STIRLINGSHIRE, a county in Scotland, situated between 55° 55', and 56° 17' north latitude, and between 3° 17', and 4° 40' west longitude, on the isthmus between the Friths of Forth and Clyde. It has the counties of Perth and Clackmannan on the north, the Frith of Forth and Linlithgowshire on the east, Lanarkshire on the south, and Dunbartonshire on the south-west and west; and, extending from 12 to 17 miles from north to south, and about 35 from west to east, contains 645 square miles, or 412,800 English acres; divided into 21 entire parishes, with portions of other four, which partly belong to the adjoining counties. The river and Frith of Forth is, for the most part, the boundary on the north, though one entire parish, and parts of other two are on the north side of that river; on the
west it includes part of Lochlomond, and a narrow neck runs out on the north-west, the east side of which touches Loch Katrine. Like many other of the Scottish counties, it is of a very irregular form, yet most of its outline is well defined. Besides the Forth on the north and north-east, the Avon marks its separation from Linlithgowshire, on the east and north-east; the Kelvin flows along a great part of the southern boundary; and the Endric, before entering Lochlomond, divides it for some distance from Dunbartonshire on the west.
About two-thirds of Stirlingshire consist of hills Surface. unfit for cultivation, but affording good pasturage for sheep; being chiefly covered with green herbage, though sometimes intermixed with heath. The principal tract of this description, called the Lennox Hills, runs across the county, from Dunbartonshire on the west, to the town of Stirling on the north, but it seldom presents an elevation of more than 1500 feet. In other quarters, however, the elevation is greater; Benlomond, on the north-west, on the banks of Lochlomond, being 3262 feet high; and Benloch, in the parish of Alva, on the north side of the Forth, upwards of 2400 feet. On the north, and still more on the east of the Lennox Hills, the country is low; the summit level of the Forth and Clyde Canal, which passes through the south-eastern side, being only about 162 feet above the sea, and much of the land along the Forth is a very rich plain, only a few feet higher than the water. Towards the western and southern extremities the surface is more varied, presenting tracts of heath, moss, and green pastures, intermixed with cultivated land; the latter confined, for the most part, to the banks of the streams.
Stirlingshire has every variety of soil common in Soil. Scotland; but that for which it is chiefly distinguished in this respect is the alluvial or carse land on the Forth; which is computed to extend to about 40,000 English acres within this county, and twice as much more in the adjoining counties of Perth, Clackmannan, and Linlithgow, or, in all, to about 200 square miles; certainly by far the richest tract in Scotland. It consists of the finest particles of earth, without stones; in point of friability approaching to the character of loam; in some places 30 feet deep, and seldom more than 25 feet above the level of the sea at high water; and contains beds of shells, moss, and clay marl. In one instance, at the depth of 19 feet, there have been found in a stratum of moss the roots of large trees, deer's horns, and bones, while the superior strata were composed entirely of fine earth.
Coal, limestone, ironstone, and sandstone, abound Minerals. in this county. Coal has not been found to the north and west of the Lennox Hills, but prevails very generally along their southern base, from Baldernock on the west to Denny and St Ninian's on the east; and generally throughout all the eastern quarter, on both sides of the Forth and Clyde Canal. By means of the Union Canal carried from the city of Edinburgh to the Forth and Clyde near Falkirk (see EDINBURGHSHIRE in this Supplement), these extensive coal-fields have been rendered of easy access to the metropolis, which already receives large supplies of coal from that quarter at little more than two-thirds of the price which the inhabitants formerly paid for this neces-
Stirlingshire. sary article. Limestone abounds in the same quarters with the coal, and in many instances there is one stratum of it above, and another below the coal, the former always of the best quality. Sandstone also frequently accompanies both, though it is found in other parts. At Kilsyth there is a quarry of white sandstone, which takes a fine polish, and has been often used in ornamental work. Ironstone is in great abundance throughout the coal district, and is wrought in several places to a considerable extent, chiefly for the use of the Carron works. It is also found in the parish of Kilsyth, in balls from a quarter of an inch to a foot in diameter, which are richer in metal than the common stone. Copper has not been discovered in veins so rich as to encourage their working, though mines were formerly opened at one or two places. Veins of silver were discovered, about sixty years ago, in the parishes of Logie and Alva, on the northern extremity of the county, and for a few weeks the working was very successful, but was soon abandoned. Cobalt was found in the same quarter. There are indications of other minerals in different parts of the county.
