Stirling
Stirling is a city in central Scotland, northeast of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The city is surrounded by rich farmland and had a royal citadel, the medieval old town with its merchants and tradesmen, the Old Bridge and the port are all linked in to its history. Situated on the River Forth, Stirling is the administrative centre for the Stirling council area, and is traditionally the county town and historic county of Stirlingshire. Stirling's key position as the lowest bridging point of the River Forth before it broadens towards the Firth of Forth made it a focal point for travel north or south. It has been said that "Stirling, like a huge brooch clasps Highlands and Lowlands together". The city's status as "Gateway to the Highlands" also historically lent it great strategic importance—the credo "he who holds Stirling, holds Scotland" is sometimes attributed to Robert the Bruce.
When Stirling was temporarily under Anglo-Saxon sway, according to a 9th-century legend, it was attacked by Danish invaders. The sound of a wolf roused a sentry, however, who alerted his garrison, which forced a Viking retreat. This led to the wolf being adopted as a symbol of the town as is shown on the 1511 Stirling Jug. The area is today known as Wolfcraig. Even today the wolf appears with a goshawk on the council's coat of arms along with the recently chosen motto: "Steadfast as the Rock".
Once the capital of Scotland, Stirling is visually dominated by Stirling Castle. Stirling also has a medieval parish church, the Church of the Holy Rude, where, on 29 July 1567, the infant James VI was anointed King of Scots by Adam Bothwell, the Bishop of Orkney, with the service concluding after a sermon by John Knox. The poet King was educated by George Buchanan and grew up in Stirling. He was later also crowned King of England and Ireland on 25 July 1603, bringing closer the countries of the United Kingdom. Modern Stirling is a centre for local government, higher education, tourism, retail, and industry. The mid-2012 census estimate for the population of the city is 36,440; the wider Stirling council area has a population of about 93,750.
One of the principal royal strongholds of the Kingdom of Scotland, Stirling was created a royal burgh by David I between 1124 and 1127. In 2002, as part of the Golden Jubilee celebrations, Stirling was granted city status. In the run up to 2024, it was decided to celebrate Stirling's 900th anniversary at the earliest point it could have happened, the coronation of DavidI.
Name(s) and toponymy
Stirling's name appears as Strivelin in early sources, later becoming Stirveling and finally Stirling. Its meaning, and even its language of origin, are a matter of debate. In 1930, J. B. Johnston's Place-Names of Scotland suggested a Brittonic origin, and the name was thought likely to be Brittonic by most commentators thereafter. However, in a comprehensive survey of the evidence in 2017, Thomas Owen Clancy showed that a Brittonic etymology is unlikely, and derived the name from Gaelic srib-linn, meaning "pool in the river".A geographical survey of Britain in the eighth-century Ecclesiastical History of the English People by Bede also mentions a place called urbs Giudi. Although its location is not certain, a 2023 study found that "Stirling is the location of urbs Giudi favoured by most scholars", and itself supported this identification. This name is thought to be Celtic. The ninth-century Historia Brittonum mentions a similar-looking battle-site called urbs Iudeu, which many scholars have assumed was the same as Bede's urbs Giudi, but this identification is uncertain.
History
Ancient history
A stone cist, found in Coneypark Nursery in 1879, is Stirling's oldest catalogued artefact. Bones from the cist were radiocarbon dated and found to be over four millennia old, originating within the date range 2152 to 2021 BC. Nicknamed Torbrex Tam, the man, whose bones were discovered by workmen, died while still in his twenties. Other Bronze Age finds near the city come from the area around Cambusbarron. It had been thought that the Randolphfield standing stones were more than 3000 years old but recent radiocarbon dating suggests they may date from the time of Bruce.The earliest known structures in Stirling are now destroyed but comprised two Neolithic Cursus in Bannockburn. To the south of Stirling is Gillies Hill which contains a series of prehistoric fortifications. Two structures are known: what is currently called Wallstale Dun on the southern end of Touchadam Craig, and Gillies Hill fort on the northwest end of the craig. Both structures were built by Iron Age peoples and Gillies Hill is c 2500 years old while the Wallstale structure is later and is related in form to brochs, these appear to coincide with the Roman period and there are around 40 or so in the wider area. South of the city, the King's Park prehistoric carvings can still be found, these date to c 3000 BC.
Roman and early Medieval
Its other notable geographic feature is its proximity to the lowest crossing point of the River Forth. Control of the bridge brought military advantage in times of unrest and excise duty, or pontage dues, in peacetime. Unsurprisingly excise men were installed in a covered booth in the centre of the bridge to collect tax from any entering the royal burgh with goods. Stirling remained the river's lowest reliable crossing point until the construction of the Alloa Swing Bridge between Throsk and Alloa in 1885.The city has two Latin mottoes, which appeared on the earliest burgh seal of which an impression of 1296 is on record. The first alludes to the story as recorded by Boece who relates that in 855 Scotland was invaded by two Northumbrian princes, Osbrecht and Ella. They united their forces with the Cumbrian Britons in order to defeat the Scots. Having secured Stirling castle, they built the first stone bridge over the Forth.
