Page:The National Gazetteer - A Topographical Dictionary of the British Islands, Volume 3.djvu/554

Rh 542 STIKLING. Forth, covering the ridge of an isolated trap rock, which rises to an altitude of 220 feet above the Forth at its base, and 350 above sea-level, and presents a resem- blance of form to the Acropolis of Athens, and to the Castle rock of Edinburgh. The par. includes, besides the royal burgh of Stirling, the vil. of fiaploch and part of the vil. of Causewayhead ; while the vil. of Abbey, 'which forms a suburb of Stirling, on the N. bank of the Forth, for civil purposes is considered as belonging to the par. of Logic, in Clackmannanshire. It appears to have been selected by Agricola for the site of a military station on account of its commanding the most important pass between the northern and southern divisions of the island, on the direct line of the great causeway which ran from the V. of England to the Grampians. After having continued for several centuries in the hands of the Scots, it subsequently be- came a seat of the Saxon kings of Northumbria, who are related to have rebuilt the castle, and to have con- structed the stone bridge across the Forth about the middle of the 9th century, and on which, in 1571, Ar- chibald Hamilton, of St. Andrew's, was executed. Be- sides the natural defence formed on two sides of the Forth, and on another by the precipitousness of the face of the hill, the town has on every side been artificially fortified. On the N.W. is the castle, originally a single tower; on the N. and N.E. are vestiges of a great ditch ; on the E. ran a wall, passing a little E. of the present Athenaeum ; and on the S., where no protection is aflbrded by the river, runs a strong wall along the brink of the precipice. Towards the close of the llth century it rose into consequence, and in the course of the succeeding century it attained the distinction of being one of the four principal fortresses in Scotland, and such it continued during the sanguinary and pro- tracted contest which Edward I. of England com- menced for ths lubjugation of Scotland. In the course of that struggle this castle and its vicinity formed the theatre of some of the most brilliant achievements of Sir William "Wallace, of which one was the battle fought before Stirling on the 13th September, 1297, and in which the English army sustained a signal overthrow. In the following year the castle was captured by Sir W. Wallace, after the battle of Falkirk, and dismantled, but was speedily repaired by Edward II., who held it only a year. The castle first became a favourite resi- dence of the Scottish kings in the reign of James I., whose son, James II., was born in it in 1430, and was brought up here under the government of Sir Thomas Livingstone. On the occasion of the assassination of the young Earl of Douglas by the king the town was burnt by his partisans. In the following reign it aiforded a secure retreat to James III. from his turbu- lent nobles, and in it James IV. frequently resided during Lent, as it is said, to do penance for the part he had acted in his father's death. James V. was born and crowned in the castle, which then communicated with the town by the Windy Pass, or Ballangeich road. In his reign the new palace was built within the castle walls, and under the Regent Mary of Guise the French battery was added to the castle. Both Mary Queen of Scots and her son James VI. were crowned here. The latter monarch built the new chapel, in which his son Prince Henry was baptised, and whose room, with that of his tutor Buchanan, are still shown. The castle was visited by Charles I. whilst on his pro- gress through Scotland, and by Charles II. in 1650, shortly before the battle of Worcester. In 1651 General Monk besieged the castle, and finally reduced it, when the national registers and old Scotch standard mea- sures were carried off. By the Articles of Union with England this castle was declared to be one of the four fortresses of Scotland which were ever after to be kept in repair. Since that period it has expe- rienced little change in external aspect, and is now used as barracks, and the chapel of James VI. as an armoury. It is commanded by a fort-major and subal- terns, assisted by a barrack-master, who is likewise storekeeper. Stirling, as a royal burgh, is one of great antiquity, having received its first charter from Alexander I. It is governed by a provost, 4 baillies, a treasurer, dean of guild, and 14 councillors, with the stylo of high sheriff and sheriffs, having a cumu- lative jurisdiction with the sheriff of the county with- in the burgh jurisdiction.. This burgh, in connec- tion with Culross, Queensferry, Inverkeithing, and Dunfermline, returns one member to parliament. The parliamentary constituency in 1861 was 599, and the municipal 487. The parliamentary bounds com- prise, besides the par. of Stirling, parts of the adjoining pars, of Logie and St. Ninian's. The population of the royal burgh in 1851 was 9,361, while that of the par- liamentary was 12,837, and in 1861, 13,846. The main part of the town, like the old town of Edinburgh, is built on the sloping ridge of a rock, the precipitous end of which, towards the W., is occupied by the castle, as above described. The approaches to the town from every side are unsurpassed by those of any other town in Scotland. The streets, though somewhat irregularly laid out, owing to the uneven character of the ground, are in general spacious and well built. Great improve- ments have of late years been effected both in the town and suburbs, especially since the reformed council came into office. The streets are well paved, lighted with gas, and the houses supplied with good water, brought from a distance of three miles. The expenses of the public works are defrayed out of a fund termed " the common good," without assessing any one ; so that Stirling is one of the cheapest towns for residence in the three kingdoms. The suburbs comprise the vils. of Bellfield, Newhouse, Melville-place, and the Craigs, extending along the roads to St. Ninian's and Airth. The public buildings are the town-house, which stands in Broad-street, opposite the site of the old cross, with a lofty tower containing a set of musical chimes ; the new county gaol, erected in 1848 at a cost of 10,000 ; the old gaol and county buildings, or custom house ; new corn exchange, erected in 1839 ; a dispensary, savings-bank, poorhouse, erected in 1857 ; Athenaeum, with a lofty spire; and the Drummond Agricultural Museum, built in 1840, and containing a collection of objects connected with rural economy ; also two bridges viz. the ancient one mentioned above, the S. arch of which was destroyed by General Blakeney in 1745 to cut off the retreat of the Highlanders, and the new bridge from Abbey Craig, built at a cost of 17,000. On account of the shallowness of the water in the Forth, which is only 5J feet at neap, and 11 at spring, tides, very little foreign commerce is carried on, but steam vessels ply daily to Granton, and when the tide will permit to Edinburgh. A plan for deepening the river has been several times discussed at the town council, but not yet agreed upon. The harbour is a simple wharf, called Stirling shore, and the port is a creek to Alloa. Its revenue is about 500 a year, and the aggregate tonnage of vessels entering the port 2,000 tons, wholly employed in the coasting trade, or in the fisheries, which are productive. A considerable business is done in corn, malt, coals, wool, timber, bricks, tiles, lime, and agricultural produce. The manufactures are cotton goods, woollens, tartans, tartan-shawls, carpets, yarns, leather, ropes, candles, and soap ; the manufac- ture of shalloons, largely carried on in the 16th and 17th centuries, is now almost extinct, as was that of tartans, until revived by the publication of the Waver- ley novels. The town contains six commercial banks, several hotels, subscription and free libraries, reading- rooms, school of arts, an agricultural association, hor- ticultural, writers', and Caledonian societies, central medical association, Adamson's bursary, fishing and curling clubs. The register of sasines goes back to 1473, and the council records to 1597. Two weekly newspapers, the Stirling Journal and Observer, are pub- lished in the town, the former on Friday, and the latter on Thursday ; also one monthly paper, the British Messenger. Stirling is the head-quarters of the county militia, and the seat of an excise col- lection. Being the county town, the justiciary and