Old Polmont, Laurieston, Redding & Brightons

This title in the old towns series covers the four settlements listed, which in old money were in Stirlingshire and now are in the Falkirk Council area. Polmont is an amalgamation of various previously separate villages, while Laurieston was originally the planned village of New Merchiston. Shieldhill has ancient origins, probably as a place of summer grazing, then later mining held sway. Brightons owes its existence to the Brighton Quarry, which supplied stone to build Edinburgh's New Town. Although he had completed much of his research for this book, the author died before he could compile it. Therefore, the book has been put together from his preparatory notes and is being published posthumously. Despite these challenges, the picture captions are long and informative.