|
This Steel Engraving dates from the 1840's. The original drawing is by Hill, the engraver was a named Goodall. The print is somewhat similar to the 1836 print done by T. Allom, but differs in quite a number of areas if you look more closely. 
From the original description: Stirling, royal burgh and seat of Stirling district lies Central region, Scotland, on the right bank of the River Forth. The precipitous 250-foot- (75-metre-) high volcanic plug on which the present castle stands was probably occupied by the early British Picts. The settlement had developed sufficiently for it to be made a royal burgh about 1130; another charter was granted in 1226 by Alexander II of Scotland, who made the castle a royal residence. Two famous battles were fought near Stirling. In the Battle of Stirling Bridge (1297), Sir William Wallace, the Scottish national leader, routed the English, and in 1314, at the Battle of Bannockburn (2.5 miles [4 km] south), the English under Edward II were defeated and the Scots regained their independence. "The view from the Castle-hill is proverbial for its beauty and extent, and the great number of historical scenes over which it ranges. Among the latter twelve battle-fields are pointed out in the landscape; and of the four great actions for which it is more especially celebrated, three were fought in the vicinity. The view towards the east, as seen in the engraving, extends over a plain nearly eighty miles long and eighteen broad. On the left are Alloa and Clackmannan; and in the centre, Falkirk, the Carse, the Frith of Forth, and the rich and populous district of Lothian, with the rock-built Castle of Edinburgh tracing its hold outline in the diminished horizon. The Forth, as if unwilling to quit the delicious fields and gardens by which it is bordered, forms many a "lingering link", curved and twisted into numerous windings, like the " glittering coils of a snake." Its meanders are so numerous as to enclose in their graceful circles many beautiful peninsulas ; on one of which, immediately under the eye, stands the tower of the ancient Abbey of Cambuskenneth. The Links of Fortht are of classic celebrity, and often employed as a subject of poetry as well as painting. Some idea may be formed of these fantastic windings by mentioning that the short distance of six miles by land makes twenty by water. The river is navigable up to Stirling for vessels of seventy or eighty tons burthen; but it is the only navigable river in Europe, perhaps, where the vessel, if depending on its sails alone to reach its destination, would require, in the space of a few miles, wind from every point of the compass. "
|
