On 11 September 1297, the forces of Andrew Moray and William Wallace defeated the combined English forces of John de Warenne, 6th Earl of Surrey, and Hugh de Cressingham near Stirling, on the River Forth, at the Battle of Stirling Bridge during the First War of Scottish Independence.

On 11 June 1488 the Battle of Sauchieburn was fought at the side of Sauchie Burn, a stream about two miles south of Stirling.

[3] The battle was fought between the followers of King James III of Scotland and a large group of rebellious Scottish nobles including Alexander Home, 1st Lord Home, nominally led by the king's 15-year-old son, Prince James, Duke of Rothesay (reigned 1488–1513).

The Battle of Falkirk Muir on 17 January 1746 saw the Jacobites under Charles Edward Stuart defeat a government army commanded by Lieutenant General Henry Hawley.

Elected county councils were established in 1890 under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889, taking most of the functions of the commissioners (which were eventually abolished in 1930).

These changes saw Stirlingshire cede Milngavie to Dunbartonshire, Alva to Clackmannanshire, and part of the parish of Lecropt to Perthshire.

[11] The county council moved its meeting place to Spittal Street in 1930, but still needed more office space for its staff.

On the silver saltire on blue of St Andrew was placed the rampant red lion from the royal arms of Scotland.

They were regranted a second time in 1996 to the present Stirling Council, with the addition of supporters (a goshawk and a wolf).Stirlingshire occupies a strategic position on the Forth-Clyde isthmus commanding the main overland routes from Glasgow and Edinburgh up to central and northern Scotland.

Several islands within Loch Lomond belong to Stirlingshire, the chief of these being Eilean nan Deargannan, Bucinch, Ceardach, Inchcruin, Inchfad, Ellanderroch, Inchcailloch and Clairinsh.

The area east of the M80 is generally much flatter and contains the bulk of the county's population, with the Firth of Forth providing access to the North Sea.

Various ferries enable passengers to cross Loch Lomond in the far west, and the Kincardine Bridge in the far east provides access to Fife and Clackmannanshire.

Only the eastern third of the county is connected by rail, although Milngavie railway station was in the far south-west of Stirlingshire when first built, being transferred to Dunbartonshire in 1891.

[1] Following the Act of Union, Stirlingshire returned members to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1708.