page_title: Bo'ness
section_title: Commerce and Industry
hierarchical_section_title: Bo'ness / Commerce and Industry
caption_attribution_description: English: Bo'ness Town Hall
context_page_description: Borrowstounness 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 within the Falkirk council area, 16.9 miles north-west of Edinburgh and 6.7 miles east of Falkirk. At the 2011 United Kingdom census, the population of the Bo'ness Locality was 15,100.
context_section_description: When the town's commissioners bought the land for the town hall and park in the 1890s, the town's prosperity was on the rise. By its completion, the story was not so encouraging. Plans were approved however by the Dean of Guild Court  on 14 October 1902. The total cost was made up of £5,000 from Andrew Carnegie for the library, £6,000 borrowed by the council and £1,000 from the Common Good Fund. The stone came from the town's Maidenpark Quarry. Work commenced immediately and was completed on time by 31 March 1904 in time for the opening as part of the Fair Day celebrations in July. As part of the ceremony, a memorial stone was laid beneath which was placed a glass jar containing a copy of The Scotsman The Glasgow Herald, Bo'ness Journal and Linlithgow Gazette, a list of councillors and a copy of the council minutes.
  The town was a recognised port from the 16th century. Coal was shipped from Bo'ness to supply Edinburgh Castle in 1548. A harbour was authorised by an Act of Parliament in 1707. The harbour, constructed progressively during the 18th century, was extended and complemented by a dry dock in 1881 (works designed by civil engineers Thomas Meik and Patrick Meik). The commercial port (heavily used for the transport of coal and pit props) eventually closed in 1959, badly affected by silting and the gradual downturn of the Scottish coal mining industry. Plans currently exist for the regeneration of the docks area including reopening the port as a marina.
  Bo'ness was a site for coal mining from medieval times. Clay mining was carried out on a smaller scale. The shore was the site of industrial salt making, evaporating seawater over coal fires. The ruins of several fisheries (fish storage houses) along the shoreline evidences long gone commercial fishing activity. The town was also home to several sizable potteries, one product being the black 'wally dugs' which sat in pairs over many fireplaces. Metalworking is still carried out, and examples of the Bo'ness Iron Company's work are to be found in many places.
caption: Bo'ness Town Hall
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