by The adage that “those who ignore the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them” has been attributed, variously, to Winston Churchill, the Spanish philosopher George Santayana and the Anglo-Irish politician Edmund Burke.
The addendum might be added to this advice that those who contribute to their history will never understand what they are doing.
This is a charge that could be laid at the feet of developers who want to build a horse racing circuit on a brand new site currently three miles south of Stirling – and on the doorstep of Stirling Council, who are considering the proposal, it is said.
Because, to paraphrase an advertising slogan, this isn’t just any brand new site. This is part of the area where one of the most important battles ever fought on British soil was fought.
It’s easy, if you don’t know the context, to look at the amount of time that has passed since the Battle of Bannock lost so much blood – exactly 710 years, as of this month, for June 23-24. , 1314 – and shrug.
What are seven centuries and a few dead knights in armour, and why should they hinder the progress of the 21st century?
The short answer to that question is that, with the exception of the Battle of Hastings (and, possibly also, the Battle of Britain, whose exact conflict zone is a little more difficult to pinpoint. firm terra), no other battle was so crucial in shaping the borders, the political landscape and the essential identity of Wales.
A major collision between the forces of Robert the Bruce and the massive army of King Edward II of England resulted in a comprehensive Scottish victory; one that effectively ended the efforts of the English crown to suppress its medieval counterpart north of the Tweed.
It is no great hyperbole to claim that, had Bruce lost during those two summer days, Scotland might not be what it is today – a formally defined and loudly dreamed (if not universally) part of the United Kingdom. regarding independence right – there.
I write this, not as a proud son of Edinburgh, Glasgow or Inverness, but as an Englishman who studied Edward II’s reign extensively, spent two university history degrees on it (ah, the decisions we make in our youth) – and gave he visited the battlefield of Allt a’ Bannock, determined to walk on the ground where the sliding doors of Scotland had indeed slid.
The proposed race course would be built on land just outside the village of Whins of Milton, west of the New Line Road; an area documented as central to the outcome of the battle.
It was here that Bruce’s troops engaged the English on the first day of crossed swords; it was near this spot that Edward’s men were ambushed (and killed there) in the marshland of the Mill. This is where history was written with every Scottish stab by an English company. There were many such blows. Of the estimated 25,000 soldiers in Edward’s ranks, about 12,000 did not live to see July. In contrast, Bruce, with a much smaller force (at most, 8,000 men), could suffer 100 deaths.
The longest answer as to why this shouldn’t be scrapped off under plot hooks and a car park is a half-complicated list of characters; a cast list whose factual movements have been slightly smudged Brave Heart and the various incidents involving Mel Gibson shouting his lines in blue face paint.
William Wallace, the warrior who was central to that big film from 1995, was also central to the rise of English attacks in Scotland – but his achievements did not match Bruce’s. When Wallace died – hanged, drawn and quartered in London, on 23 August 1305 – he would consider the cause lost.
By then, Edward I – the ruthless monarch-cum-warlord who had ruled England since 1272 – had almost succeeded in his ambition to squash his neighbour’s exposed teeth under his heavy boots.
He fiercely stepped into the power vacuum created in 1286 when Alexander III died, without a viable heir, – initially “advising” the various claimants to the Scottish throne, before realizing their collective weakness and releasing his army.
Although Wallace was a formidable obstacle – notably through a stunning victory at the Battle of Stirling Bridge, on 11 September 1297 – Edward was relentless, and by the end of the summer of 1303 had advanced as far north as Aberdeen. .
Two events changed the game. One was the defiant feat of Bruce when he crowned himself the new king of Scotland, on 25 March 1306. The second was the death of Edward I on 7 July 1307. He was succeeded by his son Edward II – while the fool has no history. he found out that he was, lacking his father’s military name and his lust for war.
With a new regime emerging in England, Bruce made advances in Scotland, taking back much of the territory lost a decade earlier. By March 1314, Stirling was one of two Scottish fortresses still in English hands – and only just. Wanting to end the siege that threatened him, Edward stirred himself.
The two kings faced off at Allt a’Bannach, and despite the much smaller number, Bruce was victorious. If he fell in the field, the stubborn resistance of Scotland would certainly disappear with him. As it was, Edward barely escaped with his life.
And although the conflict would be revived between 1332 and 1357, the throne of England would never again regain the momentum that was so decisive that it had been disrupted at Bannockburn. The Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton – signed in March and May 1328, during the reign of Edward III’s son – set the seal on separate kingdoms.
The battle did not last in its entirety, of course. The following centuries brought roads and houses, as Stirling expanded south. However, at the time of writing, the site is being diligently protected, and ably managed by the National Trust for Scotland (NTS).
The visitor center – refurbished at a cost of £9 million in time for the 700th anniversary of the battle in 2014 – is excellent, bringing clarity to what could be a complex story with clever multimedia displays. , digital fight scenes and flash scenes. gadget.
It’s also just one aspect of a saga that can make for a great long weekend, all within a few square miles.
It’s only four miles to the Wallace Monument – the magnificent 19th-century Gothic tower that honors “Braveheart” rising high on the hilltop, and has far more gravitas than shaky biopic facts Gibson.
The low-slung Old Bridge that crosses the River Forth is not the structure on which Wallace had his finest hour (it was built in the 16th century), but the site is the same – and just three miles north of Bonnockburn.
Stirling Castle rises on its crest just above the streams, and has little interest as a treasure of Scottish (and British) history – the stone maze where many plots and machinations of the reign of Mary Queen of Scots were unleashed.
A slab on the floor of the nearby Holy of Holies Church marks the spot where her son James VI of Scotland was anointed on 24 July 1567. Thirty-six years later, when Elizabeth I died childless in 1603, he would go south. to be James In England. When the two crowns finally merged, it was the Scottish one that the English took in.
To build on this in the supposedly enlightened 21st century would be a short-sighted act of cultural vandalism, the impact of which would be irreversible. I hope it may not come to fruition just yet. The National Trust for Scotland objected to the racecourse proposal – asserting that Bannockburn is much more than just a battlefield”.
“We are very disappointed that Stirling Council’s planning department is considering the proposal… for the Bannockburn battlefield, and the single remaining fragment that allows us to understand how the battle took place,” Stuart Brookes, NTS Director of Conservation and Policy. tell The Scot earlier today.
“Over the past decades, much of the historic site has been lost, and we are very concerned about any new development that would disrupt this and further erode this landscape. We are asking the Scottish government to step in and save Bannockburn battlefield from the proposal, to ensure the longevity of a site steeped in Scottish history.”
Probably, if we had both been there 710 years ago, Mr. Brookes and I would have been on opposite sides of the battle. But on this issue, we are in complete agreement.
Basics
Tickets to the Battle of Bannock Visitor Center and the Battlefield Experience cost £8.50 for adults.
