Day 88: Dollar, Stirlingshire to Bonnybridge, Falkirk

Virtual Walk: Scotland 2021

2nd April 2021: 50.08km walked today taking the total to 8576.5/8868km. 10% of 63 entries submitting 500.86km.

Our walk today takes us from Dollar and Castle Gloom (Castle Campbell) to Culross and then across the Kincardine Bridge to Falkirk and then to Bonnybridge.

Route 23: St Andrews to Glasgow

When we reach the centre of Dollar, we head up the east side of the Dollar Burn, passing the Dollar Museum, dedicated to the history and heritage of the village of Dollar, before climbing uphill paths through Dollar Glen to Castle Campbell. The path climbs up a series of steps through a wood of largely oak trees before we reach a viewpoint of the castle. Here we see Castle Campbell, built where the Burn of Care and the Burn of Sorrow join, overlooked by Gloom Hill, which is why the castle was originally known as Castle Gloom or Castle Glume. We then leave the viewpoint before climbing further up the hill, passing a double waterfall before the path descends to the road just above the castle.

We then reach the castle, a tower built in the 15th century which stands in one corner of a courtyard enclosed by a curtain wall. The castle was originally owned by the Stewarts of Innermeath and Lorne and was burned in 1466 before the castle became the property of Colin Campbell, 1st Earl of Argyll, who changed its name to Castle Campbell. This then became the lowland seat for the Campbells who made many alterations to it over the years. In the middle of the 17th century though, the Campbells changed their lowland seat to the Argyll’s lodgings in Stirling rather than at Castle Campbell and sold it in the early 19th century. In 1948 the castle was taken over by the National Trust for Scotland but is administered by Historic Environment Scotland. There is still an impressive sycamore tree which stands by the entrance to the castle courtyard which is known as the Maiden Tree. Tradition has it that a princess was imprisoned in the castle after falling in love with a lowborn man.

Leaving the Castle, we go back down Dollar Glen on the east side past John Knox's Pulpit. This is a stone viewpoint jutting out over the water where he is said to have preached in the 16th century.

We now retrace our steps through Dollar, across the River Devon before turning right and heading south to Forestmill. At Forestmill we walk down the A977 for a short distance before heading south to reach a disused railway line where we turn left and head south east.

At West Grange House we turn south and then turn into Balgownie Woods where we walk down the west side of this oak and beech woodland before joining the West Fife Woodlands Way. At the south west corner of the wood, we follow the road before turning right along a new path, which takes us across fields with views to The Ochils and Saline Hill until we reach the edge of Devilla Forest. We walk down the eastern edge of this woodland managed by Forest and Land Scotland, before heading straight across the A985, and turning right down the Moor Road on the south edge of Waas Plantation. Along this path to our left is a Plague Grave where 3 children, Robert, Agnes and Jeannie Bald, are buried; they all died on the same day, 14 September 1645, from the plague. As they died from the plague their grave was not in the Parish cemetery, but their father, James, made sure that they were not forgotten by carving a tombstone for their grave which still exists today, encircled by forest.

Further down this path we pass the location of the Battle of Culross in 1083, when King Duncan’s army camped outside the village to await a raiding party from Denmark. The Danes won the battle, but it is said that after chasing the retreating Scots to Perth, the locals laced the Danes’ dinner with deadly nightshade to make them sleep, which allowed Macbeth to enter their camp and slaughter them.

We then pass the ruins of West Kirk which date from the 16th century and, before the Scottish Reformation, was once the parish church of Culross. It was used in ‘Outlander’ as the Black Kirk location in Season 1. We walk down the track and, when we reach the road, we go through a gap in the stone wall and follow the path along the edge of a field. At the next road we turn right to reach Culross Abbey.

Culross Abbey was originally founded in 1217 by Malcolm I, Earl of Fife, as a Cistercian monastery. Culross may have been chosen to establish an abbey as it was supposed to be the birthplace of St Kentigern or, better known as his nickname, St Mungo. It is known though that the abbey was built over an earlier Pictish church, supposedly founded by Saint Serf in the 6th century, as there are early medieval carved stones. It was here in the 15th century that the monks produced illustrated manuscripts such as the Culross Psalter. After the Scottish Reformation, the abbey became the parish church and the monastery buildings fell into decay and probably provided a source of stone for other building work nearby. In 1642 the Bruce Vault was added to contain the relics of the local landowner Sir George Bruce, the Laird of Carnock, and his wife, Margaret. Alabaster carved effigies of them and their 8 children can still be seen in the abbey today.

Under the abbey there is said to be a tunnel where a man sits in a golden chair waiting to give treasure to anyone who finds him. Many years ago, a blind piper, accompanied by his dog, decided to try and find him but although the dog reappeared the piper never returned. It is said though that his pipes can still be heard.

