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Towns & Villages -
Glasgow, Stirling, Loch Lomond & Lanarkshire
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You may view the information for ALL the towns and villages
in Glasgow, Stirling, Loch Lomond (the page may be very large)
or...
You can view your
preferred location from the list on the left.
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An excellent base for walking,
cycling, sailing and fly-fishing, Aberfoyle, which
sits on the upper reaches of the Forth, is the
southern gateway to The Trossachs. It sits close
the forest of Loch Ard, the Queen Elizabeth Forest
Park and the Lake of Monteith.
It was little more than an isolated Highland
village until the end of the 18th century but was
made famous through the novels of Sir Walter Scott
who stayed at the Old Manse and saw most of the
surrounding countryside from horseback.
At one time the town was a key
centre for slate quarrying. At its peak more than
one million roof slates were produced each year.
A ferry takes visitors to the
island of Inchmahome where a ruined Augustine
priory sheltered the young Mary, Queen of Scots,
as she fled for her life in 1547. To the north is
the Duke's Road, which takes travellers over the
hills to Loch Achray and into the heart of The
Trossachs. Built by the Duke of Montrose around
1810, it was only opened to the public in 1931.
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Near Balloch, this typically
Scottish rural town in west Dumbartonshire lies
just a couple of miles from Loch Lomond, Britain’s
biggest lake by area at 28 square miles. The
original village was named after the local MP,
Alexander Smollett, in the 18th century.
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This superbly located village
near Inversnaid sits at the head of Loch Long and
is overlooked by spectacular mountains. It’s an
ideal spot from which to explore this picturesque
region of Scotland. It is also the starting point
for walks into the splendid Argyll Forest Park.
The peaks around it include the Cobbler and Bienn
Inn Narnain – collectively known as the "Arrochar
Alps". Loch Long was once used by the navy as a
testing range for torpedoes.
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Lying at the southern end of
Loch Lomond, this pretty village is a place of
boats and boat trips and across the water is
Inchmurrin, the largest of Lomond’s romantic
islands. A stone’s throw from here is The Balloch
Castle Country Park with a 19th century
castellated mansion, built by financier John
Buchanan, surrounded by 200 acres of gardens. Loch
Lomond’s main tourist office is in the centre of
Balloch.
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Balloch is home to the
paddle steamer "Maid of the Loch"
which is currently being refurbished and it
is hoped that it will eventually recommence
sailing on the loch.
Launched in
Coronation Year 1953 for service on Loch
Lomond, Maid of the Loch is the last paddle
steamer to be built in Britain, a direct
descendant of the first loch paddle steamer
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On the shore of Loch Lomond,
Balmaha lies at the foot of majestic Conic Hill
and has for many years been a popular tourist
destination. It also provides welcome relief for
walkers on the long-distance West Highland Way
footpath. A ferry will even carry them to
beautiful Inchcailloch Island to see castle ruins.
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Tucked inside a valley at the
eastern end of Loch Voil, this is the final
resting place of Rob Roy MacGregor who died
peacefully at the age of 63 in 1734. The
cattle-rustling outlaw is buried in the local
churchyard alongside his wife Mary and two of his
sons, Coll and Robert. Near his grave are the
remains of a chapel where the Clan MacGregor met
in 1589 to discuss the murder of the king’s
forester, John Drummond, and swore an oath not to
reveal the identity of his killers because they
were members of their own clan.
North are the steep-sided hills called the Braes
of Balquhidder while a path leading to
Inverlochlarig passes the site of a farmhouse
where Rob Roy died. Sir Walter Scott turned Rob
into a national hero while Robert Louis Stevenson
set part of his novel ‘Kidnapped’ in Balquhidder.
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Just a few miles from
Stirling, this small village has one of the most
famous names in Scottish history. So-called
because of a stream called the Bannock Burn, it
was the site of the famous Battle of Bannockburn,
which saw Robert the Bruce’s courageous pikemen
rout a powerful English army led by Edward 11 on
June 24th, 1314. As the climax to the Wars of
Independence, it paved the way for a united
Scotland.
This titanic struggle is remembered at a heritage
centre which tells the full story of the
consequences of that bloodcurdling day. Bruce is
now just a statue on horseback.
