stirling-1963-vol-1/05_050

Transcription

INTRODUCTION : GENERAL
troversy with the Abbey of Cambuskenneth which possessed privileges of a similar sort. ¹ The
direct sea-going trade was hampered by the fact that the burgh lay at the extreme tidal limit
of the Forth, with the result that large boats could not reach the town. In the 17th century,
at least, it is said that "the shallownesse of the river, with the windeings thereof, makeing the
way long, and not permitting a boat of burthen to passe up soe high, all goods are entred first
and cleered belowe at Burrostonesse [Bo'ness], and thence afterward carryed up in small
boates, as the merchant hath occasion for them". ² Apart from the merchant guild, which
controlled the affairs of the burgh, the incorporated trades were those of Hammermen,
Weavers, Tailors, Cordiners, Fleshers, Skinners, Baxters and Maltmen. The annual sum of
£16 sterling, for which the burgh was set in feu-ferme in 1386, ³ suggests that, in economic
importance at least, Stirling then ranked only with such burghs as Montrose and Haddington,
rather than with Aberdeen, Berwick, Perth and Edinburgh, ⁴ though feu-ferme payments
are not infallible criteria of burghal prosperity, and it is also possible that the recent
burning of the town (infra) may have led to a rather lower assessment for the purpose of
feu-ferme than would otherwise have been the case; but that the prosperity of the burgh had
increased by the end of the following century is demonstrated by the numbers of wealthy
burgesses who were in a position to contribute to the erection of a New Parish Church, and to
endow chapels within it (cf. p. 130). Thus in 1477 the burgesses numbered upwards of a
hundred and twenty, ⁵ although this figure would have to be multiplied by about six or seven ⁶
to arrive at an estimate of the total population of the burgh, ⁷ and the evidence of the stent rolls,
which now become available for the first time, indicate that in economic importance Stirling
then ranked about eighth or ninth among Scottish burghs. ⁸
In late mediaeval times the principal items of export are said to have been shalloon, worsted
cloth, stockings, thread and serge, the bulk of the trade being with the Low Countries. ⁹ A
return of 1692 states that the entire extent of the town's foreign trade was less than 20, 000
merks per annum and that there was no inland trade at all ¹⁰ ; this estimate of the rather limited
importance of Stirling as a trading centre in the 17th century is confirmed by The Statistical
Account of Scotland. ¹¹ In the 18th century, however, the manufacture of tartan and of carpets
was begun, and these industries developed in the 19th century; cotton and woollen goods
were also produced at this period and there was a considerable trade in leather. ¹²
It was not, in fact, to its function as a trading centre but to its connection with the Castle
that the burgh of Stirling owed its position in mediaeval times. The importance of Stirling
Castle as a seat of the Court, and as an occasional meeting-place of Parliament, inevitably
increased the prestige of the burgh, and encouraged the nobility and gentry to build houses
within it. From the reign of Alexander I, who died there in 1124, the Castle served as a Royal
residence from time to time (cf. pp. 179 ff.); James III and his successors made it a principal
seat, and most of the buildings within the Castle were completed within the century following

1 Ibid., e.g. No. XXXII.
2 Hume Brown, P., Early Travellers in Scotland, 168.
3 Stirling Charters, No. XVI.
4 Cf. Dickinson, W. C., Early Records of the Burgh of Aberdeen, S.H.S., 1xxv.
5 Stirling Council Records, i, App. I, No. 32.
6 Cf. Dickinson, op. cit., xlv, on Aberdeen.
7 Stirling Council Records, i, 59. Cf. also Dickinson, op. cit., xlvi f.
8 Records of the Conventions of the Royal Burghs of Scotland, i, 514 f., 518 ff.
9 Stat. Acct., viii (1793), 283; Nimmo, History (1880 ed.), 369.
10 Miscellany of the Scottish Burgh Records Society, 67.
11 Vol. viii (1793), 283.
12 N.S.A., viii (Stirlingshire), 430 f.

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