposed as to embellish tracts naturally bleak and dismal. Manuel Priory is noticed separately; and other antiquities are a series of fortified eminences extending from Harlelar to Sight Hill, with ruins of a pre-Reformation chapel at Ballenbriech. Muiravonside House, on the left bank of the Aven, 3½ miles SW of Linlithgow, is the seat of Andrew Stirling, E-sq. (b. 1820; suc. 1867), who owns 688 acres in the shire, valued at £638 per annum. Mr Forbes of Callendar- is chief proprietor; and 5 in all hold each an annual value of £500 and upwards, 17 of between £100 and £500, 6 of from £50 to £100, and 13 of from £20 to £50. Muiravonside is in the presbytery of Linlithgow and the synod of Lothian and Tweeddale; the living is worth £331. The parish church, 3 miles W by S of Linlithgow, was built about 1808, and contains 600 sittings. Three public schools-Blackbraes, Drumbowie, and Muiravonside-with respective accommodation for 182, 150, and 175 children, had (1883) an average attendance of 134, 80, and 117, and grants of £117, 5s., £69, 4s., and £113, 6s. 6d. Valuation (1860) £12,773, (1884) £21, 534, 11s. 4d. Pop. (1801) 1070, (1831) 1540, (1841) 2238, (1861) 2660, (1871) 2653, (1881) 2713.—Ord. Sur., sh. 31, 1867.
(F.H. Groome, Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (1882-4); © 2004 Gazetteer for Scotland)
| Linked entities: | |
|---|---|
| Feature Description: | "a parish" (ADL Feature Type: "countries, 4th order divisions") |
| Administrative units: | Muiravonside ScoP Midlothian ScoCnty Stirlingshire ScoCnty |
| Place names: | MORANSIDE | MUIRAVONSIDE |
| Place: | Muiravonside |
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