Everything about The Ochil Hills totally explained
The
Ochil Hills (from the
Celtic uchil meaning high ground) is a range of hills in
Scotland north of the
Forth valley bordered by the towns of
Stirling,
Alloa,
Kinross and
Perth. The only major road crossing the hills follows Glen Devon and
Glen Eagles, while the
M90 Edinburgh-Perth motorway cuts through the eastern foothills. The hills are part of a
Devonian lava extrusion whose appearance today is largely due to the
Ochil Fault which results in the southern face of the hills forming an
escarpment. The plateau is undulating with no prominent peak, the highest point being
Ben Cleuch at 721m The south-flowing burns have cut deep
ravines including
Dollar Glen,
Silver Glen and
Alva Glen, often only passable with the aid of wooden walkways.
Historically, the hills led to
Stirling's importance as the only gateway to the
Highlands and also acted as a boundary to the Kingdom of
Fife.
Castle Campbell was built at the head of
Dollar Glen in the late 1400s (an earlier castle on the site being called
Castle Gloom) mainly as a very visible symbol of the
Campbell domination of the area.
Sheriffmuir, the site of the 1715 battle of the
Jacobite rising is on the northern slopes of the hills. In the early
Industrial Revolution, several mill towns such as
Tillicoultry,
Alva and
Menstrie (the
Hillfoots Villages) grew up in the shadow of the Ochils to tap the water power. Some of the mills are open today as museums.
Blairdennon Hill was the site of one of the
Beacons of Dissent during the
G8 protests in July 2005.
Proposed wind farms
A proposal for an 18 turbine development at Green Knowes, south of
Auchterarder, north of
Glendevon was approved in June 2006. The development will be situated about 400m north of the
Ben Thrush summit.
In early 2007 approval was given for the construction of a
wind farm consisting of 13 102m (334ft)
turbines on Burnfoot Hill, which lies north of
Tillicoultry and
Ben Cleuch and to the south of the Upper
Glendevon Reservoir.
Selection of peaks in the Ochil Range
Further Information
Get more info on 'Ochil Hills'.
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