The Fintry Hills form the western end of a range of hills which stretch west from the city 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 ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

. They culminate in the peak of Stronend, which overlooks Strathendrick and the village of

Fintry Fintry is a small riverside village in Stirlingshire, central Scotland. Landscape The village of Fintry sits on the strath of the Endrick Water in a valley between the Campsie Fells and the Fintry Hills. The name Fintry is said to have deri ...

. The northern, western and southern sides of the hills are defined by a steep and craggy escarpment, whilst the eastern sides run more gently down into the valley of the Backside Burn and

Endrick Water The Endrick Water or River Endrick ( gd, Eunarag) is a river which flows into the eastern end of Loch Lomond, Scotland. Its drainage basin covers a large part of the west of Stirling District. The Burnfoot Burn rising on the southern slopes of the ...

. The Boquhan Burn, which runs initially northeastwards, drops over the northern scarp at the Spout of Ballochleam. Loch Walton lies at the foot of the hills’ southern slopes.

Geology

Like the neighbouring

Gargunnock Hills The Gargunnock Hills are a range of hills west of the city of Stirling, Scotland. They culminate in the peak of Carleatheran, whose summit is crowned by a trigonometrical pillar. The Gargunnock Hills are separated from the Fintry Hills to their ...

they are composed of volcanic rocks, mainly

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the surface of a rocky planet or moon. More than 90 ...

lava Lava is molten or partially molten rock (magma) that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet (such as Earth) or a moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a fracture in the crust, on land or un ...

s and

tuff Tuff is a type of rock made of volcanic ash ejected from a vent during a volcanic eruption. Following ejection and deposition, the ash is lithified into a solid rock. Rock that contains greater than 75% ash is considered tuff, while rock ...

s erupted during the Chadian to Asbian substages of the Carboniferous

period Period may refer to: Common uses * Era, a length or span of time * Full stop (or period), a punctuation mark Arts, entertainment, and media * Period (music), a concept in musical composition * Periodic sentence (or rhetorical period), a concept ...

. The igneous rocks are named as the Clyde Plateau Volcanic Formation, itself a part of the Strathclyde Group. In stratigraphical succession i.e. youngest/uppermost at top, the individual members (subdivisions of a formation) are: *Spout of Ballochleam Lava Member (microporphyritic basalt) *Fintry Hills Lava Member (basaltic lava) *Shelloch Burn Lava Member (trachybasalt) *Spout of Ballochleam Lava Member (microporphyritic basalt) *Slackgun Volcaniclastic Member (sandstone, conglomerate) *Skiddaw Lava Member (basaltic lava) Stronend, the summit, is not formed from the stratigraphically uppermost member but from the Shelloch Burn lavas since the entire pile is tilted. The northern cliffs and Double Craigs are formed by the Spout of Ballochleam lavas. Substantial amounts of landslipped material are arrayed beneath these cliffs. The volcanic sequence sits upon a plinth of sedimentary rocks which from the low ground to the north and west, together with the lower parts of the north and west facing scarp. These are the Clyde Sandstone Formation (sandstone, siltstone, mudstone) and the underlying Ballaggan Formation (mudstone, sandstone, limestone), both of which form part of the

Inverclyde Group The Inverclyde Group is a Carboniferous lithostratigraphic group (a sequence of rock strata) in southern Scotland and northernmost England. The name is derived from Inverclyde. The rocks of the Inverclyde Group have also previously been referre ...

of the Carboniferous system. In the vicinity of a dun and southeast to Spittalhill by an intrusion of basalt/microgabbro. Dykes of similar composition intrude the lava sequence, notably on the hills' southern flanks.

References

External links

images of Fintry Hills on Geograph website
{{coord, 56.071, -4.167, dim:3000_region:GB, display=title Hills of the Scottish Midland Valley Mountains and hills of Stirling (council area) Mountain ranges of Scotland