The whole of the district to the north of Loch Lomond is occupied by the crystalline schists of the Highlands, which, by the existence of a great fault, are connected on the east with the Old Red Sandstone, which occupies the broad valley between the base of the Highland hills and the chain of the Ochils. These latter heights, portions of which are included in detached areas of the county, consist of volcanic rocks associated with the Old Red Sandstone (see vol. x. p. 343). The Lennox Hills in the centre of the county are formed by volcanic rocks of Carbonifer ous age resting on strata of red and white sandstone (see vol. x. p. 346). The lower grounds are deeply buried under glacial drifts, and conspicuously marked by broad terraces that represent former sea-margins. On one of these, at a height of 50 feet above the present sea-level, lies the Carse of Falkirk. Another stands at an elevation of about 100 feet. There are saline mineral springs at Bridge of Allan.

The coalfield runs obliquely along the south-east of the county, the principal seams being in Denny, Kilsyth, Larbert, Falkirk, and Slamannan parishes. Ironstone, fireclay, and oil-shale are also found. Limestone is extensively wrought in the Campsie district, and there are a number of sandstone quarries in various parts of the county. The total output of coal in 1884 was 1,182,891 tons, of ironstone 75,351 tons, of fireclay 15,872, and of oil-shale 4535.

Agriculture.— According to the landowners return of 1872-73 the land was held by 4257 proprietors, possessing 284,751 acres, at an annual valuation of £521,407, an average value all over of £1,16s. 3¾d. Of the proprietors 3409 possessed less than one acre. The following possessed over 5000 acres each:—Duke of Montrose, 68,878; William Forbes, 13,041; Rear-admiral Sir William Edmonstone, 9778; Hon. Mrs. Margaret Lennox, 7606; Alex. Graham Speirs, 7172; W. C. G. Bontine, 6931; Lieutenant-Col. John Murray, 6813; Sir Alex. C. R. Gibson-Maitland, 6023; Henry Fletcher Campbell, 5679; and James Johnstone, 5340. The two arable soils of Stirlingshire are distinguished locally as carse and dryfield, the remainder of the county being occupied by mountain pasture land, moor, and moss. The Carse of Stirling extends along the banks of the Forth from Buchlyvie to the eastern extremity of the county,— a length of about 28 miles, with a breadth varying from 1 to 4 miles, the total area being about 30,000 acres. The carse soil consists of the finest clays, without stones, but interspersed with strata of marine shells. It has been partly reclaimed from superincumbent peat moss, of which there are still considerable areas adjoining it. It requires a great deal of labour, but, by means of draining, subsoil ploughing, and the use of lime, has been rendered one of the most fertile soils in Scotland, being specially well adapted for wheat and beans. The dryfield occupies the slopes of the hills above the carse and the valleys in the interior of the county, which constitute the more fertile portions, the crops for which it is best suited being potatoes and turnips. A great part of the dryfield has been reclaimed from moor within the present century. The Lennox Hills, occupying about a fourth of the total area of the county, form one of the most valuable tracts of pasture land in Scotland. The following table gives a classification of the holdings in 1875 and 1885 :— [table]

According to the agricultural returns for 1886, out of a total of 295,285 acres 115,477, or nearly 39 per cent., were arable land, the area under corn crops amounting to 29,306 acres, under green crops to 8752, rotation grasses 30,664, permanent pasture 45,232, flax 15 and fallow 1508. Oats, the principal corn crop, occupied 19,662 acres, wheat 2065 acres (a decrease of about one half within twenty years), barley 4297 acres, rye 30, beans 3221, and pease 31. Of green crops the principal are potatoes (3500 acres) and turnips (4623 acres). Considerably more than half of the arable area is occupied by rotation grasses and permanent pasture, and their acreage is constantly increasing, which is sufficiently accounted for by the steady increase in the numbers of sheep and cattle. The number of horses in 1886 was 4616, of which 3176 were used solely for purposes of agriculture, and 1440 were unbroken horses and mares kept solely for purposes of breeding. The Clydesdale breed are in general use on the larger farms. Cattle in 1886 numbered 29,422, of which 10,745 were cows and heifers in milk or in calf, and 8684 were other cattle two years old and above. Butter-making is largely practised on the dryfield farms, the Ayrshire being the principal breed of cows, but cattle-feeding is also an important industry, for which Irish cattle and cross breeds are frequently bought, a considerable number of shorthorns being also reared. Sheep, chiefly blackfaced, for which there is extensive pasturage on the Lennox Hills and the slopes of the Grampians, numbered 109,897 in 1886, and pigs 1775.

