Grangemouth

Grangemouth, a rising port in Stirlingshire, 3 miles ENE. of Falkirk. Founded in 1777, and erected into a police-burgh in 1872, Grangemouth has extensive quays and warehouses, docks (including a large one opened in 1882), a graving-dock, and shipbuilding yards. The trade of the port has risen very rapidly. In 1840 the shipping entering and clearing it was 31,686 tons annually; in 1876, 840,326; in 1885, 1,457,991; and in 1894, 1,790,281 (one-third in the foreign trade) tons—the port ranking fifth in Scotland. Since 1887 there has been a regular line of passenger steamers between Grangemouth and London, owned by the Carron Iron Company, whose works are within 2 miles of the port. The principal imports are timber, hemp, flax, tallow, deals, iron, and grain; and the exports are manufactured iron, and coal. Grangemouth is noteworthy as having been the place where some of the earliest experiments in Steam-navigation (q.v.) were made. In 1801 the first Charlotte Dundas was built there. Pop. (1831) 1155; (1871) 2569; (1881) 4560; (1891) 6354.