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Tillicoultry ( ;
Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic ( gd, Gàidhlig ), also known as Scots Gaelic and Gaelic, is a Goidelic language (in the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family) native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a Goidelic language, Scottish Gaelic, as well as ...
: Tulach Cultraidh, perhaps from older Gaelic ''Tullich-cul-tir'', or "the mount/hill at the back of the country") is a town in
Clackmannanshire Clackmannanshire (; sco, Clackmannanshire; gd, Siorrachd Chlach Mhannainn) is a historic county, council area, registration county and Lieutenancy area in Scotland, bordering the council areas of Stirling, Fife, and Perth & Kinross and the ...
, Scotland. Tillicoultry is usually referred to as Tilly by the locals. One of the Hillfoots Villages on the A91, which runs from
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 ...
to
St. Andrews St Andrews ( la, S. Andrea(s); sco, Saunt Aundraes; gd, Cill Rìmhinn) is a town on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, southeast of Dundee and northeast of Edinburgh. St Andrews had a recorded population of 16,800 , making it Fife's four ...
, Tillicoultry is situated at the southern base of the
Ochil Hills The Ochil Hills (; gd, Monadh Ochail is a range of hills in Scotland north of the Forth valley bordered by the towns of Stirling, Alloa, Kinross, Auchterarder and Perth. The only major roads crossing the hills pass through Glen Devon/ Gle ...
, which provide a spectacular backdrop. The River Devon lies to the south. The river also runs through neighbouring villages
Dollar Dollar is the name of more than 20 currencies. They include the Australian dollar, Brunei dollar, Canadian dollar, Hong Kong dollar, Jamaican dollar, Liberian dollar, Namibian dollar, New Taiwan dollar, New Zealand dollar, Singapore dollar, ...
and Alva to the east and west respectively. The former mining village of Coalsnaughton lies just south, whilst
Alloa Alloa (Received Pronunciation ; educated Scottish pronunciation /ˈaloʊa/; gd, Alamhagh, 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 wher ...
lies southwest. The "hill" referred to in the first etymology is likely to be Kirkhill, at the east of the town. The alternative Latin etymology, ''Tellus culta'', the cultivated land, suggested by Rev. William Osborne, minister of the parish from 1773 to 1794, is also possible. However, as both etymologies could equally be applied to a hundred places in Scotland, both are suspect, as neither define the town in a unique manner.