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A Victorian spa town and
holiday resort near Stirling, Bridge of Allan is
set below the beautiful Ochil Hills on the Allan
Water. Robert Louis Stevenson was one of those who
‘took the waters’ at nearby Airthrey. The 220ft
tower of the Wallace Monument is just two miles
away at Abbey Craig. It contains a double-handed
steel sword reputedly used by the Scottish patriot
William Wallace as he cut a swathe through the
English soldiery.
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Like many villages in this
part of Scotland, Bridge of Weir grew up around
cotton mills created during the 18th century along
the River Gryffe. Although the industry has
disappeared this small village continues to prove
popular, partly due to its proximity to the
motorway network.
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East of the Trossachs on the
River Teith, Callander is the gateway to the
Highlands and an impressive tourist hotspot. It
became ‘Tannochbrae’ in the original series of ‘Dr
Finlay’s Casebook’.
It was greatly expanded by the Commissioners of
Forfeited Estates following the failure of the
Bonnie Prince Charlie’s Jacobite rebellion in
1745. It was placed firmly on the tourist trail by
Sir Walter Scott and the poet William Wordsworth,
who urged travellers to take wilderness tours by
horse-drawn carriage.
The town’s visitor centre
contains a display about the outlaw Rob Roy
MacGregor, who is buried at Balquhidder. There are
numerous pleasant walks to the Falls of Leny and
Bracklinn Falls a mile away. Those with stout
boots might like to head for the summit of Ben
Ledi.
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Surrounded by some of
Scotland’s highest mountains, including Ben More,
Stobinian, Cruach Ardrain and Ben Lui, Crianlarich
is a major crossroads for both road and rail
travellers. It is also a point on the West
Highland Way, Scotland’s first-ever long distance
footpath, which stretches the 95 miles from
Glasgow to Fort William, halting at Ben Nevis. The
first roads were built in the 18th century for
military use along natural valleys.
Legend has it that 7th century
St Fillan is buried a few miles from here at
Kirton, while Robert the Bruce was defeated in
1306 by the MacDougalls at Tyndrum. Two miles from
Crianlarich lies the island ruins of Loch Dochart
Castle. Built by Black Duncan Campbell in 1620,
the castle was destroyed in 1646.
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Close to Stirling,
sporran-making Doune is a former drover’s market
with a bloodthirsty past, as evidenced by its
great 14th century castle. Built by the Duke of
Albany, whose family was slaughtered by James 1,
it held a position of strategic importance,
effectively controlling the route between the
Highlands and the Lowlands. Its gatehouse rises to
a remarkable 95 feet. Curiously it featured in the
movie ‘Monty Python and the Holy Grail’.
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Drymen, which
has a pretty
village green
dating back
nearly 200
years, is on the
West Highland
Way at the
western end of
beautiful
Campsie Fells
and overlooks
Endrick Water
near Loch
Lomond.
It has
earned a
reputation as
the gateway to
east Lomondside
and has become
increasingly
popular; one
reason is that
that the local Glendoyne
Distllery offers
guided tours on
the Scottish art
of
whisky-making.
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Fifteen miles downstream of
Glasgow, the town of Dumbarton sits at the
confluence of the rivers Leven and Clyde and is
dominated by an ancient castle atop a gaunt rock.
In the 8th and 9th centuries it was capital of the
Kingdom of Strathclyde. Henry V111 dubbed it the
‘key to the realm’. It witnessed the departure for
France of Mary, Queen of Scots, when she was just
six.
The mighty edifice is still
officially a Scottish Royal Fortress, as are the
castles of both Edinburgh and Stirling, and on
Coronation Day the reigning monarch has to hand
over the keys.
The town itself grew with the
development of shipbuilding and marine
engineering. Many types of ship were built here –
from the Cutty Sark to the hovercraft. The first
helicopter capable of flight was also built here
in 1909. A popular attraction is Denny’s Tank, the
world’s oldest working ship-model experimental
tank used to test scale models, although
whisky-making is one of Dumbarton’s staple
industries today.
Among places to visit are the Scottish Maritime
Museum (Denny Tank) and the Governor’s House,
which sits at the base of the castle rock.
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Situated on Gareloch in Argyll
and Bute, this is Britain’s most important naval
port. Hemmed in by mountains and magnificent
scenery, it’s where nuclear submarines can
sometimes be seen on manoeuvres.
