Plean

{{Infobox UK place

| country = Scotland

| official_name = Plean

| gaelic_name =

| label_position = top

| static_image_name = The Plean Tavern, Stirlingshire - geograph.org.uk - 160338.jpg

| static_image_caption = The Plean Tavern on the town's Main Street

| coordinates = {{coord|56.061|-3.871|display=inline,title}}

| population = {{Scottish locality population|name|POP=Plean}}

| population_ref = ({{Scottish settlement population citation|year}}){{Scottish settlement population citation}}| os_grid_reference = NS835869

| civil_parish = St. Ninians

| unitary_scotland = Stirling

| lieutenancy_scotland = Stirling and Falkirk

| constituency_westminster = Stirling

| constituency_scottish_parliament = Stirling

| post_town = STIRLING

| postcode_district = FK7

| postcode_area = FK

| dial_code = 01786

}}

Plean is a village, in the Stirling council area of central Scotland, located on the main A9 road from Falkirk. At the 2001 census, Plean had a population of 1,740. Plean has some historic buildings, some council houses and an estate.{{cite web |url=http://www.scrol.gov.uk/scrol/browser/profile.jsp?profile=Population&mainArea=plean&mainLevel=Locality |title=Comparative Population Profile for the Plean locality |publisher=Scotland's Census Results Online (SCROL) |accessdate=2008-01-01 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110519160526/http://www.scrol.gov.uk/scrol/browser/profile.jsp?profile=Population&mainArea=plean&mainLevel=Locality |archivedate=2011-05-19 }}

Landmarks

Plean has a Church of Scotland Church with an attached graveyard, a petrol station, chip shop, a small clinic, small library, pub, pharmacy, cafe, Indian takeaway and three convenience stores. East Plean Primary School was formerly housed in a traditional building dating from 1874. Many of the original features of the building were retained in the refurbishment of the school, which was completed in summer 2000, including the addition of a purpose-built nursery. The school building was damaged beyond repair in November 2010 when a fire was deliberately started in a hut to the rear. The building was subsequently demolished and a new modern school is being built on the site. Andrew Stretton, 18, set fire to a cardboard box in a shed, but the blaze spread to the main building causing serious damage. Stretton was sentenced at Stirling and ordered to carry out 300 hours of community service, and put on probation for two years.{{cite web|url=http://news.stv.tv/scotland/west-central/207299-east-plean-primary-badly-damaged-by-fire/ |title=East Plean primary school badly damaged by fire|date= 7 November 2010|publisher=STV|accessdate=25 January 2019}}

Plean Estate

File:The ruins of Plean House - geograph.org.uk - 160341.jpg

The Plean Estate was once owned by the Earl of Dunmore; he had sold it to the Robert Haldane who was already the owner of the Airthrey Estate in Stirling.{{Cite web|url=http://www.pleancountrypark.org.uk/index.php/history/5-history-of-plean-house-and-park|title=Friends of Plean Country Park - Social History of Plean Estate|website=www.pleancountrypark.org.uk|language=en-gb|access-date=2018-06-28}} It stayed in the Haldane family until it was sold in 1799 to Francis Simpson, a former captain with the East India Company.{{Cite news|url=http://www.stirlingarchives.scot/2016/01/08/governors-house-william-simpsons-asylum-plean/|title=Governor's House, William Simpson's Asylum, Plean, 1907|date=2016-01-08|access-date=2018-06-28|language=en-GB}}

Simpson's wife Jean Sophia Cadell, daughter of William Cadell of Banton, was only twenty-one when she died in 1806, she left behind two children for Simpson to look after; one son, William, and a daughter, Frances.{{Cite web|url=http://www.stniniansold.org.uk/news/from-the-past/|title=St Ninians Old Parish Church {{!}} From the past|last=Edit|first=St Ninians Old Parish Church {{!}} powered by Church|website=www.stniniansold.org.uk|access-date=2018-06-28}} In 1819, Francis built Plean House and the other estate buildings.

William Simpson's Home is a local charity based in Plean, established by Francis Simpson, providing residential social care for men with alcohol-related brain damage, and with underlying mental health illness.{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/8485749.stm|title=1800s care home to open to women|date=2010|access-date=2018-07-01|language=en-GB}}

Plean Country Park is located in Plean, in the grounds of the now-ruined Plean House. Entry is free and the park is maintained by Stirling Council. Nearby Plean Castle, or Plane Tower, was once a home of the Somerville family. It was restored from ruin twice in the twentieth century and is now a private house.Salter, Mike, Castles of the Heartland of Scotland, Folly (1994), 131.

Notable people

Ronnie Swan (born 1941), Scottish footballer, goalkeeper
Campbell Forsyth, the Kilmarnock and Scotland international goalkeeper was born in Plean in 1939.{{cite book |last=Holley |first=Duncan |title=In That Number – A post-war chronicle of Southampton FC |author2=Chalk, Gary |publisher=Hagiology Publishing |year=2003 |isbn=0-9534474-3-X |page=512}}
Frankie Jones, the fly/bantamweight champion boxer of the 1950s and '60s was born in Plean in 1933.{{cite web |date=31 December 2013 |title=Statistics at boxrec.com |url=http://boxrec.com/list_bouts.php?human_id=29883&cat=boxer |accessdate=1 January 2013 |publisher=boxrec.com}}
John McAulay VC, spent all of his youth in Plean

Transportation

Plean railway station served the village from 1904 to 1956.

References

External links

[http://www.pleancountrypark.org.uk/ Friends of Plean Country Park]
[http://www.scottishmining.co.uk/285.html Scottish Mining Website - East Plean 13 July 1922]
[http://www.scotlandsplaces.gov.uk/record/rcahms/132578/plean-colliery/rcahms Scotland's Places - Plean Colliery]
[http://www.britishpathe.com/video/scottish-colliery-disaster/query/stirling 1922 Pit Disaster]

Category:Villages in Stirling (council area)