Page:The National Gazetteer - A Topographical Dictionary of the British Islands, Volume 3.djvu/552

Rh ST1NCHCOMBE. 510 STIRLING. STINCHCOMBE, a par. in the upper div. of Berkeley hund., co. Gloucester, 2 miles N.W. of Dursley, its post town, and 1 mile S.E. of Berkeley Road railway station. Tho Tillage is situated near the Bristol and Gloucester railway. .The soil is of a loamy description, with a subsoil of clay and lime. The living is a perpet. cur.* in the dioc. of Gloucester and Bristol, val. 65, in the patron, of the bishop. The church, dedicated to St. Cyril, has been lately rebuilt. The parochial charities produce about 25 per annum. There is a National school, supported by the Rev. Sir George Provost, lord of the manor. STINSFORD, a par. in the hund. of George, Dor- chester div. of co. Dorset, IJmileN.E. of Dorchester, its post town. The village is situated near the river Frome. The par. includes the hmlts. of Higher and Lower Buckhampton, Kingston, Marlwood, and Upper Kingston. The living is a vie.* in the dioc. of Sarum, val. 190. The church, dedicated to St. Michael, has an ivy-covered tower. The interior contains some ancient tablets. The parochial charities produce about 12 per annum. There is a parochial school at Rock- hampton. Stinsford House and Kingston House are the principal residences. There are some circular sand- pits. STirERSTONES, a ridge of trap rocks in the co. of Salop, 6 miles from Church Stretton, 1,800 feet high, and containing lead and zinc. STIRCHLEY, a par. in the Wellington div. of South Bradford hund., co. Salop, 3 miles S.W. of Shiffnal, its post town, and 2 from Madeley. It is a station on the Coalport branch of the London and North Western railway. The village is situated on the Shrewsbury canal. A portion of the inhabitants are employed in the collieries and iron works. The soil consists of light gravel. The living is a rect. in the dioc. of Lichfleld, vftl. 261 The church, dedicated to St. James, has been enlarged and restored at the expense of the Botfields. The parochial charities produce about 2 per annum. There is a parochial school for both sexes. R. H. Cheney, Esq., is lord of the manor. STIRLING, an inland co. of Scotland, occupying the isthmus in the middle of Scotland between the rivers Forth and Clyde, and at nearly mid-distanco between the German and Atlantic oceans. It lies between 55 56' and 56 16' N. lat., and between 3 35' and 4 40' W. long., on the mutual borders of the Highlands in the W. and the Lowlands in the E. The figure of the county is singular, and has been likened to a fish or eel. Its length from E. to W. is 36 miles, but following the curvature of its form from Linlithgow-bridge on the E.S.E. to Loch Lomond, near Inversuaid in the W., 45 miles; and its greatest breadth from N. to S. is 18 miles, but its average breadth does not exceed 10 miles, and in the N., where it tapers, the distance across is under 5 miles. On the northern side are two small detached portions, consisting of the parish of Alva and part of the parish of Logic. It comprises 462 square miles, or 295,875 acres, of which nearly two-thirds are under cultivation, besides 15 square miles of lake and 40,000 acres of carse land near the Forth. Its boun- daries are for the most part distinctly marked by water- courses or lakes, the principal boundary lino on the N. and E.being the Forth, which separates it from the countiesof Perth and Clackmannan, the Avon and one of its tribu- taries on the S.E. separating it from Linlithgowshiro, the Kelvin on the S. from Lanarkshire, and Loch Lomond on the W. from Dumbartonshire, besides for 6J miles the lake of Loch Katrine, and numerous small streams, tributaries of the rivers above named. This county is one of the most important in Scotland. Lying in the direct passage from the northern to tho southern parts of the island, it has been the scene of many memorable transactions, and there nre few coun- ties in which more monuments of antiquity are to be met with. In the earliest times it was the seat of the Damnii, and was subsequently incorporated in the Roman province Vcspasiana. In the lower divi- sion of the county are still some slight traces of the wall of Antoninus, built for the purpose of protecting tho Roman