Though, as is evident from the remains of trees in the mosses, an extensive district of the county was at one time occupied by forest, it is now comparatively devoid of timber, the area under woods in 1881 being only 12,483 acres. There is a natural tendency to the growth of birch on the lower slopes of the mountains in the parishes of Buchanan and Drymen, and oaks grow extensively on the borders of Loch Lomond. Larch and Scotch firs principally occupy the modern plantations in the other parts of the county. In 1886 there were only 31 acres under orchards, 27 under market gardens, and 53 under nursery grounds.

Manufactures. — The Carron ironworks, founded in 1760, for a long time led the van in British iron manufacture, and are still among the most extensive in the kingdom. The Falkirk ironworks, founded in 1819, are the next to them in importance in the county, but there are many others in the same district. The woollen manufacture is next to iron in importance. It includes carpets, tartans, shawls, and tweeds, the principal seats of the industry being Alva, Bannockburn, Cambusbarron, and Stirling. Calico printing is carried on in the western part of the county, especially at Campsie and Milngavie. There are chemical works at Stirling, Falkirk, Denny, and Campsie. Throughout the county there are a considerable number of breweries and distilleries. At Grangemouth, the principal port in the county, shipbuilding is carried on.

Administration and Population.— Stirling is included with Dumbarton and Clackmannan in the same sheriffdom, but has two sheriff-substitutes, who sit at Stirling and Falkirk respectively, and there are prisons in both towns. The high court of justiciary holds circuit courts at Stirling. There are 21 entire civil parishes within the county and parts of 5 others, Stirling (population 12,194) is a royal and police burgh, Falkirk (13,170) a police burgh and burgh of regality, Kilsyth (5405) a police burgh and burgh of barony, and Alva (4961), Bridge of Allan (3005), Denny and Dunipace (4080), Grangemouth (4424), and Milngavie (2636) police burghs. In addition to these the following places had each upwards of 2000 inhabitants:

Bannockburn (2549), Lennoxtown (3249), and Stenhousemuir (2617). From 39,761 in 1765 the population of the county had by 1801 increased to 50,825, by 1831 to 72,621, by 1861 to 91,926, by 1871 to 98,176, and by 1881 to 112,443, of whom 56,147 were males and 56,296 were females. The number of persons to the square mile is 251, and in point of density Stirling ranks ninth among the counties of Scotland.

One member is returned to parliament by the county, and Stirling and Falkirk are members of separate districts of burghs, which are respectively named from them, each returning one member.

History.— In 81 a.d. the Romans under Agricola penetrated as far north as the firths of Clyde (Clota) and Forth (Bodotria). To secure their conquests they erected between these a line of forts or praesidia, generally two miles apart. In 139 Lollius Urbicus erected along the line of the forts the rampart of Antoninus’s wall, afterwards known as Graham’s dyke. The wall, after crossing the parish of East Kilpatrick, passed outside the present county of Stirling, till it reached Castlecary, whence it passed by Camelon and Falkirk to Carriden in Linlithgowshire. Castlecary, where many Roman remains have been found, was perhaps the principal Roman station on the line of the wall, and there was another important one at Camelon. A Roman road, the Camelon causeway, passed eastwards from Castlecary to the south of the rampart, and after two miles crossed it and held on to Camelon, whence it went northward by Bannockburn, St Ninians, and Stirling to the Forth, where there was an important station near the present bridge of Drip. Thence it passed north by Keir to Dunblane. To the north-east of the Carron ironworks there was at one time a finely-preserved circular Roman building, called Arthur’s Oon (oven) or Julius’s Hof, which was demolished in 1743, but of which a drawing is preserved in Camden’s Britannia. In the parish of Dunipace are two beautiful mounds called “the Hills of Dunipace,” which some have supposed to have been erected as monuments of peace between the Romans and Caledonians, but which are more probably of natural origin. Tho remains of what was supposed to have been an early British stronghold were discovered at Torwood in 1864. A group of cairns at Craigmaddie, near Milngavie, is supposed to mark the scene of a battle between the Picts and Danes. Among the remains of old feudal castles may be mentioned Graham’s castle, among the Fintry Hills, which belonged to Sir John de Graham, who was killed in the battle of Falkirk in 1298; Herbertshire, on the north bank of the Carron near Denny, originally a royal hunting seat, and still one of the finest embattled residences in the county (now a boarding school); the ancient keep of Castlecary, partly destroyed by the Highlanders in 1715; Torwood, surrounded by the remains of the Caledonian forest, in one of the oaks of which Wallace took refuge; and the round tower of Carnock, called Bruce’s castle, of unknown history. Sir William Wallace lived occasionally with his uncle, the parson of Dunipace, and the county is specially associated with his exploits and those of Robert Bruce, being the scene of some of the principal battles in the struggle for Scottish independence (Stirling bridge, September 10, 1297; Falkirk, July 22, 1298; Bannockburn, June 24, 1314). At Sauchieburn, 11th June 1488, James III. was defeated by his insurgent nobles, and during his flight, having stopped at a cottage in the village of Milton, was there stabbed to death. Kilsyth saw the defeat of the Covenanters by Montrose, 15th August 1645, a result which for a time laid Scotland at Montrose’s feet; and a hundred years afterwards—17th January 1746—the Highlanders under Prince Charles Edward routed the Hanoverians at Falkirk.

