Stirling Castle on its wooded crag, above sheep grazing in the fields below.

The guide

Stirlingshire. Stirlingshire guide

A royal castle on its crag, the field of Bannockburn, the Kelpies and the Ochils above the Forth.

A Hidden Scotland guideStirling Castle on its wooded crag, above sheep grazing in the fields below.

The four parts of Stirlingshire

A map of Stirlingshire in relief, with its towns and villages and its four parts

Stirlingshire sits at the narrow waist of Scotland, where the Highlands meet the Lowlands and the River Forth loops its way out towards the sea. For centuries the easiest way north crossed the Forth at Stirling, and that is why so much of Scotland's story played out here. Stirling Castle keeps watch from its crag over the old town, the Wallace Monument rises from the wooded Abbey Craig across the river, and the field of Bannockburn lies just to the south. Stand on the castle ramparts on a clear day and you can see much of the country these places shaped, from the Ochil Hills to the first mountains of the Highlands.

Stirling, Bridge of Allan, Alloa and Dollar

Stirling and the Hillfoots

Stirling Castle stands on its crag above the old town's cobbled streets, with the Wallace Monument on the Abbey Craig across the river and Bruce's field at Bannockburn just to the south. East along the foot of the Ochils come the Hillfoot towns, the great tower at Alloa and Dollar, below Castle Campbell and its glen.

A castle crowns a wooded hill above fields of grazing sheep, framed by golden long grass in the foreground.

A tall square bell tower with lancet windows and battlements stands alone in a grassy churchyard, bare trees and a fence surrounding it.

Two black cast-iron cannons point out from a misty hilltop over a sprawling town of terraced streets below.

Dunblane, Doune and Deanston

Doune and the north

Doune Castle towers over the Teith, and just upstream Deanston makes its whisky in a cotton mill of 1785. Dunblane's old cathedral stands by the Allan Water, lions roam the safari park at Blair Drummond, and further west the Bracklinn Falls tumble through a wooded gorge above Callander.

A tall stone and brick mill building with rows of small windows rises above a lower red-brick extension, a road running past its base.

A long barn with a curved red roof stands in a frosted field, reeds growing along a ditch in the foreground.

A turreted sandstone mansion with rows of tall chimneys rises behind a lawn, garden chairs set along its terrace.

Kippen, Fintry and Killearn

Killearn and the west

West of Stirling the road runs along the flat Carse below the Gargunnock and Fintry hills, past Kippen to Fintry and the Carron Valley. Near Killearn, Glengoyne makes its whisky at the foot of Dumgoyne, and Finnich Glen is a deep, mossy gorge of red sandstone where the burn runs past the rock called the Devil's Pulpit.

A dark river winds beneath moss-covered rock overhangs in a narrow gorge, bare trees rising against a misty sky.

Ivy trails down a moss-covered rock face in a wooded gorge, a stream and further rock formations visible beyond.

A dark river winds beneath ivy-clad rock walls in a narrow wooded gorge, bare tree branches arching overhead.

Falkirk, Airth and Bo'ness

Falkirk and the south

Falkirk has the Kelpies, two giant steel horse heads beside the canal, and the Falkirk Wheel, the world's only rotating boat lift, which carries boats between two canals. Along the Forth near Airth, a stone pineapple crowns a garden pavilion, and at Bo'ness a small museum keeps film cars from James Bond's to Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

One of the towering steel horse-head sculptures known as the Kelpies rears against a dusk sky, steps leading down to the water below.

The curved white superstructure of a rotating boat lift rises beside a glass-domed visitor centre, both reflected in the still canal water, a pink narrowboat moored alongside.

A distinctive stone folly shaped like a giant pineapple crowns a walled garden building, frosted grass stretching in front.

The towering steel horse-head sculptures known as the Kelpies rear together against a dusk sky, water lapping at their base.

In their words

“I always love seeing the Kelpies and Stirling Castle as we drive towards Cromlix. That signals to me that we are getting close.”

Kim Murray
Runs Cromlix, the hotel near Dunblane she owns with Andy Murray

Read it in Kim & Andy Murray on Scotland, Cromlix, and their next chapter, Issue 10

Best known for.

