Ordnance Survey large scale Scottish town plans, 1847-1895
MONTROSE (surveyed in 1861-2)
Montrose is built on
a plateau between the North Sea and the tidal Montrose basin, on the east coast
of the county of Angus. The name, which is derived from Scots Gaelic moine ('moor' or peat bed') and ros ('promontory'), means 'the peat moss
of the promontory'. The town was part of King David I's ambitious programme of
town planning, and was granted its royal burgh charter between 1124 and 1153.
The natural harbour formed by the River South Esk, which bounded the town to
the south and linked Montrose basin with the sea, ensured that Montrose
prospered as a trading centre and grew steadily through the centuries, despite
being affected by outbreaks of plague and caught in the crossfire of the civil
war in the seventeenth century. The population of the parliamentary burgh of
Montrose, including the old royal burgh boundaries and some newer suburbs, was
measured in 1861 at 14,563.
The layout of
Montrose is one of the best examples of early burgh planning in Scotland. The
long High Street runs along a natural ridge, broadening out at its south end to
an open marketplace, around which are grouped the town house and the parish
church (sheet XXXV.2.18.). A castle once sat further to the south west, overlooking
the river. For a period the medieval layout of the town was obscured when a row
of houses, the Rotten Row, was built down the middle of the lower part of the
High Street, but this was demolished in 1748 and the town restored to its
original design. In common with other towns on the east coast of Scotland, many
of the older houses were built with their gable ends facing the street and the
sea, to afford added protection against the strong winds.
Montrose in the
early- to mid-nineteenth century was a diverse and successful manufacturing
town. The principal industry was flax spinning, and the town contained five
flax mills, employing over 2,000 people. On the River North Esk, close to the
town, there were an additional three flax mills, and two bleaching works.
Handloom and power-loom linen weaving was a also a significant industry in
1850s Montrose, employing approximately 1,400 people. The town contained three
starch-making factories, two tan works, two iron foundries, two machine-making
factories, a soap factory, two rope works, a shipyard, several breweries and
miscellaneous workshops. Montrose was also a market town for the surrounding
agricultural area, and weekly grain and produce markets were held on Fridays,
in addition to fairs at Martinmas and Whitsunday. The principal exports out of
Montrose harbour were manufactured goods, fish grain and cattle, and the main
imports were coal, lime, slate, iron, flax, hemp and timber. In the final
decades of the nineteenth century, trade and industry in Montrose suffered
during an economic slump, and the population of the town fell.
Farming in the area
around Montrose was predominantly arable, and the sandy nature of much of the
soil meant that it was not particularly rich farming country. The most
consistently profitable crops grown in the area were grass, wheat and turnips.
The water that surrounded Montrose on three sides was probably a greater
provider of wealth to the town. Montrose basin was a rich source of mussels,
and the South Esk contained a pearl fishery and salmon fisheries. Sea fishing
had been an important part of Montrose's economy throughout its history, and in
the nineteenth century three vessels from Montrose were involved in the whaling
industry.
The existing parish
church of Montrose was built in 1791, on the site of the original parish
church, and holds 2,500 people. Despite the vast size of the parish church,
there was a second established Church of Scotland building in mid-nineteenth
century Montrose, known as the Melville Church. There were in addition two Free
churches, St John's and St George's, two United Presbyterian churches, a
Scottish Episcopalian church, an English Episcopalian church, two Independent
chapels, a Baptist chapel, a Wesleyan Methodist chapel and a Glassite church.
The Christian community of Montrose was later to become a significant theme in
the novel Imagined Corners, by the
Montrose-born author Willa Muir (1890-1970).
Montrose Academy
(sheet XXXV.2.19) was built in 1815 on the Middle Links, a strip of sandy
parkland that separates the old town centre from the later industrial areas by
the sea. In the 1850s the staff of the academy comprised a reactor, a rector's
assistant, four masters and a mistress. The subjects taught at the academy were
Latin, Greek, natural philosophy, physical geography, mathematics, arithmetic,
ancient geography, modern geography, history, English grammar, composition,
modern languages, writing, drawing and needlework. Other schools in the
community at this time included Dorward's Seminary, which had two masters; the
Loanhead Sessional School, White's Free School and Stratton's Free School,
which were each conducted by one master; St John's Free Church schools, where
English, writing and industrial studies were taught; the burgh infant school,
whose staff was entirely female; and the Castle Street schools, which were for
children of the lower classes and established on the principles of ragged
schools.
The grandeur of some
of the public buildings that had been erected in Montrose by the mid nineteenth
century, such as the academy and the parish church, reflect the prosperity the
burgh had enjoyed over the centuries. The current town-house, built in 1763,
was another example, its elegant façade with clock and pediment dominating the
view down the High Street. The trades-hall was built just to the north of the
town-house, on the east side of the High Street. The nineteenth century also
saw the construction of a new prison, a new infirmary, and an enlarged
psychiatric hospital, or 'lunatic asylum'. Various courts were regularly held
in the town, including a police court, held every Thursday morning and presided
over by the burgh provost, and a sheriff small debt court on the third Friday
of most months. In the 1850s Montrose contained branches of seven different
banks, twenty-nine insurance offices and a marine assurance association. There
were two weekly newspapers, the Montrose
Review and the Montrose Standard,
published every Friday. Rail first reached Montrose via branch line from the
main Aberdeen line in 1848, although it was not until 1881 that a through line
opened in Montrose, eventually linking the town to Edinburgh and London in the
1890s.
Montrose had
rich and varied cultural and leisure facilities in the mid nineteenth century.
There were three public libraries and three public news-rooms in the burgh in
the 1850s. Montrose Natural and Antiquarian Society had its own museum, which
was particularly valuable for its natural history collections, and was open to
the public at a small charge. Other societies included a horticultural society,
a choral society, a Bible society, and various philanthropic societies. The
town had fine public swimming baths, a long-established golf club and a curling
club, and at one stage had had a racecourse, although this had fallen into
disuse by the 1850s.
A
View of the Character of the People of Montrose from 1845
'When, a few
years ago, cholera threatened the town, great exertions were made to promote
among the lower ranks attention to cleanliness, the want of which was then
ascertained to exist to an extent of which previously many had no idea; and,
although some may have been thus brought to see and to feel its advantages, yet
there is still considerable room for improvement in this respect.' (from the Statistical Account)
Groome,
Francis H. (ed.), 1894-5. The Ordnance
Gazetteer of Scotland; a survey of Scottish topography, statistical,
biographical, and historical, 2nd ed., (London: William Mackenzie)
Mackay,
George, 2000. Scottish Place Names
(New Lanark: Lomond)
Smith, Robert,
2001. The Making of Scotland: a
comprehensive guide to the growth of its cities, towns and villages (Edinburgh:
Canongate)
Wilson, Rev.
John Marius (ed.), 1857. The Imperial
Gazetteer of Scotland or Dictionary of Scottish Topography (Edinburgh: A.
Fullarton & Co.)
Edina Website –
Online Statistical Accounts of Scotland - http://edina.ac.uk/statacc/