The Town WallThe remains of the Town Wall of Stirling constitute the most extensive surviving example of a burgh fortification in Scotland. The Wall consists of three main sections. Of these, the southern section is at once the largest and the most impressive, extending as it does, with only a few gaps, along the rocky edge of the burgh escarpment from below Cowane’s Hospital almost to Port Street. The structure is by no means of one age, but the greater part of it is quite probably the wall erected by the burghers under the threat of English invasion in 1547-1548. It may be worth mentioning that the attractive “Back Walk” that runs below the Wall was begun in 1724 by William Edmonstone, Laird of Cambuswallace. The short eastern wall has very largely disappeared, but a most remarkable relic survives in the “Round House” to be found in a yard behind the east side of Port Street. This appears to have been a strongpoint designed to protect a particularly vulnerable corner of the town, and may have formed part of the defences known to have been erected during the Scottish Wars of Religion (c. 1570). As has been said, the northern wall was much less formal in character, and is consequently more difficult to identify. It ran from the Castle Hill to the foot of St. Mary’s Wynd and thence along the base of the burgh ridge to join the Blackfriars Dyke, at Friars Wynd. It is doubtful, however, whether it ever formed an absolutely continuous barrier, and its general line would seem to have been gradually advanced northwards. The massive walls in King’s Stables Lane and behind the gardens on the north side of Princes Street are undoubtedly of considerable age and may very well have formed part of the northern wall.
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