Wallace's Well or Auchinleck Well [1] is a historic well which in present times is a monument and tourist attraction, located on Langmuirhead Road near Robroyston (NS 6382 6960) in the Glasgow City council area, Scotland (sited almost exactly on the local authority boundary with North Lanarkshire, and historically in the Parish of Cadder). William Wallace is said to have drunk from the well whenever he visited the area and also just before his capture by English troops commanded by Sir John Mentieth. [2] [3]
The Scots bard Blind Harry first mentioned the Wallace Well in his poem The Actes and Deidis of the Illustre and Vallyeant Campioun Schir William Wallace, better known as The Wallace . The well stands close to the barn where, on the 3rd of August, 1305, Wallace was passing through 'Rab or Ralph Rae's Toun', now Robroyston, on a journey to Glasgow, possibly to meet the Bishop of Glasgow, Robert Wishart in connection with the need for funds to continue the fight for Scottish Independence. The farm's owner, Rab or Ralph Rae, may have been the one who betrayed William Wallace to Sir John Menteith (aka Sir John Stewart of Menteith) [2] [4] who had made an arrangement with Sir Aymer Vallance, the commander of the English troops. After his capture by English troops, he was taken via Dumbarton Castle to London, where he was tried and executed. [5]
Another version by the English chronicler Piers Langtoft records that Sir John captured Wallace through the treacherous information of Jack Short, Wallace's body servant, and that he came in the dead of night and seized him in his bed. Wallace is said to have killed Jack Short's brother and this act of betrayal was his revenge. [4] However, another source states that it may have been Ralph Haliburton, one of his men who had been released from prison and who was later rewarded for spying on Wallace. [6]
Kerlie, a faithful friend and follower, was killed near the well. [7]
Some people think that the well was where that he was taken prisoner. [5] The alternative name 'Auchinleck Well' refers to the farm of Auchinleck rather that the Laird of Auchinleck who was a supporter of William Wallace.
Another Wallace's Well near Elcho Castle in Perth and Kinross got its name from the water from it being Sir William Wallace's favourite drink while he was staying residing at the castle. [8]
Dunfermline has a Wallace's Well in which he is said to have hidden briefly from English troops after the Battle of Falkirk. In 1303 he visited Dunfermline, accompanied by his mother, with the intention of praying at the shrine of St Margaret. [9]
Ayr has Wallace's Heel Well that derives from an incident that occurred when Wallace was hiding in the Leglen Woods near Auchencruive.
An old photograph shows the well with a hand-operated cast-iron water pump to the right-hand side of the well opening, indicating that it was a regular and dependable source of water for those living locally, and a gap in the low wall shows that a flow existed at the time; however, now (datum 2018) it is very shallow and partly exposed mud. In 1923 a line drawing shows the well much as it is today (datum 2019); however, the low wall at the entrance was a low metal railing with three vertical supports. [3]
The well has seen many changes over the years, the present appearance originating from around 1911, the previous structure having had a stone with an inscription commemorative of the crucial year 1305. The well is Set in a curved alcove in a simply built stone wall by the roadside with the Gadburn flowing in front. A pink granite lintel over the well now reads 'Wallace's Well'. [5]
The well was listed in 1970; however, the listing was removed in 2001 as the association with William Wallace is held by some to be of quite recent origin. [1] The well site came under threat from a housing development of more than 800 houses. [10]
Restoration of the site was undertaken in June 2011 with re-turfing of the Wallace Well area. [7]
The building where the capture of William Wallace, previously the Guardian of Scotland, traditionally took place was demolished in the 19th century and a cross erected on the site (NS 63415 69338) [1] on August 4, 1900. [7] This barn or cottage at Robroyston reportedly survived until around 1826 and the buildings foundations could be seen for a time after, located to the east of the present day monument. Roof timbers from the building were however rescued and made into a chair by Sir Walter Scott and can be seen at Abbotsford House. [11]
The tall pink granite cross was carved by McGlashen, sculptors, Edinburgh and has the same form as St Martin's cross, Iona. The monument is elevated high up on a granite plinth and surrounded by plain iron railings. [12] It was unveiled by Miss Emmeline McKerlie, a direct descendant of Kerlie, Wallace's faithful companion. Cadder Parish Council were the guardians of the monument and around a thousand people were present at the opening. John B. Calder, of Muirhead was responsible for the ancillary work including laying the foundations, erecting the railings, and building the boundary wall with its little stone ball ornamentation. [5] The wall around the Memorial Cross was rebuilt and a commemorative plaque was also added by Convener, David R. Ross. [7] A bench has been placed at the site that is a double seater version of one said to have belonged to Wallace and now (datum 2018) at Balnagowan Castle, Ross-shire.
Abbotsford is a historic country house in the Scottish Borders, near Galashiels, on the south bank of the River Tweed. Now open to the public, it was built as the residence of historical novelist and poet Sir Walter Scott between 1817 and 1825. It is a Category A Listed Building and the estate is listed in the Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes in Scotland.
Sir William Wallace was a Scottish knight who became one of the main leaders during the First War of Scottish Independence.
Elderslie is a village in the council area and historic county of Renfrewshire in west central Scotland. It chiefly serves as a commuter village, situated midway between the towns of Paisley and Johnstone, and lies 11 miles (18 km) west of Glasgow city centre.
