590 STIR 
with wood, vestiges of which are still found in many parts. 
The principal rivers are the Forth; the Carron; the Ban 
nockburn, which falls into the Forth; the Enrick, which 
loses itself in Loch Lomond ; the Blane, which falls into the 
Enrick; the Kelvin, which, rising in the parish of Kilsyth, 
flows westward through extensive valleys, in a cut formed 
since the year 1792, and enters the Clyde. The navigable 
canal which connects the frith of Forth with the Clyde, 
is partly here There is a great variety of soil in this 
county. In the western parishes, there is a considerable pro¬ 
portion of clay on hard till, that renders it cold and moist. 
The carse land on the banks of the Forth is a high coloured 
clay, with a mixture of sand. This soil is evidently alluvial, 
and the substances which are found it, as well as the aspect 
of the higher grounds by which it is bounded, indicate that 
at some former period it was covered by the sea. Some 
beds of shells, from a few inches to four yards in thickness, 
form a part of the subsoil. There are patches of loam in 
different parts of the shire. Along the Enric, Carron, and 
Blane, the soil in most places is light, inclining to gravel. 
The high moors are of a mossy soil; and in the low carse 
grounds, many peat mosses are formed. The hilly tracks 
are fit only for pasturage. Exclusive of the mosses, about 
two-thirds of the shire are enclosed, and considerably im¬ 
proved. There are few districts in Scotland that abound 
more in minerals of various kinds, than this county; and the 
abundance of coal in particular has given rise to many im¬ 
portant branches of manufacture. The northern boundary 
of that great belt of coal which extends from Kintyre on the 
west, to Fifeshire on the east, in an oblique direction, ap¬ 
pears to run in this county along the southern base of the 
Lennox hills. To the north of this range of mountains, coal 
has not yet been discovered, though repeated trials have been 
made; while to the south of this line, coal abounds every¬ 
where. There is also in the county abundance of ironstone, 
freestone, and limestone; and more valuable minerals have 
been discovered, and in part wrought, as silver, copper, 
cobalt, and lead. In the hills between Dumbarton and Stir¬ 
ling, are piles of basaltic rocks. Stirlingshire is a noted 
scene of the most important historical events. In the early 
ages, it was a subject of bloody contention between the 
Scots and Piets. Here, too, the Romans found the greatest 
difficulty in subjugating the ancient inhabitants, who, from 
their impenetrable fastnesses, poured down upon them like 
torrents from their native mountains. To stop the inroads 
of the Caledonians, Agricola, the Roman general, built a 
chain of forts between the friths of Clyde and Forth, which 
were afterwards connected by the wall of Antoninus. Near 
Bannockburn was fought the eventful battle between Robert 
Bruce and Edward II., which finally defeated the schemes 
of the English monarch, for uniting the whole island by 
conquest under his sovereignty. Contiguous to this, is the 
Torwood, famous for being the hiding place of the renowned 
Wallace. Near Falkirk, two famous battles were fought, one 
wherein Wallace and the Scots were defeated, and the other 
where the adherents of the Stuart family obtained a victory 
in 1746. The castle of Stirling has frequently sustained the 
longest sieges recorded in the Scotch annals. Stirlingshire 
contains one royal burgh, viz., Stirling, the towns of Fal¬ 
kirk and St. Ninians, and several large villages, of which the 
principal are Denny, Larbert, Bannockburn, Kippen, Kil¬ 
syth, Buchlyvie, Airth, Campsie, and Killearn Numerous 
seats and plantations are interspersed throughout, and enrich 
the appearance of the county. Stirlingshire is divided into 
22 parochial districts, which, in 1811, contained 58,171, in 
1821, 65,331 inhabitants. 
STIRLING, or Striveung [the place of contention or 
strife, denoting the bloody scenes of warfare which have 
taken place in Stirling and the neighbourhood), is an an¬ 
cient town, capital of the county to which it gives name. 
