Main local droving routes

See old roads maps here.

• From Sheriffmuir via Pendreich, Sheriffmuir Road by Airthrey or Logie kirk, to Causewayhead, Stirling to Falkirk.
• From Doune drovers came down Baxters Loan along the Kippenross south entrance to ford the Allan Water and join the Darn Road, past Drumdruills, Glen Road, Cornton, Stirling for Falkirk Tryst
• Or from Baxters Loan via Gallow Hill, crossed the river at Bridge of Allan Fire station, to Cornton, Stirling etc.

Extra droving information

The great droving economy of Scotland developed from local transhumance, when animals were grazed on high summer pastures on land then seen of limited value. Lack of winter feed meant the animals had to be driven to market. The English union in 1603 and Parliament in 1707 stimulated the breeding of large numbers of cattle and sheep for droving to England (22000pa from the Outer Hebrides, up to 8000 cattle swam from Skye over Kyle Rhea). Developed from 13th century reiving to its licensed heyday of 18th and 19th centuries, the small tough highland cattle and hardy drovers travelled about 12 miles a day from the western isles to the great Trysts. They initially gathered at Crieff Tryst, then from 1750 to Falkirk, which was more convenient for English dealers. Most cattle continued south to fattening areas such as Norfolk for Smithfield market, London, to supply the navy with salted beef for its French wars and new colonies, or to feed the developing industrial towns. Droving created the modern banking system (which featured animal logos such as Lloyd’s horse today), and credit notes, though it was a risky business; Rob Roy started as a reputable drover. Life was hard with drovers sleeping out on the hills living on oatmeal, onion, with occasional cattle blood drawn for a black pudding, the odd rabbit and dram. Their border collie dogs worked very hard to keep stock from wandering and often were sent back home alone being fed at the same inns, as often the drovers stayed on to help with the English harvests.

As well as cattle and sheep, geese, turkeys, pigs and donkeys were also driven to and from the fairs and markets. One way to keep them fit was to keep them shod. The cattle were fitted with curved iron shoes like small horseshoes cut in half, with sections either side of the cloven hoof, and a blacksmith would often travel with the drovers. The pigs in the procession had little woollen boots with leather soles fitted to each trotter. Even the geese had protection for their feet. This was done by driving them through a mixture of soft tar and sand, which would form a very hard-wearing coating when it set.

The demise of droving was caused by land enclosures for crops, sheep and game, which reduced rights of way, overnight stances and grazing. Also toll bridges and turnpike roads added cost, restricted grazing and wore down hooves and so were avoided where possible. From the 19th century less risky sea steamers and railway transport made long distance droving unnecessary. Cultivation of the turnip provided winter food, and enabled fattening bigger and more specialised breeds, which were unsuitable for droving, to mature closer to market. However, some droving continued into the early 1900s and persisted at local level within living memory.

Sir Walter Scott, in “The Two Drovers” (Macmillan, 1901) gives a vivid description of a drove from the Highlands of Scotland coming via Callander to Doune Fair (important at end 18th century as a late season fair selling up to 10,000 cattle):

“It was the day after Doune Fair when my story commences. It had been a brisk market, several dealers had attended from the northern and midland counties in England, and English money had flown so merrily about as to gladden the hearts of the Highland farmers. Many large droves were about to set off for England, under the protection of their owners, or of the topsmen whom they employed in the tedious, laborious, and responsible office of driving the cattle for many hundred miles, from the market where they had been purchased, to the fields or farm-yards where they were to be fattened for the shambles. The Highlanders in particular are masters of this difficult trade of driving, which seems to suit them as well as the trade of war. It affords exercise for all their habits of patient endurance and active exertion. They are required to know perfectly the drove-roads, which lie over the wildest tracts of the country, and to avoid as much as possible the highways, which distress the feet of the bullocks, and the turnpikes, which annoy the spirit of the drover; whereas on the broad green or grey track, which leads across the pathless moor, the herd not only move at ease and without taxation, but, if they mind their business, may pick up a mouthful of food by the way. At night, the drovers usually sleep along with their cattle, let the weather be what it will; and many of these hardy men do not once rest under a roof during a journey on foot from Lochaber to Lincolnshire. They are paid very highly, for the trust reposed is of the last importance, as it depends on their prudence, vigilance and honesty, whether the cattle reach the final market in good order, and afford a profit to the grazier. But as they maintain themselves at their own expense, they are especially economical in that particular. At the period we speak of, a Highland drover was victualled for his long and toilsome journey with a few handfuls of oatmeal and two or three onions, renewed from time to time, and a ram’s horn filled with whisky, which he used regularly, but sparingly, every night and morning. His dirk, or ‘skene-dhu’, (i.e., black-knife,) so worn as to be concealed beneath the arm, or by the folds of the plaid, was his only weapon, excepting the cudgel with which he directed the movements of the cattle.”

Further information:
A R B Haldane The Drove Roads of Scotland David and Charles 1973. This classic study of drove roads and the droving trade was written by a resident of Auchterarder who lived by a drove road on Sheriffmuir. Also see:
Scottish History Online – The Highland Drovers
The Border Collie Museum – The Drovers Dogs