Auchinleck House is an 18th-century mansion in Scotland. It is situated near the town of Auchinleck near Cumnock and Ayr in East Ayrshire. The Auchinleck Estate has been inhabited since the 13th century, and the remains of Auchinleck Castle and Auchinleck Old House stand in the estate. The house is protected as a category A listed building, while the two ruined dwellings are scheduled monuments.
Robroyston is a suburb of Glasgow, Scotland, located around three miles northeast of the city centre.
Dumbarton Castle has the longest recorded history of any stronghold in Scotland. It sits on a volcanic plug of basalt known as Dumbarton Rock which is 240 feet (73 m) high and overlooks the Scottish town of Dumbarton.
A Legend of Montrose is an historical novel by Sir Walter Scott, set in Scotland in the 1640s during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. It forms, along with The Bride of Lammermoor, the 3rd series of Scott's Tales of My Landlord. The two novels were published together in 1819.
Robert de Brus, 6th Lord of Annandale, jure uxoris Earl of Carrick (1252–1292), Lord of Hartness, Writtle and Hatfield Broad Oak, was a cross-border lord, and participant of the Second Barons' War, Ninth Crusade, Welsh Wars, and First War of Scottish Independence, as well as father to the future king of Scotland Robert the Bruce.
Scottish baronial or Scots baronial is an architectural style of 19th-century Gothic Revival which revived the forms and ornaments of historical architecture of Scotland in the Late Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period. Reminiscent of Scottish castles, buildings in the Scots baronial style are characterised by elaborate rooflines embellished with conical roofs, tourelles, and battlements with machicolations, often with an asymmetric plan. Popular during the fashion for Romanticism and the Picturesque, Scots baronial architecture was equivalent to the Jacobethan Revival of 19th-century England, and likewise revived the Late Gothic appearance of the fortified domestic architecture of the elites in the Late Middle Ages and the architecture of the Jacobean era.
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Clan Graham has two main families of Scottish clans, the Grahams of Menteith and the Grahams of Montrose. Each have their own tartan patterns. William Graham became the 7th Earl of Menteith in 1610 in what is now Perthshire, Scotland. The Grahams of Montrose had territories in both the Scottish Highlands and Lowlands, and the chief of the clan rose to become the Marquess and later Duke of Montrose.
Auchinloch is a village in Scotland, situated within the North Lanarkshire local authority area but very close to the boundary with East Dunbartonshire and sharing the G66 postcode of the town of Kirkintilloch and the adjoining village of Lenzie, located a short distance to the north. Other nearby settlements in North Lanarkshire are Stepps to the south and Chryston to the south-east, each approximately 1.3 miles (2.1 km) away across farmland and on the opposite side of the M80 motorway; the Glasgow City council area boundary and the suburb of Robroyston is about the same distance to the west. In previous years Auchinloch was in the Parish of Cadder and, from 1975 until 1996, the district of Strathkelvin within Strathclyde Region.
The Clan Wallace is a Lowlands Scottish Clan and is officially recognized as such by the Lord Lyon King of Arms. The most famous member of the clan was the Scottish patriot William Wallace of the late 13th and early 14th centuries.
Clan Colville is a Lowland Scottish clan.
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Wallace's Heel Well or Wallace's Heel is located beside the River Ayr (NS35502122) near the old Holmston lime kiln, Ayr, Scotland. It is a petrosomatoglyph said to represent the imprint of a heel and is associated with the story of an escape from English soldiers made by the Scottish hero William Wallace.
Wallace's Cave in the Lugar Gorge at Auchinleck in the Parish of Auchinleck, East Ayrshire is an 18th-century grotto, contemporary with Dr Johnson's Summerhouse which is also located on the Auchinleck Estate. It shows superior workmanship and is possibly the enlargement of a pre-existing cave. The cave or grotto lies downstream of the confluence of the Dippol Burn with the River Lugar and is reached via a once well formed path; however access is now hazardous due to the condition of the cliff edge path and the vertical drop into the River Lugar.
The Bickering bush (NS41863635) thorn grew near Caprington on the lands of Monksholm or Maxholm, Riccarton, East Ayrshire, Scotland. The old farm house at Maxholm sat in hollow on the old Caprington Castle estate and to the north and west its fields bordered the River Irvine. The thorn was located, as recorded on the OS map, near to the confluence of the Kilmarnock Water and the River Irvine, downstream of the Simon's Burn's confluence on the south bank of the river.
Stewart McGlashan or McGlashen (1807–1873) was a Scottish sculptor and mason, responsible for creating the company Stewart McGlashen (sic) which flourished from 1842 to 1974. He was responsible for devising a series of machines capable of creating highly polished granite for the first time, and capable of carving intricate designs accurately and fast. At his time he was not held in high esteem by sculptors who saw him as undermining their artistry. Despite not being "hand-carved" the artistry value of his work is exceptionally high.
The Wallace Oak was a tree at Port Glasgow, Scotland. It is linked in legend to the Scottish independence leader William Wallace who is said to have been chained to the tree in 1304/05 after his capture by English forces. The tree was starting to decay by the 18th century and was treated with pitch. It also had chains added to strengthen its branches, which may be the origin of the Wallace myth. The tree fell during a storm in 1995 but some of its timber has been preserved. A proposal was made in 2019 to erect a monument to the tree.