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This picturesque,
prize-winning village sits happily on the banks of
Endrick Water at the heart of the Campsies, a
friendly region of rolling hills and lush
agricultural land around the Campsie Fells, which
rise to almost 2,000ft. While the village itself
is a genuine Scottish treat, visitors should not
ignore the stunning Loup of Fintry, a 95ft
waterfall. Culcreuth Castle, built by the
Galbraith clan in the 13th century, stands in
wooded parkland above the village.
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This small town lies at the
head of the sea loch known as Gare Loch, which
extends for about seven miles and is popular with
water-sport enthusiasts. It achieved an ironic
notoriety in 1853 when a local laird, James
Colquhoun, and his keepers tried to prevent
Glaswegian day-trippers from coming ashore from a
paddle steamer on a Sunday. The courts backed his
cause and Sabbath trips were outlawed.
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Gourock is essentially a
seaside resort but offers superb views over its
surroundings for anyone willing to walk to the top
of Tower Hill or nearby Lyle Hill, a steep 450ft
climb which leads to panoramas of the spectacular
mountains of Argyll.
An ancient stone, Granny Kempock’s stone, has
stood in the town for many years, apparently a
good luck charm for local fishermen. However, one
resident, Mary Lamont, discovered it could have
the opposite effect. In 1622 she tried to throw it
into the sea, prompting the townsfolk to burn her
at the stake!
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Lying on the southern shore of
the Firth of Clyde, Greenock has always been
associated with ships. In the 17th century it was
home to the infamous pirate Captain Kidd. Some 100
years later it was the site of the first dock to
be created by John Scott on the Clyde, and at one
time was the embarkation point for thousands of
people setting out for new lives in America.
During War World 11 it was even the base of the
Free French navy.
From its pier visitors can be ferried to a number
of places on the Clyde, including Largs and
Rothesay on the Isle of Bute. The McLean Museum
and Art Gallery charts the history of both steam
power and the local shipping industry while the HM
Customs & Excise Museum looks at, among other
things, the history of illicit whisky distilling.
Greenock’s most famous son was James Watt
(1736-1819), the pioneer of steam power. Painter
Sir James Guthrie, one of the ‘Glasgow Boys’, was
also born here and it was the setting for Ken
Loach’s movie ‘Sweet Sixteen’.
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A smart Georgian town to the
north of the Firth of Clyde at the mouth of Gare
Loch, Helensburgh became a seaside resort in the
18th century and its bathing master, Henry Bell,
invented ‘The Comet’ - the first-ever sea-going
vessel powered by new-fangled steam - to transport
visitors down the loch. The town is still noted
for its sailing, as well as fishing and golf.
The town’s best-known building by far is Hill
House, which was designed in 1902 by the art
nouveau practitioner Charles Rennie Mackintosh.
The remarkable structure was commissioned by the
publisher Walter Blackie and is regarded as the
finest example of Mackintosh’s domestic design.
The interior is just as he designed it, down to
the last detail.
John Logie Baird, creator of television, was also
born here in 1888, while the anthropologist Sir
James Frazer, author of ‘The Golden Bough, went to
school here.
Helensburgh is also home town
of Scottish artist, Reyner Holder without whose
influence this web site would never have been
created!
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Near the picturesque village
of Luss sits Inverbeg on the western shoreline of
glorious Loch Lomond. All around is splendid
countryside and from here you can cross the loch
to visit Rowardennan, which is often less crowded.
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These small, delightful
villages on the wooded Rosneath peninsula are
popular playgrounds for sea-lovers, day-trippers
and Glaswegians alike and can be reached via a
ferry from Gourock. The area’s prosperity came
from shipbuilding in the 19th and 20th centuries.
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Killin is an important base
for walkers, climbers and anglers. The River
Dochart enters the Falls of Dochart here before
tumbling into Loch Tay. Beyond, Glen Lyon is the
longest enclosed glen in Scotland at 34 miles,
while the ruins of Finlarig Castle, a former seat
of the Campbells, remind visitors of the region’s
long and turbulent history. Breadalbane Folklore
Centre possesses the ancient ‘healing stones’ of
St. Fillan, a 6th century missionary.
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Just a few miles from the
picture-postcard village of Fintry lies Kippen, a
small village with an attractive parish church
close to the magnificent Standmile Craig. The
village, which sits above flat Flanders Moss, is a
neighbour of the Leckie Estate which includes
Leckie Castle, a 16th century Laird’s house where,
it is said, the Lady of Leckie feted Bonnie Prince
Charlie in 1745. The Scottish painter Sir David
Young Cameron worshipped at the village’s
sandstone parish church.
