Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland

STIRLING AND DUNFERMLINE RAILWAY
the Liberal Stirling Observer (1836), published on
Wednesday; the Liberal Stirling Saturday Observer
(1873); the independent Stirling Sentinel (1888), pub-
lished on Tuesday; and the Liberal People's Journal for
Stirling and Clackmannan (1858), published on Saturday.
Among the miscellaneous institutions may be noticed a
Natural History and Archaeological Society (formerly
the Field Club), an Astronomical Society, an Agricul-
tural Society, a Horticultural Society, a Choral Society,
cricket, football, curling, golf, bowling, and angling
clubs, a Religious Tract Society, a Young Men's
Christian Association, with an Institute comprising
hall, reading-room, gymnasium, etc., in Allan Park,
and the usual religious and philanthropic associations.
There is a weekly market every Friday, and fairs are
held on the first and third Fridays of February, March,
and April, and the first and last Friday of May; and
there is a hiring fair on the third Friday of October.
There is a resident sheriff-substitute, and ordinary courts
are held every Tuesday and Thursday during session,
and small debt courts every Thursday. A justice of
peace small debt court is held on the first Monday of
every month, and for other business as may be required.
Quarter sessions are held on the first Tuesday of March,
May, and August, and on the last Tuesday of October.
Stirling unites with Inverkeithing, Dunfermline, Queens-
ferry, aud Culross in returning a member to serve in
parliament, and is the returning burgh. Parliamentary
constituency (1896) 2496; municipal, 3221, including
725 females. Valuation (1875) £54,119, (1885) £73,833,
(1896) £84,851, exclusive of railways and tramways.
Pop. of royal burgh (1841) 8307, (1S61) 10,271, (1871)
10,873, (1881) 12,194, (1891) 16,974. Pop. of parlia-
mentary and police burgh (1861) 13,707, (1871) 14,279,
(1881) 16,012, (1891) 16,776, of whom 7819 were males
and 8957 females. Of these 13,944 were in Stirling
parish and 2832 in St Ninians. Houses (1891) inhabited
3556, uninhabited 217, and being built 11.
See also Sir Robert Sibbald's History and Description
of Stirlingshire (1710; new ed., 1892); Nimmo's History
of Stirlingshire (1st ed., Edinb. 1777; 2d, Stirling, 1817;
3d, Edinb. 1880) ; Sutherland's General History of
Stirling (Stirling, 1794); Chalmers' Caledonia (1807-
24); Mrs Graham's Lacunar Strevilense (1817); R.
Chambers* Picture of Stirling (Edinb. 1830); History
of the Chapel Royal of Stirling (Grampian Club, Edinb.
1882) ; a number of papers in the Proceedings of
the Natural History and Archaeological Society ; Local
Notes and Queries reprinted from the Stirling Observer
(Stirling, 1883); Charters and other Documents relating
to the Royal Burgh of Stirling (Glasg; 1884) ; Extracts
from Records of Burgh of Stirling, 1519-1666 (Glasg.
1887); Extracts from Records of Burgh of Stirling, 1667-
1752 (Glasg. 1889); Cook's History of Stirling Castle
(Stirling, 1890).
Stirling and Dunfermline Railway. See Nokth
British Railway.
Stirlingshire, one of the midland counties of Scotland,
is partly Lowland and partly Highland. The Boundary
Commissioners in 1891 effected a rearrangement of the
boundaries between Stirlingshire and the adjoining
counties of Clackmannan, Perth, and Dumbarton.
