STIRLINGSHIRE, an inland county of Scotland, is bounded N. by Perthshire, N.E. by C1ackmanaanshlro and a detached portion of Perthshire, E. and S.E. by Linlithgowshire, S. by Lanarkshire and Dumbartonshire, and S.W. and W. by Dumbartonshire, from which it is separated by Loch Lomond : it lies between 55° 53' and 56° 22' N. lat., V 33' and 4° 46' W. long. The form of the county is irregular: the greatest length is 45 miles; the greatest breadth about 18 miles. There are two insulated portions surrounded by the counties of Perth and Claakmannan. The area is 462 square miles, or 295,875 statute acres. The population in 1851 was 86,237. The county returns one member to the Imperial Parliament.
Surface, Geology.—The north-western extremity of the county is occupied by the mountain range which forms the western extremity of the Grampians, and separates Loch Lomond from Loch Chon and Loch Ard. Of this range the principal mountain is Ben Lomond, which rises to a height of 8197 feet above the level of the sea. This moun tain is the best known of the mountains of Scotland, on account of its forming the southern extremity of the Highlands, and Its situation near the bank, of Loch Lomond. It is of easy ascent, and is covered with vegetation to the summit. At the foot of this mountain range, In Loch Lomond, are several islands, part of which are included in Stirlingshire. East of this district the face of the country becomes more level, and is occupied by rocks of the old red-sandstone group ; but in the central parts of the shire it again rises into hills, which form the group of the Camrste Haas. These consist chiefly of large tabular masses of trap, the geological position and charaoter of which vary considerably. The other hills of the group, the Gargunnock, Finley, and Kilsyth' hills, are chiefly trap or whinetone ; their slopes are broken with crags and glens. That part of the county which skirts the Lennox hills to the south and east, and is drained by the Kelvin, a feeder of the Clyde, and by the Carron and other tributaries of the Forth, belongs to the coal districts of Central Scotland, and yields coal, ironstone, freestone, and limestone in considerable quantity. The carses, or dales, are generally occupied by the later formations, or by alluvium.
Hydrography and Communications.—The county belongs partly to the basin of the Forth and partly to that of tho Clyde. The Duchray, one of the affluents which form the Forth, is for several miles the boundary of the county. The chief tributaries of the Forth in this county are the Bannockburn, the Carron, and the Avon. The Endrick and its feeder, the Blanc, which drain the district between the High lands and the Lennox Hills, and the Kelvin, which drains the southern part of the county, are affluents of the Clyde. The Endrick falls into Loch Lomond. In the parish of Fintry it falls over a ruck 90 feet
high, presenting, when the waters are swollen by a flood, a magnificent cascade : there is a second smaller fall lower down. The Forth and Clyde Canal has about 10 miles of its course in the county. The Edinburgh and Glasgow Union Canal joins the Forth and Clyde Canal at Port Downie, near Falkirk, about 4 miles from Grangemouth.
The Edinburgh and Glasgow railway passes through this county, in a course parallel to that of the Union and Forth and Clyde canaLs. The Scottish Central railway traverses the eastern part of the county. The Slamannan railway has also a part of its course in this county. The road from Edinburgh to Stirling, and thence to the north of Scotland, enters the county at Linlithgow, and runs by Falkirk, Bannockburn, and St. Ninians to Stirling. At Camelon, just beyond Falkirk, a road branches to Kileyth, Kirkintilloch, and Glasgow. There is also a direct road from Stirling to Glasgow.
Soil, Agriculture, kc.—The hilly distriot of the centre, and the highland tract of the north-west, are iu most places bleak and sterile; but the cease, or the valley of the Forth, from the neighbourhood of Falkirk to Stirling, consists of low and fertile alluvial lands. The eastern side of the county presents a finely-diversified appearance, and the view from Stirling Castle is of almost unequalled beauty. In the highland district only a very small proportion of the land is arable. Oats and barley, potatoes and turnips, are grown. The soil in the valley or Strath of Endrick is a rich brown loam. In the low ground which separates the Highlands from the Campaie Hills, and iu the valleys of the Forth and of the Kelvin, the land is commonly divided into the carse, or valley, and the dryfield or upland slope between the valley and the moorland hills. Oats and hay form the principal crops; barley and potatoes are grown to a considerable extent ; and turnips, beans, and wheat in smaller proportions. Dairy farms are numerous, the produce finding a ready market in Glasgow. The hills are occupied as aheep-walks. The black-faced sheep from Tweeddale are prevalent. The cane or valley of the Forth below Stirling, forming the eastern part of the county, is fertile, and, in an agricultural sense, is important. There is comparatively little waste land ; the soil is wholly occupied in tillage or plantations ; and the facility for obtaining manure has tended to the improvement of agriculture. Gardens and orchards aro numerous and productive : the soil Is particularly adapted to pear trees. The horses reared are of a superior description. Leases are commonly for 19 years. Grain rents are usual iu the carve of Stirling. The greatest fairs for cattle in Scotland are held near Falkirk in this county : they are known as Falkirk Trysts.