Dunipace, a village and a parish of E Stirlingshire. The village, called the Milton of Dunipace, stands on the left bank of the river Carron, opposite the town of Denny, with which it is connected by a bridge, and with which it has formed a police burgh since 1876; and is itself a considerable place, sharing in Denny's industries. Pop. (1881) 1258.
The parish, containing also the village of Torwood, took its name from two famous mounds, to be afterwards noticed; and, anciently a chapelry of Cambuskenneth, acquired parochial status at the Reformation. In 1624 it was united on equal terms to Larbert, and came in course of time to be considered as subordinate to, or as absorbed into, it; but since the passing of the Poor-law Act (1834) has again been treated, in various respects both civil and ecclesiastical, as a distinct or separate parish. It is bounded W and N by St Ninians, E by Larbert, SE by Falkirk, and S and SW by Denny. Its utmost length, from E to W, is 5½ miles; its breadth, from N to S, varies between ¾ mile and 37/8 miles; and its area is 5629 acres, of which 43 are water. The Carron winds 5½ miles east-south-eastward on or close to the Denny border, then 1 mile eastward through the south-eastern interior, here being joined by Bonny Water, which for the last 1½ mile of its crooked east-north-easterly course roughly traces most of the boundary with Falkirk. The eastern district is part of the Carse of Stirling, and sinks to less than 100 feet above sea-level; thence the surface rises to 206 feet near Househill, 250 near Doghillock, 354 in the Tor Wood, 496 near Rullie, and 846 near Buckieside, at the north-western extremity of the parish. Trap rock prevails over about one-third of the area, and sandstone over the other two-thirds; the latter is partly capital building material, partly of a character well suited for flag or pavement. The soil ranges from moorish earth to argillaceous alluvium, but for the most part is extremely fertile. Of the entire area, 3800 acres are in tillage, 986 pasture, 300 waste, and 500 under wood. Mining has fallen off of recent years, but Dunipace finds an outlet for its labour in the neighbouring industries of Denny parish. Torwood Castle is a venerable ruin, and, with the remnant of Torwood Forest, is separately noticed. Herbertshire Castle is a very ancient mansion, standing amid finely-wooded grounds; originally a royal hunting-seat, it passed in the 15th century to the Earls of Orkney, in the 16th to the Earls of Linlithgow; and, coming afterwards to the Stirlings and the Moreheads, was sold in 1835 to Forbes of Callendar. Carbrook House, too, occupies a romantic site, amid wellwooded grounds, within half a mile of Torwood Castle; whilst Dunipace House and Quarter House are elegant modern mansions. Dunipace mounds, or the `Hills of Dunipace,' whence the parish derived its name, are situated on a small plain adjacent to the Carron, 2 miles ESE of Milton village; and, covering 2 Scotch acres, rise to a height of 60 feet. According to George Buchanan, they were raised to commemorate a treaty of peace between some Caledonian king and the Roman Emperor Severus (hence their name -Duni Pacis, `hills of the peace '!); according to Dr Hill Burton, they are` evidently residuary masses left by retreated waters, in which they have made shallows or islands. This will account for their form without the necessity of supposing that they were ever rounded by art. If analogy did not support this view, it would be strengthened by the incident of a third hill in the same place having been levelled about 1835, and showing complete internal evidence of natural formation. 'Some finelypreserved Roman utensils, one of them of a unique kind, have been discovered near Dunipace village; and, in result of a search instigated by the discovery of these relics, distinct vestiges of a previously unnoticed Roman camp were found in a neighbouring wood. Forbes of Callendar and Harvie-Brown of Quarter are the chief proprietors, 2 others holding each an annual value of £500 and upwards, 12 of between £100 and £500, 9 of from £50 to £100, and 13 of from £20 to £50. In the presbytery of Stirling and synod of Perth and Stirling, this parish for s a joint charge with Larbert, the stipend and allowance for communion elements amounting to £404. The plain old parish church, whose graveyard is still in use, stood within a few yards of the Hills of Dunipace; the present one, on a knoll 1½ mile to the WNW, is a Gothic edifice, built in 1834 at a cost of £2500, and containing 604 sittings. There is also a Free church; and two public schools, Dunipace and Torwood, with respective accommodation for 300 and 60 children, had (1880) an average attendance of 155 and 31, and grants of £130, 18s. 6d. and £23, 4s. Valuation (1882) £10,761, 18s. 10d., including £1032 for railway. Pop. (1801) 948, (1841) 1578, (1861) 1731, (1871) 1733, (1881) 1875.—Ord. Sur., sh. 31, 1867.
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