a municipal and parliamentary burgh and market-town of Scotland, county of Stirling, beautifully situated on the face of an eminence which overlooks the wide expanse of fertile country called the Carse of Falkirk. The town consists of one wide street, with a number of narrow streets and lanes branching off from or running parallel to it. The houses are generally lofty and well built. The parish church, erected in 1811, has a fine steeple 130 feet high. There are also places of worship for the Free Church, United Presbyterians, Independents, and Roman Catholics. There is also a flourishing school of arts in which lectures on scientific subjects are delivered every winter. Continu- ous lines of houses connect Falkirk with the villages of Grahamston and Bainsford, and extend thence to Carron, which lies about 2 miles N. of the town, and is celebrated for its iron-works. Though Falkirk is not itself a manufac- turing town, having only some tanneries, breweries, and a small manufactory of pyroligneous acid, yet the neighbour- hood teems with extensive works of various kinds. In ad- dition to the Carron iron-works there is the Falkirk foundry at Bainsford, employing about 500 persons; besides several extensive collieries, distilleries, flour-mills, &c. The three trysts or cattle fairs held here annually, on the 2d Tuesday of August, and the 2d Monday of September and October, are the largest in Scotland; the last being by far the largest of the three. Each continues for at least two days, and sometimes for nearly a week. Falkirk is a town of consi- derable antiquity, and appears to have been a place of some note in the early part of the eleventh century. Its original name was Eglishbreck, which signifies the "speckled church," in allusion it is supposed to the colour of the stones, and translated by Buchanan varium sacellum. The old church demolished in 1810, and whose site is occupied by the modern edifice, was erected in 1057, the year in which Malcolm Canmore assumed the sovereignty. In the val- ley between Falkirk and the Carron a battle was fought between the Scotch under Sir William Wallace and the English under Edward I., in which the former were de- feated, and two of their chieftains, Sir John Graham and Sir John Cumming, slain. Their graves are still pointed out in the churchyard; that of Graham has a monument with an inscription which has been several times renewed.

On a moor a little to the S.W. of the town a battle was fought on 17th January 1746, between the royal forces and those of the Pretender, in which the rebels were victorious. On this occasion fell Sir Robert Monro of Foulis, and his brother Dr Monro, whose monument is to be seen in the churchyard. In the vicinity traces of the Roman wall are still visible. Falkirk was formerly a burgh of barony, but was created a royal parliamentary burgh by the Reform Act, and is now governed by a provost, 3 bailies, a treasurer, and 7 councillors. It unites with Airdrie, Lanark, Hamilton, and Linlithgow, in returning a member to parliament. Pop. (1851) 8752. It is 24 miles W.N.W. of Edinburgh, on the Edinburgh and Glasgow, and the Scottish Central railways.