Allan’s Primary School Bastion

Stirling

The Bastion, part of medieval Stirling city wall defences. Some of the pupils of Allan's Primary School will lead informative tours of the school’s very own Scheduled Monument. The Bastion, sits on top of the Old Town Wall and forms part of the back wall of the playground behind the school is normally inaccessible to the public.

Stirling’s Old Town Wall is constructed directly off the bedrock which, in many places throughout the Top of the Town, is visible or is only just below the ground surface. On the wall, behind the primary school sits a beehive bastion. Both the Old Town Wall and the Bastion are Scheduled Monuments.

A bastion projects outwards from a fortification and is usually built at an angle so the wall on which it sits can be more easily defended. The Allan’s bastion is beehive style and gun loops are visible from the south (outer) side of the wall. A gun-loop is a round opening, usually near the base of a castle, tower or defensive wall, through which a rifle could be fired at attackers.

The beehive bastion dates from the 1500’s. It was converted from a gunpowder store into a Doocot in the 1700’s and was renovated in 2003.

Facilities

• Not Accessible

Additional Access Information

The Bastion is accessed from the Spittal Street pedestrian gateway. There are a number of stairs to access the rear playground, where the bastion is situated within the Old Town Wall.