Airth () is a

Royal Burgh A royal burgh ( ) was a type of Scottish burgh which had been founded by, or subsequently granted, a royal charter. Although abolished by law in 1975, the term is still used by many former royal burghs. Most royal burghs were either created by ...

, village, former trading port and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

Falkirk Falkirk ( ; ; ) is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had a resident population of 32,422 at the ...

, Scotland. It is north of Falkirk town and sits on the banks of the

River Forth The River Forth is a major river in central Scotland, long, which drains into the North Sea on the east coast of the country. Its drainage basin covers much of Stirlingshire in Scotland's Central Belt. The Scottish Gaelic, Gaelic name for the ...

. Airth lies on the A905 road between

Grangemouth Grangemouth (; , ) is a town in the Falkirk (council area), Falkirk council area in the central belt of Scotland. Historically part of the Counties of Scotland, county of Stirlingshire, the town lies in the Forth Valley, on the banks of the Firt ...

and

Stirling Stirling (; ; ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in Central Belt, central Scotland, northeast of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The market town#Scotland, market town, surrounded by rich farmland, grew up connecting the roya ...

and is overlooked by Airth Castle; the village retains two market crosses and a small number of historic houses. At the time of the 2001 census the village had a population of 1,273 residentsScotland's Census Results Online - Comparative Population Profile: Airth Locality
www.scrol.gov.uk. Retrieved 2008-08-31 but this has been revised to 1,660 according to a 2008 estimate.Table 1: Mid-2008 Population Estimates
www.gro-scotland.gov.uk. Retrieved 2011-05-02 In July of each year it hosts a traditional Scottish Highland Games.

History

The village has long association with the

and it was on the banks of the river that a royal dockyard was created. In September 1506 Andrew Aytoun was paid for "casting of the dock in the Poll of Erth" for the ship. The dock was used during the years 1507–1513 in the reign of

James IV James IV (17 March 1473 – 9 September 1513) was King of Scotland from 11 June 1488 until his death at the Battle of Flodden in 1513. He inherited the throne at the age of fifteen on the death of his father, James III, at the Battle of Sauch ...

to build ships of war at the pool of Airth. In 1511 and 1512 Robert Calendar made three docks, a stable for 50 horses, and a larger dock for the ''

Margaret Margaret is a feminine given name, which means "pearl". It is of Latin origin, via Ancient Greek and ultimately from Iranian languages, Old Iranian. It has been an English language, English name since the 11th century, and remained popular thro ...

''. Calendar's men also worked on the ''Lark'' and the ''James''. A form of dry dock may have been used. Strong timbers would be used to form the “stocks” for the vessel and a clay

dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, aqua ...

would prevent the river from penetrating the working area. When the ship was ready, the dam would be breached, at high tide, to enable it to float out into the river. The shipping fleet was destroyed in 1745 by

Bonnie Prince Charlie Charles Edward Louis John Sylvester Maria Casimir Stuart (31 December 1720 – 30 January 1788) was the elder son of James Francis Edward Stuart, making him the grandson of James VII and II, and the Stuart claimant to the thrones of England, ...

when some ship to shore skirmishes took place by batteries set by Jacobites to drive off the government ships. A number of smaller vessels from the village were burned by loyalist troops and that proved damaging to Airth's subsequent development as a port. However, as late as 1820 sloops built in the shipyards at Airth were among those recorded as operating in the middle of the Forth . Dunmore Park and the Dunmore Pineapple is an historic estate in Airth, formerly the ancestral residence of the

Earl of Dunmore Earl of Dunmore is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. The title Earl of Dunmore was created in 1686 for Charles Murray, 1st Earl of Dunmore, Lord Charles Murray, son of John Murray, 1st Marquess of Atholl. The title passed down through genera ...

. The name Airth comes from the Gaelic term ''Àird'' meaning a height or hill after the nearby Hill of Airth. retrieved 4 April 2023

Notable residents

* Michelle Watt - (1977-2015), television show host and newspaper columnist

References

External links

*
Airth Highland Games
- Website of Airth Highland Games
Falkirk Local History Society
- Airth a local History {{Authority control Villages in Falkirk (council area)

History

Notable residents

See also

References

External links