The Cowane’s Trust woke up on Sunday 25th October 2026 facing the damage caused by Storm Boelo.
Fallen was the silver birch tree which had stood proud for over 100 years at the corner site of the Terrace at Cowane’s Hospital Building. Often the first tree to be seen in front of the ‘almshouse’, as you made your approach, the Cowane’s Trust were extremely lucky in that no persons, the Terrace or the Hospital Building were damaged in the process.
The Trusts Dutch Connection
Dating from 1636, Cowane’s Hospital takes its name from its benefactor John Cowane, who came from a family of wealthy merchants. When John died in 1633, he left much of his fortune to build “ane hospital or almshous” which supported up to 12 elderly members of Stirling’s merchants’ guild.
The hospital was Dutch inspired in design, a reflection of John Cowane’s strong merchant
trading with Holland and the trading port of Verre.
Boela Leaves It’s Mark
In the photograph below from 1922, you can clearly see a young tree sprouting tall from the
right of the Terrace steps. This would make the tree over 100 years old.
The name Boela is of Dutch origin meaning joy or friend. Whilst the storm may not have been a friend to the Cowane’s Trust, the tree itself has been both a ‘joy’ and a ‘friend’ to all who have visited over the years.
The job now begins to remove this elderly but fallen tree from the historic grounds of the Hospital Building.