It is irregularly built, in the midst of a plain watered by the 
Forth, on the sloping ridge of a rock, the precipitous end of 
which, towards the west, is occupied by the castle. The 
street on the summit of the hill is broad and spacious, but 
L I N G. 
the other streets are narrow and irregular. At the south end 
of the town, on the way to St. Ninian’s, are many elegant 
villas. The town is well supplied with excellent water, 
which is brought in pipes from the hills of Touch, some¬ 
what more than three miles distant. 
There are two churches, called from their situations, the 
East and West Kirks. The former is a very fine building, 
erected partly by Cardinal Beaton. The latter is a structure 
of much older date, and in a ruder style of what is called 
the Gothic. No date has ever been discovered on any part 
of its walls ; but there is little room for doubt, but that it 
was the chapel of the monastery of Dominicans, which was 
founded near to the walls of Stirling, by Alexander It., in 
the year 1233. This church has been lately repaired, and 
is now, internally, one of the most elegant old churches in 
Scotland. There are three hospitals, the first endowed by 
Robert Spittal, tailor to James IV., and built in 1530, for 
the support of poor tradesmen. This same person also built 
the bridges of Doune and Bannockburn, and executed several 
other works of great utility. The second was founded by 
John Cowan, in 1639, for 12 decayed guild-brethren. This 
hospital is situated to the south of the church, and has a 
steeple and bell, and apartments for the guildry to meet in. 
The revenue amounts to £3000 per annum. The third was 
founded by John Allan, for the maintenance and education 
of the children of decayed tradesmen, the revenue of which 
amounts to £486 15s. 9 d. In 1808, Alexander Cunning¬ 
ham, a merchant, left £5000 as a fund for educating the 
children of poor freemen mechanics, and to augment the 
pensions to their widows. The town-house is a large build¬ 
ing, with convenient apartments for the town courts; and 
there has been lately erected a new jail, upon an approved 
plan, and a spacious and elegant hall for the circuit and 
sheriff courts. In the council-chamber is kept the jugg, 
appointed by law to be the standard for liquid measures in 
Scotland. The grammar school, the academy for accounts 
and mathematics, and the English school, are large and 
commodious, placed in airy and agreeable situations, and 
taught by masters who are a credit to their profession. At 
the termination of John’s-slreet and the Baker's-wynd, where 
the meal market formerly stood, a new and elegant building, 
with a spire 120 feet high, is now finished, for a reading- 
room and a public library. The books are well selected 
and arranged, and consist of several thousand volumes. This 
structure is finely situated, and is a great ornament to the 
lower part of the town. In the Castle-wynd stands Argyll’s 
lodgings, built in 1633, by Sir William Alexander, of 
Menstrie, secretary to Charles I. It afterwards came into 
the Argyll family; and here duke John resided in 1715 It 
is now the military hospital. At the end of the High-street 
stands Marr’s wark, begun in 1572, during the regency of 
that nobleman, but never finished. 
Stirling has a considerable inland trade, and some foreign, 
chiefly to the Baltic. Vessels of 60 and 70 tons burden come 
up to the quay; but the navigation from Alloa is circuitous, 
and no wind can be a fair one, either for going up or down, 
blow from what quarter it will. So early as the year 1600, 
Stirling manufactured a considerable quantity of shalloons 
for exportation, but this trade has fluctuated greatly since. 
Cotton and woollen are the principal manufactures at 
present, particularly carpets; but it cannot be considered as 
a manufacturing place. Besides a branch of the bank 
of Scotland, there is a banking company belonging to the 
town. 
Stirling is a place of great antiquity. Buchanan mentions 
it frequently in his history, so early as the 9th century, but 
gives no description of it. The most ancient of the town's 
charters is granted by king Alexander I., and is dated at 
Kincardine, the 18th of August, in the 12th year of his 
reign (i. e. A. D. 1120); but there is reason to believe that 
Stirling was incorporated long before, as it is not a charter 
of erection, but only confers some additional privileges on 
the burghers and freemen. About the middle of the 12th 
century, it beeame a royal residence. David I. kept his 
court 
