The constituency is at the very heart of Scotland. It includes the town of Stirling itself, the ancient capital of Scotland with its historic castle.
This is Braveheart country: Stirling is close to the site of the battles of Bannockburn and Stirling Bridge and is, of course, associated as a consequence with William Wallace. Stirling is also a university town with an important student vote.
Roughly half the electorate lives in the town of Stirling itself with the other half living in the rural areas and smaller towns. The Tory vote has mainly been found in the rural areas, whilst the town of Stirling has usually inclined towards Labour.
The upshot of this is that Stirling has been the scene of many close fought battles between Labour and the Conservatives in the last 15 years. Labourís Anne McGuire finally succeeded in unseating arch-Thatcherite Scottish Secretary Michael Forsyth at the 1997 General Election.