Bridge of Allan
Bridge of Allan is a town in
Stirling council area in
Scotland, just north of the city of
Stirling. It was formerly administered by
Stirlingshire and
Central Regional Council.
The local people of the area, during the
Iron Age, were known as the
Maeatae and it was they who constructed a powerful
hillfort nearby. The early village consisted of seven small clachans; Bridge End, Kierfield, Old Lecropt, Pathfoot, Logie, Corntown and the Milne of Airthrey. The villages were very separate and the villagers lived in the small world of their own communities.
The site occupied by modern Bridge of Allan, stretches from the clachan of Logie across the
Allan Water to the
University of Stirling. It was first mentioned in a charter granted by
King David I. The charter was written in connection with a dispute between the nuns of
North Berwick and the monks at
Dunfermline Abbey over the tithes of
Airthrey and
Corntown. It is undated, but had been granted by 1146.
A hog's back, narrow, stone bridge was built to replace the old ford across the River Allan, in
1520. It rose sharply from the riverbank and dipped steeply at the other side. Soon after a few cottages began to appear around the ends of the bridge and an embryonic Bridge of Allan slowly formed. In the woods above the bridge a mine opened. This was worked from around
1550, and quantities of copper, silver and gold were extracted.
By the middle of the
seventeenth century the Airthrey Estate had passed to relatives of the
Marquess of Montrose, the Grahams.
James Graham rose for the king during the
English civil war, and in
1645, as the army of the
Duke of Argyll passed through the Airthrey estate on its way to the
battle of Kilsyth, they burned down the manor house.
The
Jacobites were in Bridge of Allan in 1745, where three hundred highlanders set up a roadblock on the bridge and charged a toll for its passage.
Major
Alexander Henderson, the Laird of Westerton, drew up plans of how he wanted the village to be laid out in 1850. The plan envisaged spacious streets with pleasure grounds in the woods. He also erected a fountain in Market Street. It was at this time that many handsome stone villas were built on wide thoroughfares, with practically every second house becoming a lodging house as Bridge of Allan became a renowned
spa town. Among the visitors was
Robert Louis Stevenson, who visited annually during his youth.
Sadly, in recent years, one of the town's former civic amenities, the Museum Hall, has been allowed to fall into disuse and considerable disrepair.
The first Sunday in August is usually the date for the
Strathallan Games. Founded in 1852 by Major Henderson, the games attract hundreds of athletes, pipe bands, and highland dancers.
There are two churches in the village, which face one another at the junction of Keir Street and Fountain Road. The Scottish Episcopal congregation meet at St Saviour's Church, founded in 1854. Facing St Saviour's, is Bridge of Allan Parish Church, the local Church of Scotland. This congregation was formed by the union of two Church of Scotland congregations in 2004, when Chalmers Church - located on the village's main street, Henderson Street - closed. Bridge of Allan Parish Church is notable for some its internal fittings, which were designed by
Charles Rennie Mackintosh.
*
Bridge of Allan Highland Games
