AGRICULTURE & INDUSTRY               

farming - mining - transport - ironworks - distilleries - paper works etc etc etc.

FARMING

Really there was little to attract people to become farmers around Bonnybridge - the land was either too marshy or to scrubby - not worth the effort. A few sheep or cattle were grazed, but not much else!

However changes were being made! It was discovered that the addition of LIME (not the fruit, the white powder made from limestone!) made the soil less acid (more fertile) and so crops such as potatoes and turnips could be grown.

These were mainly fed to cattle and so more cattle could be kept.

More cattle meant there was more manure and this could be spread on the soil so that it became even more fertile.

So by the end of the 18th Century local farmers were growing:- 

OATS

Click on the pic to make it bigger. Notice that oats have a single seed heads on each stalk - almost like a flower head. (They used to say that everyone in Europe fed oats only to the animals - only the Scots fed it to people! But now we know it is a very healthy food.) Click on the word 'oats' to find out more about this wonder food!
BARLEY

Click again! Barley seeds are stuck very close together. The heads have very long whiskers
PEASE

Pease pudding was made from dried peas. It was food for the poorest people and could be kept for a long time. See the link above to read a nursery rhyme about pease pudding
BEANS

Beans are very healthy foods, and when they are dried they keep for a long time. This was very important in a time when food could become scarce and people go hungry.
POTATOES

Potatoes are easy to grow and produce a lot of food from small amounts of land. They could also be fed to animals to keep them alive during winter.
TURNIPS

Sometimes called 'neeps' in Scotland ('turneeps' - get it?) These were very important for feeding cattle and sheep in winter. People eat them too - click on the link to learn more and get some recipes from 'Mr Neep'
FLAX

Flax was not grown for food. It was one of the earliest plants that were used to make threads and cloth. Click the link to find out more. The plant with its beautiful blue flowers more important nowadays for the linseed oil that is extracted from its seeds. Making linen was one of earliest 'agricultural industries'. (See map below)
CLOVER

Clover is grown with grass to feed cattle and sheep. It is very good for the soil as it adds food to the soil (nitrogens) as it grows.
RYE-GRASS

This is often grown along with clover to make great feeding for sheep and cattle. (It is also used in garden lawns because it is tough and can stand up to lots of people trampling on it!)

AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIES AROUND BONNYBRIDGE IN THE 1800s

This old map of Bonnybridge shows how it looked in the late 1800s (late 19th Century).

There are a lot of farms around the village and the sign of some industry. However almost all of the industry depended on the farms' produce top keep them going.

Click the map to see more.

Click HERE to see a larger copy of the map.

 
COAL PIT (disused) This old pit was probably of the type called a Bell Pit - an early (and dangerous!) type of pit used to dig out coal near the surface. Most coal mining in this area took place around Banknock.
FLOUR, CORN and BARLEY MILLS These are all found near rivers because they used watermills to turn the large stones that ground the grain into flour or smaller pieces to feed to cattle. One of the oldest was the Ford Mill near where the Ford Bridge now stands. It was opened in 1754 and did not close until it was destroyed by fire in 1935. The walls were not demolished until 1968. There was another mill at the Pend called Bonnymill which was largely built of stones taken from the old St Helen's Catholic Church in 1739. This too was destroyed by fire in 1922 and what remains is now part of Old Bonnymill Garage.
THE SMITHY The blacksmith was very important in farming villages - he put shoes on all the horses (which were used to pull the ploughs), he made new ploughs and other tools and he repaired any that were broken. There is even a poem about the Blacksmith.
SAW MILL & SAW PIT The farmers needed a good supply of wood to make and repair fences and to build and repair barns and sheds.
TILE WORKS There is a lot of clay around Bonnybridge which was used to make good quality bricks and tiles. The tiles from this factory were used for draining the fields to keep them dry enough to grow crops.
DISTILLERY To make good whisky you need good barley! Farmers mainly used barley to feed cattle, but if your barley was best quality you could sell it to the distillery and get quite a lot of money for it! The Broomhill Distillery (originally the Damhead Distillery) shown on the map had been going for a long time - possibly since about 1815. It had its own dam to supply water and its own land possibly for growing barley. However by 1854 it was sold and became a paper mill. While this put an end to LEGAL whisky making in Bonnybridge. However a fair amount of ILLEGAL distilling was carried on in quiet corners of the district!
DYE WORKS The dye works made colours for cloth so that people could have nicely coloured clothes. At this time dyes were mainly obtained from different plants and so dye works were found in farming areas.
FORTH & CLYDE CANAL Started in 1768 and finished in 1790 - it was mainly used to carry coal to Edinburgh and Glasgow.