Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
platform looking out over the Old Town rooftops and a box o
ce where you can find
out about the centre's programme (see p.285).
Mercat Cross and Darnley's House
On Broad Street, the town's former marketplace, the various historical buildings and
monuments include the stone
Mercat Cross
(the unicorn on top is known, inexplicably,
as “the puggy”) and
Darnley's House
, where Mary, Queen of Scots' husband is believed
to have lodged while she lorded it up in the castle; it now houses a reasonable coffee
shop (see p.284).
The Lower Town and around
In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, as the threat of attack on Stirling decreased,
the centre of commercial life crept down towards the River Forth, with the modern
town growing on the edge of the plain over which the castle stands guard. By the time
the two main streets of the Old Town merge into King Street, austere Victorian facades
block the sun from the cobbled road. he fifteenth-century
Old Bridge
over the Forth
lies to the north on the edge of the town centre. Although once the most important
river crossing in Scotland it now stands virtually forgotten, an incidental reminder of
Stirling's former importance.
7
Smith Art Gallery and Museum
Dumbarton Rd • Tues-Sat 10.30am-5pm, Sun 2-5pm • Free •
T
01786 471917,
W
smithartgalleryandmuseum.co.uk
he
Smith Art Gallery and Museum
sits near the edge of town near the King's Knot.
Founded in 1874 with a legacy from local painter and collector homas Stuart
Smith, it houses he Stirling Story, a reasonably entertaining whirl through the
history of the town, that balances the stories of kings and queens with more social
and domestic history. Among the exhibits is the world's oldest known football,
made out of a pig's bladder; found in the rafters of the Queen's Chamber in the
castle, it is thought to date from the 1540s. he small art gallery includes changing
displays of mostly local arts and crafts, contemporary art and photography, and
there's a pleasant café.
The National Wallace Monument
1.5 miles north of the Old Town • Daily: April-June & Sept-Oct 10am-5pm • July & Aug 10am-6pm • Nov-March 10.30am-4pm • £8.50
•
W
nationalwallacemonument.com • Various local buses including First's #63
A mile and a half north of the Old Town, the prominent
National Wallace Monument
is a freestanding, five-storey tower built in the 1860s as a tribute to Sir William
Wallace, the freedom fighter who led Scottish resistance to Edward I, the “Hammer of
the Scots”, in the late thirteenth century. he crag on which the monument is set was
the scene of Wallace's greatest victory, when he sent his troops charging down the
hillside onto the plain to defeat the English at the Battle of Stirling Bridge in 1297.
An audio-tour handset (free) leads you round inside the tower, where you can find
Wallace's long steel sword and the Hall of (Scottish) Heroes, a row of stern white
marble busts featuring John Knox and Adam Smith. If you can manage the climb -
up 246 spiral steps - to the top of the 220ft tower, you'll be rewarded with superb
views across to Fife and Ben Lomond.
ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE
STIRLING
By train
The train station
is
near
the centre of town on
Station Rd, a 2min walk from the bus station.
Destinations
Aberdeen (hourly; 2hr 5min); Dundee
(hourly; 55min); Edinburgh (every 30min; 1hr); Falkirk
(every 30min; 30min); Glasgow Queen Street (every
20min; 25-40min); Inverness (3-5 daily; 2hr 55min);
Perth (hourly; 30min).
By bus
The bus station is on Goosecroft Rd.
