Stirling, the county town of Stirlingshire, stands on the south bank of the winding Forth, 36 miles NW. of Edinburgh and 29 NNE. of Glasgow. Like Edinburgh, to which in its main features it bears a striking resemblance, it no doubt owes its origin to the strong natural fortress of its Castle Hill, which rises gradually from the east to a height of 420 feet above the sea or 340 above the plain, and fronts the west with a steep precipitous wall of basaltic rock. The Castle, which commands magnificent views of the Grampians, the Ochils, and the 'Links of Forth,' dates from immemorial antiquity, though few, if any, of the existing buildings are earlier than the days of the Stewart sovereigns, who often kept court here. These include the Douglas room (where the Earl of Douglas was stabbed by James II., 1452), James III.'s parliament-hall (now a barrack-room), James V.'s palace, and James VI.'s chapel (now a store-room). Stirling has many other objects of interest, as Argyll's Lodging (1630, since 1799 a military hospital); ruined Mar's Work (c. 1570); the parish church (in 1656 divided into two); the colossal statue of Bruce (1877); the new cemetery, with half-a-dozen statues of Reformers and Covenanters and a marble group of the Wigtown martyrs; Cowane's Hospital or the Guildhall (1637); the King's Knot and King's Park; the Mote or Heading Hill; the old four-arch bridge (c. 1400 - the ' key of the Highlands'); Robert Stevenson's new bridge (1832); and the Smith Institute (1874), with picture-gallery, reading-room, library, and museum, where now is preserved the 'stirling Jug' (1497), the standard of the old Scots pint. Other modern edifices are the County Buildings (1875), the public hall (1883), and the High School (1855-89). In the neighbourhood are Bannock-burn (q.v.), the ruins of Cainbuskenneth Abbey (q.v.), and the Abbey Craig (q.v.). Stirling manufactures tartans, tweeds, carpets, agricultural implements, etc. A royal burgh as early as 1119, it unites with Dunfermline, Culross, Inverkeithing, and Queensferry to return one member. Pop. (1851) 12,837; (1901) 18,403. Stirling (formerly Stryvelyne or Estrivelin, and also Snowdoun) has a wealth of historic memories - the death of Alexander I. and William the Lion; Wallace's victory of Stirling Bridge (1297); the great siege of the castle by Edward I. (1304); the birth of James III.; the coronation of Queen Mary; the baptism and coronation of James VI.; the slaughter of the Regent Lennox (1571); the birth of Prince Henry (1594); the capture of the castle by Monk (1651); and its unsuccessful siege by the Jacobites (1746). See History of the Chapel Royal of Stirling (Grampian Club, 1882), and Charters of Stirling (Glasgow, 1884).