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CARRIDEN, West Lothian - Extract from National Gazetteer, 1868

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The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland - 1868

[Description(s) from The National Gazetteer (1868)]

"CARRIDEN, a parish in the county of Linlithgow, Scotland, 2 miles to the N. of Linlithgow. It is situated in a well-cultivated district on the S. side of the Frith of Forth, and includes the villages of Blackness, Bridgeness, Grangepans, Cuffabouts, and Muirhouses. This place is supposed to have been the eastern termination of the Wall of Antoninus, and to have been the site of one of the forts which occurred at intervals along its length - a fact probably alluded to in its name, which is a corruption of Caereden, signifying "fort on the wing". Various Roman relics were discovered here about the middle of the last century.

Sandstone, ironstone, and coal of excellent quality abound, and salt is manufactured at Grangepans, though not so extensively as formerly. The living, value £300, is in the presbytery of Linlithgow, in the patronage of the Duke of Hamilton. The parish church formerly belonged to the abbey of Holyrood, to which it was given, in the 12th century, by one of the De Viponts. There is a Free church at Bo'ness, for the two parishes of Borrowstownness and Carriden. Carriden was the birthplace of the celebrated Colonel Gardiner, who was slain at the battle of Prestonpans, in 1745. The chief mansion is Carriden House."

"BLACKNESS, a village in the parish of Carriden, in the county of Linlithgow, Scotland, 5 miles to the E. of Linlithgow, and 18 miles to the W. of Edinburgh. It is seated on the south shore of the Firth of Forth, and is a very ancient place. From the various Roman remains which have been found here, it is conjectured to have been a Roman station. It had once a thriving trade as the port to Linlithgow, and has an old castle which was used as a state prison in the reigns of James I. and Charles I. This fortress was one of the four in Scotland which it was agreed at the Union should be kept up. It stands on a small tongue of land stretching into the Forth. The harbour is destroyed. The trade of the village is unimportant, and the fortifications are merely nominal."

"BRIDGENESS, a village in the parish of Carriden, in the county of Linlithgow, Scotland, 1 mile from Bo'ness. It is on the S. bank of the Forth."

"CUFFABOUTS, a hamlet in the parish of Carriden, in the county of Linlithgow, Scotland, 2 miles S. E. of Bo'ness."

"GRANGEPANS, a village in the parish of Carriden, county Linlithgow, Scotland. It is situated on the Firth of Forth, not far from Borrowness. Grange House stands in the vicinity."

"MUIRHOUSES, a village in the parish of Carriden, county Linlithgow, 3 miles N. by E. of Linlithgow. It is situated near Antoninus's Wall on the Frith of Forth."

[Description(s) from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868)
Transcription ©2003]