Cambus (from Scottish Gaelic ''An Camas'', meaning the bend in the river) is a village near

Alloa Alloa (Received Pronunciation ; Scottish pronunciation /ˈaloʊa/; , possibly meaning "rock plain") is a town in Clackmannanshire in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. It is on the north bank of the Forth at the spot where some say it ceases to ...

Clackmannanshire Clackmannanshire (; ; ), or the County of Clackmannan, is a Shires of Scotland, historic county, Council areas of Scotland, council area, registration counties, registration county and Lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area in Scotland ...

. It is located to the south of

Tullibody Tullibody () is a village set in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. It lies north of the River Forth near to the foot of the Ochil Hills within the Forth Valley. The village is southwest of Alva, Clackmannanshire, Alva, northwest of Alloa and ...

, to the northwest of Alloa, and about 4 miles east of

Stirling Stirling (; ; ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in Central Belt, central Scotland, northeast of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The market town#Scotland, market town, surrounded by rich farmland, grew up connecting the roya ...

, across the river. It lies on the River Devon, near its confluence with 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 Scottish Gaelic, Gaelic name for the ...

Distillery

A whisky distillery was founded in Cambus in 1806. Fahrenheit 173 - Whisky Distilleries
/ref> It or another was re-established by John Mowbray in 1813whiskiesofscotland.com
/ref> or perhaps 1836. In 1877 ownership was merged into the

Distillers Company The Distillers Company plc was a leading Scotch whisky company and, at one time, a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. It was taken over in 1986 by Guinness & Co. and is now part of Diageo. History The Distillers Company origins lie in a trade ...

. The distillery was closed down in 1993.scotchwhisky.net: Cambus Scotch Whisky Distillery
/ref> There is a song about Cambus Whisky which mentions "sober Sandy" who was reportedly a ballman at the distillery. The Cambus Iron Bridge over the Devon was constructed in the early 19th century to span the River Devon and link with the distillery founded in 1806. It is a

Category A listed building Category, plural categories, may refer to: General uses *Classification, the general act of allocating things to classes/categories Philosophy * Category of being * ''Categories'' (Aristotle) * Category (Kant) * Categories (Peirce) *Category (V ...

and a

scheduled monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage, visu ...

. Security is a concern for any distillery, and in at least the 1950s the Cambus distillery was guarded at night by a flock of geese, with their wings clipped to prevent flight. During the day, to prevent the workforce being attacked, the geese were kept in an enclosure across the road, and were generally found to be intimidating by passers-by. This would have been intended to deter any would-be thieves. The degree of success is unknown, however nowadays the sign of a conventional security company is displayed on the perimeter of the site.

Brewery

Robert Knox & Son brewed in Cambus. Some of their beer labels still survive.

Famous Inhabitants

Magnus Pyke Magnus Alfred Pyke (29 December 1908 – 19 October 1992) was an English nutritional scientist, governmental scientific adviser, writer and presenter. He worked for the UK Ministry of Food, the post-war Allied Commission for Austria, and di ...

formerly lived in Cambus, close to the station and distillery.

Rail connections

From the early 1850s until 1968 Cambus was served by passenger trains of the Stirling and Dunfermline Railway. The station was to the west of the

level crossing A level crossing is an intersection where a railway line crosses a road, Trail, path, or (in rare situations) airport runway, at the same level, as opposed to the railway line or the road etc. crossing over or under using an Overpass#Railway, o ...

on the road into the village, and had a large signal box, which controlled two level crossings, the junction with the line to Menstrie and Alva, and access to sidings in the

brewery A brewery or brewing company is a business that makes and sells beer. The place at which beer is commercially made is either called a brewery or a beerhouse, where distinct sets of brewing equipment are called plant. The commercial brewing of b ...

and

distillery Distillation, also classical distillation, is the process of separating the component substances of a liquid mixture of two or more chemically discrete substances; the separation process is realized by way of the selective boiling of the mixt ...

. The line was re-opened in 2008 as part of the Stirling-Alloa-Kincardine rail link. The new railway has a

passing loop A passing loop (UK usage) or passing siding (North America) (also called a crossing loop, crossing place, refuge loop or, colloquially, a hole) is a place on a single line railway or tramway, often located at or near a station, where trains o ...

to the east of the road into Cambus village, but no station at this point in time. Menstrie 1895

References

{{authority control Villages in Clackmannanshire