Abbey Craig

A historical perspective, drawn from the Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland: A Survey of Scottish Topography, Statistical, Biographical and Historical, edited by Francis H. Groome and originally published in parts by Thomas C. Jack, Grange Publishing Works, Edinburgh between 1882 and 1885.

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Abbey Craig, an abrupt eminence in Logie parish, Stirlingshire, on the N side of the Forth, 1½ mile ENE of Stirling. It rises from a plain of carboniferous rocks: consists at first of sandstones, shales, clay, ironstone, and coarse limestone: afterwards becomes a mass of greenstone, similar to that of Stirling Castle and Craigforth Rocks: and culminates at a height of 362 feet above the level of the sea. Its limestone has drawn some attention: and its greenstone, in considerable quantity, has been worked into excellent mill-stones. Its form is picturesque: its surface is largely clothed with shrubbery, and traced with winding walks: and its summit commands a magnificent view of the basin of the Forth. It bears marks of an entrenchment formed by the Romans, and renewed by Cromwell: it yielded, about the year 1790, a number of bronze spear-heads: and it was the station of the victorious army of Sir William Wallace in the battle of Stirling, 11 Sept. 1297. A monument to Wallace now crowns a tabular spot adjacent to a precipitous stoop at its W end. It was founded 24 June 1861, but not completed till Sept. 1869, suffering interruption in its progress from deficiency of funds, and eventually costing about £18,000. Designed by J. T. Roehead of Glasgow, it has the form of a Scottish baronial tower, surmounted by an architectural crown, measures 36 feet square at the base, and, rising to the height of 220 feet from the ground, is more conspicuous than beautiful. The top may be gained, without any fee, by a winding staircase, and commands a noble bird's-eye view.

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Note: This text has been made available using a process of scanning and optical character recognition. Despite manual checking, some typographical errors may remain. Please remember this description dates from the 1880s; names may have changed, administrative divisions will certainly be different and there are known to be occasional errors of fact in the original text, which we have not corrected because we wish to maintain its integrity. This information is provided subject to our standard disclaimer