I dropped by the little city of Stirling when going on a trip to Perthshire with my parents today. It’s the second time I paid a visit to Stirling. Actually, I found it quite a nice place for one-day trip.
The city is clustered around a large fortress and medieval old-town. It used to be the ancient burgh in Scotland. One of the principal royal strongholds of the Kingdom of Scotland, Stirling was created a Royal burgh by King David I in 1130, which it remained until 1975, when the county of Stirlingshire was absorbed into Central Region. In 2002, as part of Queen Elizabeth II’s Golden Jubilee, Stirling was granted city status. With a small population of around 41243, it becomes the smallest city in Scotland.
Besides the famous castle in Stirling, there are many other places of interests.
The Church of the Holy Rude for example. It was rebuilt in the 1400s after Stirling suffered a catastrophic fire in 1405, and it is the only surviving church to have held a coronation in the UK apart from Westminster Abbey.
The National Wallace Monument is another nice place to visit. It is a tower standing on the summit of Abbey Craig, in commemoration of William Wallace, the 13th century Scottish hero.