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Queen Victoria's visit to Stirling (1842)
Extract from Memorial of the Royal Progress in Scotland by Sir Thomas Dick Lauder, 1843 [adapted]
On passing the handsome church of Lecropt, the rich plain of Stirling opens at once, with the Airthrey grounds - the Abbey or Abbot's Craig - and, above all, the town of Stirling, with its castle beetling over the abrupt and romantic cliffs at its western extremity - backed by the distant rising grounds to the southward. Sweeping down the hill towards the Bridge of Allan, the Queen enjoyed a beautiful view up the wooded course of that river. There were three arches here, one at the inn, one at the turnpike gate, and one at the reading room, which last had a gilded bee-hive suspended from it, and a bee with golden body and silver wings, and this quaint parody on Watt, "How doth our good Queen bee improve each shining hour."
Soon after passing through this village, the Queen came upon the property of Lord Abercromby, Lord-Lieutenant of the county, and son of the gallant Sir Ralph, who died so gloriously in Egypt. The western entrance to Airthrey Castle, one of the most beautiful places in Scotland, opens from a large trumpet-mouth recess, on each side of which a grand triumphal arch was erected by Lord Abercromby. The first was composed of two living silver firs, 46 feet high, lifted by the roots and planted on the spot, and cleared of all their branches 18 feet from the ground. Four trees were lashed around each of their stems so as to make them about six feet in diameter. Between these a very perfect arch was thrown at 28 feet from the ground, and the whole was surmounted by a crown, and entirely covered with evergreens, the pillars having a web of red cloth twisted spirally around each of them. The second arch was made of trees 38 feet high, and constructed somewhat in the same form as the other, with this difference, that on it were the letters V. A., with a triangular piece of work over the arch, crowned by the Prince of Wales' feathers. This arch was richly decorated with flowers, and had spiral rolls of white cloth round it.
In front of the gate, stood the carriage of the Lord-Lieutenant, - and in it the venerable Lord Abercromby, who, invalid as he was, and in defiance of all consequences, had made it a point with his medical attendant that he should be permitted to go thus far to uncover his grey hairs in loyal homage to his youthful sovereign. Alas! that much revered head now reposes in the tomb of his ancestors; but his memory is imperishably embalmed in the affectionate and grateful remembrance of the thousands who benefited by his charity and benevolence, and by that wide circle of friends who partook of his boundless hospitality. The business of his life was unremittingly to invent and execute the kindest Christian acts to all mankind. No wonder, then, that his grave was moistened by the tears of genuine sorrow - or that the humble writer of this work, who had the happiness of enjoying his closest friendship, should now require the indulgence of his readers for thus yielding to the feelings of his heart. The remains of Lord Abercromby were deposited in the church of Tullibody.
After passing through the Airthrey arches, the Queen was royally saluted by a small park of guns placed on an eminence within his Lordship's grounds, which never ceased firing till Her Majesty reached the town of Stirling.
(From Memorial of the Royal Progress in Scotland by Sir Thomas Dick Lauder, 1843)
Page last modified by the Arts Team on 14 June, 2006
