Falkirk Braes

The Falkirk Braes is a geographical and sociopolitical entity within the Falkirk local authority area in Scotland. The population (both suburban and rural) is approximately 32,000 (2018), about 20% of the total for Falkirk council area.[1][2]

Description
Newlands Road, Brightons
Westquarter Primary School
Shops on Polmont Main Street
New houses at the Union Canal at Reddingmuirhead, built on former industrial land
'Tam Bain' public house, Laurieston

Covering an area of high ground within 5 miles (8.0 km) to the south and east of the county town Falkirk and south of Grangemouth, its core comprises a number of small villages including mining and quarrying communities,[3][4][5] which have each expanded to form a near-contiguous acentric suburban environment.[6] Historically within Stirlingshire, most of the Braes villages fell under Grangemouth parish,[7] while Laurieston was part of Falkirk parish[8] and the south-east including Maddiston was in Muiravonside parish.[9] The largest village, with the majority of amenities such as health centre and library, is Polmont, but this is not at the geographical centre of the agglomeration and is itself spread over a wide territory, having grown in several places in different eras.[5][6] The centre could be argued to be west of Polmont at the site of the Meadowbank Colliery and Brickworks,[10][11] nominally in Redding; due to its industrial history, it is one of the undeveloped parcels of land in the area.

In the 21st century, speculative housebuilding (including on brownfield sites such as the Nobel explosives works),[12][13][14][15] has continued to fill most of the gaps between the settlements, owing to the location falling roughly midway between Glasgow and Edinburgh with links to both cities via the railway network (at Polmont, which falls on the boundary with Brightons) and motorways (M9) as well as employment locally at Falkirk and Grangemouth, which has been highlighted in marketing by developers.[15][16][17][18][19][20][21]

Westquarter Burn
Maddiston

The area returns six representatives to Falkirk Council, three each representing the Lower Braes[22][23] and Upper Braes[24][25] wards, divided by the Union Canal which runs east-west through the territory; both wards (particularly Upper Braes) also include outlying rural villages such as Shieldhill, Slamannan and Whitecross in addition to the cluster of villages closer to Falkirk. In wider political contexts, as of 2019 the Braes falls wholly within the Falkirk East constituency at Holyrood,[26] but at Westminster is divided between Linlithgow and East Falkirk[27] and Falkirk.[28]

Braes High School

The local secondary school, with approximately 1,000 pupils and six feeder primaries across the Upper Braes, is Braes High School, located in Reddingmuirhead[29][30] (adjacent to HMYOI Polmont). However, in the Lower Braes the eponymous primary schools in Laurieston, Westquarter and Whitecross, plus St Margaret's Primary in Polmont, are affiliated to Graeme High School in east Falkirk.[31]

Muiravonside Country Park between Maddiston and Whitecross (featuring the Avon Aqueduct) is also within the area.[32] The River Avon flows through the park - it denotes the eastern and southern boundaries of the Braes territory.

List of localities

Displaying 2011 census figures.[33]

Villages in conurbation
Total 22,197

Isolated villages on periphery

See also

References
  1. Lower Braes (15,571), Scottish Government Statistics
  2. Upper Braes (16,454), Scottish Government Statistics
  3. Polmont and Brightons, Falkirk Local History Society
  4. OS Six-inch 1st edition, 1843-1882, Explore georeferenced maps (National Library of Scotland)
  5. OS 25 inch Scotland, 1892-1905, Explore georeferenced maps (National Library of Scotland)
  6. OS National Grid Maps, 1944-1967, Explore georeferenced maps (National Library of Scotland)
  7. Parish of Grangemouth, Gazetteer for Scotland
  8. Parish of Falkirk, Gazetteer for Scotland
  9. Parish of Muiravonside, Gazetteer for Scotland
  10. Stirling 1, Scottish Mining Website
  11. Raewell Firebrick Works, Meadowbank Brickworks, Redding, Falkirk, Stirlingshire, Scottish Brick History
  12. Alfred Nobel in Scotland, NobelPrize.org
  13. Nobels Factory in Redding was an explosive place, Falkirk Herald, 17 April 2012
  14. Polmont, West Quarter And Redding Muir, Detonator Factories, Canmore
  15. Residents plead with builders to finish work, Falkirk Herald, 2 April 2009
  16. Starter homes and incentives at Scottish new-build developments, What New Homes?
  17. The Braes Falkirk: Development Overview, Walker Group
  18. Kier Homes to unveil new show home at Redding Bank, Falkirk, easier.com, 2 June 2012
  19. New showhomes to view in Scotland, The Herald, 2 April 2016
  20. [Callendar Rise Phase 8 Web Brochure], Taylor Wimpey
  21. Parkhall Meadow, Persimmon Homes
  22. Lower Braes (Ward 8), Falkirk Council
  23. Lower Braes Local Community Policing Team, Police Scotland
  24. Upper Braes (Ward 9), Falkirk Council
  25. Upper Braes Local Community Policing Team, Police Scotland
  26. Falkirk East: Scottish Parliamentary Constituency (map, 2015), Falkirk Council
  27. Linlithgow and East Falkirk: Westminster Parliamentary Constituency (map, 2015), Falkirk Council
  28. Falkirk: Westminster Parliamentary Constituency (map, 2015), Falkirk Council
  29. Home, Braes High School
  30. Secondary Schools: Braes High School, Falkirk Council
  31. Secondary Schools: Graeme High School, Falkirk Council
  32. Muiravonside Country Park, Falkirk Community Trust
  33. "Insight 2011 Census, No. 6 - Settlement Population and Household Estimates" (PDF). Falkirk Council. Retrieved 4 January 2020.

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