From the Abbey we walk down the road into Culross village, passing 17th century cottages before reaching the Mercat Cross which dates back to 1588 (although the shaft is more recent). On the right is a building with half-shuttered windows which is called The Study and was built in 1610. It was once used by the Bishop of Dunblane to compose his sermons when he visited Culross in the 17th Century. He wrote them in the study which was in the corbelled tower seen on the side of the building. This area of Culross, along with Culross Palace and its gardens, were all used by ‘Outlander’ in Season 1.

We turn down Back Causeway to the main road and pass the front of the Town House with its clocktower. This was once the centre for local government and a prison, but now has an exhibition about Culross. From the town house we walk towards Culross Palace passing a memorial to Admiral Lord Thomas Cochrane. He was the son of a minor Scottish aristocrat and spent a lot of time on the family’s estate in Culross. He became one of the most successful captains of the Napoleonic Wars and the French nicknamed him ‘le loup des mers’ or the ‘sea wolf’. Later he helped Chile, Peru and Brazil gain their independence. Horatio Hornblower, in the novels by C.S. Forester was modelled on him.

From here we walk across to Culross Palace which was built by Sir George Bruce with money he had made from coal mining. He is credited with sinking the world’s first coal mine to extend under the sea. He constructed an artificial island in the Forth and sank a shaft to the coal seam below, the Moat Pit. It was kept drained by a bucket system he devised, driven by water power. The coal was then exported directly from Culross and was also used to provide heat for Culross’s second main industry, its salt pans. In the 1590s Culross produced more salt than anywhere else in Scotland. The profits produced by this, and by the mine, were used by Sir George Bruce to build the Palace.

The ochre-coloured Palace was constructed between 1597 and 1611 and is an example of a Jacobean merchant’s house. It is called a Palace because it was visited by King James VI in 1617. It is now run by the National Trust for Scotland and you can get a sense of what it would have been like to live here as it has original painted woodwork and restored 17th and 18th century interiors. The gardens behind the Palace have also been restored to what they may have been like in the 17th century. Vegetables, herbs, flowers and fruit are all grown with a small orchard with apple, fig, quince and mulberry trees. There is also a flock of ‘Scotts Dumpy’ hens roaming around.

Leaving Culross we follow the Fife Coastal Route west towards Kincardine. Soon we reach Dunimarle Castle, Dunimarle meaning ‘castle by the sea’. There are 2 Dunimarle Castles, one a ruin and the other, a more modern one from the 18th century which was constructed for the Erskine family.

Just after passing Dunimarle Castle we pass Blair Castle, built on the site of a castle built in the second half of the 16th century by John Hamilton, Archbishop of St Andrews, who was executed for supporting Mary, Queen of Scots. The castle is now a 19th century mansion, purchased by the Fife Coal Company during World War 1, who wanted the mineral rights, but is now used as a convalescent home for miners and their families.

From Blair Castle the Fife Coastal Path heads inland but we are still able to see the Longannet Power Station which closed in 2016. It was the last coal-fired power station in Scotland and, when it opened in 1970, it was the largest power station of its kind in Europe. Instead of cooling towers it used water from the River Forth for cooling. It was built on land reclaimed from the Forth using ash from the nearby Kincardine Power Station and now, since it’s closed, there are plans to redevelop the site into a new train factory.

Crossing the road which leads to Longannet, we follow the path by Inch Farm and Inch House before we reach the A985, where we follow the separate cycleway. From here we can see the Kincardine Bridge which was opened on the 29th of October 1936 and was the first road bridge across the River Forth downstream from Stirling. When it was constructed it was the largest swing bridge in Europe and was the longest road bridge in Scotland. When it opened, the River Forth was navigable up to Stirling which is why it was a swing bridge. However, the last time the bridge was actually opened was in November 1987. It is still in continual use although the amount of traffic has reduced since the adjacent Clackmannanshire Bridge was opened in 2008.

We leave the Fife Coastal Path and cross the Kincardine Bridge. As we cross, we get a good view of the Clackmannanshire Bridge which was opened on the 28th of November 2008. The bridge is 1.2 kilometres long with the roadway sitting on 25 piers. The decision was made to build it because the Kincardine Bridge was the main river crossing during stormy weather, when the Forth Road Bridge would not allow high-sided vehicles to cross during strong winds. This meant that the village of Kincardine was often subjected to lots of traffic.

There was a lot of debate when deciding the name of the Clackmannanshire Bridge because the span of the bridge is in Fife, but you can only get to the southern approach through the Falkirk area and the northern approach through Clackmannanshire. Many names were suggested including the ‘Kingdom Bridge’ and the ‘Wallace Bridge’.

