Montrose

Montrose, a royal, municipal, and police burgh and seaport of Forfarshire, Scotland. It is situated 304 m. N.E. of Dundee by the North British railway and is also connected with the Caledonian railway company's system by a branch to Dubton. Pop. (1901), 12,427. The town occupies a considerable area on a sandy peninsula, and is bounded on the E. by the North Sea, on the N. by the North Esk, on the S. by the South Esk, and on the W. by Montrose Basin, a large depression, about 7 m. in circuit. The reclamation of the Basin has been attempted, but an embankment constructed by Dutch dikers for this purpose was demolished in a few hours by a storm. In the mouth of the channel of the South Esk lies the island of Rossie, or Inchbrayock (pop. 160), which in 1829 was connected with the burgh by means of a suspension bridge 432 ft. long and by a drawbridge with the south bank near the fishing village of Ferryden (pop. 1330). The harbour lies between the suspension bridge and the sea, and is provided with a wet dock. The links form one of the best golf-courses in Scotland and are played over by several clubs. Besides the staple industry of flax-spinning, there are manufactures of linen, canvas, sheetings, starch, soap, chemicals, rope and manures, while iron-founding, tanning and brewing are also carried on. The fisheries are of very considerable importance and the shipping is usually brisk. There is a large trade, especially in timber (the chief import), mainly with Baltic ports and Canada. The parish church is a plain structure, but has a handsome steeple 200 ft. high. The principal buildings include the town-hall, the academy on the links, dating from 1820, though its predecessor belonged to the 16th century; the museum, Dorward's house of refuge, erected in 1839; the infirmary and the royal asylum at Sunnyside on the outskirts to the north-west. Panmure barracks are not far from the wet dock. In High Street are statues to Sir Robert Peel and Joseph Hume. Montrose is governed by a provost, bailies and council, and unites with Arbroath, Brechin, Forfar and Inverbervie (the Montrose burghs) in returning one member to parliament, a district group that was represented for many years by John Morley. Montrose received its charter from David I., and was made a royal burgh in 1352. It was destroyed by fire in 1244. Here Edward I. accepted John Baliol's surrender of the kingdom on the 10th of July 1296. Sir James Douglas sailed from the port in 1330 bound for the Holy Land with the heart of Robert Bruce; and here, too, the Old Pretender embarked in 1716 for France after the failure of his cause. In 1745 the town threw in its lot with the Hanoverians, a fact which lent zest to the daring capture of the "Hazard" sloop of war off Ferryden, by Captain David Ferrier of Brechin, a thorough-going Jacobite.