Dollar
Dollar is a well-heeled village nestling in a fold of the Ochils Hills on the northern bank of the small River Devon, a dozen or so mile to the east of Stirling.
Best known today for Dollar Academy, one of Scotland’s most respected private schools, the village thrived during the 19th century as a textile centre and turnpike station. There are several interesting buildings dating from this period to be seen around the village.
Above the village, the dramatic chasm of Dollar Glen is commanded by Castle Campbell , formerly, and still unofficially, known as 'Castle Gloom' - a fine and evocative tag but, prosaically, a derivation of 'Gloume', an old Gaelic name. A one-and-a-half-mile road leads up from the main street, but becomes very narrow, very steep, and stops short of the castle, with only limited parking at the top. There is a marked walk through the glen to the castle, past mossy crags and rushing streams. Burnt by Cromwell's troops in 1654, the fine 15th-century tower survived the fire from which there's a wonderful vista of the hills behind the castle, and down the glen to Dollar itself.
