Name.-The word Bothkennar is of Celtic origin, and signifies the small arable fen or marsh,- a name highly descriptive of the situation of the parish, which is very small, all arable, and appears at first to have been marshy, from having been made lip from the alluvial deposits of the Frith of Forth.

Extent, &c.-It is bounded on the north, by the parish of Airth; on the east, by the Frith of Forth; on the south, by the river Carron ; and on the west, by the parish of Larbert. It consists of 1248 acres, and forms nearly a square with the church in the centre. It is situated in the Carse of Falkirk, and forms by far the richest patch in that district, and is, perhaps, not equalled by any Carse land in Scotland.

Topographical Appearances.-The surface of the parish is a dead flat, no one part of it being six feet higher than another; and it is a remarkable circumstance, that there is not a stone to be found in the whole parish of the size of a pepper-corn, unless brought from other places by manure, &c

Geo1ogy.~There are no useful minerals in the parish, with the exception of coal of the best quality, which is wrought to a great extent by the Carron Company, and for which they pay the landed proprietors L. 1000 a-year.

Soil-It consists of the richest loam, and, as a proof that the parish has been, at one time, all under water, beds of shells and other marine productions are found in almost every part of it, from two to twelve feet under the surface.