Dollar, Clackmannanshire

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Dollar
Dolar (Gaelic)



OS grid reference:	NS965979



Population:	2759 (including Muckhart) ^[1]



Council area:	Clackmannanshire
Constituent country:	Scotland
Sovereign state:	United Kingdom

Police force:	Central Scotland Police
Lieutenancy area:	Clackmannanshire
Former county:	Clackmannanshire

Post town:	Dollar
Postal:	FK14
Telephone:	01259


Scottish Parliament:	Ochil
UK Parliament:	Ochil and South Perthshire
European Parliament:	Scotland

This page is about the Scottish town. For information about the dollar as currency, see Dollar

Dollar 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.

1 The Town
2 Origin of Name
3 People
4 Trivia
5 References
6 External links

[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 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, but alternative routes are available. There is also a steep road to the top for the less energetic.

There is a Rumbling Park (The Mill Green) at east end of Dollar. 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 Presbyterian and one 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. 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.

Dollar is twinned with the French town of La Ville Aux Dames, just outside Tours in the Loire Valley

[edit] Origin of Name

A map of Dollar from 1945

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 lanaguages.

More likely interpretations are that Dollar is a derivation of Doilleir, an Irish and Scots Gaelic work meaning dark and gloomy, or a derivation from various words in Pictish Gaelic, 'Dol' (field) + 'Ar' (arable) or Dol (valley) + Ar (high). ^[2]

[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".

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. 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).

A sketch of the town of Dollar in 19th century

A sketch of the Rumbling Bridge Park in 19th century

[edit] Trivia

In 1975 Dollar was part of the World Soundscape Project ^[3], where recordings of the ambience of everyday life around the world are recorded. Dollar was one of the places selected for recording. The project was repeated in 2000, as part of a Finnish project called Acoustic Environments in Change ^[4]