- this word for a stretch of low alluvial land along the banks of a river is attested comparatively rarely in historical texts. James Robertson's General View of the Agriculture in the Southern Districts of the County of Perth (1794) informs us that:
The moss lies upon a field of clay,... a continuation of those rich, extensive flats in the neighbourhood of Falkirk and Stirling, distinguished by the name of carses.
Although rare in literary use, carse is often found in place-names, as in the Carse of Gowrie, along the north shore of the Firth of Tay, and the Carse of Lecropt, near Bridge of Allan in Stirlingshire. The Carse of Stirling (or Carse of Tay) covers an area of nearly 40 square miles and is the largest of Scotland's flood plains.