See Sir Robert Sibbald's Description of Stirlingshire, 1710; and Nimmo’s History of Stirlingshire, 1777 (MacGregor Stirling's edition is the best).

STIRLING, a royal and parliamentary burgh and the county town of Stirlingshire, is finely situated on the slopes of an isolated eminence overlooking the valley of the Forth and abruptly precipitous towards the north-west, at the junction of several railway lines, 36 miles west-north-west of Edinburgh and 30 north-north-east of Glasgow. Originally the town was protected on all the accessible sides of the rock by a wall, of which there are still some remains at the southern end of the Back Walk. There were two principal entries to the town,—the South Port, originally 100 yards more to the west of the present line of Port Street, and the bridge over the Forth to the north. The earliest bridge was at Kildean, a mile to the west; the existing old bridge, now disused, probably dates from about the end of the 13th century; the new bridge was erected in 1829, from the designs of Stevenson, at a cost of £17,000. The streets of the old town are for the most part steep, narrow, and irregular, and contain a large number of quaint and antique dwellings. The town has now much outgrown its ancient limits, and the surrounding suburbs on the low grounds contain numerous villas. The castle crowning the eminence, and commanding a splendid panoramic view of the wide valley between the Lennox Hills and the Highland mountains and Ochils, with the links of the Forth and the widening estuary to the east, is of unknown antiquity, but from the time that Alexander I. died within its walls in 1124 till James VI. ascended the throne of England it was intimately associated with the fortunes of the Scottish monarchs, and after the accession of the Stuarts it became a favourite royal residence. The building was extended by James III., who erected the parliament hall, now used as a barrack-room. The palace, begun by James V. and finished in the reign of Mary, is at the south-west of the fortress, and forms a quadrangle, the front and pillars of which are adorned by quaintly sculptured figures. The royal chapel founded by Alexander I., rebuilt in the 15th century, and again by James VI., was subsequently converted into an armoury and is now used as a store. To the west of it is the Douglas room, the scene of the treacherous murder of William, eighth earl of Douglas, by James II. in 1452. Below the castle on the north-east is the road of Ballangeich, which supplied a fictitious title to James V. when wandering in disguise. Beyond it is the Gowan or Gowlan Hill, at the west corner of which is Mote Hill or Heading Hill, where Murdoch, duke of Albany, and several of his relatives were beheaded in 1425. On the north-east side of the esplanade a statue of King Robert Bruce was erected in 1877. Below the castle rock to the south-west were the king’s gardens, now laid out in grass, with an octagonal mound, called the King’s Knot, in the centre. Farther south is the King’s Park, now used for recreation, and as a drill ground. In the cemetery to the south of the castle esplanade there are a number of interesting monuments. Near the main entrance to the esplanade is the building called Argyll’s Lodging, erected by the poet, Sir William Alexander, who was created earl of Stirling by Charles I. It passed into the possession of the Argylls in 1640, and was the headquarters of John, duke of Argyll, during the rebellion of 1715. South-west of it is Mar’s Work, the ruins of the palace built as a residence by the earl of Mar about 1570, from the ruins of Cambuskenneth Abbey. Next to the castle the most interesting public building is the Greyfriars church, some portions of which date from the 13th century, although the monastery with which it was connected was not founded till 1494. The greater part of it is in the Later Pointed style. The church was the scene of the coronation of James VI., 29th July 1567, when John Knox preached the coronation sermon. The site of the Dominican monastery founded by Alexander II. in 1223 is now occupied by the National Bank. In the immediate neighbourhood of Stirling, on the other side of the Forth, in Clackmannan county, is the beautiful ruin of Cambuskenneth Abbey, chiefly Early English or First Pointed, founded by David I. in 1147 for canons regular, associated with the meeting of parliaments and other interesting events in Scottish history, and the burial-place of James III. and his queen, Margaret of Denmark.

