City of Stirling

This grandiose structure at the head of the Old town is in fact the surviving shell of a splendid renaussance-style town house, commissioned around 1569 by the pwerful Earl of Mar, hereditary Keeper of Stirling Castle and one time Regent of Scotland during the minority of James VI. Following the jacobite rebellion, in which a later Earl of mar chose the losing side, the house was converted into barracks. It was further damaged by cannon fire during the 1745-46 rising.