[3] In medieval times, the Larbert area was heavily forested, but this was cleared and gave rise to much of the agricultural land which surrounds the town.

[4] The coming of industry and especially the arrival in the 1840s of the Scottish Central Railway, which passes through the village, provided a base for economic growth.

[5] The Victorian era also saw the opening of the Stirling District Lunatic Asylum at Bellsdyke and Scottish National Institution for Children on the Stenhouse Estate.

[6] Although the traditional economic base of Larbert dwindled with the decline of heavy industry, it has latterly experienced considerable growth as a commuter town.

The crossing point on the River Carron at Larbert was an important transportation route for the Romans on the road they constructed from Watling Lodge on the Antonine Wall to Stirling.

[14] The surrounding population, largely scattered, engaged in agriculture and took part in the important Falkirk Tryst (cattle market) held annually in nearby Stenhousemuir.

In the 1950s, archaeological excavations to the north of present-day Larbert uncovered remains of a substantial pottery works with eight kilns dating from the 15th or 16th centuries (Hall and Hunter 2001).

[15] The pivotal event was the opening of the Carron Iron Works to the east of Stenhousemuir, in 1759, which produced a range of cast-iron goods and the Carronade, a naval cannon.

[16] The development of the iron works shifted the centre of the parish eastwards as people moved to closer to the Carron Ironworks for employment.

[15] Improved transportation led to Dobbie, Forbes and Company establishing a foundry in Larbert in 1872 which manufactured stoves, ranges and light castings.

[17] Three years later, James Jones, a local businessman, opened a sawmill on land adjacent to the Dobbie Forbes and Company foundry, which grew rapidly manufacturing timber frames.

[14] The 19th century also witnessed the establishment of the Scottish National Institution for the Education of Imbecile Children on land to the north of present-day Larbert.

[19] A consortium of local industrialists and residents, fearing higher burgh rates, successfully resisted a 1912 proposal to incorporate nearby villages such as Larbert and Stenhousemuir into the larger town of Falkirk.

The current MP is Euan Stainbank of the Scottish Labour Party who has represented the Falkirk constituency since the 2024 United Kingdom general election.

[11] The river has its source in the Campsie Fells north of Glasgow, flowing into the Carron Valley Reservoir and past the town of Denny.

[30] The origins of much of the unsorted glacial rubble found in the area are eroded debris from the Campsie Fells and Kilsyth Hills to the west.

[31] In places, stratified till and boulder clay give rise to features of glacial deposition such as eskers, and drumlins that are predominant over much of the area north and east of Larbert and provide natural transportation routes.

[32] As Larbert is not far from the coast, post-glacial features akin to raised beaches are particularly prevalent south and west of the settlement, and this gives rise to differing elevations surrounding the town.

[33] Like much of the rest of southern Scotland, Larbert experiences a temperate, maritime climate with mild winters, cool summers and evenly distributed rainfall.

The prevailing wind direction is south-westerly, which brings warm, wet and unstable air associated with the North Atlantic Drift.

[42] Towards the end of the following year, three more high tech firms arrived, which gave Central Park a combined floorspace of 14,000 square metres (150,000 sq ft).

[42] Other occupants of the park include the travel firm Thomas Cook and the central Scotland baker Mathiesons, which has consolidated all operations onto one site.

[43] Larbert lacks a supermarket, but the main street of the town is home to small retail outlets and a post office.

[44] Larbert station lies north of one of the major rail junctions in central Scotland, where the line from Stirling and Perth splits into one branch heading to Glasgow and the other to Edinburgh.

[42] Motorway construction in the area from 1980 onwards ran Central Scotland's important trunk roads close to Larbert.

While having its own identity, Larbert is contiguous with the neighbouring settlement of Stenhousemuir, which borders its eastern side and has a larger population.

A small portion of the Bellsdyke Hospital complex, located on the outskirts of the town, still exists and provides psychiatric care only for patients in the Forth Valley health board area.

The Falkirk Council local authority provides all waste management services, with recycling facilities at Roughmute near Denny and at Kinneil Kerse in Bo'ness.

[54] The church was built at a time of population growth and increasing prosperity in Larbert and its parish, which necessitated the construction of a more modern place of worship.

[60] Thomas Hardy, parliamentary reformer and co-founder of the London Corresponding Society, was born in Larbert in 1752 and ran a boot-making business there.