Last updated on August 23rd, 2023 at 11:46 am
Hard facts about Scottish patriot and hero Sir William Wallace are as elusive as the Loch Ness Monster. The cult of Wallace fascinates me – and the 13th/14th century Wars of Scottish Independence between Scotland and England is a fascinating chapter in the evolution of the United Kingdom. People have been known to get terribly excited about it all, even now. So, knowing that a memorial marked the place of The Wallace’s capture in 1305, I had a mental note lodged to pay a visit when the opportunity arose. Most people would need to create that opportunity, because the spot is right on the fringes of north-east Glasgow in the suburb of Robroyston. There’s nothing wrong with Robroyston, but it is essentially a large residential estate so, unless you live there, are visiting friends, or wishing to pay your respects to William Wallace, there is absolutely no reason to go there. Robroyston was a farm owned by (depending on your source) Rau Raa, Ralph Rae, or Rab Rae – who might all have been the same person but whose property name in any event eventually morphed into Robroyston. It is unlikely – unfortunately – to have anything to do with the 18th-century folk hero, Rob Roy. The land was once oak forest owned by the Bishops of Glasgow and over the years has been mined for lime, coal, sandstone, iron ore and clay. It had been earmarked for development for decades before the housing arrived and in 2019 William Wallace could have bought himself a brand-new 4 or 5-bedroomed house on Wallace Fields for between £297,000 and £399,000.00. He might console himself with the thought that the luxury on offer surpasses anything his old adversary, England’s King Edward I, could have dreamt of having in one of those draughty, smelly, old castles of his. He might also think that, one day, we’ll run out of space on this small island of ours.
So, on the edge of Robroyston, with a patch of farmland hanging on to the north, we came upon the monument commemorating Wallace’s betrayal and capture. It is much bigger and more impressive than I expected – an elegant 20-foot high granite Celtic cross standing at the side of the road with a convenient lay-by built next to it. The monument has a low, stone, wall behind it and is surrounded by iron railings. The Scottish saltire flutters overhead. On the shaft of the cross is a sword and shield, some words I couldn’t make out – probably Gaelic – and, under that, the Latin:
“DICO TIBI VERUM, LIBERTAS OPTMA RERUM;
NUNQUAM SERVILI SUB NEXU VIVITO, FILI”
I tell you true, freedom is the best of things; never lie within the bonds of slavery, my son – words said to have been taught to Wallace as a boy. He is thought to have known Latin. The plaque at the base of the cross reads:
“THIS MEMORIAL ERECTED 1900 AD BY PUBLIC SUBSCRIPTION IS TO MARK THE SITE OF THE HOUSE IN WHICH THE HERO OF SCOTLAND WAS BASELY BETRAYED AND CAPTURED ABOUT MIDNIGHT ON 5TH AUGUST 1305 WHEN ALONE WITH HIS FAITHFUL FRIEND AND CO-PATRIOT KERLIE WHO WAS SLAIN. WALLACE’S HEROIC PATRIOTISM AS CONSPICUOUS IN HIS DEATH AS IN HIS LIFE WITHIN NINE YEARS OF HIS BETRAYAL THE WORK OF HIS LIFE WAS CROWNED WITH VICTORY AND SCOTLAND’S INDEPENDENCE REGAINED ON THE FIELD OF BANNOCKBURN.”
On another side of the memorial is a plaque which says:
“WE ARE NOT HERE TO SUE FOR PEACE BUT TO FIGHT FOR THE FREEDOM OF OUR COUNTRY.” WALLACE AT STIRLING BRIDGE.
It sounds great, doesn’t it? Though possibly a bit too Mel Gibson? Stirling Bridge was scene of the famous victory of the Scots, led by Andrew Moray and William Wallace, against English forces in 1297.
The memorial was unveiled in front of a thousand-strong crowd on 4 August 1900 by Miss Emmeline McKerlie, a direct descendant of Wallace’s slain companion. Even as recently as 2005, it stood next to open countryside – as this image, copyright Chris Upson, shows.
So, Wallace was reported to have been taken in the dead of night, whilst sleeping in a cottage (some sources say it was a barn, some that it was owned by Rab Rae). The cottage apparently survived until 1826 and, maybe, if archaeologists had a dig around, they’d find evidence of it. A chair for Sir Walter Scott is said to have been made using some of the roof timbers, and can be seen in Scott’s house, Abbotsford. Next to the cross is a replica of a two-seater chair said to have once been owned by William Wallace; I could show you a photo; but it’s just a large chair.
