The Battle of Bannockburn took place over the 23rd and 24th June 1314 between the Scots, under Robert the Bruce, and a significantly larger army under Edward II of England. The English were under siege by the Scots at Stirling Castle and Edward's army was intended to relieve the siege. Instead, Bruce inflicted a massive defeat. This ultimately led to the Declaration of Arbroath in 1320.

Much of the probable site of the battle is now built over. However, the National Trust for Scotland operates a visitor centre that offers a hi-tech battle experience (ticket only), a shop and a cafe. There is memorial to the battle on the site as well as a statue of Robert the Bruce. Note - there is no museum or exhibition.

Memorial to the Battle of Roslin, erected in 1994. The battle was fought on 24th February 1303 between the Scots and English during the Wars of Scottish Independence. It was a Scottish victory, but it does not figure in many history books and few people have even heard of it. Some accounts of the battle suggest that a divided force of 30,000 English troops was picked off in 3 separate engagements by a rapidly assembled Scottish army of 8,000 fighting on terrain they knew. However, evidence is lacking and the above story may be a myth; the battle could have been a skirmish, or series of skirmishes.

Brightling is a tiny village in the Weald, surrounded by lovely countryside and other tiny villages. There are two reasons you might want to visit. Firstly, it has an attractive church, dedicated to St Thomas à Becket, which was actually mentioned in the Domesday survey.  So, given that Thomas was murdered in 1170, the church was obviously originally dedicated to someone else, possibly St Nicholas.  The current building dates from the 13th century and among its features are some good brasses, 17th century wall paintings (biblical texts) and a rare barrel organ.  The second reason to visit Brightling is to see the large stone pyramid in the churchyard.  This was built as a mausoleum for John ‘Mad Jack’ Fuller (1757-1834), the local squire.  Fuller was an eccentric, drunk, Member of Parliament, plantation and slave owner, philanthropist, patron of the arts and science (he supported JMW Turner and Michael Faraday) and builder of follies.  Local legend was that he had been buried in his pyramid seated at a table in full evening dress with a bottle of claret but, sadly, that was shown to be untrue.  Among his other structures are a ‘temple’ in the grounds of his house, Rosehill (now Brightling Park) next door to the church, an observatory (now a private residence), an obelisk on a local hilltop, ‘sugar loaf’ (no idea, sorry) and a tower – which is easily accessible a short walk across fields south-east of the church.

Enormous, 70' high, Grecian-style memorial to the poet Robert Burns, erected by subscription in 1823 and surrounded by attractive gardens. Nearby is the Brig o' Doon, Alloway Auld Kirk, Burns' Birthplace Museum and Cottage.

Photo: tormentor4555 via Wikipedia.

Southsea’s D-Day Memorial is situated close to its Canoe Lake and South Parade Pier.  It resembles a tank trap, thousands of which were placed around Britain’s coast in the Second World War as part of its defence against invasion.  It was almost another world; the seafront was closed off from 1943 to all without a special pass and the beach was covered with barbed wire for the duration.  It is hard to imagine that thousands of troops boarded landing craft from South Parade Pier – additional, temporary, piers were built from scaffolding alongside to speed up the embarkation process – as well as from the Camber on Old Portsmouth, Portsmouth Harbour Station and what is now Portsmouth International Port. Portsmouth was the main departure point for units going to Sword Beach in Normandy.  Local people watched them march through the city, undoubtedly wondering how many would return safely.  27 men from Southsea were killed on D-Day and during the Normandy campaign.

The memorial looks its age.  It was unveiled by Field Marshal the Rt Hon Viscount Montgomery of Alamein on 6 June 1948.