Dollar, Clackmannanshire
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Dollar | |
| Scottish Gaelic: Dolair/Dolar | |
  Dollar shown within Scotland |
|
| Population | 2770 [1] |
|---|---|
| OS grid reference | |
| Council area | Clackmannanshire |
| Lieutenancy area | Clackmannanshire |
| Constituent country | Scotland |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Dollar |
| Postcode district | FK14 |
| Dialling code | 01259 |
| Police | Central Scotland |
| Fire | Central Scotland |
| Ambulance | Scottish |
| European Parliament | Scotland |
| UK Parliament | Ochil and South Perthshire |
| Scottish Parliament | Ochil |
| List of places: UK • Scotland | |
- This page is about the Scottish town. For information about the dollar as currency, see Dollar
Dollar (Scottish Gaelic: Dolair/Dolar) is a small town in Clackmannanshire, Scotland. It is one of the Hillfoots Villages, situated between the Ochil Hills range to the north and the Devon River to the south. Dollar is on the A91 road, which runs from Stirling to St. Andrews, and is around 3 miles east of Tillicoultry.
Contents |
[edit] The Town
The major attraction in Dollar is the five hundred year-old Castle Campbell, lowland seat of the Duke of Argyll, where Queen Mary of Scotland once lived in the 16th century. The residence was chosen for its proximity to the court in Edinburgh and Clackmannan Tower, Alloa, Stirling Castle and Linlithgow Palace.
The walk to the castle is a vigorous ascent by a spectacular series of paths, bridges and walkways within the deep gorges of the glen and its tributaries. Unfortunately, the most spectacular section has had to be closed due to the risk of landslip (a part of which was re-opened summer 2007), but alternative routes are available. There is also a road, accessible by car, to the castle for the less energetic.
At the foot of Dollar Glen there is a Rumbling Park (The Mill Green) at east end of the town. Here there is also a small museum which is run by volunteers, which contains an interesting collection of local items, and much information about the former Devon Valley Railway, which closed in the 1960s. There are plenty of sports facilities, including an 18-hole golf course (notable for its steep inclines and lack of bunkers), a tennis club, a squash club (http://www.DollarSquashClub.co.uk) and a cricket club. The Ochil Hills that overlook Dollar provide opportunity for mountain biking. The nearby Devon river is occasionally used for fishing. There are two churches, one Church of Scotland and one Scottish Episcopalian.
Dollar is now mainly residential; however, for a long time it was known for its industries. Attempts were made to mine lead and copper in Dollar Glen from the 18th century, possibly earlier, but these were of no economic significance. Coal mining in the area began around the same time and, until 1973, supplied the Kincardine Power Station, and later, the Longannet Power Station with coal from the Upper Hirst seam. In common with the other Hillfoots Villages, the textiles industry played an important part in the town's development. The Harviestoun Brewery was established in Dollar in 1985, before its move to Alva. The town is now largely a dormitory community for people who work in Stirling and further afield — e.g. Glasgow and Edinburgh. Because of the relative success of its fee-paying school Dollar Academy and its tranquil environment, the town draws young and reasonably well-off families, giving it a slightly different character from the other Hillfoots Villages.
The Public Convenience and Parking situated on the south side of the main bridge were re-developed in 2007. The toilet has been replaced with a 'Super-loo' and the carpark has been moved and replaced by a seating area. The old chestnut tree was cut down last year and the stump sculpted.
Dollar is twinned with the French town of La Ville Aux Dames, which lies just outside Tours in the Loire Valley
[edit] Origin of Name
The name of the town is traditionally related to the story of a lovelorn princess, who died in the castle of her broken heart, hence Dollar, a derivation of the word dolor, meaning grief, common in many European languages.
More likely interpretations are that Dollar is derived from Doilleir, an Irish and Scots Gaelic word meaning dark and gloomy, or from various words in Pictish Gaelic, 'Dol' (field) + 'Ar' (arable) or Dol (valley) + Ar (high). [2]
Dollar: (Dolair, Dolar), ‘place of the haugh(s) or water-meadow(s)’ (cf Welsh dôl ‘meadow’. This word was borrowed from British or Pictish into Scottish Gaelic as dail ‘water-meadow, haugh’).
[edit] People
Dollar was the home town of Scottish sinologist James Legge, the translator of The Chinese Classics. The Chinese scholar Wang Tao lived in Dollar from 1870-1872 and he wrote two travel notes:“Wondering in the Rambling Park” and “Touring the Mountain in Dollar” in his book "Jottings from Carefree Travel". In the late 1990's, Michael Kulas and Saul Davies, musicians in the English rock group James also resided and worked out of the old Tea House Cottage, now known as Brewlands, next to Castle Campbell.
Dollar Academy was founded in 1818 by a bequest from a Dollar native, Captain John McNabb, who had allegedly made his fortune in the slave trade. The inventor of the vacuum flask, James Dewar, was a pupil at the Academy, as was the son of Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia. The noted Esperantist William Auld, nominated three times for the Nobel Prize in Literature, lived in Dollar until his death in 2006. The painter J. M. W. Turner visited Dollar and made sketches in the glen. BBC Gaza correspondent Alan Johnston was educated at Dollar Academy. The Scottish author Iain Banks studied at the nearby University of Stirling and, in an interview for the South Bank Show in 1997, spoke about using the landscape above Dollar as inspiration for his novels (in particular A Song of Stone).
