Larbert, a village and a parish of E Stirlingshire. The village stands ¼ mile SW of Larbert station on the Scottish Central section of the Caledonian railway, 5 furlongs N by W of Larbert Junction, and 2¾ miles NW of Falkirk; occupies a charming situation; and has a post and railway telegraph office. Pop. (1861) 441, (1871) 559, (1881) 831.
The parish, containing also the village of Stenhousemuir, half of Carronshore, and the greater part of Carron and Kinnaird, from 1624 to 1834 was united with Dunipace. It is bounded N by St Ninians, NE by Airth, E by Bothkennar, SE and S by Falkirk, and W by Dunipace. Its utmost length, from E to W, is 3¼. miles; its utmost breadth, from N to S, is 3 miles; and its area is 4054 acres, of which 2 are foreshore and 89½ water. The river Carron winds 5 miles east-north-eastward along or close to all the Falkirk boundary; a rivulet, rising on the western border, runs eastward through the interior to the Carron at the SE coruer; and Pow Burn flows ¾ mile east-north-eastward along the St Ninians boundary. The surface, with a general westward ascent to 206 feet above sea-level just beyond the Dunipace boundary, comprises portions of the Carse of Forth; and commands from multitudes of standpoints brilliant views over all the carse and along the northern screens of the Forth from the Ochil Hills to the vicinity of Dunfermline. The rocks, belonging to the Carboniferous formation, include sandstone, several seams of coal, and some strata of clay ironstone; and the coal and the ironstone are largely worked. The soil is alluvial, partly light and dry, but generally argillaceous. With the exception of 260 acres of plantations and pleasure-grounds, almost the entire area is in tillage. The leading industries are noticed under Carron, the cattle trysts under Falkirk and Stenhousemuir. The Roman road from Falkirk to Stirling traversed the parish, and has left some vestiges. The famous Roman antiquity known as Arthur's Oven, and separately noticed, was on the southern border; and Roman millstones and fragments of Roman pottery have been found. The Scottish National Institution for the Training of Imbecile Children was built in 1865-69 at a cost of £13, 000 in mixed styles of architecture, with predominance of the Scottish Baronial and the Italian. With a façade 340 feet long, it includes two wings extending 170 feet backward, and each of them terminating in a tower and spire 70 feet high. It acquired a hospital in 1872 at a cost of £1600; underwent enlargement in 1875-76, in completion of the original plan, at a further cost of £12, 000; and has accommodation for 240 patients or pupils, together with servants. Near it is the Stirling District Lunatic Asylum, also erected in 1866-69 at a cost of over £20,000, and also in the mixed Scottish Baronial and Italian styles. Measuring 438 feet along the front and 205 along the flanks, it consists of a centre block with two long verandahs on the ground floor, two wings for males and females, and two towers 90 feet high at the back of these wings. The grounds, 70 acres in extent, are enclosed by a wall 10 feet in height. The average number of imbecile children somewhat exceeds 100, of pauper lunatics 300. Larbert House, 5 furlongs NW of the village, was purchased from G. Stirling, Esq., in 1876 by John Hendrie, Esq. (b. 1829), who holds 899 acres in Stirling and 85 in Lanark shire, valued at £1611 and £1406 per annum. Other mansions are Carronhall, Carron Park, Glenbervie, Kinnaird, and Stenhouse; and, in all, 8 proprietors hold each an annual value of £500 and upwards, 6 of between £100 and £500, 5 of from £50 to £100, and 25 of from £20 to £50. In the presbytery of Stirling and synod of Perth and Stirling, this parish forms a joint charge with Dunipace; the living is worth £409. The parish church, at the village, is a Perpendicular edifice of 1820, built from designs by Hamilton of Glasgow, and containing 1200 sittings. The old graveyard contains monuments to the two famous Bruces of Kinnaird, to Mr W. Dawson, with a marble statue of the ` Angel of the Resurrection, ' etc. A plain Free church stands at the E end of Stenhousemuir; and the five schools of Carronshore, Larbert, Larbert village, Stenhousemuir, and Carron-all of them public but the last-with respective accommodation for 252, 225, 223, 212, and 216 children, had (1881) an average attendance of 190, 242, 167, 136, and 185, and grants of £172, 15s., £258, 1s., £145, 2s., £102, and £187, 8s. 6d. Valuation (1879) £18, 840, 11s. 1d., (1883) £21, 649, 1s. 1d. Pop. (1801) 4217, (1831) 4248, (1861) 4999, (1871) 5280, (1881) 6346.—Ord. Sur., sh. 31, 1867.
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