The city of Stirling has appeared throughout the history of Scotland, especially during crucially important times. In and around Stirling has an incredible number of excellent visitor attractions and a mass of of monuments and places to photograph. In article that follows I provide details of three places to visit in Stirling; Stirling Castle, Stirling Old Town Jail and Argyll’s Lodging:

Stirling Castle

Sat 250 feet above the city of Stirling, and surrounded on three sides by shear cliffs is Stirling Castle. The castle is immensely important in Scotland’s history, there have been a number of coronations in the castle, including Mary Queen of Scots’ in 1543. The castle was also witness to an horrific murder in 1452. The eighth Earl of Douglas was victim to James II in 1452. The castle is home to the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, even though they are, sadly no longer stationed at the castle. However, the regimental museum of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, is located within the castle.

Stirling Old Town Jail

The Stirling Old Town Jail we see today is not the original jail, for four hundred years, Stirling’s prisoners were secured in the Old Tollbooth Jail. This jail was shockingly overcrowded, and smelled vile, with twenty four prisoners per cell, and no sanitary facilities. The Tollbooth jail was condemned, due to the awful living conditions there, and in 1847 the current jail was opened. Although the jail was classed as a custodial prison, from 1888 to 1935, it was also the only military prison in Scotland. Today the Stirling Old Town Jail is a visitor attraction, and was only restored in the 1990′s. As well as guided tours, there is a glass paneled elevator that rises to a viewing deck at the very top of the jail. From this superb vantage point a person is able to gaze out across the Forth Valley, and soak in the atmosphere of the Highland mountains.

Argyll’s Lodging

Argyll’s Lodging can be found on Castle Wynd, near the middle of Stirling and is Scotland’s finest surviving renaissance house. The house was erected around 1630, by Sir William Alexander, originator of Nova Scotia and Viscount Canada. Sir William Alexander who was appointed Secretary of State for Scotland, and was then appointed the first Earl of Stirling. Argyll’s Lodging became the property of the Argyll family on his death and was further extended by the ninth Earl in 1666. The rooms which include the laigh hall, dining room, drawing room and bed chamber, have all been carefully restored and furnished, as they would have been when the ninth Earl lived there, around 1680.

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