{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}} {{Use British English|date=May 2025}} {{Infobox UK place | official_name = Stenhousemuir | gaelic_name = Featha Thaigh nan Clach | scots_name = Stennymuir | local_name = Stenny or Stenismare | country = Scotland | population = {{Scottish locality population|name|POP=Stenhousemuir}} | population_ref = ({{Scottish settlement population citation|year}})<ref>{{Scottish settlement population citation}}</ref> | area_total_sq_mi = 2+3/16 | os_grid_reference = NS875831 | edinburgh_distance = {{convert|24+1/2|mi|km|0|abbr=on}} [[Boxing the compass|ESE]] | london_distance = {{convert|347|mi|km|abbr=on}} [[Boxing the compass|SSE]] | map_alt = Stenhousemuir is in the north of the Falkirk council area in the Central Belt of the Scottish mainland. | coordinates = {{coord|56.028|-03.806|display=inline,title}} | post_town = LARBERT | postcode_area = FK | postcode_district = FK5 | dial_code = 01324 | constituency_westminster = [[Falkirk (UK Parliament constituency)|Falkirk]] | civil_parish = | unitary_scotland = [[Falkirk (council area)|Falkirk]] | lieutenancy_scotland = [[Stirling and Falkirk]] | constituency_scottish_parliament = [[Falkirk East (Scottish Parliament constituency)|Falkirk East]] | website = [http://www.falkirk.gov.uk falkirk.gov.uk] | static_image_name = Larbert and Stenhousemuir from the air (geograph 5229642).jpg | static_image_caption = Larbert and Stenhousemuir | static_image_alt = }}
'''Stenhousemuir''' ({{IPAc-en|,|s|t|ɛ|n|aʊ|s|'|m|jʊər}}; {{langx|gd|Featha Thaigh nan Clach}}) is a town in the [[Central Lowlands]] of [[Scotland]]. It lies within the [[Falkirk (council area)|Falkirk council area]] of [[Scotland]]. The town is {{convert|2|mi|km|abbr=off|0|spell=on}} north-northwest of [[Falkirk]] and directly adjoins to [[Larbert]] in the west, where the nearest rail access is located. The villages of [[Carron, Falkirk|Carron]] and [[Carronshore]] adjoin Stenhousemuir to the east but to a lesser extent. Historically, Stenhousemuir lies with the historic county of [[Stirlingshire]]. At the [[United Kingdom Census 2001|2001 census]] it showed that it had a resident population of 10,351<ref name="Pop.">{{citation|url=http://www.falkirk.gov.uk/services/corporate_neighbourhood/policy_performance_review/research_information/PDFs/census_information/No3.pdf |title=''No 3 - 2001 Census Population of settlements and wards'' |publisher=www.falkirk.gov.uk |access-date=2011-05-01 |mode=cs1 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110603231222/http://www.falkirk.gov.uk/services/corporate_neighbourhood/policy_performance_review/research_information/PDFs/census_information/No3.pdf |archive-date=June 3, 2011 }}</ref> but according to a 2009 estimate this was revised to around 10,190 residents.<ref name="Pop. estimate of Stenhousemuir">{{citation|url=http://www.falkirk.gov.uk/the_area/statisics_area.pdf|title=''Facts about Falkirk - Major Settlement Population (2009)''|publisher=www.falkirk.gov.uk|access-date=2011-05-01|mode=cs1|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110628175904/http://www.falkirk.gov.uk/the_area/statisics_area.pdf|archive-date=2011-06-28}}</ref> The combined population of the four localities in 2011 was 24,722,<ref name="Pop 2011">{{cite web |url=https://www.falkirk.gov.uk/services/council-democracy/statistics-census/docs/census/2011/6%20Settlement%20Population%20and%20Household%20Estimates.pdf?v=201406020914 |title=Insight 2011 Census, No. 6 - Settlement Population and Household Estimates |work=Falkirk Council |access-date=4 January 2020}}</ref> representing about 15% of the Falkirk council area total.
In 2008, a £15 million town centre development scheme was completed and opened which provided a new civic square, a library and large retailing outlets for Stenhousemuir.<ref name="Development">{{citation|url=http://www.scottish-places.info/towns/townfirst332.html|title=''Stenhousemuir - Falkirk''|publisher=www.scottish-places.info|access-date=2011-05-01|mode=cs1}}</ref>
==History== [[File:Arthur's oven - Gordon 1726.jpg|left|thumb|Arthur's O'on from [[Alexander Gordon (antiquary)|Gordon's]] book.]]
The "stone house" from which the village took its name was a Roman building on the north of the Carron River Valley known in later centuries as [[Arthur's O'on]], i.e. [[King Arthur]]'s oven. It is no longer to be seen, having been demolished to rebuild a dam on the [[River Carron (Forth)|River Carron]] by Sir Michael Bruce of Stenhouse in 1743.<ref name="gaz">{{cite web|publisher=Gazetteer for Scotland|title =Overview of Stenhousemuir | url =http://www.scottish-places.info/towns/townfirst332.html | access-date = 2010-02-28 }}</ref> The stones were swept away in a flood soon after. Detailed drawings had been made in the 1720s and a replica was made in 1763 to serve as a dovecote on the roof of the stable block of [[Penicuik House]] in Midlothian, and this remains. The site of the original building has been localised to the garden of a modern house on a housing estate, apparently by the American academic Norma Lorre Goodrich (1917–2006).
