Arbroath

Arbroath, ABERBROTH'WICK, or ABERBROTH'OCK, a seaport and manufacturing town of Forfar- shire, at the mouth of the Brothock Burn, 17 miles ENE. of Dundee. Here in 1178 William the Lion founded a Tyronensian abbey in honour of Becket; and here in 1214 he was buried. Cardinal Beaton was the last of its thirty-two mitred abbots. Next to Holyrood, the abbey was the most richly endowed monastery in Scotland. It was destroyed by the Reformers in 1560. The ruins of its cruciform church, which measured 276 by 160 feet, and was mainly Early English in style, are very picturesque, presenting a noble west doorway and a rose-window, 'the round O of Arbroath.' Dr Johnson greatly admired them in 1773. The chief industries of Arbroath are flax-spinning, engineering, the manufacture of boots, sail-cloth, and linen fabrics, in which about one-fifth of the population is employed. The new harbour, begun in 1841, admits vessels of 400 tons; the old harbour was converted into a wet-dock (1871-77). The tonnage of vessels entering the port annually ranges between 35,000 and 45,000. The chief exports are grain, potatoes, fish, and paving-slabs; the chief imports are coal, flax, hemp, jute, and hides. Arbroath is a royal burgh, and in conjunction with Montrose, Brechin, Forfar, and Berwick burghs, returns one member to parliament. Arbroath is the 'Fairport' of The Antiquary; Auchmithie, 3½ miles to the NE., is its 'Musselcrag;' and the Redhead Crag and Cove form some of the scenes in that novel. The famous Bell-rock (q.v.) is 12 miles SE. Pop. (1831) 13,795; (1881) 21,758 (1891) 22,821. See works on Arbroath by Miller (1860), Hay (1876), and J. Adam (1886).