Abbotshaugh Community Woodland

The historic site of Abbotshaugh Community Woodland, located on the south bank of the River Carron, has witnessed many changes over the past 500 years. The recently planted woodland hopes to recreate a naturally regenerating mature woodland within an area consisting of a mosaic of planted woodland, remnant hedgerows, grassland and saltmarsh. The woodland provides a year-round home for many species including Roe deer, foxes, buzzards and kestrels. === 16th and 17th Century (Cartography, Timothy Pont, Joan Blaeu) === The original course of the River Carron can be viewed as a digital image on the National Library of Scotland website. M.S.32, the particular survey of interest is one of many by Timothy Pont who completed a universal survey of Scotland on foot between 1583 and 1614. The work was never published in his lifetime, after Pont's death in 1614 James VI planned to purchase the materials however due to the turbulence of the times they lay forgotten. Sir John Scot, Lord Scotstarvit enlisted Robert Gordon of Straloch and his son James Gordon. In 1641 the surviving manuscripts were carried to Amsterdam, there they revised Pont's maps with the aid of Joan Blaeu. Whilst in Amsterdam in 1645, Sir John Scot dictated from memory the description of several districts, this was accompanied by a Royal letter from Charles I. The works were finally published in the Geographiæ Blaeuaniæ volumen quintum by Joan Blaeu in 1654. Pont's M.S.32 shows the river north of Falkirk, the lands of Abbotshaugh south of the River Carron are marked as "A "east of N. Daldarfe, Joan Blaeu's edition of Stirlingshire shows much the same except for the addition of trees, between the two trees N/E of N. Daldarfe, again the letter "A" can be found, representing Abbotshaugh. This is not clear on the digital images but can be seen on the reproduction maps published jointly by Collins Bartholomew and the Royal Scottish Geographical Society who own one of the original Blaeu's edition of Stirlingshire.

Data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).