Wallace was captured by Sir John de Menteith, a Scottish nobleman who at the time was keeper of Dumbarton Castle, where Wallace was held before being taken to London. Stories of Wallace’s arrest portray Menteith as unworthy, ‘false Menteith’ some call him, in cahoots with the Earl of Pembroke, Aymer de Valence. This is part of the Wallace mythology and ignores the politics of the period. There was nothing particularly surprising about de Menteith’s actions. Scottish leaders – including Robert de Bruis, King of Scotland from 1306 and victor of Bannockburn in 1314 – squabbled and changed allegiances as frequently as I change my shirt. The only exception seems to have been William Wallace himself who, unlike Bruce, was constant and no traitor. I suspect most nobles at the time – including the King of the English – would have found concepts like ‘patriotism’ and ‘nationalism’ a little strange; essentially, these men were motivated by naked self-interest and had far more in common with each another than those that they governed. Again, an exception appears to have been Wallace, many of whose supporters were humble people. By 1304, most Scottish nobles had given up and bent the knee (as they might say in ‘Game of Thrones’), to Edward I of England. De Menteith was just one of those that Edward rewarded at the time. Wallace, though, was declared an outlaw and was therefore fair game for anyone who stood to benefit from his capture. Someone, of course, must have let on where he could be found that night in Robroyston – possibly the betrayer was Rab Rae – but the facts of the drama, like much else, are uncertain and lost to us. We do know that, later, de Menteith threw in his lot with Robert the Bruce and, in 1320, was one of the fifty-one Scottish magnates who put their seal to the Declaration of Arbroath, the famous affirmation of Scottish independence.
You can’t help wondering what went through Wallace’s mind as he was taken on the long journey south from Dumbarton to face trial in Westminster – and a subsequent hideous judicial murder in front of a baying crowd at Smithfield – where there is another memorial to the man.
Five minutes along the road from Wallace’s monument in Robroyston is a spring known as Wallace’s Well. It is said that Wallace drank from it when staying at Rab Rae’s Toun and it is easy to imagine that he did just that. A granite lintel announces that it is ‘Wallace’s Well’ – which could be useful, because he would be unlikely to recognise it now. The well – or spring – is substantially altered from its natural state, set into a neatly curved stone wall with an access path running along a verdant turf bank and the Gadburn bubbling happily along beneath. It is a pleasant spot, with farmland on one side and newbuild land on the other. Mother’s Day had not long gone when I visited and someone had placed their flowers there, which added a splash of colour to the scene. A nice touch; I imagine parents telling their kids some of the stories as they laid the bouquet down. Someone else had donated an empty Irn-Bru bottle and a crushed fag-packet. Someone else – or maybe it was the same person whose brain cell was having a particularly taxing day – had thoughtfully relocated one of the handrails erected to help prevent visitors from toppling into the stream, into the stream itself. A hub-cap had been carefully placed next to it. Nearby, on a patch of ground between the road and the housing, a native sub-species had been indulging in that ubiquitous, unfathomable, pastime of random refuse scattering. In this case, a commendable attempt had been made to utilise a wide range of wrappers of different colours and materials, thus creating a varied, if unpleasant, patchwork in the grass; a proportion of the plastic bottles and tin cans had even been helpfully crushed before being abandoned, so that they wouldn’t stray too far. To be fair, I have seen far worse displays. This kind of thing is an increasing blight and embarrassment in many places in Britain, though I must say that Glaswegians appear to be particularly good at it, for it is one of the dirtiest towns I have ever been to. Mind you, I haven’t visited Blackpool for awhile. “Something should be done!” goes the cry. “What is the local authority thinking of?” The current tag-line of Glasgow City Council is ‘People Make Glasgow’: trite, but true.
What would William Wallace make of it all, I wonder?
From Clan Ker website: 1305 William Wallace is betrayed and taken prisoner at Robroyston, William de Ker, is killed defending his friend and Liege.
https://clankerr.co.uk/ferniehirst%20book/book%20timeline.html
Yesterday I found out William de Ker is my ancestor pssible great….grandfather, we share the same Y DNA.
Thanks – interesting timeline.
Thank you for the insight into the life and times of William Wallace. I’m American but have an uncle with that name, and my mother’s family are Fergusons.
I’m glad you enjoyed it, Jeffrey. Thanks for dropping in – I hope you explore the rest of the site.
