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"STIRLINGSHIRE, west-midland county of Scotland; consists of a main portion and two detached sections to the NE. included in Perthshire and Clackmannanshire; is bounded N. by Perthshire, NE. by Clackmannanshire and a detached portion of Perthshire, E. by the Firth of Forth and Linlithgowshire, S. by Linlithgowshire, Lanarkshire, and detached part of Dumbartonshire, and W. by Dumbartonshire; greatest length, NW. and SE., 46 miles; greatest breadth, NE. and SW., 22 miles; area, 286,338 ac., pop. 112,443. The E. part of the co. is flat, finely wooded, and well cultivated; and the valley of the Forth along the N. boundary includes some of the finest land in Scotland. The middle and S. are occupied with hills and valleys - the principal ridges being the Campsie Fells and Kilsyth Hills, and the Fintry Hills and Gargunnock Hills. On the W. a long projection extends northwards, including a mountainous district in which Ben Lomond rises to an alt. of 3192 ft., and parts of Loch Lomond and Loch Katrine. Besides the Forth, the chief streams are the Avon, Carron, Bannock, Allan, Endrick, and Blane. Coal and ironstone are extensively worked; limestone and sandstone are abundant. There are important manufactures of woollens, cotton, and iron; and there are several large chemical works and distilleries. The co. comprises 21 pars. with parts of 5 others, the parl. and police burgh of Stirling (part of the Stirling District of Burghs - 1 member), the parl. and police burgh of Falkirk (part of the Falkirk District of Burghs - 1 member), and the police burghs of Alva, Bridge of Allan, Denny and Dunipace, Grangemouth, Kilsyth, and Milngavie. It returns 1 member to Parliament."
Bartholemew's Gazetteer of the British Isles, 1887
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Stirlingshire Towns and Parishes
For Stirlingshire townships unconnected to parishes, see the list of Miscellaneous places mentioned in the 1868 gazetteer.
For Stirlingshire places mentioned in the 1868 gazetteer, see Where is it in Stirlingshire?
Note that some Stirlingshire parishes are also partly in Dunbartonshire, Perthshire and Clackmannanshire.
In these cases, to avoid duplication, readers are directed to the Dunbartonshire or other pages.
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For information on Stirling Council Local Archives, including records for various burghs in the county, see the Stirling Libraries and Archives page.
From the Stirling Observer of 25th May 2005:
"Stirling's depute provost has officially opened the council's new archive service. The building at 5 Borrowmeadow Road, Springkerse is now home to nearly 3000 sq ft of historical documents. The custom-made building provides secure and environmentally controlled conditions for the proper preservation of the archive collections..... ....The collections which are in the care of the service date from the Middle Ages to the present day and include family and estate papers, church records, records of societies and associations, local newspapers, maps and photographs, as well as the usual holdings of records of successive local authorities. The service's search room is open to the public on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday from 9.30am-12.30 and 1.30-4.30pm. There are plans to open on Thursdays in the future. An hourly bus service (E41) runs from Stirling Bus Station to Borrowmeadow Road. For more information or for directions to the new premises contact the archive service on 01786 450745."
The Falkirk Archives cover the most populated part of the former County of Stirlingshire.
The Falkirk archives also include a page addressing Family History.
"Monumental inscriptions (pre-1855) in West Stirlingshire", John F Mitchell & Sheila Mitchell, published Edinburgh, 1973 (Scottish Genealogy Society).
General advice on census records and indexes can be found on our Scotland Census page.
For information on records for a particular parish, please see that parish's page (where available). Copies of many parish registers may be consulted around the world in LDS Family History Centres.
Registration of Births, Marriages and Deaths began in Scotland on 1st January 1855. For details of these and other records held at the National Records of Scotland in Edinburgh, see the GRO tutorial.
Records of testaments, inventories etc. are held at the National Records of Scotland.
Lamburn's Business Directory for Stirlingshire, Dumbartonshire and Linlithgowshire (West Lothian), 1893-94, downloadable from the Internet Archive (PDF 9.8Mb).
The transcription of the section for Stirling from the National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868).
A description of Stirlingshire from Groome's Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland, 1896.
- Rolls of Honour and War Memorials (monuments) are one good resource for family historians, but need to be addressed with some caution - it should not be assumed that they are either complete or accurate. Memorials (and Rolls of Honour) were created at the local parish level after asking the local inhabitants whose names should appear. Thus:
- Some names may have been omitted, for a variety of reasons.
- Some names may appear on more than one memorial.
- Some names may be misspelled, or given names transposed.
- Some people may be listed as killed in action, but were not.
- Some people may be listed who were not in the service at all.
- Some people may have been confused with others of a similar name.
- A Roll of Honour may sometimes list the names of all who served, not just those who died.
- Some of the original records may have been incorrect, for a variety of reasons.
- Some (more recent) research may be incorrect. - View a list of the Rolls of Honour for Stirlingshire.
"Monumental inscriptions (pre-1855) in West Stirlingshire", John F Mitchell & Sheila Mitchell, published Edinburgh, 1973 (Scottish Genealogy Society)
The Central Scotland FHS covers this county. They continue to add to their publications list, and have much to offer to everyone with ancestors from the area. The site is highly recommended.
For a social and economic record of the parishes of Stirlingshire, together with statistical material, see Sir John Sinclair's Statistical Account of Scotland which was compiled in the 1790s. The account was reprinted in facsimile form in 1978 by EP Publishing Limited of Wakefield, England and volume 9 deals with Stirlingshire.
Follow-up works to this were the New Statistical Account (also known as the Second Statistical Account) which was prepared in the 1830s and 1840s; and more recently the Third Statistical Account which has been prepared since the Second World War.