Dollar Glen

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Dollar
Dollar

One of our favourite outings is to the small town of Dollar in Clackmannanshire, from where we walk up Dollar Glen to Castle Campbell. We did this most recently in December 2016. Unfortunately, since the last time we visited, the hotel bar in which we usually ate lunch has closed – the horror! – but we found a more than adequate substitute in the Bridge Street Kitchen – hooray!

Suitably fortified, we made our way past some chain saw carving and up West Burnside.

Chainsaw carving by Rodney Holland
Kelly Burn

Just where the footpath to the castle begins there is a small museum in an old mill building. In all our years of visiting Dollar we have never been in – until this time. It’s a fascinating collection of information on local history staffed by friendly volunteers (an extensive chat with one unearthed three mutual acquaintances). I was particularly interested in the section on Lavinia Malcolm, a woman I had never heard of but who was the first woman town councillor (1907) and the first woman Provost (Mayor – 1913) in Scotland. We noted that we must have walked past a plaque on her former home and decided to look out for it on our way back.

Lavinia Malcolm panel
Lavinia Malcolm model (detail)

After the museum, we climbed up the Glen past this intriguing money mushroom – I’ve seen money trees before but this is a first – to the point where we could look back on the view you can see in the post header. Castle Campbell soon loomed over us.

Money mushroom
Castle Campbell
Castle Campbell

We had spent so long in the museum that the castle was about to close by the time we got there, so we passed it by and returned down the other side of the glen. The lights had come on by the time we got back to Dollar making it look very festive.

Castle Campbell
Dollar Glen
Kelly Burn

As hoped, we found Lavinia’s house and memorial plaque.

Former home of Lavinia Malcolm
Plaque to Lavinia Malcolm

My favourite kind of walk – countryside and history combined! For more walks of all kinds, pop over to Jo’s Monday Walk for a wide choice of topics.

Scotland, UK , , , ,

45 Comments »

  1. I’ve been feeling unsure about our relocation to Scotland, but after seeing this walk, I’m starting to feel more excited! Love a good castle walk!

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  4. Pingback: Jo’s Monday walk : Legends of Marim | restlessjo

  9. The castle looks so beautiful like something out of a romantic novel…a good romantic novel:) how do they get the pennies in that mushroom?? I think that is pretty cool and love the history.

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    • They just push the pennies into the cracks. I assume it was made that way since wooden mushrooms aren’t a natural phenomenon! It is a beautiful, romantic location for a castle. The views from the top are wonderful.

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  10. Snap. We went there as well a couple of weeks ago so I’m glad your photos are different from mine. I’ve been up Dollar Glen half a dozen times but never noticed the money tree. I’m assuming its on the new trail that replaced the old boardwalk up through the deep gorge that was destroyed by a landslide of boulders years ago. Gutted when they never replaced that adventurous route but I suppose it is now too dangerous given all the rain we get now. Lovely place Dollar.

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  16. Hi Anabel – lovely local walk … with lots of interesting ideas around … I’ve never heard of a money mushroom – or whatever its proper name is – dollar-glen sounds good too. Great you’ve found an entrepreneurial lady to tell us about … fascinating – cheers Hilary

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  18. What a small world, Anabel! 3 people 🙂 And I love your money mushroom! I enjoyed our little bit of an amble and the history. Always love to stick my nose in a museum. Thanks for the link 🙂

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  19. May I ask what a money mushroom is? Btw, even I love outings which combine a bit of history – I guess it adds a tinge of mystery and intrigue to a place.

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    • I don’t really understand the money mushroom myself, I just called it that! Sometimes in the countryside you see fallen trees with coins jammed into the cracks, I presume as a sort of offering as in a wishing well. This is the only artificially created object I’ve seen being treated that way. I’m not sure if it was created for offerings or if they just happened. You might need to enlarge the picture to see properly. Thanks for visiting and commenting!

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