BORROWSTONESS, a town of Scotland, is si tuated on the south side of the Firth of Forth, about 13 miles north-west of Edinburgh, and 31 north of Linlithgow, the county town. At what time the town of Borrowstoness began to be built is not ex actly known, but it became a place of some conse quence early in the seventeenth century ; for in the yell- 1634 the population had increased so much, that an application was made to the parliament of Scotland to have the town erected into a separate parish from Kinneil, of which it had hitherto formed a part. And in the year 1669, the then Duke and Duchess of Ha milton applied for, and obtained an act of parliament, conjoining Kinneil to Borrowstoness; since which pe riod they have continued one parish.
The town is a burgh of barony governed by a ba ron bailie, appointed by the Hamilton family ; and although it is built in a very irregular manner, there are a number of good dwelling-houses, besides seve ral very large and commodious warehouses for grain, &c. The two principal streets are narrow, and run from west to east about when they termi nate in one, which is continued nearly 300 yards far ther. The houses, from the smoke of the public works carried on in the town, bear all the marks of antiquity, and strangers are struck with the pande monian appearance of the place. The smoke, ever, is by no means so offensive as might be suppo sed, and, to those to it, seldom gives any concern,—at any rate it is not pernicious to the health of the inhabitants, there having been many instances of longevity ; and at present there are several persons living above 80 years of age, and, in particular, one lady, said to be who continues vigorous and in good spirits.
The town stands upon a point of land projecting into the sea, and nature seems to have pointed it out as an advantageous situation for a harbour.. Previous to the existence of Borrowstoness, and for many years after it began to be formed, Blackness (a small village about 3 miles east of Borrowstoness,) was the place where the Glasgow merchants carried on the principal part of their trade with the cast country; but Borrowstoness being nearer, and in every respect better adapted for the purpose, the shipping soon be gan to resort there. As a consequence of. this, about
the time of the union, in 1707, the customhouse appears to have been transferred from Blackness to Borrowstoness, where it still remains. Commerce continued to be carried on at Borrowstoness to a con siderable extent, more particularly betwixt the years 1750 and 1780, during which period•it was one of the most thriving towns on the east coast, and ranked as the third port in Scotland. But when the junction of the Forth and Clyde took place about 30 years ago, by means of the great canal, the trade began to resort to Grangemouth, (at that-time called Lea leek,) where the canal terminates on the cast ; and the trade of Borrowstoness has since continued to decline. The merchants and others interested in the prosperity of Borrowstoness, soon foresaw the injury it would suffer by being deprived of the Glasgow trade, and with the view of obviating it, a subscrip tion was opened in 1782, and an act of parliament obtained for making a' branch from Borrowstoness to join the great canal at or near Grangemouth, which was actually begun and carried some length, but the funds failing, it was necessarily stopped, and`still re mains unfinished. The completion of this• underta king was the only probable means of preserving the trade at Borrowstoness, the harbour there being much more accessible to ships of size than Grangemouth, where the navigation is both very narrow and crook ed ; but it having unfortunately failed as above sta ted,,Grangemouth has become the seat of commerce. All the customhouse business, however, being trans 'acted at Borrowstoness, the town continued to de some advantages from the resort of merchants and shipmasters, &c. ; but of this advantage it has also been lately deprived, Grangemouth having been constituted a separate port, and a new customhouse opened there on the 1st Dec. ]810.