stirling-1963-vol-2/01_017

Transcription

No. 226 -- HOUSES OF THE 16TH TO 19TH CENTURIES -- No. 226

portions of the original structure (Fig. 112). The masonry
is of rubble drawn from a quarry on the N. bank of the
Arklet Water, which is marked on a contemporary site-
plan (Pl. 117). Nothing remains of the original W. wall
of the enclosure or of the SW. tower, the present farm-
house and a byre now occupying these parts of the site.
The line of the original approach-road is visible, how-
ever, as a slightly hollowed roadway running in an E.-W.
direction immediately to the W. of the byre and 53 ft.
N. of the SW. angle of the farmhouse. Substantial traces
also remain of the two barrack-blocks. Each was of three
storeys, and had a central staircase with a barrack-room
on either side on each floor; there were windows on the
courtyard side only, the outer walls being pierced by
loop-holes. Three sides of the N. block remain (Fig. 112,
Pl. 119A) and are incorporated in a sheep-pen: the N.
wall rises to a maximum height of 17 ft. 6 in. and contains
seven symetrically placed loop-holes which are splayed
both internally and externally and have sloping sills
(Pl. 119B). The doorway now seen in this wall is not an
original feature. The gables and stairwell are reduced in
height to a few courses and have been adapted for later
use, while the S. wall has been replaced by a later wall
which runs parallel to the site of the original one but a
little to the S. of it. The S. barrack-block has been
largely rebuilt and is now used as a barn, but the lower
portions of the N. and S. walls and of the W. gable
remain to a maximum height of 8 ft. Immediately to the
E. of the barrack-block the vents for the private soldiers'
latrines can be seen in the S. wall of the enclosure. Of the
E. wall of the Barracks, the footings remain along its
entire length and the original masonry is preserved to
a height of 8 ft. at the S. end. The S. wall of the NE.
tower rises to a height of 10 ft., but the N. wall has dis-
appeared completely, and of the W. and E. walls only
the foundations are visible. About 15 ft. SW. of the
tower is a well, now filled up, but plainly visible on the
ground as a circular outline of stones (Pl. 119C). The
well was supplied by an aqueduct fed from a small burn
50 yds. NE. of the Barrack. The aqueduct, which is
marked on a contemporary plan, ¹ is visible today for
about half its length as a channel in the turf about 3 ft. in
width and 2 ft. in depth.
NN 348096 28 April 1955
N ii ("Garrison of Inversnaid, Remains of")

HOUSES OF THE 16TH TO 19TH
CENTURIES

BURGHS

226. The Burgh of Stirling. The physical development
of Stirling has been largely governed by the topography
of the site on which it stands (Fig. 113). Here, as at
Edinburgh, a "crag-and-tail" formation was adapted for
defence by the placing of a castle on the highest point, or
"crag", and this left the comparatively gently downward
slope of the "tail" as the site for development of the
burgh. It also led to the alinement of the main street from
NW. to SE., but this tendency was modified by the fact
that Stirling occupied a key position on the main route
from north to south, which crossed the Forth by Stirling
Bridge (No. 455), three-quarters of a mile NE. of the
town, and then passed through the streets on its way
southwards. The earliest surviving town-plan, which
was drawn by John Laye in 1725 (Pl. 121), ² shows
clearly how both these factors helped to determine the
lay-out of the old town. On the one hand Laye shows a
plan laid out predominantly from NW. to SE., and
naturally alined upon the Castle (No. 192), to which the
burgh owed its origin, while on the other it brings out
the importance of the principal deviation from this
alinement. This is constituted by St. Mary's Wynd, un-
named by Laye, which descends towards the bridge and
gives entry to the town from the north. After climbing
to the top of St. Mary's Wynd, through traffic had to
descend almost the whole length of the burgh to its
SE. extremity before continuing on its way. The other
deviation, Friar Street, also unnamed by Laye but shown
by him as running N. from the lower end of "Neither
Wind", must also be of early origin, as it links the burgh
with a harbour on the Forth which was in existence as
early as the 12th century.
Of the other streets, the Market Place, now Broad
Street, was the most important in the burgh and con-
tained both the Tolbooth (No. 232) and the Mercat
Cross (No. 401). Parallel to it and a little to the S. there
is a street the upper portion of which Laye designates
"Flece market", the whole now being known as St.
John Street. The Market Place and St. John Street, with
the streets connecting them, form a rough quadrangle
dominated by the Parish Church (No. 131); and from
this upper core two parallel streets "Neither Wynd",
now Baker Street, and Back Row ³, which now forms the
lower part of St. John Street, together with Spittal
Street, descend to the SE. extremity of the town, and
converge at the site of the Meal Market (cf. No. 247) to
form what is now King Street. Laye's plan, though of
early 18th-century date, clearly preserves an arrange-
ment which goes back to mediaeval times, and probably
to the early days of the burgh. The town is shown as still
circumscribed by its 16th-century wall, and this indicates
that very little expansion took place before the 18th
century. The mediaeval boundaries were outgrown,
however, in the later part of the 18th and to a much
more considerable extent in the 19th century. John
Wood's survey, ⁴ made in 1820, shows that by that date
building had begun at the approaches to the town on
both the Falkirk and Airth roads, and also in the Allan
Park area. To the N. there was already considerable
development between St. Mary's Wynd and the Bridge
while plans were being made to by-pass the old town

1 National Library of Scotland MS. 1648, Z 3/11.
2 Ibid., 1645, Z 2/19.
3 For the probable origin of this name, see Dickinson, W. C.,
Early Records of the Burgh of Aberdeen, 1317, 1398-1407, S.H.S.,
xxix, n.5.
4 Wood's Town Atlas.

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