Stirling is a city and former ancient burgh, and is at the heart of the
wider Stirling council area. The city is clustered around a large fortress and
medieval old-town beside the River Forth. Historically it was strategically
important as the "Gateway to the Highlands", with its position near
the boundary between the Scottish Lowlands and Highlands. Its position as the
nearest crossing of the Forth to the river mouth meant that many of its
visitors were in fact invaders.
Once the capital of Scotland, Stirling contains the Great Hall and the
Renaissance Palace within the Castle that rivaled any building in Europe at the
time. Stirling also has its medieval parish church, The Church of the Holy
Rude, where King James VI was crowned King of Scots on 29 July 1567. The Holy
Rude still functions as living church with a service every Sunday.
One of the principal royal strongholds of the Kingdom of Scotland, Stirling
was created a Royal burgh by King David I in 1130, which it remained until
1975, when the county of Stirlingshire was absorbed into Central Region. In
2002, as part of Her Majesty the Queen’s Golden Jubilee, Stirling was granted
city status.
The Monument to William Wallace stands overlooking Stirling and Stirling
University which was where I walked today.
The University of Stirling http://www.stir.ac.uk/ is
ranked number one in Scotland and eighth in the UK in The Times Higher
Education 100 Under 50 table, which ranks the world’s best 100 universities
under 50 years old.
Stirling was established by Royal
Charter in 1967, the first new university to be established in Scotland for 400
years.
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| The warm welcome from Stirling University and the Lord Lieutenant on Day 215 of the BRIT 2012 Challenge |
I was delighted to be hosted by
and to meet Professor Gerry McCormac, Principal and Vice Chancellor of Stirling
University. It was a super welcome and I was honoured to meet the Lord
Lieutenant and the Provost who welcomed me to the County and the City. The
University had invited students from Stirling High School http://stirlinghigh.co.uk/heritage/history.html
and Wallace High School http://www.wallacehigh.org/
to walk with me throughout the day.
I was shown many of the
facilities throughout the campus and was fascinated to learn of their research
into so many areas including;
·
Dementia
The University has also been
designated Scotland's
University for Sporting Excellence.
Their facilities include the
Scottish National Swimming Academy, with a six lane 50 metre pool that is an
Intensive Training Centre for the British Olympic Association; and the Gannochy
National Tennis Centre, with six indoor and four outdoor courts. Other
facilities include a golf course and golf academy, a state-of-the-art fitness
centre, artificial and grass pitches for football, hockey and rugby, a football
academy and facilities for all major indoor and outdoor sports.
Stirling University offer sports
scholarships in a variety of sports, and have world-class researchers and
sports scientists on their staff.
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| Walking with Students from Stirling High School, Wallace High School and staff from Stirling University |
The campus is also home to the
Headquarters of the Sport Scotland Institute of Sport, the Central Scotland
Institute of Sport, the Commonwealth Games Council for Scotland, Scottish
Swimming, as well as national coaches for tennis, swimming, disability swimming
and triathlon.
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| Walking with Students on Day 215 of the BRIT 2012 Challenge |
It was a super day and I was
delighted to meet students from the University, Stirling High School and
Wallace High School. I am sincerely grateful to everyone for making my walk so
enjoyable and for coming to support me.
I ended Day 215 with 629 miles to
go.
With best wishes,
Phil