Simón Bolívar
Three years ago, a much-neglected canvas, torn, battered and with paint loss, listed as ‘Man in Uniform. Artist Unknown’ in the Smith collections was the Stirling Story. Today, after painstaking restoration and framing, he can be seen in his full glory as Simón Bolívar (1783 – 1830), The Liberator, known
Star of Snowdon
Snowdon is the ancient poetic name for Stirling. In 1859, the Star of Snowdon Purity Brooch was a piece of Stirling-inspired jewellery made for the women of the Drummond family to celebrate the inauguration of the Virgin Martyrs Monument in the new Valley Cemetery. The cemetery was created with money
The Neish Collection
Today’s Stirling Smith object is an elegant writing stand, made for Shoreham Old Church in West Sussex. It is engraved with the words ‘For ye use of ye Great Vestry Room, Saml. Coupers Vestry Clerke 1745’ and is in the Neish Collection of British Pewter. Alex Neish has spent a
Stirling Builders
A special exhibition from Historic Environment Scotland ran throughout the summer at the Stirling Smith and finished on Sunday 12 August. Called ‘Stirling Builds’, it looked at many of the best-known buildings in the city from drawings of the pre-Reformation Church of the Holy Rude to the Wallace Monument competition
Hospital Blues
During the Great War, there was a uniform which at one time was seen everywhere but is now largely forgotten. This was the Hospital or Convalescent Blues worn by injured or recovering soldiers. The men in this photograph taken at a Stirlingshire hospital are wearing them. The uniforms were pale
Wallace AND Moray
The story of William Wallace is central to the survival of Scotland as a nation and his victory at the Battle of Stirling Bridge in 1297 spread the fame of Stirling far and wide, according to contemporary reports. With 22 portraits of Wallace included in the 500 items in the
Langgarth House
Langgarth is one of Stirling’s great villas, designed by the architect William Leiper (1839 – 1916). Built in 1897, it was originally one in a group of four on the St Ninians Road. The others were Viewforth (Stirling Council headquarters), Springbank (demolished to make way for Central Regional Council’s headquarters
Raploch Lion Roars Again
Last week, the latest addition to the Stirling Smith collections was unveiled by Stephen Kerr MP. It is a reproduction of a long-lost Raploch stone, re-carved anew by stonemasons James Innes & Son of Doune. The original stone was on a tenement in Back O’Hill Road / Albany Crescent, designed
William Littlejohn
The Stirling Smith has a collection of some 850 major works of art which show different aspects of the history of Scottish, British and European art. This work by William Hunter Littlejohn (1929 – 2006) is one of two in the Smith collections, featured in a brand -new book on
John Allan, Architect
John Allan lived and worked in Stirling from 1870 – 1922, designing some of the most distinctive buildings here. These include some of the best houses in Kings Park, the tenement with the half-timbered top at 55 Baker Street, the Wolf Craig building in Port Street which with its steel