Stirlingshire | |
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 Coat of arms | |
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| Country | Scotland |
| County town | Stirling |
| Area | |
• Total | 447 sq mi (1,158 km2) |
| Ranked 21st of 34 | |
| Chapman code | STI |
Stirlingshire or theCounty of Stirling (Scottish Gaelic:Siorrachd Sruighlea[ˈʃirˠəxkˈs̪t̪ɾuʝlə]) is ahistoric county andregistration county ofScotland. Its county town isStirling.[1]
It bordersPerthshire to the north,Clackmannanshire to the east,West Lothian to the south-east,Lanarkshire to the south, andDunbartonshire to the south and south-west (this latter boundary is split in two owing to Dunbartonshire'sCumbernauldexclave).[2]
In 1130, Stirling, one of the principal royal strongholds of theKingdom of Scotland, was created aroyal burgh byKing David I.
On 11 September 1297, the forces ofAndrew Moray andWilliam Wallace defeated the combined English forces ofJohn de Warenne, 6th Earl of Surrey, andHugh de Cressingham near Stirling, on theRiver Forth, at theBattle of Stirling Bridge during theFirst War of Scottish Independence.
On 22 July 1298 theBattle of Falkirk saw the defeat ofWilliam Wallace by KingEdward I of England.
On 24 June 1314 theBattle of Bannockburn atBannockburn, (Blàr Allt a' Bhonnaich inScottish Gaelic) was a significant Scottish victory in theWars of Scottish Independence. It was one of the decisive battles of the First War of Scottish Independence.
On 11 June 1488 theBattle of Sauchieburn was fought at the side of Sauchie Burn, a stream about two miles south of Stirling.[3] The battle was fought between the followers of KingJames III of Scotland and a large group of rebellious Scottish nobles includingAlexander Home, 1st Lord Home, nominally led by the king's 15-year-old son,Prince James, Duke of Rothesay (reigned 1488–1513).
In 1645 theCovenanter army under GeneralWilliam Baillie formed near Banton for their engagement with the Royalist forces under the command ofMontrose at theBattle of Kilsyth,Kilsyth, on 15 August 1645; a major battle of theWars of the Three Kingdoms.
TheBattle of Falkirk Muir on 17 January 1746 saw the Jacobites underCharles Edward Stuart defeat a government army commanded by Lieutenant GeneralHenry Hawley.
Stirlingshire's origins as ashire (the area administered by asheriff) are obscure, but it seems to have been created during the reign ofDavid I (reigned 1124–1153), who had also made Stirling aburgh. The precise extent of the early shire is unknown; it is thought that it originally covered a relatively small area in the immediate vicinity of Stirling itself, but subsequently gained territory from neighbouring shires, notably fromWest Lothian to the south andDunbartonshire to the south-west.[4] The boundary withDunbartonshire in particular was altered several times. In the thirteenth century an area north-east ofLoch Lomond was transferred from Dunbartonshire to Stirlingshire, whilst the two parishes ofKirkintilloch andCumbernauld were transferred from Stirlingshire to Dunbartonshire, despite not adjoining the rest of Dunbartonshire. These changes were reversed in 1504, when Kirkintilloch and Cumbernauld were restored to Stirlingshire and the area north-east of Loch Lomond went back to Dunbartonshire, but the change was short-lived, being reverted again in 1509.[5]
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Commissioners of Supply were established in 1667 to act as the main administrative body for the shire. Elected county councils were established in 1890 under theLocal Government (Scotland) Act 1889, taking most of the functions of the commissioners (which were eventually abolished in 1930). The burgh of Stirling was deemed capable of managing its own affairs and so was excluded from the administrative area of the county council, although the county council still chose to base itself there.[6] Stirlingshire County Council held its first meeting on 22 May 1890 at theCounty Buildings (which also served as the sheriff court) on Barnton Street in Stirling, which had been built in 1875.[7][8]
The 1889 act also led to a review of boundaries, with severalexclaves being transferred to a county they actually bordered, and parishes which straddled more than one county being adjusted such that each parish was entirely in a single county. These changes saw Stirlingshire cedeMilngavie to Dunbartonshire,Alva to Clackmannanshire, and part of the parish ofLecropt to Perthshire. In return Stirlingshire gainedCambuskenneth from Clackmannanshire, the part ofKippen parish which had been in Perthshire, and all of an adjustedLogie parish (which had previously straddled Stirlingshire, Clackmannanshire and Perthshire).[9]
Until 1930 the county council met at the County Buildings.[10] Reforms in 1930 under theLocal Government (Scotland) Act 1929 saw the burgh of Stirling brought within the administrative area of the county council, and the county council take over the functions of the formerly separate Stirlingshire Education Authority. The education authority had bought the formerRoyal Infirmary building at 33 Spittal Street in Stirling in 1929 to use as its headquarters.[11] The county council moved its meeting place to Spittal Street in 1930, but still needed more office space for its staff. In 1931 the council bought a house calledViewforth on Pitt Terrace, where it built a large extension including a council chamber, which was completed in 1937. Viewforth then served as the county council's headquarters until its abolition in 1975.[12][13][14]
Stirlingshire was abolished for local government purposes in 1975 under theLocal Government (Scotland) Act 1973, which replaced Scotland's counties, burghs and landward districts with a two-tier structure of regions anddistricts. Most of Stirlingshire became part of theCentral region, while a smaller area aroundKilsyth went instead toStrathclyde region. At the district level, the county was divided between four districts, all of which also incorporated territory from other counties:Stirling district andFalkirk district in Central region andCumbernauld and Kilsyth district andStrathkelvin district in Strathclyde region.[15] AStirling and Falkirklieutenancy area was created covering the Stirling and Falkirk districts, and the lastLord Lieutenant of Stirlingshire became the firstLord Lieutenant of Stirling and Falkirk.[16]
Further local government reforms in 1996 saw the regions and districts created in 1975 abolished and replaced withcouncil areas providing all local government services. Since 1996 the area of the pre-1975 county of Stirlingshire has straddled the four council areas ofEast Dunbartonshire,Falkirk,North Lanarkshire, andStirling.[17]
The pre-1975 boundaries of Stirlingshire are still used for some limited official purposes connected with land registration, being aregistration county.[18]
Stirlingshire County Council was granted acoat of arms byLord Lyon King of Arms on 29 September 1890. The design of the arms commemorated the Scottish victory at theBattle of Bannockburn in the county.
