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Menstrie Glen -
in the Ochil Hills -
in Central Scotland
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| The Menstrie Burn |
| The Menstrie Burn flows from the Lossburn Reservoir (also known
as the Loss Dam), down Menstrie Glen, to the village of Menstrie on
the south side of the Ochil Hills. Menstrie Glen lies behind Dumyat,
the most westerly of the Ochil Hills and site of a Pictish Fort on
its western top. Menstrie Glen separates Dumyat from the Myretoun
Hill and the main body of the Ochil Hills. People have lived in Menstrie
Glen for thousands of years, but nobody lives there now, although
a family named Burns lived at Jerah, near the Loss Dam, into the 1950s.
The only farm there now is on the front of Dumyat above Menstrie.
That farm used to be called 'Lipney' or 'Foreside of Lipney' - it
is now called 'Dumyat'. |
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O' Alva woods are bonny;
Tillicoultry hills are fair;
But when I think o' the bonnie braes o' Menstry,
It makes my heart aye sair.
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There's Dollar, and Alva, and Tillicoultry,
But the bonnie braes o' Menstrie they bear the gree.
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| Pictures of Menstrie Glen |
Click
on the small picture to see the larger version
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Jerah
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Looking across Menstrie Glen towards
the top of Dumyat
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Menstrie - (Brittonic) Mestryn 1261, Mestry
1315. 'Farmstead in the plain'. -
from P-Celtic - 'Maesdref' - hamlet on the plain
Inchna - 'Innis an Adha'
- island of the ford - in Menstrie Glen
Loss - 'leis' - -
a cultivated enclosure (Loss Dam & Loss Hill in Menstrie Glen
behind Dumyat )
Myretoun - (English/Old Scots) Boggy
farm township
Dumyat - pronounced
'Duh-my-at'
- from 'Dùn Maeatea' meaning
'Fort of the Maeatae' ... after a Pictish confederation who fought
the Romans. The Maeatae are mentioned by a Roman writer in the early
third century. The remains of the Pictish fort are on the western
top and archaeologists from Stirling University have investigated
it. - OR - the name is from 'Dùn-ma-chit'
meaning 'Fort of Good Prospect'.
Dug Linn - a pool in Menstrie Burn above the Washing Linn
possibly from 'Dubh Linne' meaning black pool/ OR it may be of Scots
derivation and it means 'Dog Pool'.
Washing Linn - In Menstrie Glen - it's the pool before the
burn goes into the gorge before Menstrie - it's the first pool you
come to coming from Menstrie.
Lipney - from the gaelic 'Lubanach' - a place of curves or
bends
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| Menstrie Glen, a farming landscape near Stirling |
| The hill rises in the form of a sugar loaf. As the manner of
breeding Sheep is now introduced into that neighbourhood it is reckoned
by proper Judges very fit for that purpose. There is good convenient
farmhouses upon the Grounds. The house of Lipney is pleasantly situated
upon the south side of the hill immediately above the low ground from
whence there is a very fine commanding prospect of a beautiful country
and the River of Forth. |
Today, Menstrie Glen it is a very empty place, unpopulated but for
the sheep, and frequented only by shepherds and hillwalkers.
The settlement remains that have been identified can be grouped under
five headings, each reflecting the character of the structural evidence.
Firstly, and probably the earliest in date, there are the shielings,
each comprising a cluster of stone and turf huts. Secondly, there
is a scatter of large turf buildings and byre-houses, the latter almost
certainly small farmsteads. Thirdly, there is a series of stone-built
farmsteads, their buildings and enclosures arranged in a more-or-less
regular plan. Fourthly, there is the relatively grand house and steading
at Loss. Finally, there are the shells of several 19th century buildings.
At Foreside of Lipney, the only farm to remain in use and now known
as Dumyat, the farm buildings were replaced in the 20th century and
are still occupied. |
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From 'Well sheltered and watered'
- Menstrie Glen, a farming landscape near Stirling -
Royal Commision on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland
ISBN 1-902419-25-1
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| Fairy Stories... |
| The wife of the miller of Menstry being very handsome, engaged the
affections of some of the 'good neighbours,' or fairies, and was,
in consequence, stolen away by them. The unfortunate husband, was
much distressed, more particularly when he heard his lost spouse singing
from the air the following verse; |
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O' Alva woods are bonny;
Tillicoultry hills are fair;
But when I think o' the bonnie braes o' Menstry,
It makes my heart aye sair.
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| This ditty she chaunted every day within his hearing, in a tone
of the greatest affection. At length, as he was one day riddling some
stuff near the door of his mill, he chanced to use a magical posture;
the spell that held his wife in captivity was instantly dissolved,
and she dropped down from the air at his feet. (Popular Rhymes of
Scotland, by Robert Chambers - p.54. Edinburgh, 1847) |
| And from nearby Tullibody .... |
| The wife of the smith of Tullibody, near Menstrie, like the wife
of the miller of Menstry, was stolen by the fairies. According to
the legend, she was captured in her husbands presence by the malicious
abductors, who took her up the chimney, singing as they bore her off: |
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Deidle linkum dodie --
We've gotten drucken Davie's wife,
The smith of Tullibody!
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(Popular Rhymes of Scotland, by Robert Chalmers
- p. 105 - Edinburgh, 1847)
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