History

The estate of Tillicoultry was taken from Aleumus de Meser in 1261 by Alexander III for failure to render due feudal services. The estate had originally been received by de Meser's father, also Aleumus, from Alexander II. It was then granted to William Count of Mar and remained in possession of the Mar, and then by marriage of
Margaret, Countess of Mar Margaret of Mar (died c. 1391) was Countess of Mar, an ancient earldom in Scotland, in her own right. She was a daughter of Domhnall II of Mar and after the death of her childless brother Thomas became Countess of Mar. She had married William ...
, to
William Douglas, 1st Earl of Douglas William Douglas, 1st Earl of Douglas (c. 1323 – 1 May 1384) was a Scottish nobleman, peer, magnate, and head of the Black Douglas family. Under his leadership, the Black Douglases continued their climb to pre-eminence in Scottish politics ...
, the Douglas family until 1483,Fraser, Sir William, ''The Douglas Book'' vol iii, p23, Eddinburgh 1885
/ref> when it changed hands to the ancestors of Lord Colville of Culross. By 1634 it was sold to Sir William Alexander of Menstrie (later, 1st Earl of Stirling). Between 1644 and 1840, ownership of the estate changed hands frequently. The origins of the village lie in the Westertown (previously Cairnstown) area, where the road to Stirling crossed the Tillicoultry
Burn A burn is an injury to skin, or other tissues, caused by heat, cold, electricity, chemicals, friction, or ultraviolet radiation (like sunburn). Most burns are due to heat from hot liquids (called scalding), solids, or fire. Burns occur ma ...
. It is thought that the centre of Westertown was probably in the area now known as Shillinghill. There are records of a
Parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...
existing in Tillicoultry from 1639, and knowledge of cloth manufacture dating from the 1560s. Traces of a
Druid A druid was a member of the high-ranking class in ancient Celtic cultures. Druids were religious leaders as well as legal authorities, adjudicators, lorekeepers, medical professionals and political advisors. Druids left no written accounts. Whi ...
circle, sixty feet in diameter, were found in the eastern area of the parish at the end of the 18th century. A
Pictish Pictish is the extinct Brittonic language spoken by the Picts, the people of eastern and northern Scotland from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages. Virtually no direct attestations of Pictish remain, short of a limited number of geographica ...
fortress stood upon the Castle Craig, near the current site of Craigfoot Quarry on Wood Hill, to the west of Tillicoultry
Glen A glen is a valley, typically one that is long and bounded by gently sloped concave sides, unlike a ravine, which is deep and bounded by steep slopes. Whittow defines it as a "Scottish term for a deep valley in the Highlands" that is "narrower ...
. This has long since been ruined, however legend has it that the stone of the fortress was employed in the building of
Stirling Castle Stirling Castle, located in Stirling, is one of the largest and most important castles in Scotland, both historically and architecturally. The castle sits atop Castle Hill, an intrusive crag, which forms part of the Stirling Sill geological ...
. Due to the rapid growth of the village during the 19th century, there were problems with overcrowding, poor housing, high infant mortality, water supply and drainage. In an attempt to address these problems, Tillicoultry
Burgh A burgh is an autonomous municipal corporation in Scotland and Northern England, usually a city, town, or toun in Scots. This type of administrative division existed from the 12th century, when King David I created the first royal burghs. Bur ...
was created in 1871. It lasted until 1975 when it disappeared as a result of local government reorganisation. Around 1930, one of the first bus stations in the country was built at Murray Square to serve the eight bus services which terminated in the town. The original glass and
cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron– carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impuri ...
shelters were replaced by modern shelters some time ago. Despite the growth in car ownership and the corresponding decline in
public transport Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typi ...
, Tillicoultry, and indeed all the Hillfoots villages, retain a regular bus service. The old
Harviestoun Harviestoun is an estate in Tillicoultry parish, Clackmannanshire, central Scotland. It lies at the base of the Ochil Hills, around east of Tillicoultry and west of Dollar. History The Harviestoun estate was bought in around 1780 by Edinburg ...
estate, where
Archibald Tait Archibald Campbell Tait (21 December 18113 December 1882) was an Archbishop of Canterbury in the Church of England and theologian. He was the first Scottish Archbishop of Canterbury and thus, head of the Church of England. Life Tait was bor ...
(1811–82),
Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Just ...
, spent much of his boyhood, lies East-North-East of the village.
Robert Burns Robert Burns (25 January 175921 July 1796), also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the best known of the poets who hav ...
visited the estate in the summer of 1787, during his stay he wrote ''The Banks of the Devon'' and ''Fairest Maid on Devon Banks''. A commemorative
cairn A cairn is a man-made pile (or stack) of stones raised for a purpose, usually as a marker or as a burial mound. The word ''cairn'' comes from the gd, càrn (plural ). Cairns have been and are used for a broad variety of purposes. In prehi ...
at the roadside, near the east lodge to Harviestoun, marks this event.


Industry

The burn which runs off the Ochils and down through the
glen A glen is a valley, typically one that is long and bounded by gently sloped concave sides, unlike a ravine, which is deep and bounded by steep slopes. Whittow defines it as a "Scottish term for a deep valley in the Highlands" that is "narrower ...
into west of the village provided an attractive source of water for the early
textile Textile is an Hyponymy and hypernymy, umbrella term that includes various Fiber, fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, Staple (textiles)#Filament fiber, filaments, Thread (yarn), threads, different #Fabric, fabric types, etc. At f ...
industry in Tillicoultry, being used for the washing and dying of wool. During the early 18th century a cloth known as Tillicoultry
Serge Serge may refer to: *Serge (fabric), a type of twill fabric *Serge (llama) (born 2005), a llama in the Cirque Franco-Italien and internet meme *Serge (name), a masculine given name (includes a list of people with this name) *Serge (post), a hitchi ...
was manufactured by weaving
worsted Worsted ( or ) is a high-quality type of wool yarn, the fabric made from this yarn, and a yarn weight category. The name derives from Worstead, a village in the English county of Norfolk. That village, together with North Walsham and Aylsham ...
with
linen Linen () is a textile made from the fibers of the flax plant. Linen is very strong, absorbent, and dries faster than cotton. Because of these properties, linen is comfortable to wear in hot weather and is valued for use in garments. It also ...
. By the time of the
industrial revolution The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...
the burn was a recognised source of power, with the first mill being established in the 1790s. Many more
textile mill Textile Manufacturing or Textile Engineering is a major industry. It is largely based on the conversion of fibre into yarn, then yarn into fabric. These are then dyed or printed, fabricated into cloth which is then converted into useful goods ...
s were built along the burnside, by the 1830s, steam powered mills were introduced and by 1870 there were 12 mills employing over 2000 people. As the industry expanded, more workers were attracted to the village. The population of the parish, which had stood less than 1,000 at the turn of the 19th century, had grown to over 4,500 by the early 1850s. Textile mills and
coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when ...
mines remained the biggest employers of the local population until the first half of the 20th century. In the 1950s the most recent
colliery Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...