conquests on the S., and along the same line remains of Roman forts, weapons, and coins have occa- sionally been met with. After the overthrow of the Pictish sovereignty, Stirlingshire, with all the country S. of the Forth, was overrun by the Saxons, and formed part of the Strathclyde and Northumbrian kingdoms ; and at a later date it passed quietly under the government of the Scottish sovereigns. In the 12th century it was much benefited by David I., who estab- lished religious houses, particularly that at Cambus- Kenneth. Stirling Castle commanded the most important pass betwixt the northern and southern districts of tho kingdom, adding greatly to the importance of the county. In 1297 Wallace defeated the English near Stirling, ana in the following year was himself routed at Falkirk. In 1314 Robert Bruce gained a decisive victory over Edward at Bannockburn, in which above 30,000 English perished. In 1488 James III. was defeated by his rebel- lious nobles at Sauchieburn,near Stirling, and afterwards murdered at Beaton's Mill. In 1645 tho Duke of Montrose defeated the Covenanters tinder Baillie at Kilsyth, and in 1745 the Royalists were defeated by the Pretender near Falkirk. The surface in the western part, adjacent to Loch Lomond, is extremely mountainous, including Ben Lomond, which attains an elevation of 3,195 feet above sea-level, and constitutes the watershed between tho streams which flow eastward to the German Ocean, and those which flow westward to the Atlantic. Immediately E. of this Highland district the land becomes flattish, or gently inclining towards the vale of the Endrick on the S. and the rivers Kclty and Forth on the N. In the centre of the co. tho land is again elevated into a series of hills, which under various names, as Campsie Fells, Kilsyth, Fintry, and Gargunnock hills, run from near the north-eastern uoruer towards the S.W. through the middle of the county those of greatest altitude ranging from 1,300 to 1,500 feet in height. From one of these eminences, called Kilsyth Hill, there is obtained a view embracing an extent of near 12,000 square miles. In a line parallel with these hills run tho Lennox, Stirling, and Ochills, forming the eastern- screen of the large central plain, and having their sides and sxunmiU clothed with a green sward, which affords excellent pasturage for sheep. All E. of these hills, the country, comprising nearly one-third of the whole county, con- sists of carse land, in many parts flat, and in others presenting a succession of inclined planes gradually rising towards the S. from the vale of the Forth. In this quarter the country has experienced extensive im- provements, and now comprises a rich and varied tract, exhibiting a constant alternation of fields in the highest state of tillage, meadows, plantations, pleasure grounds, gardens, and orchards. The Forth, which is the princi- pal river, traverses a large part of the county ; it takes its rise from a spring near the summit of Ben Lomond, and flows by a winding course of 20 miles, through the links of Stirling to the estuary called the Frith of Forth. In its course it receives the waters of the Avon, Carron, Pow, Bannockburn, Touch, Allan, Devon, and other small streams. The Carron, which is tho largest of these tri- butaries, has its source near the centre of the county, and is navigable for vessels of large burden for about tw o miles above its junction with the Forth. The other rivers are the Finglen, or Kelvin, which runs to the Clyde, and the Blano and Carnock waters, tributaries of the Endrick, which last has a fall of 91 feet before it fulls into Loch Lomond. Besides these waters, the county enjoys the advantage of tho Forth and Clyde canal and the Union Navigation. The lakes, exclusive of Loch Lomond and Loch Katrine, which only touch tho boun- dary, are lochs Airthrey, Arklet, Black, Coulter, Craig- End, and Ellrig. Almost every variety of soil to bo met with in Scotland occurs in Stirlingshire, but tho lands are provincially classified into carse, dryfleld, hill, moor, and moss. Of these the carse or alluvial lands are the most common and the most fertile, embracing thousands of acres on tho banks of the Forth, and stretching from Buchlyvio to the eastern limits of the county. This