Cambusbarron

History

Archaeological evidence suggests that a permanent community at what is now Cambusbarron was established during the Bronze Age, between the years of 1700 and 500 BC. It is not known if the site was occupied during the Stone Age. A number of hill forts dating from the Iron Age have been found close to Cambusbarron, although none have been discovered in the centre of the village. At one fort, Castlehill Wood, fragments of glass dating from the first or second century AD have been discovered, suggesting that the Romans may have briefly occupied the fort during their conquest of Britain. In the sixteenth century, Cambusbarron came under the control of successive Earls of Kellie, before being sold to William Leslie, later the tenth Baron of Balquhain, in 1640. It was then sold to the burgh of Stirling in 1665. Cambusbarron expanded significantly during the nineteenth century. The opening of the wool-spinning Hayford Mill, also called Cambusbarron Mill or Hayford and Parkvale Mill, in 1834 provided a significant source of employment in the village; by 1871, a series of expansions had seen the mill grow to employ over 1,200 people. The population of the village rose from 657 in 1841 to 1,230 in 1881. After the closure of the mill in 1896, the population fell as few alternative sources of employment were available. A public school was erected in Cambusbarron in 1875, with capacity for 270 pupils. Towards the end of the nineteenth century, quarrying became an important industry in and around the village. Cambusbarron lies just beyond the western extremity of the Stirling and Clackmannan coalfield, but has significant limestone and quartz-dolerite deposits, both of which have been extracted. Further quarries opened in the area during the twentieth century.