23-673: The Abbey Craig is the hill upon which the Wallace Monument stands, at Causewayhead, just to the north of Stirling , Scotland . The Abbey Craig is part of a complex quartz-dolerite intrusion or sill within carboniferous strata, at the western edge of the Central Coal Field, known as the Stirling Sill . The quartz-dolerite, being much harder than the surrounding coal measures, has been exposed due to erosion, including by glaciation . The characteristic crag and tail shape of
46-474: Is also a Hall of Heroes , a series of busts of famous Scots, effectively a small national Hall of Fame . The heroes are Robert the Bruce , George Buchanan , John Knox , Allan Ramsay , Robert Burns , Robert Tannahill , Adam Smith , James Watt , Sir Walter Scott , William Murdoch , Sir David Brewster , Thomas Carlyle , Hugh Miller , Thomas Chalmers , David Livingstone , and W. E. Gladstone . In 2017 it
69-588: The English occupation of Scotland during the First War of Scottish Independence . It is said to have been used by William Wallace at the Battle of Stirling Bridge in 1297 and the Battle of Falkirk (1298) . The sword is 5 feet 4 inches (163 cm). long, of which the blade is 4 feet 4 inches (132 cm). The blade tapers from 2.25 inches (5.7 cm) wide at the guard to 0.75 inches (1.9 cm) before
92-562: The Renaissance . The blade in its original state would have likely been Oakeshott type XIIIa (also known as espée de guerre or great war sword), which became common by the mid-13th century. Such swords would have a long, wide blade with parallel edges, ending in a rounded or spatulate tip (see Oakeshott typology ) . The grip, longer than in the earlier Scottish swords, typically some 15 cm (5.9 in)), allows good two-handed use. The cross-guards were probably down-sloping (in
115-554: The Wallace Monument ) is a 67 m (220 ft) tower on the shoulder of the Abbey Craig , a hilltop overlooking Stirling in Scotland. It commemorates Sir William Wallace , a 13th- and 14th-century Scottish hero. The tower is open to the public for an admission fee. Visitors approach by foot from the base of the crag on which it stands. On entry there are 246 steps to the final observation platform, with three exhibition rooms within
138-571: The Early Medieval Period, and features a vitrified hillfort, destroyed by fire in the 6th or 7th centuries AD and then refortified in 8th or 9th centuries AD, as demonstrated by two phases of archaeological excavation, the first by SUAT Archaeology in 2001 and the second by Murray Cook, Stirling Council's Archaeologist in 2012. This Stirling location article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Wallace Monument The National Wallace Monument (generally known as
161-400: The actor who played William Wallace in the film. Church leased the statue to Stirling Council, who in 1997 installed it in the car park of the visitor centre at the foot of the craig. The statue was deeply unpopular, being described as "among the most loathed pieces of public art in Scotland". and was regularly vandalised before being placed in a cage to prevent further damage. Plans to expand
184-422: The age of the sword by examining the mountings only, which were replaced early in the 16th century. Thus he concluded that the sword could not date from earlier than the 15th century. However, he did not take account of the blade , which must have been of some importance for James IV to have it bound in silk and given a new scabbard, hilt, and belt, and it was also described then as the "Wallas sword". The sword
207-482: The body of the tower. The tower is not accessible to disabled visitors. The tower was constructed following a fundraising campaign, which accompanied a resurgence of Scottish national identity in the 19th century. The campaign was begun in Glasgow in 1851 by Rev Charles Rogers , who was joined by William Burns . Burns took sole charge from around 1855 following Rogers' resignation. In addition to public subscription, it
230-441: The command of King James IV of Scotland , the sum of 26 shillings was paid to an armourer for the "binding of Wallace's sword with cords of silk " and providing it with "a new hilt and plummet " and also with a "new scabbard and a new belt ". This repair would have been necessary because, according to legend, Wallace's original scabbard, hilt, and belt were said to have been made from the dried skin of Hugh de Cressingham , who
253-529: The crag reflects this glacial shaping. Craig , or crag , describes a post-glacial crag and tail landscape feature. The abbey is Cambuskenneth Abbey , on the north bank of the River Forth , about 1 km to the south. The hill is the site of William Wallace 's HQ ahead of the battle of Stirling Bridge in 1297, which was part of the Scottish Wars of Independence. The hilltop was also defended during
