Bow Street26-28 Bow StreetLarge ashlar-fronted house of three storeys with dormer windows. The front has been somewhat altered, but the view from the close, entered through an arched pend, is exceedingly picturesque. Here a square stair tower is set in the angle between the main building and the wing and rises by corbelled stages to a lofty crowstepped summit. The property belonged to the Erskine family, passing from the Regent Mar to his younger brother, Sir Alexander Erskine of Gogar, ancestor of the Earls of Kellie. The Erskines were Hereditary Keepers of Stirling Castle, and entrusted with the guardianship of Mary, Queen of Scots, King James VI, and Prince Henry in their infancy. From this derives the story that the house was used as a royal nursery. It has also been suggested that it was here that Queen Mary’s consort Darnley lodged during his visit to Stirling in 1565. Be that as it may, the building has sufficient architectural and historic interest to entitle it to a place in the first rank of Scottish town mansions. 24 Bow Street (At Far End Of Close)The town ludging of the Moirs of Leckie is now the only surviving example of its type in Stirling, situated at the end of a close with a fine open view from its back windows. The property was acquired from ‘the Stirlings of Keir by David Moir of Leckie in 1659 , and the house may have been begun shortly afterwards, but in its present form it belongs mainly to the eighteenth century. It is a harled building with characteristic “Venetian” windows on each of the two main floors, overlooking what must have been a most attractive terraced garden. |