Blog - Stirling City Heritage Trust

09 May 2025

Supporting traditional building repair in Stirling

To celebrate the re-opening and refresh of our Traditional Building Repair Grant and the launch of our new City of Stirling Tenement Grant, we’re going to take a look at two of our grant funded projects from last year.

02 May 2025

Marking the 80th anniversary of VE Day

The 8th of May 2025 marks the 80th anniversary of VE Day.

04 April 2025

On the European Stage: Preserving by Maintaining conference, Bratislava

In March, Trust Manager, Lindsay and TBHC Inspector, Chris, both attended an international conference on preventative maintenance held in Bratislava, Slovakia.

06 March 2025

Stirling History Books for World Book Day

For World Book Day, we've highlighted some great reads on the history of Stirling.

05 February 2025

What is a Conservation Area

Ahead of the opening of our exhibition ‘Avenues to the Past: Stirling’s Historic Streets’, we’ve created this quick guide to Conservation Areas.

05 February 2025

Avenues to the Past: Stirling’s Historic Streets Exhibition

As Stirling celebrates 900 years as a Royal Burgh, Stirling City Heritage Trust invites you to discover the stories of Stirling’s historic streets and how Conservation Area designation helps to protect the city’s unique historic environment.

31 January 2025

Reminiscence Art Project

Last year, as part of our ongoing heritage and dementia project, we funded four group art therapy workshops for people with a dementia diagnosis and their carers.

07 January 2025

Practical Workshop on Retrofitting Insulation with A. Proctor Group

Join us along with A. Proctor Group for our second Retrofit Event for Contractors and Installers supported by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.

14 November 2024

Stirling Business Awards 2025

We are delighted to have been longlisted for the 2025 Stirling Business Awards. Find out about what we've been up to this year.

30 October 2024

Women in Construction at Bannockburn House

This month we spent two days with a group of 12 pupils from both Wallace High and Stirling High at our Women in Construction build project, held at Bannockburn House.

24 September 2024

SVE Inspire Awards September 2024

Staff and Trustees of Stirling City Heritage Trust were delighted to attend the Stirlingshire Voluntary Enterprise (SVE) Inspire Volunteering Awards last week, celebrating the fantastic volunteers across a variety of organisations in the Stirling area.

06 August 2024

Kings, Wolves and Drones: 20 years of care and repair at Stirling City Heritage Trust

Join us for an illustrated lecture on Tuesday 17th September celebrating 20 years of SCHT supporting heritage in Stirling.

25 July 2024

SCHT Grant Conditions: Owners Associations

We’ve recently updated our Grant Conditions for tenement projects, read all about it below.

28 June 2024

Stirling's Lost Swimming Pools

In this Lost Stirling blog post, we’ll be looking at two lost swimming pools of Stirling, the Edward Road Swimming Pool and the Provosts Pool. Although they were demolished, we still have wonderful architectural plans of these buildings, thanks to Stirling Archives.

01 June 2024

Level 3 Award in Energy Efficiency for Older and Traditional Buildings Retrofit Course (2 Day)

This course organised by SCHT will enable participants to achieve the NOCN qualification: Energy Efficiency Measures for Older and Traditional Buildings.

31 May 2024

Community Consultation launched for Stirling’s Heritage Strategy

Help shape the future of Stirling’s Heritage

24 May 2024

Guest Blog: Dementia Friendly Heritage Interpretation

We've invited Gillian Fraser, who has been working on dementia-friendly activity packs to bring the Battle of Bannockburn Experience into care homes, to write a blog about her innovative project.

10 May 2024

SCHT 20: Championing Women in Construction

During 2024, we will be celebrating being 20 years old! In this blog we take a look at our work to encourage female high school students to consider a career in construction and built heritage.

24 April 2024

Retrofitting Traditional Buildings: Climatic Adaptation

In our sixth blog in our TBHC Retrofit series, Callum, SCHT Heritage Trainee, takes a look at the effects of Climate Change on traditional buildings and how we can ensure they are better equipped to deal with the changing climate.

18 April 2024

World Heritage Day: Exploring Hayford Mill

It’s World Heritage Day, so we’re exploring the built heritage of one of Stirling’s most important industries, the textile industry.

02 April 2024

Statement on Langgarth House

Statement on Langgarth House from Stirling City Heritage Trust

28 March 2024

Retrofitting Traditional Buildings: Chimneys

In our fifth blog in our TBHC Retrofit series, Callum, SCHT Heritage Trainee, takes a look at Chimneys, there importance to traditional buildings and some Retrofit options.

