Central Scotland - Scotland - page 373

( www.nationalwallacemonument.com ; adult/child £8.25/5.25; 10am-5pm Apr-Jun, Sep
& Oct, to 6pm Jul & Aug, 10.30am-4pm Nov-Mar) Towering over Scotland's narrow
waist, this nationalist memorial is so Victorian Gothic it deserves circling bats and ravens.
It commemorates the bid for Scottish independence depicted in the film Braveheart . From
the visitor centre below, walk or shuttle-bus up the hill to the building itself. Once there,
break the climb up the narrow staircase inside to admire Wallace's 66 inches of
broadsword and see the man himself re-created in a 3-D audiovisual display. More staid is
the marble pantheon of lugubrious Scottish heroes, but the view from the top over the flat,
green gorgeousness of the Forth Valley, including the site of Wallace's 1297 victory over
the English at Stirling Bridge, almost justifies the steep entry fee.
Buses 62 and 63 run from Murray Pl in Stirling to the tourist office, otherwise it's a
half-hour walk from central Stirling. There's a cafe here.

HISTORIC SITE

Bannockburn
Though Wallace's heroics were significant, it was Robert the Bruce's defeat of the English
on 24 June 1314 at Bannockburn, just outside Stirling, that eventually established lasting
Scottish nationhood. Exploiting the marshy ground, Bruce won a great tactical victory
against a much larger and better-equipped force, and sent Edward II 'homeward, tae think
again', as the song 'Flower of Scotland' commemorates.