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FALKIRK 2 The Coming of Industry
| The establishment of Carron Company in 1759, and, even more importantly, the construction the Great Canal between Forth and Clyde in the 1770s began the process of change which transformed Falkirk from small market town to industrial centre over the following century. |
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 | The canal passed to the west of the town and soon ribbon development along its length brought a variety of new industries like saw-milling, tile manufacture, distilling, chemicals and, of course iron founding. The population began to increase and the industrial villages of Camelon, Bainsford and Grahamston which lay outside the burgh boundary became increasingly important in Falkirk's story.
Following the failed Jacobite risings of 1715 and 1745 the Livingston link with the town was broken and the administration of the towns affairs fell by default into the hands of a group of men called Stentmasters, who represented the trades of the town. By the early 19th century another group known as the Feuars of Falkirk, descendants of the original families who had acquired rights in the expanding town in the late 1500s, also played some part in municipal organization though it was inefficient and patchy. The arrival of William Forbes to the Callendar lands in 1783 brought a new power to the area and his energetic land improvement policies generated considerable revenues for himself and a good deal of hostility among his tenantry .
Callendar House in 1783
The Forbes family remained at Callendar House until 1962 and throughout the 19th century especially had a significant influence on the growth of the burgh.
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