Bannockburn () is an area immediately south of the centre of
Stirling
Stirling (; ; ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in Central Belt, central Scotland, northeast of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The market town#Scotland, market town, surrounded by rich farmland, grew up connecting the roya ...
in
Scotland
Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
. It is part of the City of Stirling. It is named after the
Bannock Burn, a
stream
A stream is a continuous body of water, body of surface water Current (stream), flowing within the stream bed, bed and bank (geography), banks of a channel (geography), channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a strea ...
running through the town before flowing into the
River Forth
The River Forth is a major river in central Scotland, long, which drains into the North Sea on the east coast of the country. Its drainage basin covers much of Stirlingshire in Scotland's Central Belt. The Scottish Gaelic, Gaelic name for the ...
.
History
Land in the vicinity of Bannockburn town, probably between the Pelstream and Bannock burns (hence Bannockburn), was the site of the
Battle of Bannockburn fought in 1314—one of the pivotal battles of the 13th/14th century
Wars of Independence between the kingdoms of
Scotland
Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
and
England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
.
A large monument and visitor centre is located near the site of the battle. In previous generations tourists came to visit the site and look at the Borestone.
The dignity of the barony of Bannockburn is currently held by Hope Vere Anderson, a descendant of the Sandilands and Vere families of Sandilands and Lesmahagow, Lanarkshire who were the original Barons of Bannockburn in the 14th century. In the year of 1746, after the
Battle of Culloden
The Battle of Culloden took place on 16 April 1746, near Inverness in the Scottish Highlands. A Jacobite army under Charles Edward Stuart was decisively defeated by a British government force commanded by the Duke of Cumberland, thereby endi ...
,
Bonnie Prince Charlie stayed in
Bannockburn House where he met the future mother of his child.
Bannockburn village used to be famous for its carpet and tweed factories and woollen mills.
In the late 18th and early 19th centuries the Wilson family of Bannockburn designed and wove
tartan
Tartan or plaid ( ) is a patterned cloth consisting of crossing horizontal and vertical bands in multiple colours, forming repeating symmetrical patterns known as ''setts''. Originating in woven wool, tartan is most strongly associated wi ...
s for the
British Army
The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...
. Many of the so-called
Clan
A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship
and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, a clan may claim descent from a founding member or apical ancestor who serves as a symbol of the clan's unity. Many societie ...
tartans were created by the Wilsons in response to the needs of the Clan chiefs who, without their own authentic tartans, approached the Wilsons for suitable patterns. The visit of King
George IV
George IV (George Augustus Frederick; 12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from 29 January 1820 until his death in 1830. At the time of his accession to the throne, h ...
to
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...
in 1822, and his insistence that the Clan chiefs attend his banquets and levees in their Clan tartans, prompted this reaction. The woollen mills employed 7-800 people around 1880.
The last mill closed in 1924.
The
turnpike road between Edinburgh and Stirling was constructed in the 1750s and passed through Bannockburn. The route originally passed over the Old Bridge, until the construction in 1819 of a circular-arch stone
bridge
A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whi ...
, built by engineer
Thomas Telford
Thomas Telford (9 August 1757 – 2 September 1834) was a Scottish civil engineer. After establishing himself as an engineer of road and canal projects in Shropshire, he designed numerous infrastructure projects in his native Scotland, as well ...
, spanning the burn downstream of the battle site.
Growth of both Stirling and Bannockburn during the 19th and 20th centuries means that the two now form a contiguous conurbation, and Bannockburn was latterly incorporated into the city (then
royal burgh
A royal burgh ( ) was a type of Scottish burgh which had been founded by, or subsequently granted, a royal charter. Although abolished by law in 1975, the term is still used by many former royal burghs.
Most royal burghs were either created by ...
) of Stirling. Bannockburn had a population of 7,352 at the time of the 2001 census.
The area contains most necessary amenities, including a library, and local shops. It is served by Bannockburn Primary School, in the centre of the community, and
Bannockburn High School in nearby Broomridge. Several new private housing schemes have been built in and around Bannockburn since the 1990s, increasing pressure on the already overcrowded high school. As a result of this, in 2007 and 2008 Bannockburn High School was extended to provide additional capacity.
Between 1852 and 1949 Bannockburn had a railway station on the
Scottish Central Railway, located next to the site of the bus depot. Nowadays, however, residents wishing to use the train must travel into the centre of Stirling. Introduction of a new station with a park-and-ride facility was proposed in the Strategic Transport Projects Review in 2009. Bannockburn is served by the 38, 51 and C30 bus services.
Sports
Bannockburn and Hillpark have two amateur football teams, Bannockburn Amateurs (Est. 1968) and Milton FC (Est. 1972). Bannockburn Amateurs won the
West of Scotland Amateur Cup for the fifth time in 2019.
Bannockburn also hosts its own Rugby Club. Formerly known as St Modans HSFP RFC (Est. 1978), it changed its name to
Bannockburn RFC in 1996. Bannockburn currently plays in the Scottish Hydro Electric Regional League: Caledonia Division 2 Midlands.
Bannockburn also plays host to St Modans HSFP Cricket Club, who play in the
Strathmore and Perthshire Cricket Union Division 1. In July 2013, playing against Perth Doo'cot CC, St Modans scored 329 runs in response to Perth's 326, making it what is believed to be the highest scoring game ever recorded in the SPCU.
Image:MiltonFC.gif, 2009 Milton FC Team
Image:WestCup.jpg, Bannockburn Amateurs West of Scotland Cup Winners 2009
Image:Bannockburnrfc.jpeg, Bannockburn RFC
Places of worship
* Murrayfield United Free Church Of Scotland
* Our Lady and St Ninian's R.C. Church
The town also has a Gospel Hall and two Church of Scotland churches.
Christadelphians
The Christadelphians () are a Restorationism, restorationist and Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Biblical unitarianism, (Biblical Unitarian) Christian denomination. The name means 'brothers and sisters in Christ',"The Christadelphians, or breth ...
meet in a hall on Main Street. The hall used to be a carpet factory.
[J. Smith,]
Bannockburn: The Capital of Tartan Weaving
' (2008) on Bannockburn Community Website
Notes and references
Historic Environment Scotland
External links
*
*
Bannockburn Community Website
{{authority control
Towns in Stirling (council area)