Tullibody is a small town of approximately 8,500 residents , in Clackmannanshire in central Scotland. The nearest large towns are Alloa (2 miles) and Stirling (5 miles). Tullibody is a former mining town, although neither that industry nor any other major employers have a presence in the town, with many of the residents now commuting to Stirling and Alloa to work. Since the late 1990s and early 2000s, there has been a rapid expansion in housebuilding in the town, with 400 new houses built on the north side of the village in the last 5 years. The town has 4 primary schools - St. Bernadette's, Abercromby, Banchory and St. Serf's - with young people also attending the local high schools including Lornshill Academy, St. Modan's, Alloa Academy and Alva Academy. Lieutenant-General Sir Ralph Abercromby, KCB (sometimes spelled Abercrombie) (7 October 1734 – 28 March 1801) was a British lieutenant-general noted for his services during the Napoleonic Wars. Tullibody – One of the oldest villages in Scotland. We now know that the first peoples were living in this very area. Tullibody looked very different in those days as it was a peninsula, surrounded by water. The early people worshipped the sun and it is now known that Tullibody War Memorial stone formed part of a Druid Circle. The smaller stones were removed in the late 1700s. We know very little about these early people but other areas of Scotland have found many artefacts showing that they hunted and gathered food from the land and sea. On Braehead Golf Course, the greenkeepers found a shell midden. One of the few found on the north side of the Forth. It contained shell remains of mussels, scallops and cockles dating back to 4000 BC. The Romans were in the area during the first few centuries AD and in fact there was a Roman camp and a ford across the Forth, along at Manor. It is thought that St. Serf first set up a church on the site of its present Auld Kirk in the 5th century when Christianity was brought over from Ireland. Folklore states that Kenneth MacAlpin, King of Scots, amassed his army on Baingle Brae before he fought and subdued the Picts. Certainly there was a standing stone on the main road to Stirling (near the Catholic church) until the early 1900s when it is then reported to have been demolished to make ready for the road upgrading. David I of Scotland was responsible for Tullibody’s claim to fame when in 1149 he granted the lands and fishing rights to Cambuskenneth Abbey and it was then that The Auld Kirk was erected, where it still stands today. Until 1600 the religion was Cathlolic but then became Protestant. Tullibody has been served well, being the Parish Church until that time when it lost its celebrity status and Alloa took the title. The Abercrombys made The Auld Kirk their family vault. Edward I of England, in his attempt to subdue the Scots in 1306 reportedly tried to build a castle in Tullibody, on the hill behind the Delph Pond. As it would have been of wooden construction, no one has ever found any proof.