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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Stirling
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(39,000 in 1991)
University town and administrative centre of the Central *region of Scotland. Nature gave this site strategic importance, with its vast rock, sheer on two sides, guarding a crossing place over the Forth and thus the route north to the Highlands. The castle on the rock changed hands several times in the struggles between the English and the Scots which followed the invasion of *Edward I in 1296, and two major battles – *Stirling Bridge (1297) and *Bannockburn (1314) – were fought (and won by the Scots) for control of it. A colossal modern statue of *Robert the Bruce, the victor of Bannockburn, now dominates the esplanade up to the castle. The present buildings within the castle date from the 15–16C, when this was a royal residence of the *Stuart dynasty.
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This aspect of Stirling's importance dwindled after the *union of the crowns in 1603, but the settlement below the castle is itself a historic town. The old bridge (a stone structure over the Forth, now used only by pedestrians) dates from about 1400; the bridge in the battle of 1297 was of wood. The Church of the Holy Rude (rood, or crucifix) is a Gothic building of the 16C, in which the 9-month-old Mary was crowned Queen of Scots in 1543.
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