map
to be worked, on the south bank of the River Devon, set new productivity records due to a high level of mechanisation. Its impressive
adit An adit (from Latin ''aditus'', entrance) is an entrance to an underground mine which is horizontal or nearly horizontal, by which the mine can be entered, drained of water, ventilated, and minerals extracted at the lowest convenient level. Adit ...
entrance, now safely bricked up, can still be seen. In 1851, due to the importance of Tillicoultry as an industrial centre, it became the first Hillfoots village to have a rail connection. In 1921 Samuel Jones Limited established a paper mill at Devonvale, the current site of Sterling Furniture. In 1926, 33 people were employed at the site and the firm returned its first profit. By 1936, 238 staff were employed by the company. Sydney Platfoot was appointed Managing Director of the Devonvale works in 1922, he later went on to become town provost from 1930 to 1936. In 1964, the company merged with
Wiggins Teape Arjowiggins is an independent paper manufacturer based in Scotland. History The company's origins go back to 1761 when Buckland Mill in Dover in Kent commenced operations. Meanwhile, in France, in the middle of the 20th century there were f ...
and by 1967 employed a fifth of the working population. Tillicoultry Quarries Ltd, as the name suggests, was established in 1930 by R.W. Menzies at Craigfoot Quarry Tillicoultry, and remains 100% owned by the Menzies family. Quarrying no longer takes places in Tillicoultry; the company's Head office is based in nearby Kincardine. Quartz-dolerite was first extracted in 1930 from the now inoperative Craigfoot
Quarry A quarry is a type of open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some jurisdictions to reduce their envir ...

map
, however quarrying had taken place on a smaller scale at the site since 1880. On 26 January 1949 the quarry was the site of a tragic explosion when a
magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...
containing 150 lb of
explosive An explosive (or explosive material) is a reactive substance that contains a great amount of potential energy that can produce an explosion if released suddenly, usually accompanied by the production of light, heat, sound, and pressure. An expl ...
detonated killing quarryman Alexander Honeyman and blowing out doors and windows in the Shillinghill and Upper Mill Street area.


The Flood of 1877

Following a particularly wet summer and torrential rainfall over a 12-hour period, Tillicoultry Burn burst its banks on the morning of 28 August 1877. Flooding was widespread throughout Strathdevon, both Alloa Railway station and Alloa Brewery were submerged, crops were destroyed around
Tullibody Tullibody ( gd, Tulach Bòide), is a town 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 town is south-west of Alva, north-west of Alloa and east-n ...
and there was extensive property damage in Dollar also. The Alloa Advertiser described the rainfall as 'not simply heavy rain; it was a terrific downpour- persistent, incessant, it fell in bucketfuls- to use our expressive vernacular it came down like "hale water"'. Workers in mills to the west side of the burn were trapped in their workplaces, unable to cross Mill Street due to the flood water. By breakfast time the houses and shops of High Street were under three feet of water. Three people, Castle Mill owner William Hutchison, dyer William Stillie and Isabella Miller, a young factory worker, were swept away when the bridge on which they were standing collapsed into the flood waters. The collapse was probably due to the impact of water-borne debris upon the embankment on which the foundation of the bridge stood. Both William Hutchison and Isabella Miller perished in the torrent, however William Stillie was rescued further downstream. Despite exhaustive searches, Isabella Miller's body was not recovered for several days. It was eventually discovered at Glenfoot, where the burn joins the River Devon. The village was deprived of water and gas supplies for a week following the flood. The cost of repairs to the Burnside amounted to £2,000.


