stirling-1963-vol-1/05_089

Transcription

INTRODUCTION : THE MIDDLE AGES AND LATER
itself gave access to Loch Lomond and the western Highlands, and the second from Glasgow
by Kilsyth and Carron Bridge (No. 511). From the south came a route along the line of the
Roman road (pp. 115 f.), connecting in turn with the Edinburgh road at Falkirk; while the
record of an old bridge at Denny (No. 479) agrees with Edgar's map in indicating that other
north-south traffic crossed the Carron there. Falkirk, too, was evidently a meeting-place of
roads; in 1723 four roads from Falkirk, leading respectively to Airth, Bo'ness, Linlithgow and
the Kirk of Shotts, are on record ¹ in addition to the one to Stirling that has just been mentioned.
Roy's plan of the Antonine Wall ² shows quite a network of roads and lanes round Falkirk in
or soon after 1755, including and Edinburgh-Stirling highway with a bridge over the Carron at
Larbert. A main route from east to west by the Midland Valley must have existed from early
times, and this would have passed through Falkirk; its existence as early as 1298 seems to be
implied by the movement of the English army from Linlithgow. Another east-west route of
1723 was the "muir road" from Linlithgow Bridge to Glasgow, which crossed the Avon at
Dalquhairn and passed south of Black Loch. ³ The roads that made use of the Endrick-Carron
gap are discussed on pp. 431 f., and further roads are marked by Roy in the Strathblane gap ⁴
and between Drymen and Glasgow along the line of A 809. By the end of the 18th century this
part of the county was well provided with roads, including some turnpikes. ⁵ A route from
Kippen to Glasgow is described under No. 516, and under No. 524 attention us drawn to the
importance of the Fords of Frew as a crossing of the Forth alternative to Stirling Bridge.

DROVE ROADS ⁶ AND TRYSTS
The cattle-market that came to be known as Falkirk Tryst was originally held on Reddingrig
Muir and Whitesiderig Muir (No. 535), south-east of Falkirk; it seems to have dated
from the years immediately following the Union of 1707, and it finally replaced the older
Crieff Tryst after 1770. About 1772, after the division of the commonties in question, the
Tryst was moved to Rough Castle, ⁷ near Bonnybridge, a few miles further to the west; but
in 1785 it was again moved, this time to Stenhousemuir (No. 534), in Larbert parish, where it
remained until the extinction of the droving trade at the end of the 19th century. Several
important droving routes consequently pass through the county on their way to Falkirk - two,
which coalesce on the Endrick Water, from Argyll, and two others, from the northern and
north-western Highlands respectively. These routes have been discussed very fully by Dr.
Haldane, ⁸ and it is consequently unnecessary here to give more than their general lines.
The first of the western routes crossed over from Glen Fyne to Glen Falloch at the head
of Loch Lomond, entered Stirlingshire by Glen Gyle, flanked the south side of Loch Katrine,
and reached the Endrick valley at Balfron by way of Aberfoyle and Gartmore. No actual
remains have been found in the course of this survey, but the tradition of cattle-thieves at work

1 Geogr. Collections, i, 317 f., 329 f.
2 Military Antiquities, pl. xxxv.
3 Geogr. Collections, i, 317 f.
4 Cf.also Stat. Acct., xv (1795), 351.
5 Ibid., 276, 350 ff.
6 The historical matter contained in this section has been taken from Haldane, A. R. B., The Drove Roads of Scotland, pp. 83,
99 ff., 113 f., 138 f., 153. This work embodies a map of all the main drove roads, and quotes original authorities.
7 History, 457. Edgar's map, published with Nimmo's work, shows the tryst-ground as still on Redding Muir", but this is
probably a point on which his original survey, made in 1745, had not been brought up to date.
8 Op. cit. See also Cregeen, "Recollections", 152 ff.

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