Once across the Kincardine Bridge we enter the Falkirk region. If we had more time it would have been great if we could have gone to visit the Pineapple which is only about 5 kilometres away. The Pineapple was built in 1761 by the 4th Earl of Dunmore as a summerhouse when pineapples were an exotic fruit. It has a central tower with a roof that looks like a pineapple and, it is thought at one time it was painted so that it looked even more like the fruit. On either side of the tower there used to be heated glasshouses where the fruit was grown. Nearby are the ruins of Dunmore Park House, a castellated mansion house designed by William Wilkins and built in 1820 for the 5th Earl of Dunmore, George Murray. It was occupied by the same family until 1911 and remained occupied until 1964 when it was abandoned. It is now a roofless shell, but the grandeur of the house is still unmistakable. It was used in ‘Outlander’ in the very first episode as the World War 2 field hospital.

Back to our walk, we take the pathway beside the main road going south, before turning left at Bowtrees to continue along the A905. We pass through Bellsdyke and Skinflats (voted the worst place name in Scotland) and soon we see the Kelpies, huge horse head sculptures, off to our right. More on these shortly.

We cross the bridge over the River Carron before crossing the Forth and Clyde Canal using a new lifting bridge which was added as part of the Millennium Project to reopen the canal. After the Forth and Clyde Canal closed in the 1960s more than a mile at the eastern end was filled in, and then warehouses and several roads, including the M9 motorway, were built on top making restoration of the canal’s original line difficult. When the canal was reopened for the Millennium, an old branch of the canal, which led to the River Carron, was restored instead and a new sea lock constructed.

We turn right after the lifting bridge following the tow path along the canal, under the M9 motorway into the Helix Park. The Helix Project was funded with lottery money and involved the regeneration of a large area between Falkirk and Grangemouth, creating a green space with paths, wildlife reserves, a watersports lagoon and the famous Kelpies. The name Kelpies was chosen by Scottish Canals at the inception of the Helix Project. A Kelpie is a shape-changing aquatic spirit of Scottish legend said to haunt rivers and streams, usually in the shape of a horse but with the strength and endurance of 10 horses, so the name was chosen to represent the transformation and endurance of Scotland's inland waterways. The artist, Andy Scott, took this concept and modelled the Kelpies on real life Clydesdale horses to also represent Scotland’s horse powered industrial heritage. The Kelpies were unveiled in April 2014 and are the largest horse sculptures in the world, standing at over 30 metres tall and are built of structural steel with stainless steel cladding. They are lit from the inside at night with the lights changing colour.

After wandering around the Kelpies, we follow the Forth and Clyde Canal until it bends and then cross the road to follow the wooden walkway through an area restored as a wetland habitat. Crossing a grassy area called ‘the lawn’ we reach the lagoon which is used for watersports and open water swimming.

We exit the Helix Park at the south west corner and head south on the A9 before turning right on the B805. After following this road for about 1 kilometre we turn right and go under the railway and enter Callendar Park.

This park covers about 70 acres and has a long history, going all the way back to the Antonine Wall which was built in 142 AD to it coming into public ownership in the mid-1960s. It is a mix of woodland and parkland with a great variety of walks and includes a 9-hole golf course. We will take the blue route which goes west before we head north past Forbes Mausoleum. Dating back to 1816, the Forbes Mausoleum is a circular monument with 12 fluted columns, built by Archibald Elliot for Sir William Forbes of Callendar. The mausoleum and the adjacent graveyard have been neglected and the mausoleum is sealed shut.

From here we walk north to reach Callendar Park Ponds where we turn west. After leaving the ponds we soon reach Callendar House. Callendar House dates from the 14th century, when it was built as a tower house and owned by the Livingston family, who became the Earl of Linlithgow and Earl of Callendar. Their ownership came to an end when the 5th Earl of Linlithgow sided with the ‘Old Pretender’ in the Jacobite Rising of 1715 and was exiled. The estate was bought by York Buildings Company but, when it was forced to sell its assets in 1783, it was auctioned off and the winning bidder was an Aberdeen coppersmith, William Forbes. He and his family extensively redesigned and extended the house in the 19th century, first in the Scottish Baronial style and then, in the style of a French Renaissance chateau. The house stayed in the Forbes family for 200 years before it fell into disrepair. In 1962, Callendar House was purchased by Falkirk Burgh Council and lay empty for over 20 years before being restored in the 1980s. It is now being developed as a major heritage centre and, as part of this, it has a fully restored and working Georgian period kitchen from 1825.

From Callendar House we follow the John Muir Way, out of Callendar Park and along Kemper Avenue, past high-rise flats before reaching Falkirk High Station.

