Callander
Callander (Calasraid) is a small town in the council area of Stirling, Scotland, situated on the River Teith. The town is located in the historic county of Perthshire and is a popular tourist stop to and from the Highlands.
The town serves as the eastern gateway to the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park, the first National Park in Scotland, and is often referred to as the "Gateway to the Highlands".
Dominating the town to the north are the Callander Crags, a visible part of the Highland Boundary Fault, rising to 343 m at the cairn. Ben Ledi (879 m) lies north-west of Callander. Popular local walks include Bracklinn Falls, The Meadows, Callander Crags and the Wood Walks. The Rob Roy Way passes through Callander. The town sits on the Trossachs Bird of Prey Trail. The River Teith is formed from the confluence of two smaller rivers, the Garbh Uisge (River Leny) and Eas Gobhain about 1/3 mi west of the bridge at Callander.
A 19th-century Gothic church stands in the town square, named after Saint Kessog, an Irish missionary who is said to have preached in the area in the sixth-century. The church closed in 1985 and between 1990 and 2006 the building, after undergoing substantial interior alterations, was home to a visitor centre and audio-visual attraction telling the story of local outlaw, Rob Roy MacGregor. The church building was occupied by The Clanranald Trust for Scotland between 2015 and 2018, but it now lies empty.
Founded in 1892, McLaren High School educates pupils aged 11 to 18 from a wide catchment area extending as far as Killin, Tyndrum and Inversnaid.
In 2018 Callander was named Scotland's First Social Enterprise Place, due to the amount of social enterprise activity within the town. This includes Callander Community Hydro Ltd., a community owned renewable energy project which distributes funds to a variety of local projects.
The name Callander was first recorded, perhaps erroneously, as Callander in 1238, and Kallandrech in 1438, and the etymology is uncertain. William J Watson had the derivation as Gaelic Calasraid, meaning "harbour-street" or "ferry-street" in 1913. By 1926, Watson stated "Callander on Teith…is a transferred name from Callander near Falkirk", and indeed, it is probable that from at least the 16th century, Callander was influenced by that spelling. Early forms with Calen- may relate to the original name of the estate, which may have straddled the Teith. Calendrate may have been a subdivision of this estate, and the sraid element may relate to a Roman road. Some of the early forms contain –drate, which might be Gaelic drochaid "bridge".
Callander may also be of Brittonic origin, and derived from *caleto-dubro- (Welsh caled-dŵr), meaning "hard-water". The -n in the name Callander is intrusive. It may originally have been a river-name, perhaps that of the present River Teith. A name of the Calder type, Callander may share an etymology with the Callater Burn in Aberdeenshire, as well as the English names Calder in West Yorkshire, and Kielder in Northumberland.
The town serves as the eastern gateway to the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park, the first National Park in Scotland, and is often referred to as the "Gateway to the Highlands".
Dominating the town to the north are the Callander Crags, a visible part of the Highland Boundary Fault, rising to 343 m at the cairn. Ben Ledi (879 m) lies north-west of Callander. Popular local walks include Bracklinn Falls, The Meadows, Callander Crags and the Wood Walks. The Rob Roy Way passes through Callander. The town sits on the Trossachs Bird of Prey Trail. The River Teith is formed from the confluence of two smaller rivers, the Garbh Uisge (River Leny) and Eas Gobhain about 1/3 mi west of the bridge at Callander.
A 19th-century Gothic church stands in the town square, named after Saint Kessog, an Irish missionary who is said to have preached in the area in the sixth-century. The church closed in 1985 and between 1990 and 2006 the building, after undergoing substantial interior alterations, was home to a visitor centre and audio-visual attraction telling the story of local outlaw, Rob Roy MacGregor. The church building was occupied by The Clanranald Trust for Scotland between 2015 and 2018, but it now lies empty.
Founded in 1892, McLaren High School educates pupils aged 11 to 18 from a wide catchment area extending as far as Killin, Tyndrum and Inversnaid.
In 2018 Callander was named Scotland's First Social Enterprise Place, due to the amount of social enterprise activity within the town. This includes Callander Community Hydro Ltd., a community owned renewable energy project which distributes funds to a variety of local projects.
The name Callander was first recorded, perhaps erroneously, as Callander in 1238, and Kallandrech in 1438, and the etymology is uncertain. William J Watson had the derivation as Gaelic Calasraid, meaning "harbour-street" or "ferry-street" in 1913. By 1926, Watson stated "Callander on Teith…is a transferred name from Callander near Falkirk", and indeed, it is probable that from at least the 16th century, Callander was influenced by that spelling. Early forms with Calen- may relate to the original name of the estate, which may have straddled the Teith. Calendrate may have been a subdivision of this estate, and the sraid element may relate to a Roman road. Some of the early forms contain –drate, which might be Gaelic drochaid "bridge".
Callander may also be of Brittonic origin, and derived from *caleto-dubro- (Welsh caled-dŵr), meaning "hard-water". The -n in the name Callander is intrusive. It may originally have been a river-name, perhaps that of the present River Teith. A name of the Calder type, Callander may share an etymology with the Callater Burn in Aberdeenshire, as well as the English names Calder in West Yorkshire, and Kielder in Northumberland.
Map - Callander
Map
Country - United_Kingdom
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| Flag of the United Kingdom | |
The United Kingdom has evolved from a series of annexations, unions and separations of constituent countries over several hundred years. The Treaty of Union between the Kingdom of England (which included Wales, annexed in 1542) and the Kingdom of Scotland in 1707 formed the Kingdom of Great Britain. Its union in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland created the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Most of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, which formally adopted that name in 1927. The nearby Isle of Man, Guernsey and Jersey are not part of the UK, being Crown Dependencies with the British Government responsible for defence and international representation. There are also 14 British Overseas Territories, the last remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, encompassed almost a quarter of the world's landmass and a third of the world's population, and was the largest empire in history. British influence can be observed in the language, culture and the legal and political systems of many of its former colonies.
Currency / Language
| ISO | Currency | Symbol | Significant figures |
|---|---|---|---|
| GBP | Pound sterling | £ | 2 |
| ISO | Language |
|---|---|
| EN | English language |
| GD | Gaelic language |
| CY | Welsh language |