Ahead of our 2024/25 heritage kit making its first appearance this Saturday, we would like to offer some more details on the story behind the strip.
Below is a list of all 22 landmarks that appear on the heritage shirt, and their crucial role in the history of our community.
- Bridgeness Slab – a 9ft x 3ft Roman distance marker, celebrating the completion of the eastern-most section of the Antonine Wall by the 2nd Legion, as it reaches the Forth.
- Arthur’s O’on – was a now-destroyed Roman temple on the north bank of the Carron, thought to be the ‘stone house’ which gave its name to the estate of Stenhouse/muir.
- Blackness Castle – was built in the 1440’s as the main port serving the Royal Burgh of Linlithgow, and was one of the most advanced military/artillery fortifications of its time.
- Airth (Castle) – was a royal naval dockyard in the early 1500’s, repairing some of the largest warships in the world, and later an important port for the export of salt and coal.
- Carronades – founded in 1759, the Carron Company made the famous short-range naval cannons, used by the Royal Navy in all major sea battles between 1778 and 1881.
- Port Downie – the two canals were originally joined by a flight of 11 locks, lowering boats by 110 ft to the junction, Port Downie basin, to the east of Lock 16 and the Union Inn.
- Kinneil House – home of the powerful Hamilton dynasty, with strong links to coal mining and James Watt, who developed his prototype steam engine here from 1769 to 1773.
- Charlotte Dundas – built in Grangemouth, the world’s first towing steamboat was propelled by a Carron Company steam engine and made its maiden voyage in 1803.
- Avon Aqueduct – the tallest aqueduct in Scotland since 1821, it carries the Union Canal over the River Avon, which forms the boundary between Falkirk District & West Lothian.
- Carrongrove Paper Mill – one of the many 19th paper mills established along the banks of the Carron, around Denny & Dunipace, manufacturing all types of paper and board.
- Falkirk Cooking Pot – the Falkirk Iron Company supplied thousands of pots, with their name embossed on the side, to South Africa, where they’re still known as ‘Falkirk pots’.
- Falkirk Iron Works – one of the largest, covering 40 acres near the Bainsford Bridge, manufactured everything from cannons and stoves to palace gates now in Lima, Peru.
- Rosebank Distillery – another famous local business, founded by James Rankine in 1840, which shipped whisky via the Forth & Clyde Canal, to countries all over the world.
- Alfred Nobel – sited his company on the Union Canal at Westquarter, which at its peak employed 1700 people, helping make it the largest exporter of explosives in the world.
- Robert Dollar – learned the timber trade on the Forth & Clyde, before emigrating to North America where he became a wealthy shipping magnate, and famous philanthropist.
- Irn Bru – originated in Burnfoot Lane where Barr’s Mineral Water Works was first established in 1875, and later had a factory at Port Downie, by the Forth & Clyde Canal.
- Blue Gates – made by the Grahamston Foundry for an 1886 Exhibition, they were thought to be the biggest iron gates in the world, at 26 by 20 feet and weighing 20 tons.
- Phone Boxes – the Carron Company held a virtual monopoly on the manufacture of the iconic, red K6 cast iron phone boxes, producing around 60,000 between 1936 and 1968.
- Petro-Chemicals – the crude oil refinery was first established by BP at Grangemouth in 1924, while Scottish Dyes Ltd (est.1919) became part of the chemical giant ICI in 1928.
- Carron Valley Reservoir – opened in 1939 the reservoir covers 970 acres, has a capacity of 4500 million gallons and provides water to around 135,000 people in the Forth Valley.
- Falkirk Wheel – the world’s first and only rotating boat lift, opened in 2002 to link the Forth & Clyde to the Union Canal (35 metres above), for the first time since the 1930’s.
- The Kelpies – since 2013 these iconic sculptures celebrate the mythical water beasts, as well as the Clydesdale horses which pulled the barges and boats along our waterways.
A percentage of our heritage kit sales will go to the Seagull Trust Cruises Charity.
Seagull Trust Cruises is a charitable organisation, wholly run by unpaid volunteers, that provides free barge trips for people with special needs and the elderly.
Seagull Trust Cruises, a registered charity, is entirely staffed by volunteers and relies upon the generosity of supporters to maintain and develop its activities.
Find out more at their website by clicking the link above!
