Aberfoyle is a village

Village

A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...

 in the region of Stirling, Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

, 27 miles (43.5 km) northwest of Glasgow

Glasgow

Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...

.

The town is situated on the River Forth

River Forth

The River Forth , long, is the major river draining the eastern part of the central belt of Scotland.The Forth rises in Loch Ard in the Trossachs, a mountainous area some west of Stirling...

 at the base of Craigmore

Craigmore

Craigmore is a village in the province of Manicaland, Zimbabwe located about 30 km south west of Chipinge....

 (420 metres high). Since 1885, when the Duke of Montrose

Duke of Montrose

The title of Duke of Montrose was created twice in the peerage of Scotland, firstly in 1488 for David Lindsay, 5th Earl of Crawford. It was forfeited and then returned, but only for the period of the holder's lifetime...

 constructed a road over the eastern shoulder of Craigmore to join the older road at the entrance of the Trossachs

Trossachs

The Trossachs itself is a small woodland glen in the Stirling council area of Scotland. It lies between Ben A'an to the north and Ben Venue to the south, with Loch Katrine to the west and Loch Achray to the east. However, the name is used generally to refer to the wider area of wooded glens and...

 pass, Aberfoyle has become the alternative route to the Trossachs and Loch Katrine

Loch Katrine

Loch Katrine is a freshwater loch in the district of Stirling, Scotland. It is roughly 8 miles long by 2/3 of a mile wide and runs the length of Strath Gartney...

; this road, known as the Duke's Road or Duke's Pass, was opened to the public in 1931 when the Forestry Commission

Forestry Commission

The Forestry Commission is a non-ministerial government department responsible for forestry in Great Britain. Its mission is to protect and expand Britain's forests and woodlands and increase their value to society and the environment....

 acquired the land.

Loch Ard

Loch Ard

Loch Ard is a body of fresh water in the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park of the Stirling District in Scotland. -Overview:...

, about two miles (3 km) west of Aberfoyle, lies 40 metres above the sea. It is three miles (5 km) long (including the narrows at the east end) and one mile (1½ km) broad. Towards the west end is Eilean Gorm (the green isle), and near the north-western shore are the falls of Ledard. Two miles northwest is Loch Chon, at 90 feet (27.4 m) above the sea, 1¼ miles (2 km) long, and about half a mile broad. It drains by the Avon Dhu to Loch Ard, which is drained in turn by the Forth.

Industry

The slate

Slate

Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. The result is a foliated rock in which the foliation may not correspond to the original sedimentary layering...

 quarries

Quarry

A quarry is a type of open-pit mine from which rock or minerals are extracted. Quarries are generally used for extracting building materials, such as dimension stone, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, and gravel. They are often collocated with concrete and asphalt plants due to the requirement...

 on Craigmore which operated from the 1820s to the 1950s are now defunct; at its peak this was a major industry. Other industries included an ironworks, established in the 1720s, as well as wool spinning and a lint mill.

From 1882 the village was served by Aberfoyle railway station

Aberfoyle railway station

Aberfoyle railway station served the village of Aberfoyle in Scotland. The station had a very uneventful history,-History:Opened by the Strathendrick and Aberfoyle Railway, and absorbed into the North British Railway, it became part of the London and North Eastern Railway during the Grouping of 1923...

, the terminus of the Strathendrick and Aberfoyle Railway

Strathendrick and Aberfoyle Railway

The Glasgow to Aberfoyle Line was a railway line in Scotland, now closed.Starting from the Queen Street terminus in Glasgow, it wound through Strathblane taking in Killearn and Balfron, ultimately depositing travellers in Aberfoyle, where they could change to road transport to reach the Trossachs...

 which connected to Glasgow via Dumbarton or Kirkintilloch

Kirkintilloch

Kirkintilloch is a town and former burgh in East Dunbartonshire, Scotland. It lies on the Forth and Clyde Canal, about eight miles northeast of central Glasgow...

  The station closed to passenger traffic in 1951, and the remaining freight services ceased in 1959.

The above industries have since died out, and Aberfoyle is supported mainly by the forestry industry and tourism.

Tourism

Visitors were first attracted to Aberfoyle and the surrounding area after the publication of The Lady of the Lake

Lady of the Lake

The Lady of the Lake is the name of several related characters who play parts in the Arthurian legend. These characters' roles include giving King Arthur his sword Excalibur, enchanting Merlin, and raising Lancelot after the death of his father...

by Sir Walter Scott in 1810. The poem described the beauty of Loch Katrine

Loch Katrine

Loch Katrine is a freshwater loch in the district of Stirling, Scotland. It is roughly 8 miles long by 2/3 of a mile wide and runs the length of Strath Gartney...

