At the Annual Meeting of the Dr Welsh Trust in Bridge of Allan Library on the 4th November 2025, Craig Mair presented, to a large audience, a fascinating account of Bridge of Allan in Old Maps. He began with Timothy Pont’s 16th century map and from there guided us through a wonderful array of maps that followed.

Craig explained that initially there was only a bridge, a narrow hump-backed bridge, and that it was only in the first half of the 19c Bridge of Allan, as a village, began to develop. It was around this time that the ‘restorative’ properties of the Spa mineral water [piped from the old copper mines] were widely marketed and the village grew rapidly. In 1870, Bridge of Allan became a ‘Burgh’.

The first 20 minutes of Craig’s talk can be watched here.

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Link to the National Library of Scotland’s map site. 

Once into the site, go to County Maps on the browse index at the left of the screen.

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