Stirling parish, which was situated party in Stirling-
shire and partly in Clackmannanshire, was placed
wholly in the former county; Alva parish, which formed
a detached part of the county of Stirling, was trans-
ferred wholly to the county of Clackmannan; Alloa
parish, previous to being restricted to Clackmannan-
shire, gave its Perthshire portion (situated at Gogar
Haugh) to Stirlingshire, to the parish of Logie; while
the parish of Logie, previously partly in Stirlingshire
and partly in the counties of Clackmannan and Perth,
was placed wholly in Stirlingshire. Of the other parishes
partly in Stirlingshire and partly in Perthshire, Kip-
pen was placed wholly in the former, and Lecropt
(after giving part of its Stirlingshire portion to the
parish of Logie) wholly in the latter. New., or East
Kilpatrick, which was situated partly in Stirling-
shire and partly in Dumbartonshire, was placed wholly
STIRLINGSHIRE
in the latter county. For additional information
regarding these alterations, and for changes on the
boundaries of the interior parishes, see under the various
headings. Stirlingshire is bounded N by the county
of Perth, NE by the counties of Clackmannan and Fife,
E by the Firth of Forth and Linlithgowshire, SE by
Linlithgowshire, S by Lanarkshire and the Kirkintilloch
detached portion of Dumbartonshire, and SW and W
by Dumbartonshire. Its shape is irregular, but the
greater part of it may be said to be compact, and
measures 27^ miles, from Grangemouth on the E to the
junction of Carter Burn with Endrick Water on the W,
and averages 13 miles from N to S at right angles to
this; and from this compact portion a long projection
passes up the NE side of Loch Lomond for 20 miles, 6^
miles wide at starting, and tapering to the head of
Glen Gyle. The extreme length of the county, from the
head of Glen Gyle south-eastward to Linlithgow
Bkidsb, is 45f miles; and the extreme breadth, from
the boundary line NE of Cauldhame south-westward to
the junction of the Allander and Kelvin is 24 miles.
The boundaries are largely natural. Beginning at the
NW corner, the boundary line follows the stream in
Glen Gyle down the glen to Loch Katrine (364 feet),
and then passes along the loch itself to Coalbarns, SE of
Stronachlachlar, whence it strikes straight west-south-
westward to Loch Arklet (463). From near the NE end
of this loch it passes south-south-eastward to the top of
Beinn Uaimhe, and thence south-eastward by the sum-
mits of Beinn Dubh (1675 feet) and Mulan an t' Sagairt
(1398) to Duehray Water at the entrance to Gleann
Dubh, 1| mile W of the W end of Loch Ard. From
this the boundary is Duehray Water, to a point f mile
below Duehray Castle, and thereafter the line winds
south-eastward till it reaches a tributary of Kelty Water,
3 mile WSW of Gaktmoee. It follows this stream
to the Kelty, then the Kelty to the Forth, and there-
after the last river to the junction of the Allan Water
with the Forth. Here it passes northward up the Allan,
along a tributary flowing from the NE, then turning
southward in a more or less irregular course reaches the
Forth, whence it follows the main channel of the river and
the firth all the way to the mouth of the river Avon. The
latter river separates the county from Linlithgowshire for
13J miles,upwards to the junction of the Drum tassie Burn,
which then forms the boundary to its source, and after
this the line passes westward to North Calder Water,
which it follows for 1 mile up to Black Loch. Crossing
this loch, it curves north-westward to the river Avon, |
mile below the great bend near Fannyside Loch, and
follows this river up to Jawcraig, whence it passes west-
ward to the Castlecary Burn, and follows this down-
wards to Bonny Water. Thereafter it keeps near the
Forth and Clyde Canal on the N side, along a small
stream that forms the head source of the Kelvin, and
then follows the Kelvin for 12J miles to the junction of
the Allander Water with the Kelvin. Leaving the
Allander near Dugaldston Loch it follows the Balder-
nock and Strathblane boundaries till it again reaches
the Allander a little SW of Mugdoek Castle, up which
and the Auldmurroch Burn it passes to Auchingree
Reservoir. From the reservoir it runs north-westward,
partly by Carnock Burn, to Carter Burn, follows this
downward to Endrick Water, and then the course of the
latter to Loch Lomond, where, curving outwards to
include the islands of Torrinch, Clairineh, Inchcailloch,
Inchfad, Inchruim, and Bucinch, it passes between
Inchlonaig (Dumbartonshire) and Strathcashell Point,
and then up the centre of the loch till opposite Island
Vow, 2 miles from the N end of the loch, where it turns
eastward to the summit of Beinn a' Choin (2524 feet),
and thence by Stob nan Eigrach (2011) to the stream in
Glen Gyle. In 1896, 119,478 acres in the county were
under crop, bare fallow, and grass, and 14,450 under
wood — an increase in the former case of 28,078 acres
within the last fifty years, and in the latter ease of 1467
in the same period. The mean summer and winter
temperatures differ but little from what (58° and 37°)
may be taken as those for the central Scottish counties;
1519