About Us

The current Thornhill Paths Group was started in November 2019, when a group of interested villagers got together in the Lion and Unicorn.  The group includes a number of people who had been involved in an earlier paths group. 

Our general aims are: 

  • To create and maintain usable paths in and around Thornhill 
  • To encourage people to keep the paths free of litter and dog fouling 
  • To work with the landowners to respect their interests 
  • To be mindful of the needs of others, such as people with a disability, those with buggies, cyclists and horse riders 
  • To have some fun and enjoy socialising, along the way! 

Land ownership 

We are fortunate to have a number of paths in the village which many people use on a daily basis, but do we know who owns this land?
For example:

  • The South Common (including the football pitch) is owned by Stirling Council
  • The North Common is held in trust for the people of Thornhill by the North Common Trust
  • Other paths tend to be owned by the Council or by local farming families.

Core Paths 

Some paths (across the country) are deemed to be “Core Paths”.  They come under a variety of ownerships but form the Core Path network.  Certain rules are in place about Core Paths, such as accessibility.  In terms of Thornhill, you can find which paths are “Core” by following the following this link and looking at maps H10 and H11 (as ever, the area of interest is on the edge of two maps!).  

Funding 

As you can imagine, our Group needs to raise money for the creation and maintenance of paths.  We are grateful to the following funds/organisation  who have helped us to date 

Paths for All and Community Pride Fund (Stirling Council) have both awarded us a sum of money for work on the North Common paths.

What do we do?

Read the Minutes of past meetings here which will give you an idea of the scope of our work and see a few illustrations of our past, ongoing or planned paths work below.

How could you help

We welcome any and all villagers to join us.  All sorts of skills and knowledge are useful – knowledge of  funding, biodiversity, lending tools/equipment, mapping, artistic skills and of course, helping with the physical work (some is lighter, some not).   

We intend to establish a set day and time every month, when we will aim to work together for a couple of hours or so. It is amazing how much can be done in a short time! 

Contact us at paths@thornhillstirling.org if you would like to ask about helping.