JockMcGrumpy

By JockMcGrumpy

Out on my travels again, at a meeting in Stirling just round the corner from this, Forth Valley College's Stirling Campus. It's good to see this facility on the edge of the Raploch, presumably doing what Colleges do, providing enhanced life chances for local people. I particularly wanted to blip this as it is built on the site of the old Market, scene of massive cattle and sheep sales throughout the middle part of the twentieth century. I grew up on a farm and went to many a sale in this place in the 70's and 80's.. I can still remember the auction rings, the incomprehensible language (to me) used by the auctioneers, the smell of smoke and whiskey in the bar where I think the real business probably took place. Large markets like this took place all over Scotland and this one would have replaced the old Trysts at Crieff and Falkirk where the cattle droves would have come to on foot, and later to this one by truck. So a long line can be drawn back in history connecting this spot to the ancient droves and drovers. Another piece of hidden Scotland,

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