Refurbished Toll Plaque installed in Balfron village

Balfron’s newlyrefurbished Toll Plaque was reinstated last week in the little piazza opposite the village Library.

Although Balfron Heritage Group have been unable to mount their customary live events and exhibitions, the pandemic has not stopped them taking care of the village’s heritage.

Recommended by Balfron Community Council for their superb work on the war memorial restoration, Graciela Ainsworth Conservation were contacted by the history society to undertake the work on the plaque. This was made possible by a grant from Clackmannanshire and Stirling Environment Trust who covered the whole cost of the renovation.

The necessary repair work to the surrounding masonry was done by locally-based John Currie Brick & Stonework.

As everyone currently watches the costs of transporation rise, it is easy to sympathise with Balfron ancestors who, according to extracts from an Act of Parliament of 1827 had to pay the exorbitant sums of one shilling (5p) for their coach, chaise or hearse or a ha’penny (0.2p) for their ass – laden or unladen – to travel past the old toll house at the top of the village towards Stirling.

Spokesman for the project Jim Thomson exclaimed“We are more than delighted with the results of the restoration work.

“The Graciela Ainsworth company’s attention to detail was superb. The plaque only had one of its rose screw-covers left when work began but the company had a set re-cast from that original template. We are sure that Balfron philanthropist Andrew Dow Griffen, by then of Auckland in New Zealand, who had the toll plaque erected there in the first place, would approve of the fact that everyone has taken so much care in its conservation.”