Stenhousemuir became home to the "[[Falkirk Tryst]]" from 1785<ref name ="gaz" /> - one of the largest gatherings of livestock farmers and buyers from all over Scotland and beyond. After the decline of the Tryst in [[Crieff]], the Falkirk Tryst came to be held more frequently, on the second Tuesdays of August, September and October each year.<ref>{{cite book | last=Haldane |first=A. R. B. | title=The Drove Roads of Scotland | publisher=Birlinn | year=1997 | isbn=1-874744-76-9|pages=139–140}}</ref> Thomas Gisbourne in his "Essay on Agriculture" described the Tryst in 1849 as "a scene to which Great Britain, perhaps even the whole world, does not afford a parallel".<ref>{{citation|title=''Cited in Haldane, pages 240-1''|mode=cs1}}</ref> The Trysts continued until the late 19th century. [[R.B. Cunninghame Graham]]'s sketch "The Falkirk Tryst" was anthologised in ''A Hatchment'' in 1913.<ref>Cunninghame Graham, R.B., "The Falkirk Tryst", in Munro, Lachlan (ed.) (2024), ''The Complete Scottish Sketches of R.B. Cunninghame Graham'', [[Edinburgh University Press]], pp. 247 - 252, {{isbn|9781399533089}}</ref>
The town was home to the [[McCowan's]] toffee factory, established in 1922, who made both traditional toffee and also the [[Wham Bar]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-tayside-central-15033667|date=23 September 2011|title=Workers to learn Highland Toffee firm fate|work=BBC News |access-date=27 December 2011}}</ref>
==Sport== [[File:Ochilview Park, Stenhousemuir.JPG|thumb|Ochilview Park, home of Stenhousemuir]] [[Stenhousemuir F.C.]] play football at [[Ochilview Park]] and are currently in [[Scottish League One]]. The Tryst Golf Club, built in 1885, has its clubhouse in Burnhead Road, which is arguably in [[Larbert]].
The Cricket Club has been in existence since 1876. It has produced international players representing Scotland and had a number of notable cricket professionals playing for the club e.g. [[Abdul Qadir (cricketer)|Abdul Qadir]].
==Landmarks== Ochilview, Falkirk Tryst Golf Club and Stenhousemuir Cricket Club are all accessible via Tryst Road, leading north out of the village. The street is so called because it was the site of the annual Tryst. On the anniversary of the Tryst in September each year, a travelling [[funfair]] comes to the site.
There are four churches in the village: nearer the centre of the village is Larbert East Church with its imposing tower, meanwhile one third of a mile to the east of the village centre on the aptly named Church Street is the [[Stenhouse and Carron]] church which is smaller but more distinctive architecturally, designed in 1897 by the firm of [[John James Burnet]].<ref name="arch">{{cite web|publisher=Dictionary of Scottish Architects|title =DSA Building/Design Report: McLaren Memorial church, hall and manse | url =http://www.scottisharchitects.org.uk/building_full.php?id=226254 |access-date = 2010-02-28 }}</ref> The village is home to a Salvation Army church and community centre housed in a modern building adjacent to Stenhousemuir Primary school. Further west along Main Street lies the Roman Catholic church of Our Lady of Lourdes and St Bernadette. Larbert West church sits just across the old boundary of Burnhead Road between Stenhousemuir and South Broomage.<ref name="boundary">{{London Gazette | issue = 16269 | date = 2 October 1945 | page = 336 | city = Edinburgh }}</ref>
The shopping area of Stenhousemuir was renovated in 2008. A new library with community area, football pitch and new shops including a {{convert|40000|sqft|m2|adj=on|abbr=off}} [[Asda]] supermarket alongside relocation of a number of existing businesses.
Part of the regeneration resulted in construction of a new community centre and rebuild of the medical centre which provides additional NHS support services to the area.
==Notable people== *[[William McAlpine (tenor)|William McAlpine]] (1922–2004) – leading [[tenor]] of the 1950s and 1960s *[[John Walker Sharpe]] [[FRSE]] FIP (1916-1997) physicist *[[Jimmy Hodge|Jimmy]] and [[John Hodge (Scottish footballer)|John Hodge]], footballer siblings who both played for [[Manchester United F.C.|Manchester United]] in the 1910s *[[Brian Hardie]] (born 1950), [[Essex County Cricket Club|Essex]] and [[Scotland national cricket team|Scotland]] cricketer *[[Helen Eadie]] (1947–2013), Scottish Labour Co-operative politician
==See also== * [[List of places in Falkirk]]
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{Commons category}} * [http://www.pitchero.com/clubs/stenhousemuircricketclub/ Stenhousemuir Cricket Club] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20090223111608/http://www.millar-mccowan.com/ McCowan’s Toffee]
{{Falkirk Towns & Villages}}
{{authority control}}
[[Category:Stenhousemuir| ]] [[Category:Towns in Falkirk (council area)]]