They include how Kippen was once home to the world’s largest grapevine and how the Stirling Jug or Scots Pint was the national standard for liquid measure, holding the equivalent of three imperial pints. Now one of the oldest artefacts of the Royal Burgh, the Stirling Jug was manufactured at Edinburgh Castle in 1511 by Robert Borthwick, whose main job was casting cannons for the defence of the realm. It became the national standard for liquid measure as the burgh was at the centre of a thriving brewing industry.
Planted a few centuries later in 1891, the Kippen Vine covered 5000 square feet and needed four glasshouses to cover it. It produced more than 2000 bunches of grapes a year, with many sold to Harrods in London. READ MORE: Right-wing protesters outnumbered by counter demonstrators in Scottish city centre “There were always competitions at the time to grow pineapples and grapes – exotic things that you wouldn’t expect to find in Scotland,” historian and archaeologist Dr Murray Cook told the Sunday National.
Later, when grapes were no longer considered such a luxury, the vine became a tourist attraction with an estimated 20,000 visitors annually and peak daily numbers in excess of 1000. Maintenance of the vine was extremely labour-intensive and it was cut down in 1964 but cuttings survive in greenhouses around the country. As for the pies, they were a feature of Stirling’s Guildry Trade Association, the oldest continuous body in Scotland after church and crow.