Bridgehaugh

The small but important Bridgehaugh Conservation Area is centred on Stirling Old Bridge.

Unusually, it contains very few buildings, but has two historic bridges. The 15th century Old Bridge is now a Scheduled Monument and has been pedestrianised, but it was once the main crossing point over the River Forth. The original timber bridge on which the Battle of Stirling Bridge was fought in 1297 was replaced by the current stone structure in the 15th or 16th century.

In 1832, the New Bridge designed by Engineer Robert Stevenson, was opened for vehicular traffic. You can visit the NLS Maps website and see Stevenson’s digitised hand-drawn plans of the New Bridge Stirling here.

The Bridge Street Clock Tower was presented as a gift to the people of Stirling by Provost David Bayne in 1910 and was designed by Stirling architects McLuckie & Walker. The clock was an important feature of Stirling’s streetscape, providing visitors and locals with an accurate method of keeping the time, many years before the BBC would provide a time check on the wireless and the creation of the Speaking Clock in 1936. It also had a very unique feature; the pendulum (now removed) contained a barometer.