Bo'ness

Borrowstounness (commonly known as Bo'ness (boʊˈnɛs )) is a town and former burgh and seaport on the south bank of the Firth of Forth in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. Historically part of the county of West Lothian, it is a place within the Falkirk council area, northwest of Edinburgh and east of Falkirk. At the 2011 United Kingdom census, the population of the Bo'ness locality was 15,100. Until the 20th century, Bo'ness was the site of various industrial activities, including coal mining, saltmaking and pottery production. With its location beside the Forth, the town and its harbour grew in importance in the industrial revolution and later continued to grow into the Victorian era. Since the late 20th century, deindustrialisation has changed the nature of the town, with the coal mine closing in 1982 and the waterfront area now being primarily used for leisure purposes. However, some industry remains in the town including an ironworks and a timberyard/sawmill beside the Forth. The centre of the town contains several listed buildings and is part of a conservation area. The town is the home of the Museum of Scottish Railways and also a regional motor museum. The name Borrowstoun, from the Old English for 'Beornweard's farmstead', refers to a hamlet a short way inland from Borrowstounness. The suffix ness, 'headland', serves to differentiate the two. The name was corrupted via association with burgh, and then eventually contracted to Bo'ness. The Gaelic name Ceann Fhàil is cognate with Kinneil still retained as the name of an area in Bo'ness. Ceann means head, and f(h)àil is a corruption of Latin vallum ('wall' or 'rampart') and reflects the earlier Penfahel of Brythonic. Bo'ness has important historical links to the Roman period and marks the eastern extent of the Antonine Wall (at Carriden in the north-east of Bo'ness) which stretched from Bo'ness to Old Kilpatrick on the west coast of Scotland. The Antonine Wall was named as an extension to the Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage Site by UNESCO in July 2007.