01 March 2024

Stirling City Heritage Trust at 20

During 2024, we will be celebrating being 20 years old!

29 February 2024

Miss Curror and the Thistle Property Trust

In our next blog post on the Thistle Property Trust (TPT), we take a look at stories of the pioneering women who established and ran the Trust.

22 February 2024

Retrofitting Traditional Buildings: Insulation

In our fourth blog in our TBHC Retrofit series, Callum, SCHT Heritage Trainee, takes a look at insulation and its role in the retrofitting of traditional Scottish buildings.

01 February 2024

Architects and The Thistle Property Trust

This blog explores the story of the Thistle Property Trust's work in refurbishing the Top of the Town, led by architect Eric S. Bell, and the subsequent redevelopment by town planner Frank Mears.

24 January 2024

Retrofitting Traditional Buildings: Windows

In our third blog in our TBHC Retrofit series, Callum, SCHT Heritage Trainee, takes a look at retrofit solutions for sash and case windows.

17 January 2024

New Retrofit Service now available for Traditional Buildings Health Check Members

We are delighted to announce that the new Energy Efficiency and Retrofit Service is now available for existing Traditional Buildings Health Check members.

12 December 2023

Stirling Reminiscence Box

Building on the success of our Accessible Publication, 20 Great Buildings of Stirling, we have produced a new resource for people with Dementia and Alzheimer’s, Stirling Reminiscence Boxes.

08 December 2023

Retrofitting Traditional Buildings: Fabric First

In our second blog in our TBHC Retrofit series Callum, SCHT Heritage Trainee, takes a look at the Fabric First approach to retrofit and why it is important.

01 December 2023

Shopping Arcades

This short article looks at the history of shopping arcades and why they are of such significance.

24 November 2023

Building Resilience: Maintaining Traditional Buildings

For Maintenance Week our Heritage Trainee has put together a short guide to the concept of maintenance and why its important to maintain traditional buildings.

17 November 2023

Retrofitting Traditional Buildings

The first blog in our new TBHC Retrofit series takes a look at why the Retrofitting of Traditional Buildings is necessary.

27 October 2023

Beechwood House and the Transatlantic Slave Trade

In this blog post on Beechwood House we’ll be examining the links the owners of this land and house may have had to the Transatlantic Slave Trade.

11 October 2023

Laurelhill House and the West Indies

Demolished in in the 1950s, we examine the history of Laurelhill House as part of Black History Month.

29 September 2023

Stirling’s Lost Skating Heritage

Stirling’s lost sporting heritage is as interesting as it is varied. In this blog we’ll be focussing our attention on ice-skating and roller-skating.

12 September 2023

Statement on Christie Clock

Statement on Christie Clock from Stirling City Heritage Trust

08 September 2023

SCHT visit to Brucefield Estate, Forestmill, Clackmannanshire

Stirling City Heritage Trust staff and Trustees recently visited Brucefield Estate which is located east of Clackmannan and about half an hour from Stirling.

30 August 2023

Growing up in Stirling: A Night of Reminiscence at The Smith

In August we got together with The Stirling Smith Art Gallery & Museum, to host a Reminiscence Night in honour of the Son of a Miner Photography Exhibition.

25 August 2023

10 Years of the Traditional Buildings Health Check

2023 marks 10 years since the Traditional Buildings Health Check Scheme was established, to coincide with this anniversary, Stirling City Heritage Trust has produced a report on 10 years of operating the scheme in Stirling.

09 August 2023

Doors Open Days Talk: Who Built Stirling?

Join us for an illustrated lecture about the architects of Stirling’s historic buildings.

20 July 2023

Inspiring the Future: Stirling City Heritage Trust's Women in Construction Event at Wallace High

Stirling City Heritage Trust brought its Women in Construction event to Wallace High this Spring, aiming to encourage female high school students to consider a career in construction and built heritage.

08 June 2023

Energy efficiency project awarded grant from Shared Prosperity Fund

Stirling City Heritage Trust are delighted to have been awarded funding to develop a new project to help traditional building owners in the Stirling area to improve the energy efficiency of their buildings.

18 May 2023

The development of King's Park

For Local History Month we're taking a a look at the development of the King's Park, one of Scotland’s most important Victorian suburbs.

05 May 2023

Coronations and Royal Christenings in Stirling

Over the centuries Stirling has been host to many monarchs, and it has also been involved in its fair share of coronations and Royal Christenings.

