Are you hosting or attending a Burns Supper in 2026? Please take a few minutes to complete our  Global Survey of the Burns Supper at 225 Years ​

​Stirling’s landscape, people, and institutions have played a quiet but significant role in the history of aviation. From early balloon ascents and experimental flights to wartime airfields, training activity, and the local industries that supported them, Stirling’s skies have long been more active than they first appear.
Everyone knows the Wright brothers, but far fewer people know the story of the two brothers who helped change aviation forever and placed Stirling on the world map of flight. In this talk, Jonathan Kaney of Stirling Central Library explores the remarkable story of the Barnwell brothers, pioneering aircraft designers whose work from Stirling helped shape modern aviation at a crucial moment in its development. Their early experiments, technical innovations, and personal tragedies influenced both military and civilian aircraft design in ways that are still felt today.
Originally developed as an exhibition for Stirling Science Festival and Stirling 900, this talk brings the story to life through a rich visual presentation of rare and beautiful photographs from Stirling Council Libraries and Archives. These images reveal the people, places, and machines behind the headlines, showing how Stirling became central to a global story of innovation, risk, and ambition.

Susan Ferrier (1782-1854) was a celebrated Scottish novelist, known as the "Scottish Jane Austen" for her witty social commentary in books like Marriage, The Inheritance, and Destiny, and her close ties to Stirling involved her staying at Stirling Castle (where her husband's relative was Governor) and writing her novel Destiny there, while also being connected to the city's literary scene via her friend Sir Walter Scott. Her father, James Ferrier, was a lawyer and colleague of Sir Walter Scott, introducing Susan to Edinburgh's elite literary circles.

Sir Walter Scott was a great admirer, Scott helped secure a generous payment for her novel Destiny and called her his "sister shadow".  Both women knew Sir Walter Scott and although somewhat younger than him Susan seemed to have helped him in his later years. These Scottish literary women in that period often wrote anonymously and it was thought at first that Walter Scott was the author of Inheritance. Though incredibly famous in her time, her name faded, but modern efforts (like Val McDermid's) have highlighted her significant contribution to Scottish literature. 

Destiny (1831): Ferrier's final novel was likely written at Stirling Castle, where she visited her sister Jane (wife of the castle's Governor) after her father's death. Her anonymously published novels were hugely popular, often compared to Jane Austen's for their sharp observations of Scottish life and social manners. 

Although born in Belfast in 1756 (the date is uncertain), Elizabeth Hamilton spent most of her life in Scotland. The daughter of a Scottish merchant who died when she was less than a year old, she moved to Stirlingshire aged just six. Hamilton was an essayist, poet, satirist and novelist. Her works ranged from orientalist studies, to historical, educational and domestic subjects. She is best known for her novel The Cottagers of Glenburnie, a popular satire of Scottish peasant life, and she wrote a number of essays on more and educational reforms. Although considered an anti-Jacobean conservative in her time, she was a proponent of equal education for women. Elizabeth Hamilton lived for a time in London, and later in Edinburgh. In 1804 she was awarded a pension from King George III for her contribution to “religion and virtue”. She died in Harrogate in 1816 after a short illness. Her novel The Cottagers of Glenburnie has recently been republished by the ASLS, along with a number of her essays on education.

Welcome to Stirling Archaeology’s ‘The Diary’ - a weekly summary of all the interesting history and archaeological things happening round Stirling, including some of my adventures which finishes with a very bad joke and a poem so make sure you read to the end!

See below upcoming event - Curator Anna Robertson of Dundee’s McManus Art Gallery and Museum explores the fabulous legacy of its great benefactor James Guthrie Orchar in his bicentenary year. 

​The Smith, Stirling, Wednesday 29 October at 2pm. Admission £5 (£3 for students), payable at the door

Stirling Rocks is billed as an all-day celebration of Stirling's rich heritage.

It will take place in the Church of the Holy Rude - with opportunities to visit the kirk and the adjacent kirkyard.
There will be talks and stalls for various local bodies (including SLHS); 

The details and the booking form can be found here. https://www.churchoftheholyrude.co.uk/event/stirling-rocks-the-city-that-defined-scotland-2/
​

Charity NO SCO 3824 20237

Dear Members,

Please see the forthcoming 2025/2026 meetings. Looking forward to seeing you there.

Syllabus, September 2025 - April 2026
Meetings held at the Stirling Smith Museum, Albert Place, on last Thursday of each month (except December) at 7.30pm. Without membership, entry at the door is £5.00.

         
Date               25th Sept 2025                         
Speaker/s      Ailsa Gray  
Topic              Old Glassingall, Thomas Stewart Smith and Robert Louis Stevenson

Date               30th Oct 2025                    
Speaker/s      Elaine Whiteford
Topic              The History of Stirling History of Stirling Golf Club 

Date               27th Nov 2025                           
Speaker/s      Rab Wilson             
Topic              Collier Laddie  

​No meeting in December
                                                                                                        
Date.              29th Jan 2026             
Speaker/s     Cleo O’Callahan Yeoman
Topic             Elizabeth Hamilton and Helen Ferrier, forgotten Scottish novelists of the late 18th and early 19th century;   
                       their readership and Stirling links                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 
Date              26th Feb 2026
Speaker/s     Jonathan Kaney, Senior Library Assistant, Stirling Council      
Topic             Stirling’s Rich Aviation History

Date              26th Mar 2026   
Speaker/s     Pam McNicol, Archivist, Stirling Council ,
Topic             The records of Whinwell Children’s Home at Stirling Council Archives 

Date              30th Apr 2026
Speaker/s     Dominic Farrugia, Archaeologist 
Topic             Stirling SHS AGM and Guarding the Past : Stirling’s 16thc Renaissance Wall

 For further information contact – [email protected]