Blair Drummond is a small rural community northwest of

Stirling Stirling (; sco, Stirlin; gd, Sruighlea ) is a city in central Scotland, northeast of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The market town, surrounded by rich farmland, grew up connecting the royal citadel, the medieval old town with its me ...

in the Stirling district of

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, predominantly located along the

A84 road The A84 is a major road in Scotland, United Kingdom. It links the city of Stirling with Lochearnhead, running an approximate . Road safety The A84 between M9 Junction 10 and Lochearnhead has a poor road safety record, according to EuroRAP ...

. Lying to the north of the

River Forth The River Forth is a major river in central Scotland, long, which drains into the North Sea on the east coast of the country. Its drainage basin covers much of Stirlingshire in Scotland's Central Belt. The Gaelic name for the upper reach of th ...

, the community is within the registration county of

Perthshire Perthshire (locally: ; gd, Siorrachd Pheairt), officially the County of Perth, is a historic county and registration county in central Scotland. Geographically it extends from Strathmore in the east, to the Pass of Drumochter in the north, ...

and the civil parish of Kincardine

History

A former resident of Blairdrummond House was enlightenment thinker

Lord Kames Henry Home, Lord Kames (169627 December 1782) was a Scottish writer, philosopher, advocate, judge, and agricultural improver. A central figure of the Scottish Enlightenment, a founding member of the Philosophical Society of Edinburgh, and act ...

whose wife inherited the house in 1766. Lord Kames began the transformation of the

carse In Scottish geography, a Carse (the modern form of older Scots ; Scottish Gaelic or ) is an area of fertile, low-lying (typically alluvial) land occupying certain Scottish river valleys, such as that of the River Forth. Carse of Forth The C ...

area of Blair Drummond; turning it from an often water-laden moss into productive agricultural land, which brought him an income of almost £2000 per year. Blair Drummond House was entirely rebuilt in 1868-72 by

James Campbell Walker James Campbell Walker (11 April 1821 – 10 January 1888) was a Scottish architect in the 19th century, practising across the country and specialising in poorhouses and schools. His main claim to fame is in having designed Dunfermline Carnegie L ...

(under instruction from

George Stirling Home Drummond George Stirling Home Drummond of Blair Drummond and Ardoch FRSE FSAS FGS (1813-1876) was a Scottish landowner and antiquarian. Life He was born at 110 Princes Street in Edinburgh on 1 March 1813 the son of Henry Home Drummond and his wife C ...

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This soci ...

) and again by James Bow Dunn after a fire in 1921-23 and is now a home for adults with learning disabilities run by the Camphill Movement. EdinburghMuseumQRcode54

Four gold

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...

torcs, known as the Stirling torcs, were found in Blair Drummond in 2009 and are now in the

Museum of Scotland The National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, Scotland, was formed in 2006 with the merger of the new Museum of Scotland, with collections relating to Scottish antiquities, culture and history, and the adjacent Royal Scottish Museum (opened in ...

Facilities

Blair Drummond has a

local authority Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loca ...

primary school - Kincardine in Mentieth Primary School, a

Church of Scotland The Church of Scotland ( sco, The Kirk o Scotland; gd, Eaglais na h-Alba) is the national church in Scotland. The Church of Scotland was principally shaped by John Knox, in the Scottish Reformation, Reformation of 1560, when it split from t ...

church, and a community hall which was rebuilt in 2005. Blair Drummond is also the location of the

Blair Drummond Safari Park Blair Drummond Safari Park is a family visitor attraction located near Stirling in Scotland. It opened to the public on 15 May 1970 and is home to over 350 animals, many of which roam freely or are kept in large enclosures in the estate. The Sa ...

, and a caravan park housed in the old walled garden of Blair Drummond House.

The Community

Many of the residents of Blair Drummond are farmers, although others

commute Commute, commutation or commutative may refer to: * Commuting, the process of travelling between a place of residence and a place of work Mathematics * Commutative property, a property of a mathematical operation whose result is insensitive to th ...

to Stirling,

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

and

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

. Blair Drummond is in the

Stirling council area The Stirling council area ( sco, Stirlin; gd, Sruighlea) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, and has a population of about ( estimate). It was created under the Local Government etc (Scotland) Act 1994 with the boundaries of the Stirl ...

, although in the past it was part of

. Other communities bordering Blair Drummond are

Gargunnock Gargunnock is a small village in the Stirling council area, west of Stirling, in Scotland. The census population was 912. It is situated on the south edge of the Carse of Stirling, at the foot of the Gargunnock Hills, part of the Campsie Fell ...

, Thornhill,

Deanston Deanston ( gd, Baile an Deadhain) is a village in the Stirling council area, Scotland, on the south bank of the River Teith east of Doune, in south-west Perthshire. It is a part of the parish of Kilmadock. Etymology The name comes from Walt ...

Doune Doune (; from Scottish Gaelic: ''An Dùn'', meaning 'the fort') is a burgh within Perthshire. The town is administered by Stirling Council. Doune is assigned Falkirk postcodes starting "FK". The village lies within the parish of Kilmadock and mai ...

and

Dunblane Dunblane (, gd, Dùn Bhlàthain) is a small town in the council area of Stirling in central Scotland, and inside the historic boundaries of the county of Perthshire. It is a commuter town, with many residents making use of good transport links ...

. A

community council A community council is a public representative body in Great Britain. In England they may be statutory parish councils by another name, under the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007, or they may be non-statutory bodies. In ...

covers both Thornhill and Blair Drummond, and the 2001 census for the area covered by the Thornhill and Blairdrummond Community Council put the population for the areas at 1,109.Thornhill and Blairdrummond Community Council

Notable people from Blair Drummond

Henry Home, Lord Kames Henry Home, Lord Kames (169627 December 1782) was a Scottish writer, philosopher, advocate, judge, and agricultural improver. A central figure of the Scottish Enlightenment, a founding member of the Philosophical Society of Edinburgh, and a ...

- 18th century Scottish philosopher and writer *

Henry Home-Drummond Henry Home-Drummond FRSE FSA (28 July 1783 – 12 September 1867) was a Scottish politician, advocate, landowner and agricultural improver. Life He was born on 28 July 1783, the son of George Home Drummond of Blair Drummond and his wife (and ...

William Downie Stewart Sr William Downie Stewart (15 May 1842 – 25 November 1898) was a 19th-century New Zealand politician and a lawyer. Early life Stewart was born in Blair Drummond near Stirling in Scotland. His parents were Alexander Stewart and Mary (née Downie ...

- 19th century New Zealand politician

References

External links

Vision of Britain - Blair Drummond
* {{Stirling Towns & Villages Populated places in Stirling (council area) Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes