TULLIBODY. 



foot of Bencleuch. The glens and wooded copsea 

 behind it are full of beauty. The old ballad never- 

 theless assumes the supremacy of Menstrie, near the 

 foot of Dunmyat : 



" Oh, Alva's woods are bonnie, 

 Tillicoultry's hills are fair, 



But when I think o' the bonnie braes o' Menstrie, 

 It makes my heart aye sair." * 



The village of Tullibody looks down upon the 

 "bonnie braes o' Menstrie." A valley lies between, 

 along which runs the clear winding Devon. A bridge 

 spans the river near Tullibody, from which a fine view 

 is obtained of the winding Devon, the hill of Bencleuch. 

 and the village and woods of Alva at its base. In thie 

 neighbourhood the famous adventure of James the Fifth 

 and the Gudeman of Ballangeich occurred. On the 

 Gudeman's visit to Stirling, the King designated him as 

 " King of the Muirs." The cottage in which King James 

 took shelter lay on an eminence near Tullibody, about a 

 mile south of the Ochils. 



Tullibody seems in some way to have been connected 

 with that mythical people the Picts.-f Who were the 

 Picts or Pechs ? Many have tried to unravel the story, 

 but the result has been mere guesswork. Som } say that 



* Menstrie House was formerly the seat of the Earl of Stirling. It 

 was destroyed by the Parliamentarian army during the reign of 

 Charles I. ; in return for which the clans under Montrose devoted 

 Castle Campbell to flames and ruin in 1645. 



t The name of Tullibody is said to be derived from the Celtic 

 language Tulach, a little green eminence, and Boidich,a,vovf, a solemn 

 promise. Hence Tulachboidich, the knoll of the oath. 



