Bowshall + shipbuilding

[Richard Knott]

I have two related topics, one easier to deal with than the other I suspect.

1. Several wills refer to shipowners/masters of Bowshall, which appears to be somewhere in Falkirk. Can anyone tell me more about Bowshall? - Google is unhelpful.

2. Three Taylor brothers (William, James, Edward) of Laurieston/Bowshall/Grangemouth were shipowners. They refer to their boats in their wills: the sloops 'Andrew and Kitty' and 'William and Friends' in 1814; the brig 'Vigilant' of Grangemouth worth 780 pounds in 1828, amongst others. As Alexander Hart, shipbuilder, was a trustee of one of the wills, the boats may have been built at his well-known boatyard.
As all three brothers owned ships, I'm guessing that their father Edward Taylor (bcc 1760) may also have done so.
Is there any way of inding out more about the shipowners/builders of that period? Apart from establishing more about Edward it would be good to know what the ships were used for (fishing, trade etc).
Richard

[apanderson]

Hi Richard,

have a wee look here: http://www.electricscotland.com/history/stirlingshire/chap16.htm

I've never heard of a Bowshall?  Laurieston and Grangemouth are quite near to each other. If you go to Multimap and key in either place name, you'll see their locality.

I'm thinking maybe Bowshall was the name of a boat yard rather than a placename?

Sorry, couldn't be more help!

Anne

[Richard Knott]

Thank you for your help.
The 1814 will says 'William Taylor, shipmaster at Bowshall and afterwards at Grangemouth' and the 1828 one says 'James Taylor, shipowner residing at Bowshall in the parish of Falkirk'.
I suppose it could be the name of their house, but it sounds like a hamlet.

[Richard Knott]

Apologies for revisiting an old post, but I'm still trying to pin down where Bowshall is. I have moved on since 2006, so I now know that the Edward Taylor in the first post is actually a miller - somewhat surprising given that all three sons were shipowners - but I'm no nearer finding out about Bowshall.

I have found it in a old newspaper in 1850/1, where Edward Taylor is described as a 'farmer at Bowshall', making it more likely that it is just the name of his farm; and guess it might have something to do with Bo'ness (a corruption of Bo'ness Hall perhaps), but otherwise it's still a blank.

Richard

[MonicaL]

Hi Richard

Found a mention of it now on FreeCen for 1841 http://freecen.rootsweb.com/cgi/search.pl

Look for an Andrew Walker age 30 Stirlingshire. This will take you to the entry in Falkirk with the address showing as Bowshall.

Not sure if you have used FreeCen before. One of the really unique features on the site is that you can click to see previous/next households for any entry. This can be really useful if you cannot find one particular address/property on a map because you will be able to search for other surrounding names (given that the census listing is in the order of the enumerator's walk).

Monica 

[MonicaL]

One of the surrounding name places looks to have been a Bowsplank. Mention here of such a place which I thought seemed relevant with your mention of Edward having been a miller by trade. This is from 1770, but there could have been a mill there for many a year (pure speculation on my part now!)

1770
The building of the 3rd Granary at the side of the Canal, it became the Seamen's Bethel and Sealock Hall.  The first Granary was in Glensburgh to store grain from Dundas Mill which stood where Central Avenue is now, the Miller and his assistants lived at Bowsplank Cottages. The 2nd Granary was in the Boatyard; it was demolished in 1994.
www.electricscotland.com/history/falkirk/grangemouth/grangemouth1.htm

I can see more modern reference through to at least 1900 of the name place Bowsplank.

One other name place coming up is Beancross. Again a number of links and info coming up for there.

Trick now is to map them for the period 

Monica

[MonicaL]

So far, just clicking through some of the page entries on FreeCen, in order, from Pg 15-19:

Northby
Mumrills
Beancross
Bowshall
Bowsplank

Have a look at this map here from http://canmoremapping.rcahms.gov.uk/index.php?action=do_advanced&idnumlink=47870 which has a historic site page for Mumrills. The blue pin is the historic site on a modern map. Slightly North East of there, I can see a mention for Beancross.

See also www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/sc-50159-falkirk-laurieston-mumrills-road-mumrills

Monica

[MonicaL]

I get lost when looking at maps and I am not good at explaining how I got there  Think I found it but showing on an 1860 map as Bowhousehall (Stirling Sheet XXXI.1 (Combined) Survey date: 1860 Publication date: 1865) http://maps.nls.uk/view/74479603

As before, you continue to go North East, this time from Beancross.

I am also now seeing a reference to Bowsplank, that we had earlier, coming up too as Bowhouseplank. See here also for background https://archive.org/stream/ordnancesurveyof53unse/ordnancesurveyof53unse_djvu.txt

Monica

[Richard Knott]

Monica - thank you very much for all this. I have found the site of the house on Google maps and sadly there are only nondescript modern buildings there now; but the references are excellent. I have also found an 1820 map that shows a Bowhall next to Bowhouse.

Richard