48842: Falkirk, Stirlingshire

Falkirk is an industrial town. It has been a royal burgh since 1646 and was the location of two historic battles: the 1298 defeat of Scottish patriot Sir William Wallace by Edward I, and the 1746 victory of Charles Edward Stuart (Bonnie Prince Charlie) over the forces of General Hawley.

The Antonine Wall (built AD 142), or Graham’s Dyke, passes to the south of Falkirk. A fortified wall and parallel ditch, it was constructed by the Romans, bisecting Scotland between the Firths of Forth and Clyde and delimiting the northernmost extent of their control over the island of Great Britain. One of the forts on the wall, Rough Castle, survives near Falkirk. Its open amphitheatre area houses a unique engineering feat, the Falkirk Wheel, opened in 2002, the only rotating boatlift in the world; at about 36 m (118 ft) high, the structure forms part of the Millennium Canal Link designed to connect the Edinburgh and Glasgow Union Canal and the Forth and Clyde Canal.