Stirling

AI overview

Stirling is a city in central Scotland positioned strategically on the River Forth, serving as the administrative center for the Stirling council area with a rich medieval history featuring a royal citadel, old town, and historic bridge. Its location as the lowest bridging point on the River Forth made it historically significant as a focal point for trade and movement between regions.

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Place details

Locality: Stirling
Region: Alba / Scotland
Country: United Kingdom
Population: 37,910

Travel guide

Understand

thumb | 300px | Stirling Castle The River Forth meanders east out of the Trossachs across a broad plain, and swells when it's joined by the River Teith - this made Stirling the lowest point that early architects could span with a bridge. A few miles downstream the river becomes tidal, and you had to cross by ferry until modern times. So if you controlled the bridge at Stirling, you controlled the all-weather route between Edinburgh and the Highlands. Better still, you got to levy tolls and taxes on everyone who needed to pass.

The city was inevitably bashed about in several conflicts, the last at the hands of the Jacobites, who in 1746 failed to capture the castle and blew up their own ammo depot in pique. Stirling has since then been a quiet market town, making its living from agriculture. Before the railways, huge cattle drives would plod over the bridge and through town towards southern markets, even as far as London Smithfield. When 19th and 20th century heavy industry developed, this was to the south around Falkirk and downstream in Grangemouth, Fife and the Lothians; Stirling was relatively untouched and preserved its old centre. There's nowadays a ring of light industry and suburbs, but the big boost was the 1967 establishment of the University of Stirling. This has some 8500 undergraduates and 4000 postgraduates.

Get around

The town and castle are best explored on foot.

Uni-link Bus UL runs every 30 min from Stirling bus station to the University of Stirling campus. McGill's Bus 54 also runs there every 30 min via Bridge of Allan village.

McGill's Bus 38 runs every 20 min from Falkirk via Larbert and Bannockburn. Bus 51 runs every 30 min from Alloa. Bus 59 runs hourly from Callander via Doune and Blair Drummond Safari Park.

Taxi operators are Alba Cabs (), Goosecroft () and Stirling Taxi ().

Nextbike offer app-based bike hire in Stirling. Bikes cost £1 for 30 minutes, or £10 for the day. Bikes are hired and returned to stations around Stirling, from Bannockburn to Bridge of Allan.

See

thumb | 300px | Wallace Monument Valley Lane Cemetery is on the south flank of Castle Hill, with 19th century funerary monuments. The pyramid in the adjacent gardens is a monument of 1863 "to all those who suffered martyrdom in the cause of civil and religious liberty in Scotland". Mar's Wark opposite Holy Rude is the facade of a 16th century townhouse, and that's all that remains. was built some time in the 15th century to carry the road to Perth and the Highlands. The timber bridge that it replaced, 180 yards upstream, caused the English downfall at the Battle of Stirling Bridge in 1297: see Bridge of Allan for this story. The modern A9 crosses just downstream and the old bridge is pedestrianised. Bridge of Allan lies across the river: visit here for the Wallace Monument and Stirling University. It also includes Cambuskenneth Abbey, but that's easier to reach from Stirling.

~36 min read

Article

26 sections

Contents

Name(s) and toponymy
History
Ancient history
Roman and early Medieval
Late Medieval and early Modern
Victorian and Modern
Governance
Geography
Areas of Stirling
Climate
Demography
Culture
Religion
Economy
Transport
Media
Sports and recreation
Education
Twinned cities
Notable residents
Freedom of the City
Individuals
Military Units
See also
References
External links

Stirling (; ; ) is a city in central Scotland, north-east of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The city is surrounded by rich farmland and had a royal citadel, the medieval old town with its merchants and tradesmen, the Old Bridge and the port are all linked in to its history. Situated on the River Forth, Stirling is the administrative centre for the Stirling council area, and is traditionally the county town and historic county of Stirlingshire. Stirling's key position as the lowest bridging point of the River Forth before it broadens towards the Firth of Forth made it a focal point for travel north or south. It has been said that "Stirling, like a huge brooch clasps Highlands and Lowlands together". The city's status as "Gateway to the Highlands" also historically lent it great strategic importance—the credo "he who holds Stirling, holds Scotland" is sometimes attributed to Robert the Bruce.

When Stirling was temporarily under Anglo-Saxon sway, according to a 9th-century legend, it was attacked by Danish invaders. The sound of a wolf roused a sentry, however, who alerted his garrison, which forced a Viking retreat. This led to the wolf being adopted as a symbol of the town as is shown on the 1511 Stirling Jug. The area is today known as Wolfcraig. Even today the wolf appears with a goshawk on the council's coat of arms along with the recently chosen motto: "Steadfast as the Rock".