Earl's Burn, a rivulet in the W of St Ninians parish, Stirlingshire, rising at an altitude of 1300 feet, just within the confines of Gargunnock parish. Thence it runs 6¼ miles south-south-eastward among the Lennox Hills, till, after a total descent of 550 feet, it falls into Carron Water at the SW base of Dundaff Hill (1157 feet), 5¼ miles W by N of Denny. A reservoir, feeding the mills of Denny, was formed near its source, about 1834, by means of an embankment 22 feet high, at a cost of close upon £2000; covers an area of nearly 60 acres; and, in October 1839, after a heavy rain, burst the embankment, rushed down in impetuous torrent, and did great damage to property along all the course of the Carron.—Ord. Sur., shs. 39, 31, 1869-67.

(F.H. Groome, Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (1882-4); © 2004 Gazetteer for Scotland)