Plean is a village, in the

Stirling Stirling (; sco, Stirlin; gd, Sruighlea ) is a city in central Scotland, northeast of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The market town, surrounded by rich farmland, grew up connecting the royal citadel, the medieval old town with its me ...

council area of central

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

, located on the main

A9 road This is a list of roads designated A9. * A009 road (Argentina), a road in the northeast of Santa Fe Province * ''A9 highway (Australia)'' may refer to : ** A9 (Sydney), a road linking Windsor and Campbelltown ** A9 highway (South Australia), a li ...

from

Falkirk Falkirk ( gd, An Eaglais Bhreac, sco, Fawkirk) is a large town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had a ...

. At the 2001 census, Plean had a population of 1,740. Plean has some

historic buildings This list is of heritage registers, inventories of cultural properties, natural and man-made, tangible and intangible, movable and immovable, that are deemed to be of sufficient heritage value to be separately identified and recorded. In many in ...

, some

council houses A council house is a form of British public housing built by local authorities. A council estate is a building complex containing a number of council houses and other amenities like schools and shops. Construction took place mainly from 1919 ...

and an

estate Estate or The Estate may refer to: Law * Estate (law), a term in common law for a person's property, entitlements and obligations * Estates of the realm, a broad social category in the histories of certain countries. ** The Estates, representat ...

Landmarks

Plean has a

Church of Scotland The Church of Scotland ( sco, The Kirk o Scotland; gd, Eaglais na h-Alba) is the national church in Scotland. The Church of Scotland was principally shaped by John Knox, in the Scottish Reformation, Reformation of 1560, when it split from t ...

Church with an attached graveyard, a

petrol station A filling station, also known as a gas station () or petrol station (), is a facility that sells fuel and engine lubricants for motor vehicles. The most common fuels sold in the 2010s were gasoline (or petrol) and diesel fuel. Gasoli ...

, chip shop, a small

clinic A clinic (or outpatient clinic or ambulatory care clinic) is a health facility that is primarily focused on the care of outpatients. Clinics can be privately operated or publicly managed and funded. They typically cover the primary care nee ...

, small

library A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vi ...

pub, pharmacy, bakers, Indian takeaway and 3 convenience stores. East Plean Primary School was formerly housed in a traditional building dating from 1874. Many of the original features of the building were retained in the refurbishment of the school, which was completed in summer 2000, including the addition of a purpose-built nursery. The school building was damaged beyond repair in November 2010 when a fire was deliberately started in a hut to the rear. The building was subsequently demolished and a new modern school is being built on the site. Andrew Stretton, 18, set fire to a cardboard box in a shed, but the blaze spread to the main building causing serious damage. Stretton was sentenced at Stirling and ordered to carry out 300 hours of community service, and put on probation for two years.

Plean Estate

The Plean Estate was once owned by the

Earl of Dunmore Earl of Dunmore is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. History The title was created in 1686 for Lord Charles Murray, second son of John Murray, 1st Marquess of Atholl. He was made Lord Murray of Blair, Moulin and Tillimet (or Tullimet) and ...

; he had sold it to the Robert Haldane who was already the owner of the Airthrey Estate in

. It stayed in the Haldane family until it was sold in 1799 to Francis Simpson, a former captain with the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Sout ...

. Simpson's wife Jean Sophia Cadell, daughter of William Cadell of Banton, was only twenty-one when she died in 1806, she left behind two children for Simpson to look after; one son, William, and a daughter, Frances. In 1819, Francis built Plean House and the other estate buildings.

William Simpson's Home The William Simpson's Home is a care home in Plean, Scotland. It provides care for members of the armed services who have developed mental health or alcohol related problems. History The facility, originally known as the "William Simpson's asyl ...

is a local charity based in Plean, established by Francis Simpson, providing residential social care for men with

alcohol-related brain damage Alcohol-related brain damage alters both the structure and function of the brain as a result of the direct Neurotoxicity, neurotoxic effects of Alcoholic drink, alcohol intoxication or acute alcohol withdrawal. Increased alcohol intake is associat ...

, and with underlying mental health illness. Plean Country Park is located in Plean, in the grounds of the now-ruined Plean House. Entry is free and the park is maintained by Stirling Council. Nearby

Plean Castle Plean Tower, also known as Cock-a-bendy Castle, Mengie Castle, Menzies Castle and Plane Castle, is located around from Plean, in Stirling, central Scotland. It comprises a small oblong tower house probably dating from the 15th century, and an ad ...

, or Plane Tower, was once a home of the Somerville family. It was restored from ruin twice in the twentieth century and is now a private house.

Notable people

Ronnie Swan Ronald McDonald Swan (born 8 January 1941) is a Scottish footballer who played as a goalkeeper in the Football League. He was born in Plean. See also *Football in Scotland *List of football clubs in Scotland This is a list of football clubs ...

(born 1941), Scottish footballer, goalkeeper * Željko Ražnatović, a Serbian war hero *

Campbell Forsyth Robert Campbell Forsyth (5 May 193415 November 2020) was a Scottish footballer, who played as a goalkeeper for St Mirren, Kilmarnock and Southampton. He also made four international appearances for Scotland, all in 1964. Football career Earl ...

, the Kilmarnock and

international

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting ...

was born in Plean in 1939. * Frankie Jones, the fly/

bantamweight Bantamweight is a weight class in combat sports. For boxing, the range is above and up to . In kickboxing, a bantamweight fighter generally weighs between . In MMA, bantamweight is . The name for the class is derived from bantam chickens. Bra ...

champion boxer of the 1950s and '60s was born in Plean in 1933. *

John McAulay John McAulay, (27 December 1888 – 14 January 1956) was a Scottish policeman, soldier and recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. Early li ...

VC, spent all of his youth in Plean

Transportation

Plean railway station served the village from 1904 to 1956.

References

External links

Friends of Plean Country ParkScotland's Places - Plean Colliery1922 Pit Disaster
{{authority control Villages in Stirling (council area)