The principal secular buildings are the old town-house, erected in 1701; the new town buildings; the jail, erected in 1848 at a cost of £12,000; the county buildings (1875, £15,000); the Smith institute, founded by the bequest cf £22,000 and a valuable collection of paintings by Thomas Stewart Smith, and embracing a picture gallery, a museum, and a reading room; the public halls (1883, £12,000); and the high school (1855, £5000; now being extended at a cost of £8000). Among the benefactions are Cowane’s hospital, founded by the bequest of John Cowane, dean of guild in 1633, for twelve decayed members of the guildry, but the distribution of the charity has since been altered, and the building erected in 1639 now forms the guild hall; Spittal's hospital, founded by Robert Spittal, tailor to James IV., about 1530 for decayed tradesmen; Allan’s hospital, founded in 1725 for the maintenance of children of poor townsmen; and Cunningham’s mortification, founded in 1808 with an endowment of £4000 for the clothing and schooling of sons of mechanics. By the operation of the Endowed Schools and Hospitals Act the charities are now largely devoted to education.

As early as the 15th century Stirling had a trade with the Netherlands in worsted cloth, shalloons, stockings, and thread, but the manufactures afterwards declined. The cotton manufacture carried on in the beginning of the present century has now entirely ceased. During the last century the manufacture of tartans and carpets was carried on, but this also languished about the end of the century, and was not revived till about 1820. The woollen manufacture is now the staple industry, the principal goods being carpets, tartans, tweeds, and shawls. There are also breweries, coachbuilding works, and agricultural implement works. The population of the royal burgh in 1871 was 10,873, and in 1881 12,194. The population of the parliamentary burgh, which includes the village of St Ninians, in 1871 was 14,279, and in 1881 it was 16,001.

The town is of unknown antiquity, and undoubtedly owed its origin to the fortress on the rock, which became one of the most important strongholds in Scotland and the centre of the struggle between Scotland and England. As early as 1119 the town was a royal burgh, and under Alexander I. it became one of the four towns which constituted the Court of the Four Burghs, superseded under James III. by the Convention of Royal Burghs. Its earliest charter was that of Alexander II. in 1226, who first made the castle a royal residence. Its last governing charter was obtaiued from Charles I. in 1641. On account of a combination of three members of the council to retain themselves in office it was deprived of its corporate privileges in 1773, and they were not restored till 1781. The castle was held by William the Lion before 1174, was occupied by Edward I. with his army in 1296, and was burned with the town in 1298 by the Scots on their retreat from the battle of Falkirk. Between this time and 1341 it was frequently besieged and taken by the English, the longest period during which it remained in their hands being from its capture by Edward I. in 1304 till his son’s defeat 10 years afterwards at the battle of Bannockburn. It was the birthplace of James II. in 1430, and, it being the jointure house of his mother, he was removed to it in 1438 from Edinburgh to thwart the ambitious purposes of Sir William Crichton. It was in one of its rooms that James, as stated above, slew the earl of Douglas, after which the town was burned by the earl’s brothers. James V. took refuge in it after his escape from Falkland in 1528. During the reign of Mary and the period of the Reformation, Stirling occupied a position of almost as great prominence as during the wars of Scottish independence. Here the infant queen was crowned by the cardinal’s party in 1543; here her son, afterwards James VI., was baptized according to the Roman Catholic ritual, 17th December 1566; and here he was crowned by the leaders of the congregation on July 29th of the following year. In 1571 rival parliaments were held by the queen’s party in Edinburgh and the king’s lords at Stirling, shortly after which an attempt was made by the queen’s adherents to surprise Stirling castle, which was almost successful, the regent (Lennox) being slain in the fray. On the 26th April 1578 the castle was surprised by Morton, after which a reconciliation took place between the two parties. In 1584 the castle was occupied by the earls of Angus and Mar, the Protestant leaders, but on the approach of the king with a large force they fled to England. Returning with a formidable army collected in the south in the following year, they compelled James after the flight of Arran to open the gates to them, safety to his person having been guaranteed. The town was the scene of the baptism of Prince Henry with great pomp in August 1594, for which purpose the chapel royal was rebuilt on a larger scale “to entertain the great number of strangers expected.” The meetings of the privy council and court of session were held in 1637 at Stirling on account of the disturbed condition of Edinburgh, and a parliament was held at it in 1645, on account of Edinburgh having been visited by the plague, but the outbreak of the disorder in Stirling caused an adjournment to Perth. During the Civil War Stirling was held by the Covenanters, and the committees of church and state adjourned to it after the victory of Cromwell at Dunbar 3d September 1650. In August of the following year the castle was taken by General Monk. In 1715 it was held by Argyll to prevent the passage of the Forth by the Jacobites; and during the rebellion of 1745 it was unsuccessfully besieged by the Highlanders.

