FALKIRK
Falkirk is a town approximately 9 miles from Airth.
It is another well fought over area with there having been two battles of Falkirk, the first was William Wallaces defeat by Edward I, the "Hammer of the Scots", in the year 1298 just one year after Wallace's victory at Stirling Bridge.
The English force had over three thousand cavalry and a considerable number of archers. Wallace had gathered only half as many men. The English archers devastated wallace's army and then the cavalry moved in. The self interested Scottish nobles, the Scots cavalry, saw this and left the battlefield without engaging, abandoning Wallace to his fate. Wallace was extremely lucky to escape with his life.
The second battle of Falkirk took part in January 1746. Bonnie Prince Charlie and his highlanders were on their way back from England when they met, and soundly defeated, an English army under the command of General Henry Hawley. It is recorded that the English lost about 400 dead and 700 prisoners while the highlanders lost about 40 men. Local legend has it that General Hawley broke his sword in disgust against the Falkirk Mercat Cross as he and his troops fled through the town. However, the Duke of Cumberland continued to pursue the Jacobite army and annihilated them at Culloden later that year.
Falkirk has had a steeple for around 400 years, the present steeple being the third to occupy the site. There is little information about the first steeple, but by 1697 it seems it had fallen into such a state of disrepair it was demolished and a new steeple built. It was from the upper floors of the second steeple that a number of townspeople were said to have watched the second battle of Falkirk in 1746. In 1803 this second steeple had to be demolished because a local businessman, who had been given permission to use the ground floor, had been digging around the foundations causing serious subsidence. In December 1812 work started on the present steeple and it was completed in 1814. The only other work to be carried out on the steeple was to replace the topmost 40 ft of the tower which was blown off by a lightening strike in July 1927. Luckily the heavy rain had cleared the street below of pedestrians and the falling masonry claimed only a Barr's delivery horse, named Irn Bru, which was standing below. The Falkirk Steeple is the towns most famous symbol.
Other attractions in Falkirk are:-
CALLENDER HOUSE.
Now opened as a museum. the house was the home of the Livingston family from the 14th to the 18th century. The Livingston family were often centre-stage in Scottish history. They lost the house and estate due to their involvement with the Jacobites. The house was bought by a London based copper merchant whose descendants sold it to Falkirk Town Council in the 1960,s.
THE FALKIRK WHEEL,
The most modern attraction in Falkirk was built to celebrate the millenium. The wheel is a truely magnificent feat of engineering. The wheel lifts and lowers boats 35m (115ft) between the Forth and Clyde canal and the Union canal. In total the gondolas lift 600 tonnes (the weight of around 100 African elephants.) Once again the waterways linking Scotlands east and west coasts are open for comercial and leisure activities.
A new addition to the Falkirk Wheel lower basin in 2007 is the inclusion of a sculpture of two "Kelpies", Scottish Mythical Water Horses.
THE ROMAN ANTONINE WALL,
Built during the Roman occupation of Britain to keep the Scots at bay. This was the northern most defensive position of the Roman Empire in Britain. The Romans certainly ventured further North than The Antonine Wall and their presence in towns to the North of the wall is well documented, but this was the Northernmost defensive position.
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