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Welcome to Stirling
The name Stirling is believed to come from "striveling" meaning "place of strife", which is perhaps a fitting name for a town which has borne witness to gory murders, long sieges and bloody battles. In part this is due to the fact that the castle at Stirling was the main royal residence for a period of about 300 years, a period marked by friction between the crown and the nobility. But more importantly, no other location was more pivotal in the Scottish "Wars of Independence", in the 13th and 14th centuries. Indeed, the history of Stirling at this crucial time goes hand in hand with the history of Scotland as a whole and, as a result, no other location is more important to the Scottish psyche. It is no accident that Stirling has proved so important: located in the heart of central Scotland, Stirling sits in the zone between the Rivers Forth and Clyde, at the only point in the Forth where the river could be safely forded and where bogs to the west made passage practically impossible throughout the middle ages. Thus, the domination of this zone allowed for control of large swathes of central Scotland and the potential for control of the kingdom itself. Anyone seeking to rule Scotland had to hold Stirling. Looming high above the river to the west, a rocky outcrop imposes itself on the landscape. The fortresses that would be built here would provide a seat for the guardians of this crucial strategic zone, and thus, securing this crag was of paramount importance to any who sought to wield power in early Scotland.
Wallace Monument overlooking Stirling
The importance of the crag, where Stirling Castle now stands, was recognised at least as early as the Iron Age (in Scotland dating from about 750 BC), to which the first evidence of settlement can be dated. It is believed that the first fortifications might have come when the Votadinii tribe were governing this area, perhaps from about the 1st century BC, although no archeological evidence has yet been found to confirm this hypothesis. One of Scotland's earliest historians, Hector Boece (1465 - 1536), asserts that the Romans raised fortifications on the rock, thereby displacing the celtic tribe, before they themselves were ousted from Scotland. The Picts were probably the next to control the rock, until 843, when the Scots' king, Kenneth MacAlpin (c.810-c.859), brought the Pictish kingdoms under his control. Later that century the new kingdom was invaded by Northumbrian Saxons who appear to have taken over the land south of the forth, and with it, Stirling. It is believed that within 20 years the Saxons returned these territories to the Scots on the condition that they help against the invading Danes. Despite all of the upheaval that occurred before the 10th century, this place of strife had yet to see its darkest days.
Stirling Castle
For any visitor with an interest in Scottish history, Stirling is a must. For any visitor interested in history, Stirling is merely fascinating. This relatively small quiet town: marked by the imposing battlements of the ancient fort and the striking Wallace Monument, on the far side of the meandering River Fourth, and with the dramatic backdrop of the Ochil Hills: impresses instantly with a feeling of reverence for a past which is at times murky, but never dreary. Stirling is haunted by countless ghosts: of men who exalted in the face of despotism, of tyrants who lived and died by the sword, and of those lofty bygone world views we can never fully appreciate today but have nonetheless played their part in the emergence of our own. The windswept panoramas of today's Stirling provide a setting where one can commune with these ghosts: where we can reflect on who we are, where we've come from and where we're going.
Related topics:
A Brief History of Scotland |
