Stirling

The Railway

During the late 1840s the railways came to Stirling and probably did more than any other single development to create the town we know today. Fine new Victorian suburbs appeared as Glasgow merchants and businessmen moved into the town, happy to live in an attractive scenic area but now able to commute easily to work in the city. With their arrival, a greater sense of civic pride also developed. No great industrial magnate emerged to provide the town with civic amenities; it fell upon the town council and local ratepayers to erect the water reservoirs, schools, hospitals, bridges, court house, shopping arcade, public halls and other civic buildings of today.

Step by step the town developed. Stage coaches improved Stirling's links with the rest of Scotland, just as the industrial revolution was impacting on the area. Before long Stirling became a significant woollen-making town, powered by local streams. Neighbouring Bannockbum became a famed tartan weaving town, manufacturing around 90% of all tartan made in the world, thanks to mills established in the 1770s. In 1819 the Prince of Wales gave Stirling cloth a great boost by having a highland outfit made locally. more...