Copyright falkirkherald
The name was certainly used in the 18th century when the “Better meddle with the deil than the bairns of Falkirk” motto was common and maybe even earlier when people said “You’re like the bairns o’ Fa’kirk: you’ll end afore you mend”. There is a local legend which says that in the mid 1600s the Earl of Callendar provided the town with its first water supply at the Cross Well near the steeple. We are told that he drank a quaich of water and toasted the health of “the wives and bairns of Falkirk”. I have always understood that to be a genuine Falkirk bairn you had to have been born within the bounds of the old burgh or at least within sound of the steeple bell. This was all very fine while most babies were born at home which was the norm until 1932 when the new Falkirk Royal Infirmary opened its doors. Its predecessor down in Thornhill Road had no maternity unit and indeed the planners who designed the new infirmary did not include one until the government stepped in to provide the cash to pay for a 24 bed unit. You will recall that the rest of the wards were still paid for by voluntary subscriptions, fees and donations and that did not change until 1948 with the creation of the NHS. So from 1932 hundreds of babies born in the infirmary were technically ‘bairns’ even though they came from all over the place. The growing pool of ‘bairns’ was further increased in 1935 when a large private house called Dunrowan in Maggie Wood’s Loan was opened up as a nursing home. I think this was a kind of private breakaway from Falkirk Royal though I am not sure. All I know is that between then and 1951 hundreds first saw the light in the building which is still standing. I was one of them and hardly a week passes without an encounter with another Dunrowan bairn. My friend Moira Kennedy was one of them and she gave me a copy of the bill paid by her parents for 10 days in Dunrowan at 5 guineas per week – that is £7 – 10 shillings. Add in the cost of dressings etc and the bill added up to £9 - 5 - 6d! Later on the building was used as a nurses’ home and it remained part of the health service until recent years. In 1987 a brand new state of the art maternity unit was opened at the Infirmary and the future of the bairns seemed secure. But there were already disturbing rumours about possible closure and a merger with Stirling and feelings boiled over in 1989. The reaction in the town was fierce to say the least with petitions, protest marches and rallies which did seem to change minds for a time. In the end the decision to create Forth Valley Royal Hospital brought the transfer to Stirling in 2004 and then to Larbert seven years later. So for the last 21 years the only true ‘bairns’ are the handful whose parents chose a home birth. I hope there are many more in the future.