30 March 2023

William Wallace Statues In Stirling

Stirling celebrates its links with William Wallace’s story. While most people are familiar with the National Wallace Monument, there are actually several other statues of the Scottish hero scattered throughout the city, each with their own unique history and significance.

15 March 2023

Sharing Memories: Taking '20 Great Buildings of Stirling' into the community

Since its launch, ’20 Great Buildings’ has made its way across Stirlingshire with the help of Stirling’s Library Services, and we have also delivered it to a variety of community groups, local care homes and third sector organisations.

02 March 2023

Stirling City Heritage Trust Publications

This World Book Day, we thought we’d celebrate some of our very own publications.

03 February 2023

Cambuskenneth Abbey

For National Storytelling Week we discover the story of Cambuskenneth Abbey, the only Arrousian Abbey established in Scotland.

21 November 2022

Creative careers in the heritage sector

For Creative Careers Week 2022, we’ve gathered together some useful resources for young people considering a creative career in the heritage sector.

31 October 2022

Ghost Tales from Stirling

Between 1929 and 1932 Stirling was plagued by hauntings, a white-robed figure lurked in dark alleys and on countryside roads, and even went as far as terrifying people on thoroughfares like Port Street in the city centre.

21 October 2022

Walker Family Visit

In August, we were thrilled to welcome relatives of Stirling architect Ronald Walker (1858-1911), who were visiting Stirling to connect with their family history.

14 October 2022

Snowdon House and The West Indies

Demolished in in the 20th century, Snowdon House has a fascinating history which we are examining as part of Black History Month.

06 October 2022

The Abolition Movement in Stirling

This Black History Month we have decided to explore Stirling’s lost heritage and its links with the Abolition Movement and the Transatlantic Slave Trade.

23 September 2022

20 Great Buildings of Stirling

To coincide with the 2022 Stirling Doors Open Days, Stirling City Heritage Trust has launched 20 Great Buildings of Stirling, an Accessible Publication, tailored for people living with dementia, in care communities, and New Scots.

01 September 2022

Avenues to the Past: Stirling’s Historic Streets

As Stirling celebrates 20 years of city status, Stirling City Heritage Trust invites you to discover the stories of Stirling’s historic streets and how Conservation Area designation helps to protect the city’s unique historic environment.

29 August 2022

Stirling’s Streetscape Stories: Photography Workshop

On 17th August as part of the Stirling Photography Festival, we collaborated with their team and Historic Environment Scotland (HES) to hold a photography workshop called ‘Stirling’s Streetscape Stories’ at Made In Stirling.

19 August 2022

Stirlingshire’s Highland Games

Highland Games are held every summer across Scotland, and although some of the traditions seem ancient, Highland Games themselves are a relatively new invention.

16 August 2022

Postcards From Stirling

Even though we can now video call each other from around the world, the tradition of sending postcards back home when we go on holiday is still going strong.

22 July 2022

Stirling’s Gala Days

It’s summertime in Stirling so we thought we’d take a look at a traditional Scottish festival that usually takes place in June or July, the Gala Day.

14 July 2022

TBHC Scheme now open to properties in Dunblane and Blairlogie

After the successful trial expansion to Bridge of Allan, the Traditional Buildings Health Check scheme is extending the expansion trial to Dunblane and Blairlogie.

01 July 2022

Building Surveying Student Intern at Stirling City Heritage Trust

This blog has been written be our summer building surveying student intern, who joined Stirling City Heritage trust for his summer placement.

30 May 2022

Local History Resources

To support aspiring local historians and enthusiasts, we've put together a a list of local history resources that can be accessed by all.

27 May 2022

Heritage Trail: Stirling Walks

Visiting outdoor historic places is good for our wellbeing, so with this in mind, we take a look at some heritage themed walks around Stirling you can enjoy.

27 April 2022

Springtime in Stirling

To celebrate the Easter Holiday’s, we’ve put together our top 5 places to visit in Stirling. So get out and about and support our local charities and businesses.

12 April 2022

Stirling’s STEM Pioneers

Inspired by the Edinburgh International Science Festival we’ve delved into Stirling’s past to explore the lives and work of 5 STEM pioneers from Stirling.

20 March 2022

Stirling Through the Decades

With the help of The Smith’s photography collection, we’re taking a look back at Stirling through the decades to celebrate census day 2022.

11 March 2022

Traditional Skills: Signwriting

For apprenticeship Week 2022, discover shop sign signwriting, one of the many wonderful traditional skills that offers a fascinating career.