See History of the Chapel Royal of Stirling, Grampian Club, 1882; Local Notes and Queries relating to Stirling, 1883; Charters of Stirling, 1884; Burton, History of Scotland.

STIRLING, Earl of. See Alexander, Sir William, vol. i. p. 493.

STIRLING, James (1692-1770), mathematician, third son of Archibald Stirling of Garden, and grandson of Sir Archibald Stirling of Keir (Lord Garden, a lord of session), was born at Garden, Stirlingshire, in 1692. Part of his early education was probably obtained at Glasgow, but at eighteen years of age he went to Oxford, where, chiefly through the influence of the earl of Mar he was nominated (1711) one of Bishop Warner’s exhibitioners at Balliol. During his residence at Oxford he made for himself considerable reputation as a student of mathematics. In 1715, however, he was expelled on account of his correspondence with members of the Keir and Garden families, who were noted Jacobites, and had been accessory to the “Gathering of the Brig of Turk” in 17 08. From Oxford he made his way to Venice, where he occupied himself as a professor of mathematics. In 1717 appeared his Lineae Tertii Ordinis Newtonianae, sive .... (8vo, Oxford), which contained one or two notable additions to the theory. While in Venice, also, he communicated, through Sir Isaac Newton, to the Royal Society a paper entitled “Methodus Differentialis Newtoniana illustrata” (Phil. Trans., 1718, p. 1050; Abridg., vi. p. 428). Fearing assassination on account of having discovered a trade secret of the glass-makers of Venice, he returned with Newton’s help to London about the year 1725. In London he remained for ten years, being most part of the time connected with an academy in Tower Street, and devoting his leisure to mathematics and correspondence with eminent mathematicians. In 1730 his most important work was published, the Methodus Differentialis, sive Tractatus de Summatione et Interpolatione Serierum Infinitarum (4to, London), which, it must be noted, is something more than an expansion of the paper of 1718. In 1735 he communicated to the Royal Society a paper “On the Figure of the Earth, and on the Variation of the Force of Gravity at its Surface” (Phil. Trans., Abridg., viii. pp. 26-30). In the same year his worldly fortunes changed permanently for the better, through his appointment to be manager for the Scots Mining Company at Leadhills, an appointment which gave scope both to his scientific talents and to his great, though hitherto latent, administrative ability, and which was eminently fortunate for his employers. We are thus prepared to find that his next paper to the Royal Society was concerned, not with pure, but with applied science—“Description of a Machine to blow Fire by the Fall of Water” (Phil. Trans., 1745, p. 315; Abridg., ix. pp. 109, 110). His name is also connected with another practical undertaking since grown to vast dimensions. The accounts of the city of Glasgow show that the very first instalment of ten millions sterling spent in making Glasgow a seaport, viz., a sum of £28, 4s. 4d., was for a silver tea-kettle to be presented to “James Stirling, mathematician, for his service, pains, and trouble in surveying the river towards deepening it by locks.” This was in 1752. Stirling died in Edinburgh on 5th December 1770.

See W. Fraser, The Stirlings of Keir, and their Family Papers, Edinburgh, 1858; “Modem History of Leadhills,” in Gentleman’s Magazine, June 1853; Brewster, Memoirs of Sir Isaac Newton, ii. pp. 300, 307, 411, 516; J. Nicol, Vital Statistics of Glasgow, 1881-5, p. 70; Glasgow Herald, 5th August 1886.

Another edition of the Lineae Tertii Ordinis was published in Paris in 1797; another edition of the Methodus Differentialis in London in 1764; and a translation of the latter into English by Halliday in London in 1749. A considerable collection of literary remains, consisting of papers, letters, and two manuscript volumes of a treatise on weights and measures, are still preserved at Garden by Stirling’s great-grandson and namesake.