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Taking its name from the
earldom of Lennox, this rural Scottish town sits
at the foot of the beautiful Campsie Fells. It
only emerged as a town of any significance during
the 18th century. The earldom of Lennox played an
important role in the history of Scotland and
originally surrounded Loch Lomond. Lennox, in
fact, is the old name for the loch.
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There’s a good reason why
climbers and walkers head for this idyllic spot -
it sits at the western end of Loch Earn and is
overlooked by the great 3,000ft mountain Ben
Vorlich. Many visitors, though, are intent on
sailing and water-skiing on the waters of this
beautiful Scottish lake.
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The nature reserve at Castle
Semple Loch is nationally recognised as a wildfowl
sanctuary and Site of Special Scientific Interest.
The Loch is also popular for water sports while
the village itself is pleasing to the eye and has
a number of traditional cottages. Its real fame,
however, comes from its weaving tradition.
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A quaint village on the shore
of Loch Lomond, Luss was the setting for the TV
series ‘Take the High Road’. Nearby, Glen Luss
leads into the Luss Hills whose highest point is
Doune Hill at over 2,000ft.
The Colquhouns of Luss were a formidable family
who became embroiled in a famous fight with the
MacGregors who, in 1603, stole 600 cattle, 800
sheep and 200 horses from them in the ‘Slaughter
of Lennox’. The thieves were later outlawed.
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Birthplace of the famous
‘Paisley Pattern’ (which was originally introduced
from Kashmir), this Glaswegian outpost on the
White Cart River became a major manufacturer of
cotton and woollen garments in the 19th century.
The history of its textiles is told in the local
museum, which has a stunning collection of Paisley
shawls, while Sma’ Shot Cottages include an 18th
century weaver’s house.
The town grew up around a Cluniac abbey founded in
1163 by Walter Fitzallan, ancestor of the Stuarts.
It was burned down by the English during the
bloody Wars of Independence and a second abbey had
to be constructed. It contains royal tombs,
interesting stained glass windows and the 10th
century Barochan Cross.
Paisley’s most important son was the Reverend John
Witherspoon. He sailed to America to become one of
the signatories to the Declaration of
Independence.
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This beautiful village with a
population of 2,000 people enjoys striking views
and sits on the east bank of Gare Loch, near
Helensburgh. It is no surprise that it has become
a popular place with walkers, fishermen and
yachtsmen.
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The town of Stirling on the
River Forth has witnessed some of Scotland’s most
momentous events and is an ideal location for the
heritage seeker, standing at the crossroads
between north and south, close to both Glasgow and
Edinburgh.
Freedom fighter William Wallace thwarted his
English foes at the Battle of Stirling Bridge in
1297, while Robert the Bruce repeated his victory
a few miles away at the tumultuous Battle of
Bannockburn 17 years later.
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The town’s majestic castle, glaring down from atop
a volcanic crag, was home to the great Stuart
dynasty and was frequently fought over.
With its magnificent Great Hall and regimental
museum of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders,
the castle is one of the region’s most romantic
gems. Nearby is the medieval Church of Holy Rude
where James V1 was crowned in 1543. |
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While the wooden structure that featured in the
Battle of Stirling Bridge has long gone, visitors
can still see the 15th century Old Bridge which
acts as a reminder of the town’s remarkable past.
On the banks of the Forth lie the tragic ruins of
Cambuskenneth Priory, once one of the richest
abbeys in Scotland.
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Close to Arrochar, picturesque
Tarbet sits uneasily on an isthmus between the sea
loch of Loch Long and the inland lake of Loch
Lomond. In 1263 Magnus, King of Man, pulled 60
ships across over the finger of land and into Loch
Lomond so that he could embark on a spree of
pillaging. He left with hundreds of cattle to feed
the final, ill-fated expedition of his father in
law, King Haakon of Norway.
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Before travellers and
sightseers started to drive everywhere,
Glaswegians by the thousand used to travel to
Wemyss Bay to enjoy regular trips on steamboats.
Modern visitors can follow in their footsteps by
catching the ferry to Rothesay on the fascinating
Isle of Bute.
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