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#1732851034727276-586: The general public. Visitors climb the 246-step spiral staircase to the viewing gallery inside the monument's crown, which provides expansive views of the Ochil Hills and the Forth Valley . A number of artifacts believed to have belonged to Wallace are on display inside the monument, including the Wallace Sword , a 1.63 m (5 ft 4 in) longsword weighing almost three kilograms (seven pounds). Inside
299-465: The head of the decapitated governor of York. In April 2016, it was reported in local press that the statue might be moved to Ardrossan 's old Barony Church. In September 2021, it was moved to Glebe Park stadium in Brechin . Wallace Sword The Wallace Sword is an antique two-handed sword purported to have belonged to William Wallace (1270–1305), a Scottish knight who led a resistance to
322-488: The later highland style) or straight, and the pommel either regularly Brazil-nut or disk-shaped but this case perhaps a lobed pommel inspired by the Viking style. Close inspection reveals that it may be made up from pieces of different swords fitted together. Part of this could have come from a late-13th-century sword. David Caldwell, writes that "Apart from the reshaping of the guard, this sword does not appear untypical of
345-596: The point. The sword weighs 5.95 pounds (2.70 kg). The sword is currently on display in the National Wallace Monument in Stirling, Scotland. It has been alleged that after William Wallace's execution in 1305, John de Menteith , governor of Dumbarton Castle , received the sword in August of that year, but there are no records to that effect. Two hundred years later, in 1505, accounts survive which state that at
368-400: The two-handed swords in use in the lowlands of Scotland in the late sixteenth or early seventeenth centuries." (page 174) and that the blade has a ricasso , which is not a medieval feature. However, the blade appears to be made of 3 separate pieces hammer welded together. The bottommost piece has a flattened diamond cross-section, and so perhaps might be a 13th-century sword, and therefore there
391-416: The visitor centre, including a new restaurant and reception, led to the unpopular statue's removal in 2008. It was returned to Church, who, after an unsuccessful attempt to sell it at auction, reportedly offered it to Donald Trump 's Menie estate golf resort. However, it remained in the garden of the sculptor's home, where it was incorporated into a replica of a castle, and with additions to it that included
414-460: Was announced that Mary Slessor and Maggie Keswick Jencks would be the first heroines to be celebrated in the hall. The original Victorian statue of Wallace stands on the corner of the monument and is by the Edinburgh sculptor David Watson Stevenson . In 1996 Tom Church carved a statue of Wallace called "Freedom", which was inspired by the film Braveheart . It has the face of Mel Gibson ,
437-403: Was chosen for the location of the tower because it the location from which Wallace was said to have watched the gathering of the army of King Edward I of England just before the Battle of Stirling Bridge in 1297. The sandstone tower, which is 67-metre (220-foot) tall, took eight years to build. It was completed in 1869 and cost £18,000 (about £1.8million in 2024). The monument is open to
460-555: Was killed at the Battle of Stirling Bridge . No other written records of the sword are found for a further three centuries. In 1875, a letter from the War Office informed that the sword in 1825 was sent to the Tower of London to be repaired. At that time, it was submitted to Samuel Meyrick by the Duke of Wellington for examination. Meyrick was an authority on ancient swords, but he estimated
483-437: Was partially funded by contributions from a number of foreign donors, including Italian national leader Giuseppe Garibaldi . The Victorian Gothic monument was created by architect John Thomas Rochead . The foundation stone was laid in 1861 by the Duke of Atholl in his role as Grand Master Mason of Scotland, with a short speech given by Sir Archibald Alison . Abbey Craig, a volcanic crag above Cambuskenneth Abbey ,
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#1732851034727506-580: Was recovered from Dumbarton by Charles Rogers , author of The Book of Wallace . Rogers, on 15 October 1888, who renewed a correspondence with the Secretary of State for War , with the result that the major general commanding forces in North Britain was authorised to deliver the weapon to his care for preservation in the Wallace Monument . In 2005, the sword was lent to New York City for display at Grand Central Terminal during Tartan Week celebrations; it
529-473: Was the first time the artefact left Scotland in modern times. On 2 March 2023, the case of the sword was vandalised by a climate group This Is Rigged. Work is underway to analyse if the sword was also damaged. There is good reason to believe that this sword as it is now did not belong to William Wallace. The blade does not possess a fuller — a near-universal feature of blades with this type of cross-section ( lenticular ) except in processional swords of
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