08 March 2022

Christian MacLagan, a pioneering lady, but born too soon?

For International Women’s Day we’ve invited independent researcher and archaeologist Morag Cross to share the story of pioneering Stirling archaeologist Christian MacLagan (1811-1901), one of Scotland’s first, and most energetic female archaeologists.

05 March 2022

Traditional Shopfronts in Stirling

Trust Manager, Dr Lindsay Lennie, author of ‘Scotland’s Shops’, reveals some hidden details of Stirling's historic shopfronts.

26 February 2022

My Favourite John Allan Building by Joe Hall

Joe Hall, of Creative Stirling shares why Wolf Craig is her favourite John Allan building for #JohnAllan100

25 February 2022

My Favourite John Allan Building by Lindsay Lennie

Stirling City Heritage Trust Manager Lindsay lennie shares why Royal Gardens is her favourite John Allan project for #JohnAllan100

24 February 2022

My Favourite John Allan Building by Andy McEwan

John Allan historian Andy McEwan shares why 9 Spittal Street is his favourite John Allan building for #JohnAllan100

23 February 2022

My Favourite John Allan Building by Pam McNicol

Stirling Council Archivist Pam McNicol shares why 29 - 31 Friar’s Street is her favourite John Allan building for #JohnAllan100

22 February 2022

Celebrating John Allan: A Man of Original Ideas

On the 100th anniversary of John Allan’s death, we commemorate his contribution to the townscape of Stirling.

01 February 2022

The Tale of the Stirling Wolf

For National Storytelling Week we’re celebrating one of the most famous Stirling stories, that of the Stirling Wolf.

14 January 2022

Stirling: city of culture

In this blog, we explore some of the hidden culture around Stirling and the lesser-known historic structures that are part of the fabric of our city.

17 December 2021

Christmases Past in Stirling

We're taking a festive trip back in time to Stirling's Christmases past through The Smith Art Gallery and Museum’s photography collection.

30 October 2021

Stirling’s Historic Graveyards

As we approach Halloween we thought we’d take a look at some of Stirling’s spookiest spots; its historic graveyards.

25 August 2021

Top 10 Tips for Architectural Photography

This month Stirling Photography Festival is being celebrated across the city, so we thought we’d ask an expert for some top tips on photographing buildings.

07 July 2021

An Interview with David Galletly

As part of our McLuckie & Walker exhibition, held in Made In Stirling, we commissioned local artists David Galletly to produce architectural illustrations.

25 March 2021

The Kings Knot – a history

Discover the story of the Kings Knot, Stirling City Heritage Trust’s logo.

16 February 2021

How drones help us inspect traditional buildings

Stirling City Heritage Trust have been flying drones for the Traditional Buildings Health Check inspections since early 2019.

25 January 2021

Robert Burns’ First Trip to Stirling

Here at SCHT we are celebrating Burn’s Night on the 25th January by looking back and learning about Robert Burn’s first visit to Stirling in 1787.

26 November 2020

A Future in Traditional Skills

The Trust is committed to supporting education and training in traditional skills and, for the first time, we have recently offered apprenticeship bursaries to two local firms to help them to support the employment of young apprentices.

27 October 2020

Stirling’s Witches

For Halloween, we take a look at how the witch craze affected Stirling, and its inhabitants.

23 October 2020

Hazardous Masonry & Masonry Falls

In September 2020 the issue of unsafe masonry was in the news again when masonry fell from the façade of a historic building in the centre of Stirling.

07 October 2020

Stirling’s Ancient Wells

Wells were an important focal point in pre-Christian Scotland. Rivers, streams and wells were associated with deities and water itself was linked with life, and was often assumed to have healing properties.

28 September 2020

An architecture student’s take on the City Of Stirling

SCHT was pleased to offer a 1-month placement for an architecture student in August 2020 through The Robertson Trust who are our landlords at The Barracks. They support students through their Journey to Success programme and we were more than happy to get involved.

09 July 2020

Ronald Walker: Stirling’s Architect

Ronald Walker was one half of the dynamic architectural duo, McLuckie & Walker. Walker died on Friday 7th July 1911, so this week we are celebrating his legacy.

25 June 2020

Stirling’s Statues

Statues have been in the news rather a lot recently, so we thought we would take a look at some of the more prominent statues to be found in Stirling.

19 June 2020

Stirling’s Wee Bungalow Shops

We think of the term ‘bungalow’ as referring to single-storey houses, generally in a suburban location. However, the word is also used to refer to a particular type of shop which can be found in many Scottish towns and cities, including Stirling.

