Clackmannan, SCT - Postcode - FK10 4JS

Clackmannan

The Central Lowlands of Scotland are home to the small town and civil parish of Clackmannan. Clackmannan is located in the Forth Valley, just 3.2 miles (5.1 km) south of Tillicoultry and 1.8 miles (2.9 km) south-east of Alloa. Until Alloa grew larger and more significant, this town served as the county seat of Clackmannanshire, the county in which it is located.

Toponymy and naming

Clackmannan could have a Brittonic root.

The first component, Manau, comes from the root man-, which means "projecting," and is related to the element *clog, which means "rock, crag, cliff" (cf. Welsh clog). 

There is a pagan monument called the Stone of Manau or Stone of Mannan in the town square, right next to the Tolbooth or Tollbooth Tower, which was built in 1592, and this may be the inspiration for the name of the town.

History

A major contributor to the city's early development was the port that was situated on the Black Devon River's tidal section near where it met the Forth. No longer near the river, Clackmannan is now more than a mile inland. The residents dug out the silt from their port in an attempt to keep it open, but it was to no use. Due to the port in Alloa being put to use after Clackmannan's silting made it inaccessible to vessels, Alloa surpassed Clackmannan as the county town of Clackmannanshire in 1822. 

Abbots of Cambuskenneth held sway over this region beginning in the 12th century. Later, the Bruce family became linked with the area after constructing a strategic tower-house there in the 14th century (now known as Clackmannan Tower) and a mansion adjacent to the tower in the 16th century. When the local line of the Bruces died out in 1791, the mansion was dismantled, however some stones were possibly reused to construct the new parish church in 1815. Based on information from Historic Scotland, it may still be seen towering over the neighborhood, but access is strictly restricted (because of subsidence). 

In 1841, there were 1,077 people living in the district of Clackmannan.

Clackmannan Crater can be found on asteroid 253 Mathilde. Mathilde's craters were given their names after well-known coalfields around the world to reflect the dark, carbonaceous nature of the asteroid. The Clackmannan Group refers to a set of rocks that were deposited in the Midland Valley of Scotland during the Carboniferous era and are of late Dinantian and Namurian age. Sir Robert Lorimer was responsible for the 1919 design of the war memorial.