Footpath from Chacefield Wood

Image: © Lairich Rig Taken: 24 May 2010

The footpath leads towards a road called Drove Loan, which is visible in the background, on the left; that road is mentioned in John Mitchell's article "The Legacy of the Highland Drovers", in issue 76 (Summer 2009) of "Scottish Local History" magazine. In the article, Mitchell writes that "in the past signifying a common right of passage for livestock, the term 'Loan' in a street name is always worth investigation, though it is likely that most have their origin in the lanes used by urban milk cows as they made the daily trek from their back-yard byres to the communal pastures on the outskirts of town. Nevertheless, some can be traced back to the Highland drovers, for a study based on old documents and maps covering the Falkirk district identified a number of 'Drove Loans' specifically named as such. One of these – the last stretch of a once well-trodden drove way from the Carron Valley heading towards Bonnybridge – has been adopted unchanged for the present-day surfaced road". The buildings in the background, on the left, are Home Farm Holiday Cottages. Near the right-hand edge of the photograph, a small modern structure is just visible on a raised area at the far side of the field. That structure lies within the bounds of an ancient enclosure, which is protected by law as a scheduled monument. That area and its prehistoric remains lie outside the grid square from which the present photograph was taken, but they are shown and discussed separately in Image Only a few metres from the photographer's position, some much more recent ruins stand just to the right (the west) of the footpath: Image For a view in the opposite direction along the footpath, back towards the woods, see Image

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