Stirlingshire is known above all for its history. This is the country of William Wallace and Robert the Bruce, of the battles of Stirling Bridge and Bannockburn, and of Stirling Castle, where Mary, Queen of Scots was crowned and the young James VI grew up. It is known for its waterways too, from the great loops of the Forth to the canals of Falkirk, where the Falkirk Wheel lifts boats from one canal to the other and the Kelpies rise over the towpath. Add the Ochil Hills, a safari park, a distillery in an old cotton mill and a stone pineapple, and there is plenty to fill a week.

More about Stirlingshire

This is the country around Stirling, Falkirk and Clackmannanshire, with the hills and lochs of the Trossachs rising just to the north-west. Falkirk is where Scotland's two great canals meet, and where the Falkirk Wheel and the Kelpies stand a few miles apart. To the north, the old spa town of Bridge of Allan and the cathedral town of Dunblane sit at the foot of the hills, and Doune has a castle that film crews love. Across the Forth lies Clackmannanshire, the smallest historic county in Scotland, with a string of medieval tower houses and a wooded glen climbing into the Ochils from Dollar.

It is an easy part of Scotland to explore. Stirling is about half an hour from Glasgow by train and under an hour from Edinburgh, and most of what is here is a short drive from the city. That makes it a good base for a few days, with a castle in the morning, a canal walk in the afternoon and dinner in the coaching inn where Robert Burns once stayed. Come in September for Bloody Scotland, the crime-writing festival that fills Stirling's venues, or in summer for the Highland games at Bridge of Allan and Stirling. History is never far away here, and neither are the hills.

What would you like to look at?

The crow-stepped gables and corner turrets of a royal palace glow in evening light, a stone stair and older tower standing beside it.

See and doA royal castle, battlefields and the Kelpies

A cobbled street curves past a row of gabled townhouses towards the buttressed corner of a large church, bare trees standing at the junction.

Eat, drink and shopOld inns, cafés and coffee in the old townWhere to stay

A castle crowns a rocky hill above fields of grazing sheep, hazy hills visible in the distance.

History and storiesWallace, Bruce and the castle on the crossing

The curved white superstructure of a rotating boat lift arches over a canal basin and a stone aqueduct, a grass lawn in the foreground.

ItinerariesDays we have driven, stop by stop

A modern pedestrian bridge with angled mast-like white struts and glass balustrades stretches toward a distant town and hills.

Getting hereThe trains, the roads and the buses

One of the towering steel horse-head sculptures known as the Kelpies rears beside its twin against a dusk sky, reflected in the canal water.

What is on in StirlingshireSomething new from the region every day

What is on in Stirlingshire

Friday the 16th of October.

Sunrise 07:49, sunset 18:13.

Things you might not know.

Doune Castle was finished in 1380 by Robert Stewart, Duke of Albany, who went on to rule Scotland as king in all but name, and it has since starred in Monty Python, Game of Thrones and Outlander.

From Doune Castle and the Uncrowned King

In 1304 the English king refused to accept Stirling Castle's surrender until he had tried out Warwolf, a giant trebuchet that took five master carpenters and fifty workers over two months to build.

From The Siege of Stirling Castle

The wooden bridge at Stirling in 1297 was so narrow that only two horsemen could ride side by side, so Wallace and Moray waited until just enough of the English army had crossed before they attacked.

From A Tour of Historic Stirling

A distinctive stone folly shaped like a giant pineapple rises against a pale sky, arched windows set into its base.

The stone Pineapple near Airth was built by the Earl of Dunmore after he came home from Virginia, and since the Landmark Trust restored it in the 1970s you can sleep in the rooms beneath it.

From Who Built Scotland's Most Bizarre Building, and Why?

Castle Campbell, above Dollar Glen, was known as Castle Gloom until the Earl of Argyll asked the king for leave to change its name, and it stands between the Burn of Care and the Burn of Sorrow.

From Doom & Gloom at Castle Campbell

Two black cast-iron cannons point out from a grassy hilltop over a sprawling town below, mist obscuring the distant hills.

Mote Hill, beside Stirling Castle, was known as Heiding Hill, and its Beheading Stone saw the execution of Murdoch Stewart, Duke of Albany and cousin of the king, in 1425.

From The 900th Anniversary of Stirling

Read about Stirlingshire.

The journalA Tour of Historic Stirling

Issue 8The 900th Anniversary of Stirling

The journalDoune Castle and the Uncrowned King

The journalWho Built Scotland’s Most Bizarre Building, and Why?

Issue 10Kim & Andy Murray on Scotland, Cromlix, and their next chapter

The journalThe Siege of Stirling Castle

Photographs by Calum Mcgillivray and Makers via Google