Trossachs Bird of Prey Trail
, The Trossachs Stirling, United Kingdom
History, Legends and Surprising Facts
http://www.birdofpreytrail.com
10:32 05-Sep-2010
History, legends, and surprising facts
The area encircled by the Trossachs Bird of Prey Trail is crammed full of history. Everyone you talk to will have their own tall tale to spin, and the more you find out, the more you will want to know.
The area encircled by the Trossachs Bird of Prey Trail is crammed full of history. Everyone you talk to will have their own tall tale to spin, and the more you find out, the more you will want to know.
Here are a few facts to get you started:
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| Copyright: Dean Bricknell |
• After the last ice age, the Carse of Stirling was in fact part of the North Sea.
• Infamous Scottish rogue Rob Roy had a farm steading at Inversnaid just to the west of the area, and many local legends persist about him and his family.
• Roman remains have been found near Callander.
• French science-fiction novelist Jules Verne wrote a book based in Aberfoyle called The Underground City.
• Other works of fiction based in the Trossachs are Walter Scott’s Lady of the Lake poem, and his novel, Rob Roy, The Secret Commonwealth of Elves, Fauns and Fairies, by Robert Kirk, and the poem Stepping Westwards, by William Wordsworth.
• Most of the small towns in the area could once be reached by railway, but most traces of the old lines are now gone.
• The area around the Lake of Menteith was used as an ammunitions dump during the Second World War.
• Two of the most famous battles in Scottish history, the Battle of Bannockburn and the Battle of Stirling Bridge, took place nearby. Their locations were partly caused by geography, with the wet marshy areas on the Carse forcing armies to cross the River Forth at Stirling, making it a flash point for trouble.
• Callander was the first planned rural town in Scotland.
• When she was a child, Mary Queen of Scots stayed on Inchmahome Island on the Lake of Menteith.
• Doune Castle was one of the key locations used in the film, Monty Phython and the Holy Grail.
• Infamous Scottish rogue Rob Roy had a farm steading at Inversnaid just to the west of the area, and many local legends persist about him and his family.
• Roman remains have been found near Callander.
• French science-fiction novelist Jules Verne wrote a book based in Aberfoyle called The Underground City.
• Other works of fiction based in the Trossachs are Walter Scott’s Lady of the Lake poem, and his novel, Rob Roy, The Secret Commonwealth of Elves, Fauns and Fairies, by Robert Kirk, and the poem Stepping Westwards, by William Wordsworth.
• Most of the small towns in the area could once be reached by railway, but most traces of the old lines are now gone.
• The area around the Lake of Menteith was used as an ammunitions dump during the Second World War.
• Two of the most famous battles in Scottish history, the Battle of Bannockburn and the Battle of Stirling Bridge, took place nearby. Their locations were partly caused by geography, with the wet marshy areas on the Carse forcing armies to cross the River Forth at Stirling, making it a flash point for trouble.
• Callander was the first planned rural town in Scotland.
• When she was a child, Mary Queen of Scots stayed on Inchmahome Island on the Lake of Menteith.
• Doune Castle was one of the key locations used in the film, Monty Phython and the Holy Grail.