Rivers. Besides the Forth, the Avon, the Kelvin, and the Endric, already mentioned, which, though having their sources in Stirlingshire, soon cease to belong to it exclusively, flowing for the most part on its boundaries, this district is well supplied with other streams, which traverse its interior. The Forth, however, is by far the most important. It rises from a spring on the northern side, and near the summit of Benlomond; after a course of eight or ten miles, under the name of the Water of Duchray, it passes into Perthshire, where it is called Avendore, or Black River; and soon after, on returning to the borders of this county, obtains the name of the Forth. A few miles above Stirling it receives the Teith, and afterwards the Allan, from the north, and Bannockburn from the south. The tide, which flows a little above Stirling, renders it navigable to that town for vessels of 70 tons. Below Stirling the river winds in a remarkable manner across its valley, making so little progress, that, following its course to Alloa, the distance is about twenty miles, while in a direct line it is scarcely seven. These windings are called the Links of the Forth. Below Alloa it receives the Devon from the north-east, and soon after expands into the large estuary called the Frith of Forth, which washes the north-eastern side of the county till it meets with Linlithgowshire, a little to the south of Grangemouth. Next in importance, and the only other stream worthy of particular notice, is the Carron, which, rising in the interior, pursues an easterly course, and joins the Frith of Forth at Grangemouth. It is navigable for vessels of 200 tons, as far as the village of Carron Shore, the shipping place of the Carron Company, nearly two miles from its confluence with the Forth. Besides Lochlomond, of which the greater part is in Dunbartonshire, several small pieces of water occur in different parts, none of them remarkable. Salmon are caught in the Forth, and also in Lochlomond, and, some years ago, afforded a revenue of L. 1200 or L. 1400 a year to the town of Stirling; but they are not now so numerous as formerly.
The valued rent of Stirlingshire is L. 108,509, 3s. Stirlingshire. 3d. Scots, and the real rent of the lands and houses in 1812 was L. 207,236, 8s. 6d. Sterling. In 1811, the number of estates was 147; of which 109 were below L. 500 Scots, and only nine above L. 2000 of valuation, thus indicating that the landed property was much divided; and not a fourth of the whole was entailed, a smaller proportion than in most parts of Scotland. The Estates. estates of the Duke of Montrose, Lord Dundas, Sir Charles Edmondstone, and Mr Forbes of Calendar, the principal proprietors, were then rented at from L. 8000 to L. 14,000, and several others were worth from L. 1000 to L. 4000 a year; but the greater number were below L. 1000. Some of the proprietors have increased the value of their estates by means of embankments on the Frith of Forth. Several hundred acres, much of it worth a rent of L. 5 an acre, have thus been reclaimed and brought into cultivation, and a great deal more may be gained in the same manner. All the small proprietors, and most of the great ones, reside upon their estates; and several of the latter occupy considerable farms of their own, which they have improved, and continue to cultivate in a very judicious manner. There is, accordingly, a great number of seats over all the lower parts of the county. Before the Union between England and Scotland, considerable tracts were granted to the retainers and dependents, or the tenants of the principal proprietors and their heirs for ever; subject only to the payment of the rent of those times, which is now very trifling. These are called fenars or portioners, and, in some parishes, form a pretty numerous class. Their houses and fields still present a tolerably faithful picture of the rural economy of Scotland a century and a half ago.
There is a good deal of both natural and planted Woodlands. wood in Stirlingshire, and much of the former, in the state of coppice, has long yielded a regular income to the proprietors, little if at all inferior to the average rent of the arable land. Of oak coppice alone the extent is near 4000 English acres, of which more than two-thirds belong to the Duke of Montrose, growing near his seat of Buchanan, on the western extremity of the county. The Buchanan woods seem to be under very regular management, being divided into twenty-four hags or portions, of which one is cut every year. A few years ago, this produced from L. 16 to L. 24 the Scots acre, after leaving a number of reserves to stand for timber. Every acre gives at a medium about one ton and a half of bark, which, during the late war, sold at L. 18; and the small timber generally pays expences. Much of the land on which this wood grows is of little value for any other purpose; not worth half-a-crown an acre. On the same estate, and also in other parts of the county, extensive plantations have been made within the last fifty years.
The mountainous parts of Stirlingshire are occupied with sheep of the black-faced or heath breed, and the lower hills by Highland cattle; and there the farms are necessarily of considerable extent. The arable land, however, is for the most part divided into small farms, especially the Carse lands on the Forth, where the general size does not exceed 50 or 60 acres. The rotation of crops, accordingly, as well as the Crops.
