Falkirk

In the Central Lowlands of Scotland, in the historic county of Stirlingshire, is the sizable town of Falkirk. It's in the Forth Valley, about 33 kilometers (km) north of Glasgow and 23.3 kilometers (km) north-west of Edinburgh.

According to the 2001 UK Census, there were 32,422 people living in Falkirk. According to a 2008 estimate, the town's population had risen to 34,570, making it the 20th most populous settlement in Scotland. Falkirk is the largest settlement and council headquarters for the surrounding Falkirk council area, which includes the communities of Grangemouth, Bo'ness, Denny, Camelon, Larbert, and Stenhousemuir, as well as the Braes community. Its population is estimated at 156,800.

The town's strategic location at the crossroads of the Forth and Clyde and Union Canals allowed it to flourish as a hub of manufacturing during the Industrial Revolution. The Carron Company, based in neighboring Carron, helped make Falkirk a major hub of the iron and steel industry in the 18th and 19th centuries. This firm originally produced carronades for the British Navy and later expanded into making pillar boxes and telephone booths. Over the past half century, the economy has shifted from being driven primarily by manufacturing to one that is supported by retail and tourism. Despite this, many multinational corporations, including Alexander Dennis, the largest bus production company in the United Kingdom, maintain headquarters in Falkirk.

The publishing industry has a long history in Falkirk. The town's current name comes from 1846, when the company Johnston Press was founded there. The Falkirk Herald, Scotland's best-selling weekly newspaper, is published by this Edinburgh-based company.

Nearby tourist hotspots include the Falkirk Wheel, The Helix, The Kelpies, Callendar House and Park, and the Antonine Wall's ruins. STV viewers chose it as Scotland's prettiest municipality in 2011, ranking it higher than both Perth and Stirling.

Geography

Located between the flat Slamannan Plateau and the rolling hills of the upper Firth of Forth, Falkirk has a varied landscape in which to thrive. Part of the floodplain of the River Carron, the region lies to the north of Falkirk. The town is naturally drained by the East Burn and the West Burn, two rivers that flow into the River Carron. The elevation of Falkirk ranges from 164 feet to 410 feet above sea level. 

Falkirk's underlying geology is marked by glacial deposits. At heights above 328 feet (100 meters), glacial till and boulder clay predominate, while sandy soils and loams dominate at lower elevations. Falkirk's proximity to the coast means that post-glacial features like raised beaches are especially prevalent to the north of the town center, giving rise to topographic variation.

The area is dominated by eskers and drumlins, both of which are formed from unsorted glacial till. These features serve as natural transportation corridors, and the town itself is built on top of a geologically complex foundation.

Economy

Falkirk's heavy industries and manufacturing sectors contributed to the town's growth over the last 300 years, but today retail and services make up the bulk of the economy. Falkirk is a major shopping hub serving not only the town itself but also a wide surrounding area, from Cumbernauld in the west to Bo'ness in the east. In 1936, a Marks & Spencer store became the first department store to open in the city of Falkirk. In the late '80s, the High Street became pedestrian-only, and in 1989, the Howgate Shopping Centre opened. In recent years, a number of supermarkets, including Tesco, Asda, Morrisons, and Scottish Co-op, have opened up in the outskirts of the town. 

The government and its institutions also have a strong presence in the Falkirk region. With over 7,000 people on staff, many of whom work out of the council's headquarters in the heart of Falkirk, it is one of the largest employers in the sector. The Callendar Business Park, just outside of Falkirk, is home to one of the main offices of the UK Child Support Agency, which serves the whole of Scotland and the north east of England. Equally present in the community and providing jobs to locals are the National Health Service (NHS) and the Department of Work and Pensions.

The nearby Ineos (formerly BP) oil refinery provides a strong economic base for the petrochemical industry in Grangemouth, where many residents of Falkirk find employment. The headquarters and operations plant of Alexander Dennis, one of the world's largest bus manufacturers, are located in Falkirk.

Culture

From 2000-2009, Falkirk played host to Big In Falkirk in Callendar Park, a national arts festival. The festival was first held in 2000, and it won the Scottish Thistle Award for Events and Festivals in 2005, ten years after its inception. The festival, which featured a weekend's worth of free activities, was one of the largest cultural events in Scotland, drawing in excess of 100,000 people. The entertainment included a wide range of outdoor theatre, pyrotechnic displays, arts, comedy, and big name music acts, along with activities for people of all ages. The event was hosted in Falkirk's historic Callendar Park, which covers 180 acres (0.73 km2) and is centered on Callendar House.

In 2008, the Royal National Md was held in Falkirk.

Lyle Kennedy, a local of Falkirk, and Kerrie Finlay, a local of Inverness, took home the gold medals. An Clas Gàidhlig (which teaches adults Gaelic), An Comunn Gàidhealach Meur na h-Eaglaise Brice (which is the local branch of An Comunn Gàidhealach), Fèis Fhoirt (which teaches both children and adults traditional music and Gaelic song), the Falkirk Gaelic Forum (which promotes Gaelic in Falkirk), and the Falkirk Junior Gaelic (is a long established and successful youth choir).

