Dae ye ken Gillies Hill?
Posted: Mon Dec 03, 2007 9:23 pm
No, he's not a person, it's one of Stirling's lesser-known historical landmarks. (An ye thocht we haed enou as it was!)
Gillies Hill is a beautiful shelf of rock topped with soft-woods that provide a habitat for animals, including red squirrels and peregrine falcons. Breaking its skyline is a clusted of majestic sequoias.
But most important to me is the hill's military and archeaological history: not the remains of the iron age fort, though that too is under threat, but the fact that almost 700 years ago, the "gillies" to the Scottish army are reputed to have rushed down its eastern slopes onto the field at Bannockburn, precipitating the English rout.
In the 80s, the council issued a permit to start the Murrayshall Quarry and the rock was chipped away bit by bit, leaving a horribly scarred, but ecologically viable hill. Cambusbarron's roads were inadequate for the heavy traffic and the area became infamous as a site of near misses, and, on the odd occasion, accidents.
The permit has not expired and the current owners want to recommence quarrying, digging more and quicker than ever before. For the people of Cambusbarron this means the return of dangerous traffic and more importantly the loss of a top-class area of recreational woodland.
Please support the campaign at http://www.savegillieshill.org.uk/<a and spread the word among anyone you know who might lend their voices to this cause. Please also sign the petitions at:
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/gill ... tures.html
http://www.petitiononline.com/21779/petition.html
Thanks for reading,
Nìall.
PS. Duilich-fhéin gu bheil seo anns a' Bheurla, ach sgrìobh mi seo airson Forum eile is chan eil sìde gu leòr agam airson ga eadar-theangachadh an-drasta....></a>
Gillies Hill is a beautiful shelf of rock topped with soft-woods that provide a habitat for animals, including red squirrels and peregrine falcons. Breaking its skyline is a clusted of majestic sequoias.
But most important to me is the hill's military and archeaological history: not the remains of the iron age fort, though that too is under threat, but the fact that almost 700 years ago, the "gillies" to the Scottish army are reputed to have rushed down its eastern slopes onto the field at Bannockburn, precipitating the English rout.
In the 80s, the council issued a permit to start the Murrayshall Quarry and the rock was chipped away bit by bit, leaving a horribly scarred, but ecologically viable hill. Cambusbarron's roads were inadequate for the heavy traffic and the area became infamous as a site of near misses, and, on the odd occasion, accidents.
The permit has not expired and the current owners want to recommence quarrying, digging more and quicker than ever before. For the people of Cambusbarron this means the return of dangerous traffic and more importantly the loss of a top-class area of recreational woodland.
Please support the campaign at http://www.savegillieshill.org.uk/<a and spread the word among anyone you know who might lend their voices to this cause. Please also sign the petitions at:
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/gill ... tures.html
http://www.petitiononline.com/21779/petition.html
Thanks for reading,
Nìall.
PS. Duilich-fhéin gu bheil seo anns a' Bheurla, ach sgrìobh mi seo airson Forum eile is chan eil sìde gu leòr agam airson ga eadar-theangachadh an-drasta....></a>