On the silversaltire on blue ofSt Andrew was placed the rampant red lion from theroyal arms of Scotland. Around this were placed twocaltraps and two spur-rowels recalling the use of the weapons against the English cavalry.[19]
On the abolition of the county council in 1975, the arms were regranted to Stirling District Council. They were regranted a second time in 1996 to the present Stirling Council, with the addition of supporters (a goshawk and a wolf).
Stirlingshire occupies a strategic position on theForth-Clydeisthmus commanding the main overland routes fromGlasgow andEdinburgh up to central and northern Scotland.
The western 'arm' of the county is sparsely populated and dominated byLoch Lomond, which it shares withDunbartonshire, and theTrossachs (now anational park);Ben Lomond is located here and is the highest point in Stirlingshire at 974 metres (3,196 ft) and ninth highest peak in Scotland. Several islands within Loch Lomond belong to Stirlingshire, the chief of these beingEilean nan Deargannan,Bucinch,Ceardach,Inchcruin,Inchfad,Ellanderroch,Inchcailloch andClairinsh. On the north-eastern boundary with Perthshire a small portion ofLoch Katrine lies within Stirlingshire, and also the smallerLoch Arklet can be found here.
Central Stirlingshire contains theCarron Valley Reservoir and theCampsie Fells,Kilsyth Hills andGargunnock Hills, with the larger towns such as Lennoxtown and Kilsyth spread out along the southern border and A891/A803 roads. The south-western corner of the county aroundMilngavie (transferred to Dunbartonshire in 1891) abuts theGreater Glasgow conurbation and contains several small reservoirs and lochs, such as Burncrooks Reservoir, Kilmannan Reservoir, Carbeth Loch, Craigallian Loch, Dumbrock Loch, Mugdock Loch, Mugdock/Craigmaddie Reservoir and Bardowie Loch.
The area east of theM80 is generally much flatter and contains the bulk of the county's population, with theFirth of Forth providing access to theNorth Sea.
The bulk of Stirlingshire's motorway network lies in the eastern third of the county where the population is most concentrated; these include theM80 running north–south and connecting Stirling and Denny to Cumbernauld, and theM9 linking the eastern towns to Edinburgh. Various A roads form a circle around central Stirlingshire, with the rest of the county served by B roads.
Various ferries enable passengers to cross Loch Lomond in the far west, and theKincardine Bridge in the far east provides access to Fife and Clackmannanshire.
Only the eastern third of the county is connected by rail, althoughMilngavie railway station was in the far south-west of Stirlingshire when first built, being transferred to Dunbartonshire in 1891. The railways in the east connect the towns there to each other and on toEdinburgh,Glasgow,Cumbernauld andPerth.
The royal burgh of Stirling was administratively independent from the county council until 1930. In 1930 Stirling was brought into the administrative area of the county council, and Stirling and Falkirk were both designatedlarge burghs, giving them the power to run many (but not all) local government services. The remaining four burghs becamesmall burghs, with more limited powers.
In 2001, according to the website of theGeneral Register Office for Scotland, there were 871civil parishes.[21]
Civil parishes are still used for some statistical purposes, and separate census figures are published for them. As their areas have been largely unchanged since the 19th century this allows for comparison of population figures over an extended period of time.
Following the boundary changes caused by theLocal Government (Scotland) Act 1889, Stirlingshire contained the following civil parishes:
In 1894 parish councils were established for the civil parishes, replacing the previous parochial boards. The parish councils were abolished in 1930, after which the parishes had no administrative functions.
In 1930 the landward area of the county (the part outside the burghs) was divided into eightdistricts.[23] These districts were abolished in 1975.[24]
Some Stirlingshire towns listed in the Registers of Scotland, Land Register Counties.[1]
Following theAct of Union, Stirlingshire returned members to theHouse of Commons of theParliament of the United Kingdom from 1708.
In 1918 seats in the House of Commons were redistributed. Stirlingshire was thereafter represented by three members of parliament.
These boundaries continued in use until 1983, when new constituencies were formed based on the Local Government regions and districts created in 1975.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)Boundaries marked in red
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