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National Gazetteer, 1868

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Muiravonside - Extract from National Gazetteer, 1868

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"MUIRAVONSIDE, (or Moranside), a parish in the county of Stirling, Scotland, 3 miles W. of Linlithgow. It was anciently part of the parish of Falkirk, but was formed into a separate parish at the beginning of the 17th century. It lies on the eastern border of the county, and is bounded on the W. and S.W. by the parishes of Polmont and Slamannan, and on all other sides by the county of Linlithgow, from which it is separated by the windings of the river Avon, hence the derivation of its name. Its length from N.E. to S.W. is 6½ miles, and its greatest breadth 3½ miles, with an area of 15 square miles. It contains the post-office village of Avonbridge and the villages of Maddiston and Rumford, with part of the village of Linlithgow Bridge. The surface rises regularly in a series of varying ridges from the valley of the Avon, the banks of which are fringed with wood, to the highlands in the W. which form part of the S. side of the great valley of the Forth and Clyde canal. In ancient times the greater part of the land was waste, being moor and moss, but is now reclaimed and is chiefly arable, except a small portion of moorland in the W. In the valley of the Avon the soil is light and gravelly, but in the uplands chiefly clay with a mixture of moss and muir. From the highest grounds, which have an elevation of about 400 feet above the sea-level, an extensive prospect is commanded of the basin of the Forth, extending from the Lothians to Stirling, and from the carses of Forth to the Ochills. The principal landed proprietor is Forbes of Callander. The prevailing rocks in the uplands are eruptive, or igneous, but in the valley chiefly of the carboniferous formation. There are quarries of whinstone and sandstone, with a fracture resembling that of marble, also several coal mines, and ironstone in great plenty; these two last are now very extensively worked. The valley of the Avon is here crossed by an aqueduct and viaduct, one extremity of which is in Linlithgowshire, and the other in Stirlingshire. The parish is traversed by the Slamannan railway, and by the Edinburgh and Glasgow railway, which has a station at Linlithgow, about 3 miles E. of the village. It is also crossed by the high road from Edinburgh to Falkirk, and by the Union canal. This parish is in the presbytery of Linlithgow and synod of Lothian and Tweeddale, and in the patronage of the crown. The minister's stipend is £231, with a glebe valued at £10. The parish church was built at the commencement of the present century. There is also an United Presbyterian church at the village of Avonbridge, built in 1803. There are a parochial library and a non-parochial school. The old church, which was a chapel-of-ease to Falkirk, stood on the bank of the Avon, about 3 miles to the W. of the present church. Near the church are the remains of an old castle called Almond Castle, formerly a seat of the earls of Callandar; and on the bank of the Avon, about half a mile above Linlithgow Bridge, are the ruins of an old priory called Emanuel, which was founded in 1156 by Malcolm IV."

"BURNBRIDGE, a village in the parish of Muiravonside, in the county of Stirling, Scotland, 5 miles to the S.E. of Falkirk. It is on the river Avon, near the Edinburgh and Glasgow railway."

"MADDESTON, a village in the parish of Muiravonside, county Stirling, Scotland, 4 miles S.E. of Falkirk."

"RUMFORD, a hamlet in the parish of Muiravonside, county Stirling, Scotland, 5 miles S.E. of Falkirk."

Description(s) from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868)