Stirling Council Archives are celebrating their 40th Anniversary - to which we can only say Many Happy Returns.

Few local services are as important as Archives for understanding our local history. If you have not visited them before, now might be a good time to start. Get details via the link.


As part of the celebrations and to highlight features there is also now a blog which you can find here.

There is already lots there, from the first surviving burgh charter in the fourteenth century down to modern items and recent accessions, hints of the wonderful riches to be found in the collections. And the blog is set to grow, too and will include the established feature Document of the Month.

One reflection inevitably comes to mind. The good citizens of the town in 1975 would have boggled at the idea of a blog. But what about those of the fourteenth century?

One of the more intriguing projects in Scottish historical studies in recent years has been the Scottish Masons' Marks Project.

A database of the marks on a diversity of buildings is being created. In some cases it can be shown that individual masons worked on several buildings and so can, for example, allow dating of some for which no details are otherwise available.

It is proposed, some time later this year, to record the marks in Cambuskenneth Tower and The Kirk of the Holy Rude  This will require 3 or 4 volunteers, all of whom will be trained. The data will be included in the Scottish Mason Marks project http://www.masonsmarkproject.org.uk/DisplayMarks.aspx

If you wish to volunteer, you can let us know directly by email; [email protected]