View from Stirling Old Bridge

I had a day off today and we had to go to Bridge of Allan, so we took the picturesque route via Balloch to Stirling.

On route the weather had been very wet, but when we got near Stirling it improved and a rainbow appeared near Stirling Castle. My first blip shot of the day.

A bit further along the road we passed near the Stirling Old Bridge and the light and autumn colours near the bridge caught my eye. Luckily it was not too busy and I managed to park close to the bridge. This is a shot underneath the Stirling Old Bridge looking across the River Forth towards the Wallace Monument. Worth looking large.

This handsome late 15th century bridge was for almost four centuries the lowest bridging point over the River Forth, until Stirling New Bridge opened in 1831.

Stirling Old Bridge is steeped in history. Taxes were charged on all goods entering the Burgh and customs men occupied a covered booth in a niche at the centre of the bridge. In 1571 Archbishop Hamilton was executed by being hung from a specially constructed gallows set up on the bridge. That was not the end of the drama at the bridge, for in 1745 the Old Bridge played a part in Bonnie Prince Charlie's Jacobite Rebellion. As the Prince's Highlanders advanced on Stirling, General Blackney, in charge of the defenses, blew up the southernmost arch to prevent the rebels from crossing. The arch was rebuilt in 1749.

The Old Bridge stands just upstream of an earlier wooden bridge where William Wallace routed the English forces at the Battle of Stirling Bridge in 1297.

Our afternoon finished with a lovely late lunch at the Jam Jar in Bridge of Allan before heading home.