User:Angusmclellan/Bo'ness
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Template:Infobox Scotland place with map Bo'ness, properly Borrowstounness, is a town in the Falkirk council area of Scotland, lying on a hillside on the south bank of the Firth of Forth. Prior to 1975 it was in the former county of West Lothian.
Formerly a centre of heavy industry and a major port, it is now a commuter town. As reported in the United Kingdom Census 2001, the population was 13,961.[1]
In the Roman period, it lay at the eastern end of the Antonine Wall. The end of the wall probably lay in modern Carriden, the eastern part of the town, where Roman inscriptions have been found. It appears that the fort there was named Veluniate. Other Roman sites have been identified at Muirhouses (pronounced "Murrays") and Kinglass on the south-east side of the town. Kinneil, in the western part of Bo'ness, was mentioned by Bede, who wrote that it was named Pennfahel ("Wall's end") in Pictish and Penneltun in Old English.
The town was a recognised port from the 16th century; a harbour was authorised by an Act of Parliament in 1707. The harbour, constructed progressively during the 18th century, was extended and complemented by a dry dock in 1881 (works designed by civil engineers Thomas Meik and Patrick Meik). The commercial port (heavily used for the transport of coal and pit props) eventually closed in 1959, badly affected by silting and the gradual downturn of the Scottish coal-mining industry. Plans exist to reopen the port.
Bo'ness was a site for coal mining from medieval times. Clay mining was carried out on a smaller scale. The shore was the site of industrial salt making, evaporating sea water over coal fires. The town was home to sizable potteries, one product being the black wally dogs which sat in pairs over many fireplaces. Metalworking is still carried out and the Bo'ness Iron Company's drain covers are to be found in many far flung places.
Bo'ness is now a commuter town, with many of its residents travelling to work in Edinburgh or Glasgow. The other main source of employment are the petrochemical facilities located in nearby Grangemouth.
Present-day attractions in the town include the Bo'ness & Kinneil Railway and the Birkhill Clay Mine. Kinneil House, built by the powerful Hamilton family in the 15th century, lies on the west edge of the town. In the grounds are a cottage where James Watt lived and worked and the boiler of a Newcomen engine engine he built.
Bo'ness, however, is set for major regeneration with the announcement in November 2004 of a £150m investment by Dutch company ING to transform the harbour, docks and foreshore with a marina, shopping and housing development. Proposals can be seen on the Bo'ness web site. The town centre is also set for a 're-vamp' through the THI (Townscape Heritage Initiative) with a £5m investment funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Falkirk Council, Scottish Enterprise Forth Valley together with Euro funding. The plans have also been given a boost through independent research by the National Economic Foundation which showed Bo'ness in third place in a "top 10" of towns which had managed to retain their individual character. Only Hebden Bridge in Yorkshire and Peebles in the Scottish Borders were ahead of Bo'ness in the table.
Bo'ness has a single secondary school, Bo'ness Academy, and five primary schools, from west to east, Deanburn, Kinniel, Bo'ness Public School, St Mary's, and the Grange School. There are a number of churches, including Bo'ness Old Kirk, Carriden, St Andrew's, Craigmailen, St. Catherine's and St. Mary's, a modernist design of 1962 by Gillespie, Kidd & Coia.
[edit] References
- ^ Comparative Population Profile:Bo'ness. scrol browser. Retrieved on 2006-11-27.