On the top they reportedly raised a crucifix with the inscription: "Anglos, a Scotis separat, crux ista remotis; Arma hic stant Bruti; stant Scoti hac sub cruce tuti." Bellenden translated this loosely as "I am free marche, as passengers may ken, To Scottis, to Britonis, and to Inglismen." It may be the stone cross was a tripoint for the three kingdom's borders or marches; the cross functioning both as a dividing territorial marker, and as a uniting witness stone like in the Bible story in Joshua 22. "Angles and Scots here demarked, By this cross kept apart. Brits and Scots armed stand near, By this cross stand safe here." This would make the cross on the centre of the first stone bridge the Heart of Scotland.
The Stirling seal has only the second part, in a slightly different form:
The Latin is apparently not first rate, as it has four syllables in "cruce tuti". However, the meaning seems to be that the Lowland Strathclyde Britons on the southern shore and the Highland Pictish Scots on the northern shore stand protected from each other by their common Christianity.
A more modern translation suggests that rather than Briton, bruit might be better read as brute, i.e. brute Scots, implying a non-Scots identity was retained in Stirling for some time after inclusion into the land controlled by the King of Scots.
The second motto is:
It has been claimed that the "Bridge" seal was regarded as the Burgh seal proper, the "Castle" seal being simply a reverse, used when the seal was affixed by a lace to a charter. This agrees with a description in an official publication. Clearer images are available with different lettering. Sibbald conflated the two mottos into a single rhyme; he gave no indication that he was aware of Boece's work.
Stirling was first declared a royal burgh by King David in the 12th century, with later charters reaffirmed by subsequent monarchs. A ferry, and later bridge, on the River Forth at Stirling brought wealth and strategic influence, as did its tidal port at Riverside. As Stirling's economy grew, a Royal Park was established as a landscape setting to the north of the castle in the 12th century. The short-lived New Park was established in the later 13th century and contains a cockshot wood, likely to have been used as a base in the Battle of Bannockburn. Major battles during the Wars of Scottish Independence took place at the Stirling Old Bridge in 1297 and at the nearby village of Bannockburn in 1314 involving Andrew Moray and William Wallace, and Robert the Bruce respectively. After the Battle of Stirling Bridge, Moray and Wallace wrote to Hanseatic League leaders in Lübeck and Hamburg to encourage trade between Scottish and German ports. There were also several Sieges of Stirling Castle in the conflict, notably in 1304.
Late Medieval and early Modern
Another important historical site in the area is the ruins of Cambuskenneth Abbey, the resting place of King James III of Scotland and his queen, Margaret of Denmark. The king died at the Battle of Sauchieburn by forces nominally led by his son and successor James IV. During the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, the Battle of Stirling also took place in the centre of Stirling on 12 September 1648. The fortifications continued to play a strategic military role during the 18th-century Jacobite risings. In 1715, the Earl of Mar failed to take control of the castle. In January 1746, the army of Bonnie Prince Charlie seized control of the town but failed to take the Castle. On their consequent retreat northwards, they blew up the church of St. Ninians where they had been storing munitions; only the tower survived and can be seen to this day. The castle and the church are shown on Blaeu's map of 1654 which was derived from Pont's earlier map.Standing near the castle, the Church of the Holy Rude is one of the town's most historically important buildings. Founded in 1129 it is the second oldest building in the city after Stirling castle. It was rebuilt in the 15th-century after Stirling suffered a catastrophic fire in 1405, and is reputed to be the only surviving church in the United Kingdom apart from Westminster Abbey to have held a coronation. The death of James V led to the Rough Wooing, a period where Henry VIII of England attempted to marry the infant Mary Queen of Scots to his son. Stirling responded by constructing a burgh wall to the south of town, which is among the best preserved in Scotland. Recent archaeological research has identified two new bastions or positions of strength on the wall and Stirling's last surviving medieval gate. On 29 July 1567 the infant son of Mary, Queen of Scots, was anointed James VI of Scotland in the church. James' bride, Anne of Denmark was crowned in the church at Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh. The Holy Rude congregation still meet and some 19th century parish records survive. Musket shot marks that may come from Cromwell's troops during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms are clearly visible on the tower and apse of the church. There are also musket scars on a gravestone in the cemetery indicating the troop movement to the castle.Economically, the city's port supported foreign trade, historically doing significant trade in the Low Countries, particularly with Bruges in Belgium and Veere in the Netherlands. In the 16th century there were so many Scots in Danzig in Prussia that they had their own church congregation and trade is mentioned with that city in Stirling Council's minutes of 1560. Around John Cowane's time there is an account which states there were about 30,000 Scots families living in Poland although that was possibly an exaggeration. Trade with the Baltic also took place such as a timber trade with Norway.
After the Jacobite threat had faded but before the railways were established, the Highland cattle drovers would use the Auld Brig on their way to market at Falkirk or Stenhousemuir. Three times a year, tens of thousands of cattle, sheep and ponies were moved together to the trysts in the south with some drovers going as far as Carlisle or even London's Smithfield. There is a record of a four-mile long tailback developing from St. Ninians to Bridge of Allan after a St. Ninians tollman had a dispute.