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Pilkington Jackson's heroic statue of Scotland's greatest king and war-leader. Bruce holds the axe with which he cleft the head of Henry de Bohun on the eve of battle, sending a shiver down the spines of his enemies and filling them with foreboding. The head was modelled on measurements of Bruce's skull following the re-discovery of his skeletal remains in Dunfermline Abbey in 1818. "My lords, my people, accustomed to enjoy that full freedom for which in times gone by the kings of Scotland have fought many a battle! For eight years or more I have struggled with much labour for my right to the kingdom and honourable liberty. I have lost brothers, friends and kinsmen. Your own kinsmen have been made captive, and bishops and priests are locked in prison. Our country's nobility has poured forth its blood in war. Those barons you can see before you, clad in mail, are bent upon destroying me and obliterating my kingdom, nay, our whole nation. They do not believe that we can survive. They glory in their warhorses and equipment. For us, the name of the Lord must be our hope for victory in battle. This day is a day of rejoicing: the birth-day of John the Baptist. With Our Lord Jesus as commander, Saint Andrew and the martyr Saint Thomas shall fight today with the saints of Scotland for the honour of their country and their nation. If you heartily repent for your sins you will be victorious, under God's command. As for offences committed against the Crown, I proclaim a pardon, by virtue of my royal power, to all those who fight manfully for the kingdom of our forefathers." -- John Barbour's account of Bruce's speech at Bannockburn, 1314 [[2672542]]
©kim traynor
©Dysdera
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©Mike Pennington
Dist:0.1km<br/>The inscription reads: For God and St Andrew Robert the Bruce, King of Scots, planted his Standard near this spot when the Scottish Patriots under his command vanquished the Army of Edward II of England at the Battle of Bannockburn, 24th June 1314. We fight not for glory, nor for wealth, nor honour but only and alone we fight for freedom, which no good man surrenders but with his life.
©Mike Pennington
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©Darrin Antrobus
Dist:0.1km<br/>The statue of King Robert the Bruce (to the right of the circular wall which surrounds a flagpole) was erected in 1963 to commemorate the 650th anniversary of the Battle of Bannockburn which King Robert the Bruce won in 1314. http://sinclair.quarterman.org/history/med/battleofbannockburn.html
©Sandy Gemmill
Dist:0.1km<br/>For God And St. Andrew Robert The Bruce King Of Scots Planted His Standard Near This Spot When The Scottish Patriots Under His Command Vanquished The Army Of Edward II Of England At The Battle Of Bannockburn 24th June – 1314 “We Fight Not For Glory, Nor For Wealth, Nor Honour But Only And Alone We Fight For Freedom Which No Good Man Surrenders But With His Life” The quotation is a translation from Latin of the final paragraph of the Declaration of Arbroath, believed to have been written by Bernard de Linton, Abbot of Arbroath and appended with 51 seals of the pro-Bruce Scottish nobility. It was sent to Avignon in 1320 to ask the schismatic Pope John XXII to recognise the legitimacy of Bruce's rule in Scotland. He replied affirmatively. It is believed to be the earliest document in European history to express the ideas of popular sovereignty and contractual kingship, containing as it does the threat that Bruce will be deposed if he does not protect 'the community of the realm'. "But were he to abandon the task to which he has set his hand or to show any disposition to subject us or our realm to the King of England or the English, we would instantly strive to expel him as our enemy and the betrayer of his own rights and ours, and we would choose another King to rule over us who would be equal to the task of our defence. For so long as one hundred of us remain alive, we shall never under any conditions submit to the domination of the English. For it is not for glory or riches or honours that we fight, but for freedom alone, which no good man will surrender except with his life." It has been noticed that many of the phrases used in the Declaration re-appear, albeit in modified form, in the American Declaration of Independence of 1776, which might be explained by the fact that 19 of the 56 delegates were Scots-born. "They [the Scots] became the vanguard of our civilization. These were the men who first declared for American independence. For generations their whole ecclesiastical and scholastic systems had been fundamentally democratic." -- Theodore Roosevelt, US president
©kim traynor
Dist:0.1km<br/>1314 and all that - memorial on Borestone Brae at Bannockburn with Stirling Castle in the distance. http://www.nts.org.uk/Property/Bannockburn/
©Colin Smith
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©Sarah McGuire
Dist:0.2km<br/>The Bannockburn Heritage Centre, run by the National Trust for Scotland, is on the southern edge of Stirling. Here, and in the neighbouring parkland, Scotland commemorates, and to a degree celebrates, what most people view as the most significant victory won by Scotland over an invading English army. http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/stirling/bannockburn/index.html for information about the battle and the heritage centre.
©David Dixon
Dist:0.2km<br/>The statue commemorates the battle that took place here on Midsummer's Day, 1314, when, against all odds, an army led by Robert the Bruce, self-appointed King of Scots, routed an army led by King Edward II of England. It was only the second time in European history that a force of predominantly infantry succeeded in defeating superior cavalry, a fact ascribed to Bruce's inspirational leadership and his tactical use of the terrain (quite apart from failings on the English side). The battle symbolised a national struggle for freedom, expressed in the lines of Archdeacon Barbour of Aberdeen's epic poem 'Brus': "A! fredome is a noble thing! Fredome mayss man to haiff liking; Fredome all solace to man giffis: He levys at ess that frely levys!" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Bannockburn http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJP6H092wDA
©kim traynor
Dist:0.2km<br/>On a dreich day.
©Mike Pennington
Dist:0.2km<br/>A close-up view of the flagpole at Bannockburn's Borestone, where it's believed King Robert I raised his standard prior to the battle in 1314. The battleaxe on the top relates to the axe which the Bruce broke when despatching an over-eager English knight called Sir Henry De Bohun. Apparently the axe handle splintered at the same moment as De Bohun's skull!
©Alasdair MacNeill
Dist:0.2km<br/>Council houses encroach upon the site of the most famous battle ever fought on Scottish soil. Stirling District Council plans further developments on the site, seemingly oblivious to the pleas of heritage organizations to preserve it as open space. "On the next day - an evil, miserable and calamitous day for the English - both sides prepared themselves for battle. (…) When the great horses of the English charged the pikes of the Scots as if into a dense forest, there arose a loud and terrible crash of spears breaking and horses wounded to the death. (…) Now the English in the rear could not reach the Scots because the leading division was in the way, nor could they do anything to help themselves, so there was nothing for it but to take flight. (…) Another calamity which befell the English was that they had shortly before crossed a great ditch called the Bannockburn, into which the tide flows, and now wanted to recross it in confusion. In the crush, many nobles and others fell into it with their horses, while others escaped with much difficulty, and many were completely unable to extricate themselves from the ditch. Thus Bannockburn was spoken about for many years in English throats." -- 14thC Lanercost Chronicle
©kim traynor
Dist:0.2km<br/>Notwithstanding William Wallace's popularity, 'Good King Robert' lays claim to being Scotland's greatest national hero, having liberated the nation from English rule and regained the independence of the Scottish kingdom. The statue by Charles d'Orville Pilkington Jackson was erected in 1964. The original intention to depict Bruce on a rearing horse had to be modified for technical reasons. "In all this fighting the Scots were so divided that often a father was with the Scots and his son with the English, or one brother was with the Scots and another with the English, or even one individual was first on one side and then on the other. But all or most of the Scots who were with the English were with them insincerely, or to save their lands in England; for their hearts if not their bodies were always with their own people." -- 14thC Lanercost Chronicle
©kim traynor

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