. Aberfoyle describes itself as The Gateway to the Trossachs, and is well situated for visitors to access attractions such as Loch Lomond

Loch Lomond

Loch Lomond is a freshwater Scottish loch, lying on the Highland Boundary Fault. It is the largest lake in Great Britain by surface area. The lake contains many islands, including Inchmurrin, the largest fresh-water island in the British Isles, although the lake itself is smaller than many Irish...

 and Inchmahome Priory

Inchmahome Priory

Inchmahome Priory is situated on Inchmahome , the largest of three islands in the centre of Lake of Menteith, close to Aberfoyle, Scotland....

 at the Lake of Menteith

Lake of Menteith

The Lake of Menteith , is a loch in Scotland, located on the Carse of Stirling, the flood plain of the upper reaches of the rivers Forth and Teith, upstream of Stirling. Until the early 19th century, the more usual Scottish name of Loch of Menteith was used...

. A tourist information office run by VisitScotland

VisitScotland

VisitScotland is Scotland's national tourism agency. It is a public body, with offices in Edinburgh, Inverness, London as well as other parts of Scotland...

 sits in the centre of town, offering free information, selling souvenirs and acting as a booking office for many of the local B&B's and hotels. Aberfoyle Golf Club was built in 1860 and is located just south of town near the Rob Roy restaurant. Aberfoyle is also part of the Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park

Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park

Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park is a national park in Scotland centred on Loch Lomond, and includes several ranges of hills, the Trossachs being the most famous...

.

Aberfoyle is also home to the largest Go Ape adventure course in the UK, featuring the longest zip-line in the UK.

Historical figures

Aberfoyle has connections to many historical figures such as Rob Roy

Robert Roy MacGregor

Robert Roy MacGregor , usually known simply as Rob Roy or alternately Red MacGregor, was a famous Scottish folk hero and outlaw of the early 18th century, who is sometimes known as the Scottish Robin Hood. Rob Roy is anglicised from the Scottish Gaelic Raibeart Ruadh, or Red Robert...

 and Mary, Queen of Scots. Robert Roy MacGregor was born at the head of nearby Loch Katrine, and his well known cattle stealing exploits took him all around the area surrounding Aberfoyle. There currently stands a tree in the village that MacGregor was reputed to have climbed and hid in to escape the clutches of the law. Also, Mary, Queen of Scots, visited nearby Inchmahome Priory often as a child, and during her short reign. She also used the priory during her short reign, particularly in 1547, where she felt safe from the English Army.

However, the most local historical figure is the Reverend Robert Kirk, born in 1644. It was the Rev. Kirk who provided the first translation into Gaidhlig

Scottish Gaelic language

Scottish Gaelic is a Celtic language native to Scotland. A member of the Goidelic branch of the Celtic languages, Scottish Gaelic, like Modern Irish and Manx, developed out of Middle Irish, and thus descends ultimately from Primitive Irish....

of the Book of Psalms, however, he is better remembered for the publication of his book "The Secret Commonwealth of Elves, Fauns, and Fairies" in 1691. Kirk had long been researching fairies, and the book collected several personal accounts and stories of folk who claimed to have encountered them. It was after this, while Kirk was minister of Aberfoyle parish, that he died in unusual circumstances.

Kirk had long believed that the local Doon Hill, was the gateway to the "Secret Commonwealth", or the land of the Fairies. It was a place that Kirk visited often, taking daily walks there from his manse. The story goes that the Fairies of Doon Hill were angry with the Rev. Kirk for going into the domain of the Unseelie court, where he had been warned not to go, and decided to imprison him in Doon Hill — for one night in May 1692, the Rev. Kirk went out for a walk to the hill, in his nightshirt. Some accounts claim that he simply vanished, however he suddenly collapsed. He was found and brought home, but died soon afterwards. He was buried in his own kirkyard, although local legends claim that the fairies took his body away, and the coffin contains only stones. The huge pine tree that still stands at the top of Doon Hill is said to contain Kirk's imprisoned spirit.

Kirk's cousin, Graham of Duchray, was then to claim that the spectre of Kirk had visited him in the night, and told him that he had been carried off by the Fairies. Having left his widow expecting a child, the spectre of Kirk told Graham that he would appear at the baptism, whereupon Graham was to throw an iron knife at the apparition, thus freeing Kirk from the Fairies' clutches. However when Kirk's spectre appeared, Graham was apparently too shocked by the vision to throw the knife, and Kirk's ghost faded away forever.

Today, visitors to Doon Hill write their wishes on pieces of white silk, or other white cloth, and tie them to the branches of the trees for the Fairies to grant. It is also said that if one runs around the great pine tree at the summit seven times, then the Fairies will appear.

In recent years the largest of the trees, Kirk's "Minister's Pine", has been damaged by vandals who have hammered coins into the bark. Other Scots pines in the surrounding area are increasingly commonly festooned with tied bits of plastic, crisp packets and the like rather than 'white pieces of silk'.