Scotland, UK Description

Scotland is the most northern of the UK's four constituent countries, occupying roughly one-third of the island. In the 5th century CE, Irish Celts settled on the west coast of Britain, naming it "Scotland." Scotland's name comes from the Latin Scotia, meaning "land of the Scots." Caledonia is a term frequently used to refer to Scotland, particularly in poetry. Caledonii was the Roman name for a tribe that lived in what is now northwest Scotland.

Scotland's harsh climate and extreme weather conditions have made it difficult for many generations to live there, but they have cherished it for its natural beauty and unique culture. During the Scottish Enlightenment, philosophers like Francis Hutcheson and Adam Smith forged important contributions to political and practical theories of progress. Scottish inventors, engineers, and businessmen like Alexander Graham Bell, James Watt, Andrew Carnegie, and John McAdam helped Scotland's influence far beyond its borders.

Scotland-England relations have been strained since the two countries united in 1707 to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain. Despite heavy English influence, Scotland has long maintained its independence, clinging to historical fact and legend to preserve national identity and the Scots dialect of English.

Geographical Description of Scotland

The Aegean, Atlantic, North, and English Channels border Scotland's southern, western, and northern borders, as well as its eastern border. The west coast is dotted with large islands ranging in size from small rocks to the massive Lewis and Harris, Skye, and Mull landmasses (sea lochs or fjords). Orkney and Shetland islands are located north of Scotland. 274 miles (441 kilometers) from Cape Wrath to the Mull of Galloway, and 154 miles wide from Applecross in the western Highlands to Buchan Ness in the eastern Grampians. Scotland's mainland has two halves: north and south (248 km). With only 30 miles of land separating the Firth of Clyde and the Firth of Forth, Scotland's two major estuarine inlets on its west and east coasts, from the sea, the vast majority of places are within 40 to 50 miles (65 to 80 kilometers) of the sea.

The Highlands are in the north, the Midland Valley (Central Lowlands) is in the middle, and the Southern Uplands are in the south. (The latter two are part of the Lowlands cultural region, which includes the former two.) Low-lying areas run the length of the Midland Valley and the US east coast. The east coast's smoother outline contrasts with the west coast's rugged outline, resulting in a topographic as well as a north-south divide. The Glen Mor (Glen Albyn) fault line separates the Highlands from the rest of the country. To the north of Glen Mor is an ancient plateau eroded into a series of peaks of similar height separated by glens carved by glaciers (valleys). The Lewisian Complex rocks have been worn down by severe glaciation to form a hummocky landscape punctuated by small lochs and protruding rocks from thin, acidic soil. The magnificent Torridonian sandstone mountains have weathered into sheer cliffs, rock terraces, and pinnacles.

The Grampian Mountains are located southeast of Glen Mor, though there are intrusions such as the Cairngorm Mountains' granitic masses. The Grampians are less rocky and rugged than the Northwest Mountains, being more rounded and grassy, with larger plateau areas. The area has some of Britain's highest mountains, including Ben Nevis (4,406 feet), which has cliffs and pinnacles that make climbing difficult (1,343 metres). Rannoch Moor, a desolate expanse of bogs and granitic rocks punctuated by narrow, deep lochs such as Rannoch and Ericht, is the most striking example (Rannoch Moor is the most striking of these). The Highland Boundary Fault runs northeast-southwest from Stonehaven, just south of Aberdeen, to Helensburgh on the River Clyde, passing through Loch Lomond, Scotland's largest freshwater body. The southern boundary of the Midland Valley is divided by a fault that runs from northeast to southwest, beginning with the Lammermuir and Moorfoot hills. It's misleading to call this part of Scotland the Lowlands because, while it's low compared to other parts of Scotland, it's not flat. Volcanic hills like the Sidlaws, Ochils, Campsies, and Pentlands dominate the landscape (579 metres). The Southern Uplands are not as high as the Highlands. Glaciation has created narrow, flat valleys that divide rolling mountains into sections. The gently sloping, grassy, and rounded hills just east of Nithsdale open up into fertile Merse farming land to the south. With time, the landscape west of Nithsdale becomes more rugged, with granitic intrusions around Loch Doon, and the soil becomes more peaty and wet. Merrick's high moorlands and hills can support a sheep farm at 2,766 feet (843 metres) above sea level. The uplands slope down to the Solway Firth's coastal plains in the south and the machair and Mull of Galloway in the west.

The Economy of Scotland

As a result of the problems that plagued many European countries during the 1970s and 1980s, including the widespread failure of heavy industries, Scotland's economy suffered greatly during this period. Unemployment became a significant issue, particularly in areas where major industries were in decline at the same time. A variety of measures were implemented by successive governments to improve the situation. Because of the extraction of North Sea oil and natural gas, as well as the development of high-technology industries and other economic sectors, Scotland's economy began to prosper during the 1980s.

Scotland's economy remains small but open, accounting for approximately 5% of the total export revenue of the United Kingdom. Aside from London and the eastern regions of England, no other region in the United Kingdom has a higher gross domestic product (GDP) per capita than the West Midlands, and its unemployment rate is relatively low. To be sure, wealth distribution in Scotland is not evenly distributed, and the average unemployment rate conceals pockets of significantly higher unemployment in specific regions and localities. Scottish economic development, education, and training are all overseen by the Scottish Parliament, despite the fact that the British government has control over macroeconomic policy in the country. This includes central government spending, interest rates, and monetary policy in Scotland.