The village today

As the textile and coal mining industries declined, Tillicoultry became a popular
commuter town A commuter town is a populated area that is primarily residential rather than commercial or industrial. Routine travel from home to work and back is called commuting, which is where the term comes from. A commuter town may be called by many ...
. Many of the mill buildings have been converted into residential accommodation. Tillicoultry railway station, on the
Devon Valley Railway The Devon Valley Railway linked Alloa and Kinross in central Scotland, along a route following the valley of the River Devon. Its construction took 20 years from the first section opening in 1851, to the final section in 1871. Three railwa ...
was situated opposite Devonvale Hall, and closed in 1964. The Clock Mill, built by James and George Walker of
Galashiels Galashiels (; sco, Gallae, gd, An Geal Àth) is a town in the Scottish Borders with a population of around 12,600. Its name is often colloquially shortened to "Gala". The town is a major commercial centre for the Borders region with extensive ...
, is situated at the top of Upper Mill Street. The last production of textiles in the mill was by D. C. Sinclair & Son. They wove high quality mohair goods among others. It was turned into a museum, then a business centre and now residential flats. The village developed on a herring-bone pattern north of the main road. A series of diagonal streets, mostly lined with cottages, lie between the High Street and Walker Terrace, which run parallel. The eastern area of the village has more recent residential developments, dating from the 1940s to the present. Tillicoultry is perhaps now best known for its large retail outlet, Sterling Furniture, based in the former Devonvale
paper mill A paper mill is a factory devoted to making paper from vegetable fibres such as wood pulp, old rags, and other ingredients. Prior to the invention and adoption of the Fourdrinier machine and other types of paper machine that use an endless belt ...
complex, as well as for the adjacent Sterling Mills shopping centre. The Devon Way walkway links eastward to
Dollar Dollar is the name of more than 20 currencies. They include the Australian dollar, Brunei dollar, Canadian dollar, Hong Kong dollar, Jamaican dollar, Liberian dollar, Namibian dollar, New Taiwan dollar, New Zealand dollar, Singapore dollar, ...
. The village also has a 400-pupil
Primary School A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...
, which is situated next to the Fir Park artificial ski slope. For
secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...
aged children, the closest school is Alva Academy.


Notable people

* Captain J D Pollock VC, a decorated
First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
soldier, was born in the village. * Major J L Dawson VC, decorated in the same action as Pollock, was also born in the village. Dawson and Pollock were second cousins. * Professor Sir
Hector Hetherington Sir Hector James Wright Hetherington (21 July 1888 – 15 January 1965) was a Scottish philosopher, who was Vice-Chancellor of the University of Liverpool from 1927 to 1936, and Principal of the University of Glasgow until 1961. Early life H ...
(1888-1965) philosopher buried here, with his son
Alastair Hetherington Hector Alastair Hetherington (31 October 1919 – 3 October 1999) was a British journalist, newspaper editor and academic. For nearly twenty years he was the editor of ''The Guardian'', and is regarded as one of the leading editors of the secon ...
(1919-1999), editor of the Guardian, buried beside him. * Steven Miller, who plays
Lenny Lyons ''Casualty'' is a British medical drama television series that premiered on 6 September 1986 on BBC1. The series was created by Jeremy Brock and Paul Unwin. It is set in the fictional Holby City Hospital, in the equally fictitious city of Holb ...
in the TV series '' Casualty.'' * Sam Fisher, professional footballer who plays for
Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...
.


References

* *
Statistical Account of Tillicoultry, County of Clackmannan 1791-99

Statistical Account of Tillicoultry, County of Clackmannan 1834-45

Clackmannanshire Council - Population Breakdown by Ward 2003

Tillicoultry East Ward Profile (PDF)

Tillicoultry West Ward Profile (PDF)


External links


Tillicoultry Library

Tillicoultry Primary School

Tillicoultry Golf Club



Tillicoultry Centenary Hall

Tillicoultry Centenary Hall on Facebook

Devonvale Hall

Tillicoultry online

The Woolpack Inn



Tillicoultry Bowling Club

Tilly Tea Room

Lemac Engineering UK Ltd.
{{Authority control Towns in Clackmannanshire Hillfoots Villages Mining communities in Scotland Parishes in Clackmannanshire