Clackmannan

The name Clackmannan may be of Brittonic origin.[5] The first element is probably *clog, meaning "rock, crag, cliff" (c.f. Welsh clog),[5] and the second is the personal name Manau, from the root man- meaning "projecting.[5]

The name of the town has been said to allude to the Stone of Manau[6] or Stone of Mannan,[7] a pagan monument that can be seen in the town square beside the Tolbooth or Tollbooth Tower, which dates from 1592.[8]

The early growth of the town was due in large part to the port which lay on the banks of the tidal stretch of the River Black Devon at its confluence with the River Forth. There are now no visible signs of the port and Clackmannan now sits over a mile inland from the river. The locals tried in vain to keep their port viable by digging out the silt but to no avail. The silting of Clackmannan's port and the fact that boats could no longer access it meant that the port in Alloa came in to use instead and this led to an increase in the population of nearby Alloa see that town replace Clackmannan as the county town of Clackmannanshire in 1822.[9]

During the 12th century, the area formed part of the lands controlled by the abbots of Cambuskenneth. Later it became associated with the Bruce family, who, during the 14th century, built a strategic tower-house called Clackmannan Tower and in the 16th Century built a mansion alongside the tower. The mansion was demolished when local branch of the Bruces died out in 1791, although its stones may have been recycled to build the new parish church in 1815.[9] It still stands above the town according to Historic Scotland, but entry is forbidden (because of subsidence).[10]

A crater on asteroid 253 Mathilde is named after Clackmannan. Because Mathilde is a dark, carbonaceous body, its craters have been named after famous coalfields from across the world.[11] The Clackmannan Group is the name given to a suite of rocks of late Dinantian and Namurian age laid down during the Carboniferous period in the Midland Valley of Scotland.[12] The war memorial was designed by Sir Robert Lorimer in 1919.[13]