The lands of Kerse were granted to William Menteith in 1513 by James IV, then confiscated in 1631 and granted to Sir Thomas Hope. The barony and estate of West Kerse was purchased in 1752 by Laurence Dundas who became 1st Baronet of Kerse in 1762. It was Laurence Dundas who laid the foundation of the town of Grangemouth. In 1768 he was elected to Parliament for Edinburgh, a constituency he represented until his death in 1781. Sir Laurence was succeeded by his only son, Sir Thomas, who was MP for Stirling County in 1768-69 and was created Baron Dundas of Aske in 1794. He died in 1820. Thomas, Lord Dundas, was succeeded by his son Lawrence, who was created Earl of Zetland by Queen Victoria in 1838, a year before his death in 1839. When Grangemouth became a Magistrates’ Burgh in 1872 the influence of the Dundas family in the town lessened.