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Stirling Castle Print by George Virtue - circa 1838.
This lithograph was printed by George Virtue & co. of London in 1838. Overall print size is 10 1/2 inches by 7 1/2 inches including white borders, actual scene is 4 3/4 inches by 6 7/8 inches.
DESCRIPTION OF PRINT:
Stirling is a royal, municipal and police burgh, river port and county town of Stirlingshire. It is finely situated on the right bank of the Forth, being served by the North British and the Caledonian railways. The old town occupies the slopes of a basaltic hill (420 ft. above the sea) terminating on the north and west in a sheer precipice. The modern quarters have been laid out on the level ground at the base, especially towards the south. Originally the town was protected on its vulnerable sides by a wall, of which remains still exist at the south end of the Black Walk.
The castle crowning the eminence is of unknown age, but from thetime that Alexander I died within its walls in 1124 till the union of the crowns in 1603 it was intimately associated with the fortunes of the Scottish monarchs. It is one of the fortresses appointed by the Act of Union to be kept in a state of repair, and is approached from the esplanade, on which stands the colossal statue of Robert Bruce, erected in 1877. The main gateway, built by James III., gives access to the lower and then to the upper square, on the south side of which stands the palace, begun by James V. (1540) and completed by Mary of Guise. The east side of the quadrangle is occupied by the parliament house, a Gothic building of the time of James IlI now used as a barrack-room and stores. On the north side of the square is the chapel royal, founded by Alexander I., rebuilt in the 15th century and again in 1594 by James VI. (who was christened in it), and afterwards converted into an armoury and finally a store-room. Beyond the upper square is the small castle garden, partly destroyed by fire in 1856 but restored, in which William, 8th earl of Douglas, was murdered by James II. (1452).
Just below the castle on the north-east is the path of Ballangeich, which is said to have given private access to the fortress, and from which James V. took his title of "Guidman of Ballangeich" when he roved incognito. Below it is Gowan Hill, and beyondthis the Mote or Heading Hill, on which Murdoch Stuart, 2nd duke of Albany, his two sons, and his~fatherin-law the Earl of Lennox, were beheaded in 1425. In the plain to the south-west were the King's Gardens, now under grass, with an octagonal turf-covered mound called the King's Knot in the centre. Farther south lies the King's Park, chiefly devoted to golf, cricket, football and curling, and containing also a race-course. On a hill of lower elevation than the castle and separated from the esplanade by a depression styled the Valley-the tilting-ground of former times-a cemetery has been laid out.
Among its chief features are the Virgin Martyrs' Memorial, representing in white marble a guardian angel and the figures of Margaret M'Lauchlan and Margaret Wilson, who were' drowned by the rising tide in Wigtown Bay for their fidelity to the Covenant (1685); the large pyramid to the memory of the Covenanters, and the Ladies' Rock, from which ladies viewed the jousts in the Valley.
With the departure of the monarchy to London in 1603 Stirling's days as a royal residence declined. But then, with the development of a Jacobite threat from the highlands, the castle was converted to a fortress guarding Stirling Bridge and a garrison came to town. A close bond was forged between the army and the burgh which continued for nearly 300 years until the eventual departure of the Argyll and Sutherland, Highlanders in 1964. Today the castle still rings with memories of its royal past, among them James V's striking Renaissance palace, the wonderfully-restored kitchens and the magnificent Great Hall.
Its walls have echoed to the sounds of many languages - kings who spoke French, queens from Denmark, soldiers who knew only Gaelic - and today the place still teems with people from all over the world. Many stop, as Queen Victoria did in 1842 and many monarchs have done since, to admire the Highland view from the castle's ramparts. It's no wonder Stirling folk are proud of 'their' castle, and the links it has given them to the world beyond.
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