Although we have effectively bypassed Falkirk, it is worth telling a bit about its history. Overlooking the High Street in Falkirk is the Old Parish Church which has building work dating from between 1450 and 1892. It is thought that this is just the latest church on the site and one of the earlier churches, built in 1057, gave Falkirk its name. This church, because of its appearance, became known as Eglesbreth which is Cumbric for ‘speckled church’. This translated into Scots as ‘Faw Kirk’ which over time became Falkirk.

Near the church is The Steeple which dates from 1814, designed by David Hamilton, and is 43 metres tall. It is unusual in that there are 4 levels each with a different design. The lowest level is Florentine, the second Greek Doric, the third level with the clock is Italianate, and the top is Ionic. The steeple contained 2 prison cells, the lower one for males and the upper one for females, which were in use until the 1860s when a new prison was opened. The top part of the steeple was damaged by lightning in 1927 with the falling masonry injuring people and killing a horse. It was repaired by 1928. In 1973 the lower floor was converted into an information centre before becoming the local box office.

Due to its central position in Scotland, by 1710 the Falkirk Tryst had been established, a market held from August to October each year. Cattle from the Highlands and Islands were sold here, and, through the 18th century, Falkirk became the centre of this trade in Scotland. In the 18th and 19th centuries it also became a centre of heavy industry during the Industrial Revolution, particularly in the iron and steel industry, with the Carron Company becoming one of the biggest iron works in Europe.

At Falkirk High Station we go under the railway through a tunnel and then join the Union Canal, where we walk along the tow path towards the west. When we reach a bridge over the canal, we go over it into the Bantaskine Estate which was owned by Robert Wilson, who established the estate as part of his coal mining empire, and which is now a public park.

The John Muir Way then passes the monument to the Battle of Falkirk Muir. This battle took place on the 17th of January 1746 during the Jacobite Rising of 1745; it was the last significant success of Bonnie Prince Charlie and his army.

We skirt the north edge of Tamfourhill Wood before the path turns north again, passing the place where there was once a temporary Roman camp, although there is nothing of it to see on the ground today. We then cross the Union Canal and the railway before we reach the entrance to the Falkirk Wheel. We turn left through woodland and pass over the top of Roughcastle Tunnel, where we have a view of the basin above the Falkirk Wheel and across to the Ochils. (We will visit the Falkirk Wheel on our return route to Edinburgh).

We turn northwest through an area of gorse and trees close to the railway line before heading southwest towards the Antonine Wall. This was the north-western frontier of the Roman Empire, the wall only used for 20 years after it was constructed. The wall runs for 60 kilometres from Old Kirkpatrick to near Bo’ness. Constructed after 140 AD by Antonius Pius, after Emperor Hadrian’s death, unlike Hadrian’s Wall this wall was built mainly of turf laid over stone foundation with a wide, deep ditch running to its south. There were 16 known outposts, or forts, along its length though very little remains of the buildings today, but what does remain has been a UNESCO World Heritage site since 2007. We will be walking past a few forts en route to Kirkintilloch and, as we approach the first of these forts, to our right we see a series of deep holes called lilia. These once contained sharpened stakes camouflaged with brushwood as a deterrent to attackers; very much the barbed wire fencing of that day. The path leads through Rough Castle Fort area, the 2nd smallest fort and one of the best-preserved; at its peak, 500 Roman auxiliaries would have been housed. Excavations have found the commander's house, the barracks, the headquarters, the bathhouse and a granary, though only outlines of the buildings are visible today.

Leaving the fort area we cross Rowan Tree Burn following part of the old military road. After the car park, we follow the ridge of the wall before leaving it to join Bonnyside Road. This leads us over a railway bridge, past industrial units onto Bonnymuir Place, where we take a tunnel under the Forth and Clyde Canal onto Bridge Street, Bonnybridge. It's a large village located in the valley of Bonny Water which grew up around the bridge that spans its stream. A watermill was based here by the 1600s and, by 1750, 5 mills worked along the water and, with the arrival of the nearby canal in the 1770-80s, it enjoyed good transport connections. This was further enhanced with the arrival of the railways in the 1800s, the village becoming an important centre for paper mills, sawmills and iron foundries, including Smith & Wellstood Foundry who produced an American metal heating stove called ‘Esse stoves’ in Europe. 

In recent years Bonnybridge has enjoyed fame of a ‘different kind’, becoming known as the ‘UFO Capital of Scotland’ with over 300 sightings per year. It is referred to as ‘The Falkirk Triangle’. Bonnybridge is also famous for harbouring the Stone of Destiny after it was stolen from Westminster Abbey by Scottish Nationalists in 1950. The Stone was hidden for some time in local offices before being returned in 1951. In 1996, it returned permanently to Scotland and can be viewed at Edinburgh Castle alongside the Scottish Crown Jewels. We bear left on Bridge Street then at the lifting bridge follow the canal towpath west.