01 June 2020

Stirling’s Historic Hospitals

We take a look back at three of Stirling’s historic hospitals, all of which were constructed and in operation long before the National Health Service Act came into effect in 1948.

22 May 2020

The story behind Paisley Abbey’s Alien gargoyle

Traditional Buildings Health Check Inspector David Lindsay explores the story of how his infamous Alien gargoyle of Paisley Abbey came into existence.

21 May 2020

Women in Digital Innovation and Construction

Sophia Mirashrafi, Digital Project Officer at Historic Environment Scotland, gave us her perspective on the Women in Construction event.

15 May 2020

Floating Head Sculpture at Garden Glasgow Festival 1988

Traditional Buildings Health Check Inspector David Lindsay explores the story of the Floating Head Sculpture created by Richard Groom for the 1988 Glasgow Garden Festival.

13 May 2020

Heritage at home: 8 of the best online heritage resources

We’ve created a list of some of the most valuable online resources that can help you while away the hours, or finish that research project you’ve finally got the time for now.

07 May 2020

Stirling featured at virtual heritage conference

Adapt Northern Heritage brought experts from across Northern Europe together online for a digital conference. They learned more about Scotland’s pioneering approach to traditional building maintenance, piloted in Stirling.

01 May 2020

Mason Bees: What’s the Buzz?

Did you know bees can make their nests in stone? While that sounds like something from a horror movie, it can be an all too real problem. We look a bit more closely at mason bees and what you can do about them.

21 April 2020

Five of Stirling’s greatest John Allan buildings

John Allan, the architect who designed many of Stirling’s most interesting buildings, was born in Carnock, Fife, on the 21st of April 1847, so today we are celebrating his birthday. In this blogpost, we will look at five of his most impressive projects in Stirling.

03 April 2020

Women in Construction – Stirling event report

Leading women working in Scotland’s construction industry aimed to attract Stirling’s female high school pupils to take up a career in construction last month.

19 March 2020

Scotland’s trailblazing women architects

Scotland is renowned as a country of innovators and trailblazers, and this also applies to the world of architecture. As this month is Women’s History Month, we felt there was no better time to highlight the achievements of Scotland’s first women architects.

21 February 2020

Stirling’s Heritage: Spotlight on The Granary

In a new series of posts on Stirling’s Heritage, we turn our spotlight on The Granary building.

11 October 2017

Stirling Traditional Skills Demonstration Day Success!

The next generation of craftsmen and women whose skills will help preserve Scotland’s architectural heritage had a chance to learn more about traditional building techniques at an event in Stirling.

02 May 2025

Marking the 80th anniversary of VE Day

The 8th of May 2025 marks the 80th anniversary of VE Day.

05 February 2025

What is a Conservation Area

Ahead of the opening of our exhibition ‘Avenues to the Past: Stirling’s Historic Streets’, we’ve created this quick guide to Conservation Areas.

28 June 2024

Stirling's Lost Swimming Pools

05 February 2025

Avenues to the Past: Stirling’s Historic Streets Exhibition

07 January 2025

Practical Workshop on Retrofitting Insulation with A. Proctor Group

Join us along with A. Proctor Group for our second Retrofit Event for Contractors and Installers supported by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.

06 August 2024

Kings, Wolves and Drones: 20 years of care and repair at Stirling City Heritage Trust

Join us for an illustrated lecture on Tuesday 17th September celebrating 20 years of SCHT supporting heritage in Stirling.

09 May 2025

Supporting traditional building repair in Stirling

06 March 2025

Stirling History Books for World Book Day

For World Book Day, we've highlighted some great reads on the history of Stirling.

31 January 2025

Reminiscence Art Project

Last year, as part of our ongoing heritage and dementia project, we funded four group art therapy workshops for people with a dementia diagnosis and their carers.

04 April 2025

On the European Stage: Preserving by Maintaining conference, Bratislava

In March, Trust Manager, Lindsay and TBHC Inspector, Chris, both attended an international conference on preventative maintenance held in Bratislava, Slovakia.

14 November 2024

Stirling Business Awards 2025

We are delighted to have been longlisted for the 2025 Stirling Business Awards. Find out about what we've been up to this year.

30 October 2024

Women in Construction at Bannockburn House

This month we spent two days with a group of 12 pupils from both Wallace High and Stirling High at our Women in Construction build project, held at Bannockburn House.