Bannockburn

Bannockburn () is an area immediately south of the centre of Stirling in Scotland. It is part of the City of Stirling. It is named after the Bannock Burn, a stream running through the town before flowing into the River Forth.

==History== Land in the vicinity of Bannockburn town, probably between the Pelstream and Bannock burns (hence Bannockburn), was the site of the Battle of Bannockburn fought in 1314—one of the pivotal battles of the 13th/14th century Wars of Independence between the kingdoms of Scotland and England. A large monument and visitor centre is located near the site of the battle. In previous generations tourists came to visit the site and look at the Borestone. The dignity of the barony of Bannockburn is currently held by Hope Vere Anderson, a descendant of the Sandilands and Vere families of Sandilands and Lesmahagow, Lanarkshire who were the original Barons of Bannockburn in the 14th century. In the year of 1746, after the Battle of Culloden, Bonnie Prince Charlie stayed in Bannockburn House where he met the future mother of his child. thumb|left|170px|Telford's circular-arch roadbridge over the Bannock Burn Bannockburn village used to be famous for its carpet and tweed factories and woollen mills. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries the Wilson family of Bannockburn designed and wove tartans for the British Army. Many of the so-called Clan tartans were created by the Wilsons in response to the needs of the Clan chiefs who, without their own authentic tartans, approached the Wilsons for suitable patterns. The visit of King George IV to Edinburgh in 1822, and his insistence that the Clan chiefs attend his banquets and levees in their Clan tartans, prompted this reaction. The woollen mills employed 7-800 people around 1880. The last mill closed in 1924.