or ALLOWAY, a sea-port town in Scotland, situated on the Forth, about 20 miles higher up the river than Leith, and five miles east of Stirling. It is a populous place; has two market days in the week; and is remarkable for its fine castle, the seat of Mr Erskine of Mar, and for the coal mines near it. The harbour is extremely commodious, with great depth of water; and vessels are expediently loaded with coals from the pits by an uncommon waggon-way, on which one horse draws with ease three waggons at once, each waggon containing a ton and a half. An excellent dry dock has also lately been erected here, capable of receiving ships of the greatest burden. There is likewise a large glass-house for blowing bottles, of which vessels are supplied with any quantity upon the shortest notice.

The tower and lands of Alloa were exchanged by David II, king of Scots, anno 1365, with Thomas Lord Erskine, for the lands and estate of Strathgarnet in Perthshire; and since that time the castle of Alloa has been the favourite residence of the family of Mar. The situation is uncommonly beautiful. The gardens here were the first that were laid out on a great scale in Scotland; and, with the advice of La Naute, were indebted to the taste of John the late earl of Mar, who began to plant them in the year 1706. They contain about forty acres, in which there is some very fine timber, near a century old.

The tower of Alloa is 89 feet in height, with walls of 11 feet in thickness; and was built in the end of the 13th century. In this residence of the family of Erskine many of the Scottish princes received their education, having been for more than two centuries wards of the Lords Erskine and Earls of Mar; who held generally the castle of Stirling, and frequently the three principal fortresses of the kingdom, Edinburgh, Stirling, and Dumbarton. The last heir of the Scottish monarchy who was nurtured there was Henry prince of Wales; whose cradle, golf-clubs, and other infantile and youthful remains, are preserved by the heir of the earls of Mar, in remembrance of that spirited and promising prince; of whom Dr Birch has preserved several anecdotes, connected with the Erskines and his residence at Alloa. Among other remains of antiquity preserved at Alloa, in remembrance of the confidence and affection which subsisted always betwixt the Stuarts and the Erskines, is the private signet of the unfortunate Mary, which she gave to the regent Mar, after she was obliged by the treaty of Edinburgh to desist from wearing the arms of England in the first quarter; the child's chair of James VI, her son; and the festive chair of Thomas Lord Erskine the second earl of Mar of the name, with the fashionable grace carved on it, Solo Deo Honor et Gloria.