Stirlingshire. general management, is seldom so good as on the Carse of Gowrie, a similar tract on the banks of the Tay in Perthshire, or in the border counties of Scotland. Yet very great crops of wheat and beans, and the other kinds of grain, are obtained from this naturally rich soil, which in many parts affords a rent of L. 4 and upwards the English acre. But besides a money rent, it is still not uncommon to exact poultry, carriages, &c. from the tenants; burdens which, though once general, are now almost unknown in those districts where an improved system has made the greatest progress. The land on the banks of the Forth is exceedingly well adapted for orchards, of which there are a few, but of no great extent. The island of Inchmurrin, in Lochlomond, the property of the Duke of Montrose, has been stocked with fallow deer for more than a century, the number about 240, which are properly attended to, and kept always in a thriving condition. Goats, about fifty years ago, were an important article in the western district near Lochlomond, much of the rent being then paid in kids and goat milk cheese; but they are now almost extinct.
Deer.
Manufactures.
Carron Works.
The manufactures are carpets and other coarse woollens in the town of Stirling; paper, cottons, alum, copperas, soda, Prussian blue, &c. on an extensive scale near Campsie on the south-west quarter; spirits at several large distilleries, and iron goods at Carron. The Carron Works, celebrated all over Europe, were established upon the banks of the river of that name about sixty years ago, by Dr Roebuck and Messrs Caddel and Garbet, who were joined in the undertaking by several other gentlemen. By the charter of the company, they are authorized to employ a capital of L. 150,000, which is divided into 600 shares, and ten of these are required to give a vote in the management. During the late war they employed upwards of 2000 able bodied men, and paid in wages above L. 120,000 yearly. At these works all sorts of cast-iron goods are made, and also bar iron, said to be equal to the Russian; but particularly cannon and that kind called Carronades, which having been invented here, take their name from the works. The boring of the cannon is a very interesting operation, which is performed in about forty-eight hours by machinery moved by water. One of their engines raises upwards of 30 tons of water in a minute; and so extensive are the works, that they are said to consume every day about 200 tons of coals. They have water carriage from the Frith of Forth by means of the Carron, and to the Frith of Clyde by the Forth and Clyde Canal, which passes through the district, a little to the south of the Carron.
Commerce.
Notwithstanding the favourable situation of Stirlingshire, on a navigable river, and between the east and west seas, which for thirty years have been connected by a Canal, it has but a small town population, and till lately, its commerce was inconsiderable. Even now half its exports, not including its agricultural produce, is supposed to be furnished by the Carron works. The principal town is Stirling,
containing, in 1821, 7113 inhabitants; a place of great antiquity, which, though situated on the navigable part of the Forth, has little trade by water, and is chiefly indebted for its importance to its situation on the confines of the Highlands. Falkirk, on the eastern side of the county, a little to the south of the Forth and Clyde Canal, had a population in 1821 of 11,536, and is distinguished for its great fairs or trysts which are held in August, September, and October; where cattle, sheep, and horses, are brought for sale, to the value of almost half a million Sterling. Grangemouth, founded by Sir Lawrence Dundas, in 1777, on the angle formed by the junction of the Carron and the Forth and Clyde Canal, is now a considerable village, and the principal sea-port of the county: its trade is chiefly with the north of Europe, and along the east coast. It has a custom-house, a dry-dock, and other necessary works. The depth of water in the harbour is generally in spring-tides from 16 to 18 feet, and in neap-tides from 10 to 12. In 1810, the shipping of this port exceeded 60,000 tons. The only other town is Kilsyth, on the borders of Lanarkshire. On the east side there are a number of small villages, occupied partly by agricultural labourers and mechanics, and partly by weavers employed by the Glasgow manufacturers.
The county, which, in 1822, had 118 freeholders, sends one member to Parliament; and Stirling, its only royal burgh, is associated with Culross, Dunfermline, Inverkeithing, and Queensferry, in the elections for the Scottish burghs. A poor-rate is levied here only in a few parishes; the poor being chiefly supported, as in most parts of Scotland, by voluntary contributions.
Stirlingshire exhibits remains highly interesting to the antiquary, and has been the scene of some of the most remarkable events in Scottish history. The Roman Wall, called the Wall of Antoninus, and vulgarly Græme's Dyke, which traversed this county, may still be traced in several places. The battle of Bannockburn, which secured the independence of Scotland, was fought on 24th June 1314, about three miles south from Stirling, where a stone is still shown in which the royal standard is said to have been fixed. The eastern side of the county was the scene of many other battles between the Scots and English; but these belong to the history of Scotland, and have been noticed under that head in the Encyclopædia. We may also refer on this point to Roy's Military Antiquities and Chalmers's Caledonia.
The population of Stirlingshire, according to the census of 1801, was 50,825; in 1811 it amounted to 58,174; and in 1821 to 65,376; of which 31,718 were males, and 33,658 females. The families employed in agriculture were 2600; in trade and manufactures 6641; in all other occupations 4492. The increase of population from 1811 to 1821 was 7202.
See the general works quoted under the former Scottish counties, and Dr Graham's View of the Agriculture of Stirlingshire. (A.)