HISTORY OF STIRLING

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23945, 21 October 1939, Page 7

HISTORY OF STIRLING

ADDRESS TO ST. ANDREW '

SOCIETY : At a meeting of the literary section of the St. Andrew Society of Otago, the Rev. J. Pringle spoke of Stirling and its historical associations. The city, he said, occupied a strategic position between the north and the south of Scotland, in consequence of Which the locality was the scene of fierce battles. The city provided a natural site -for a fort, and the Romans used it for, that purpose when they set out to subdue the northern part of the country; Twelve miles away was fought the. battle of the Grampians, at Ardoch (84 ,A.D'.)v ?; But early in the fifth century the Romanis had to withdraw to defend the heart l of the Empire, and the Piets built their castle on the site of the Roman fort. Four centuries later, Kenneth Mac Alpine, King of the Scots (Argyleshire) defeated the Pictsi at Cambuskenneth, and became King of all Scotland. Kenneth 111 assembled his army at Stirling and defeated the Danes, Thenceforward Stirling often appeared as a royal residence or the meeting , place of Parliament. It changed hands ih the days of Wallace and Bruce, but the victories of Stifling Bridge (1297) and Bannockburn (1314) restored ita possession to the Scots. Stirling figured largely in the history of the Stuart Kings. Then again, the castle was often Queen Mary’s residence. It was the scene of her courtship and marriage, and the baptism of her son.