LARBERT  , a

parish and town of Stirlingshire, Scotland . Pop. of parish (1901) 6500, of town, 1442 . The town is situated on the Carron, 8 m . S. by E. of Stirling by the North British and Caledonian railways, the junction being an important station for traffic from the south by the West Coast route . Coal-mining is the chief industry . The principal buildings are the church, finely placed overlooking the river, the Stirling district asylum and the Scottish National Institution for imbecile children . In the churchyard is a monument to James Bruce, the Abyssinian traveller, who was born and died at Kinnaird House, 21 m . N.E . Two m . N. by W. are the ruins of Torwood Castle and the remains of Torwood forest, to which Sir William Wallace retired after his defeat at Falkirk (1298) . Near " Wallace's oak," in which the patriot concealed himself, Donald Cargill (1619–1681), the Covenanter, excommunicated Charles II. and James, duke of York, in 1680 . The fragment of an old round building is said to be the relic of one of the very few " brochs," or round towers, found in the Lowlands .