One of the great Scottish heroes, this is a corner of his story that’s new to me. But I do think the rebellious groundwork Wallace led provided much of the motivation for the Bruce in 1304.
Maybe – though personally I think Bruce was mostly motivated by personal ambition – like most of the great lords of the time.
Is there any artwork depicting the Scots of William Wallace’s era?
I’m sure there is – though obviously I’d imagine you’d be limited for much from the time. What sort of thing are you after?
I was thinking about paintings, but after I thought about it I realized that everything from that period probably came from the English side. The Scots would not come out looking their best. 🙂
If you’re thinking portraits, I have no idea whether they went in for them much back then – worth looking into maybe – but I can’t imagine people looked much different whichever side they lived on. Bear in mind that the great lords were very close, culturally and economically. The Bruces and Balliols, for example, had lands in England. That said, anyone who’d been raped and pillaged by an army of Scots would probably portray them in the same way as anyone would portray the English in similar circumstances. Brutal times – and more about power than modern concepts of ‘nation’ or ‘freedom’.
The Late Andy Hillhouse produced loads of Wallace related artwork.
Thanks a lot. I’ve just had a look at his website gallery – impressive, epic, stuff!
If Wallace returned to any place on earth today, he’d likely ask to leave again right away. Talk about culture shock.
I saw the Mel (not my favorite person) Gibson movie and had a hard time seeing how Wallace died. It’s horrible to read about, but to see it was too much for me. And as I said, I’m not a MG fan.
Thanks for giving me a much better picture of the politics and sleazy deals that lead to Wallace’s capture.
I think Wallace’s life – what we know of it – was interesting enough without fabricating history – though his gruesome end was real enough. We still have sleazy deals today, don’t we – but possibly more hypocrisy!?
Fabulous photos (as always) to accompany your history post 🙂
Thanks, CP.
So much interesting history that can be unfolded. You do it well.
Thanks, Ellen.
I knew the name but knew nothing about him so found this post so interesting
Thanks, Joanne.
Like Hilary, I know very little Scottish history and find your Scottish posts very interesting, Mike.
There appears to be litter everywhere these days; until two or three years ago it was a rare sight here in my part of East Anglia but sadly that is no longer the case.
I think it’s getting worse everywhere, Clare. All along roadsides throughout the country, some obviously from trucks, but most probably just thrown out of windows.
Yes, I agree. A village close to me had a litter pick last year and as they were working a car full of lads drove past and threw cans, bottles and packets of crisps at them!
His was a complicated life to be sure.
And not terribly happy…
Well researched that, I never knew about it though I did read of his betrayal before, the perpertator no doubt only thinking of thier interests. As fo the well it gos to show that people hav eno cosideration for others or their surroundings they only think of themselves
Unfortunately often true, Bill.
Cool info and photos Mike. Hope you’re enjoying good weather and having a grand Easter.
Thanks, Fraggle!
An admirable post, Mike
Thanks, Derrick!
Hi Mike – interesting to read … because I know so little about Scottish history. Ghastly end for the man. But as you say in those days … survival and some form of loyalty to the local ‘laird’ would be of necessity. Fascinating to see the spring and the area surrounding the monument … I wonder if the climate protesters in London (perhaps they were in Glasgow too) would come and clean up the area … sorry – off limits, I guess! Here’s to a peaceful Easter – Hilary
Or perhaps we can teach people not to litter in the first place?
That sounds more like it … I thought we’d set the examples … but obviously not … it’s horrible … but that’s the way it is … cheers Hilary
Hmm…
I AM CERTAIN that most nobles at the time would not have worried about concepts like patriotism and nationalism. The landed aristocracy were motivated by greed and self-interest, and would have pursued only those causes that helped their own goals.
I agree.
I think it is not just due to ‘Braveheart’ that people largely align with Wallace. All indications are that he was, as mentioned, constant in his ideals as well as really successful in bashing the English.
Litterers incite decent people to violence. It is a pity that they are not observed by some nice burly specimens of the decent ones to teach them the error of their ways.
Yes – we’ll send Luigi and the boys round…
My father took me to see the monument…and the well…which were then in farmland. He also pointed out to me the site of the battle of the Bell o’ the Brae in Glasgow itself, though whether I could find that again it another question.
It was farmland until relatively recently, I believe. I read something about the battle you mention – somewhere near the university?
I am no longer sure…..probably come back to me at 3.00 am…
Well, do resist the urge to pick up the ‘phone to let me know… 🙂
Given the seven hour time difference I could risk it….