I first learned of the existence of this fine viewpoint from an advert in a local paper asking for volunteers for a butterfly survey and decided that it must be worth a cache. Apparently there are 22 species of butterfly known to occur in the Stirling area including the Peacock, Painted Lady & the UK Priority species Large Heath Butterfly. If you are lucky you may see these and others on this site. The area to the south of the hill - Wester Moss - is an SSSI because of its importance to such species.
A 'Bing' is an old spoil tip from a coal mine and this one has been reclaimed to provide an important bit of open space and habitats for a range of flora & fauna. It is work in progress - 20 years ago this was a coal mine spoil tip and it takes time to recover, in another 20 yrs its heritage may well be unrecognisable. It has been significantly sculpted and reduced in height to form the low hill of today - it was probably twice the height originally and would tower over the area.
Park at the open air mine museum and take a look around at the machinery and many plaques in tribute to miners who worked the coalfields in this area. The mine was Polmaise No 3,4 & 5 and a cairn marks the location of the old shafts that went deep underground. There is an excellent book documenting the mining activity in the Stirling area with some pictures of this place when it was working from which the title picture was taken. 'Mining from Kirkintilloch to Clackmannan & Stirling to Slamannan' by Guthrie Hutton is an illustrated history of mining in Central Scotland and paints a brilliant picture of the community aspect of the industry. Fallin was a tiny hamlet until the mines came and owes its current size to the mine companies then council house developments of the c20th. A remarkable building still stands that illustrates the all pervading nature of mine villages. The Fallin Public House Society Ltd was run by the mine company supposedly to encourage temperance but actually to ensure that the profits from miners deep thirsts went into the mine owners bank accounts. In contrast the miners welfare systems and education institutes set examples that pre-dated many of our modern social structures.
The 1984 miners strike tolled the death knell for Polmaise - poor maintenance during the unrest allowed flooding that made it too expensive to reopen, after several false hopes it closed in 1987. Only after time has allowed an objective view will it be possible to write the definitive history of the decline of an industry that may still have a role to play in our energy hungry future. Longannet Power Station has recently been identified as an experimental site for a Carbon capture process that may open a door for a cleaner coal fired future. The reserves are there - the cost and cleanliness are yet to be proved. Whether you believe Scargill or Thatcher killed the coal industry in 1984 it may not have breathed its last.
Scottiedogz got there within hours of publishing - how do they do it?