Author : John Hood
ISBN : 9781840339116
Cover : paperback
Price : £11.95

This title in the old towns series covers the four settlements listed, which in old money were in Stirlingshire and now are in the Falkirk Council area. Polmont is an amalgamation of various previously separate villages, while Laurieston was originally the planned village of New Merchiston, until it changed hands and was renamed after the new owner. Shieldhill has ancient origins, probably as a place of summer grazing, then later mining held sway. Brightons owes its existence to the Brighton Quarry, which supplied stone to build Edinburgh’s New Town. Although he had completed much of his research for this book, the author died before he could compile it, and the book has therefore been put together from his preparatory notes, and is being published posthumously. Despite these challenges, the picture captions are long and informative.