PlanIn common with most older Scottish burghs, the plan of Old Stirling is relatively simple. Like Edinburgh, the old town clings closely to the spine of the ridge that descends eastwards from the Castle Rock. Apart from the small “fortress suburb” on the, Castle Hill, the first houses of the burgh proper begin about a bowshot clear of the outer defences of the Castle. A short distance below the ‘town-heid’ is the original High Street or Market Place (Broad Street) with the Tolbooth on its southern side and the Parish Kirk adjoining its south-western corner. From the foot of Broad Street, St. Mary’s Wynd makes a tortuous descent northwards towards the Brig-end, while Bow Street and Baker Street — of old the Middle Raw or Baker’s Wynd — continue in a south-easterly direction down a sheltered hollow in the crown of the main ridge. Towards its lower end, Baker Street gives off Friars Wynd or Friars Street to the north. This was originally a narrow vennel leading down to the Dominican Friary on the edge of the town and thence to the ferry across the Forth to Cambuskenneth Abbey. Descending from the Parish Kirk, somewhat to the south of the main thoroughfare just described, is another line of street, the old South Gait or Back Raw. Under the modern name of St. John Street, it first runs roughly parallel to Broad Street, to which it is linked by the Kirk Wynd and jail Wynd. It then makes a junction with the other thoroughfare at the “elbow” of Bow Street and Baker Street, and continues close behind the latter, under the name of Spittal Street, until it combines with it in the wide expanse of King Street. Here, in a sort of second High Street, the old town came to an end. Although distinctly the secondary thoroughfare of the burgh, the Back Raw contained a considerable number of important mansions and ludgings, together with the “place” of the Franciscans or Greyfriars, which occupied a site on its south side where the High School now stands. |