Our Alva lies at the foot of the Ochil Hills where the Alva Burn runs from the Alva Glen. Water has always been a valuable resource and once it’s power was harnessed, which in Alva's case happened early, a settlement with a church was established in 1260 although control was granted to Cambuskenneth Abbey near Stirling. After the Reformation, the local estate was brought under the ownership of the Erskine family whose residence in the area was a tower house built just to the east of the town. In 1636 Sir Charles Erskine developed this into the much larger Alva House.