First skirmishes in campaign to protect Scotland’s battlefields
They are names that evoke Scotland's rich and bloody heritage: Culloden and Bannockburn, Stirling Bridge and Prestonpans.
Now moves are being made for the first time to specifically protect the country's many historic battlefields.
A consultation, launched tomorrow by Historic Scotland on behalf of the Scottish Government, sets out proposals
on how battle sites can be officially recognised in planning decisions and asks the public, local authorities and professional bodies to contribute their thoughts on the process.
One of the main problems highlighted by Historic Scotland is that, for a number of battles - including some of the most pivotal in Scottish
history, such as Robert the Bruce's victory at Bannockburn in 1314 - the exact site of the battle is still a matter of much academic debate.
Yesterday Lesley Macinnes, head of strategy and operations at the inspectorate of Historic Scotland, admitted that some battlefields may never gain a place on a proposed list of sites - to be known as the Inventory of Battlefields - because the site of the clash cannot be identified accurately.
The consultation document states that sites fit for the inventory must be mapped and identified and "sites that cannot be defined in this way will not be included even though they may have witnessed nationally important events."
For the next three months people can comment on how best to protect battlefield sites, and a final analysis paper will be prepared by Historic Scotland for ministers by mid-October.
Dr Tony Pollard, director of the Centre for Battlefield Archaeology at Glasgow University, which has worked with Historic Scotland on the
consultation document, said: "This has been a long time coming and I am very excited that the public are being involved. That is a good move for everyone involved.
"The public response to this will be very important and I am sure there will be some very strong opinions.
"Strong emotions can be stirred when you talk about battlefields. There are battlefields that are important at a national level. But there are important battlefields at a local level too, be it a clan encounter in the Highlands or a Covenanters' battle elsewhere - and we must be careful that we don't write off battle sites that have a lower profile than others."
Dr Pollard said archaeology could play a large role in answering some of the questions about the sites of important battles in Scottish history.
The consultation document, published yesterday, says that battlefields have value not only because they contain physical remains and artefacts important to Scottish history, but they "contribute to our sense of place and history".
Currently there is no specific legislation to protect battlefields, although existing measures have been applied to parts of conflict sites, for example physical and built features, to be protected as scheduled monuments or listed buildings.
Battlefields can also be recognised within the planning system and can have indirect protection if they lie within national parks.
The document states that this uneven pattern underpins "the need for a policy for the protection, sustainable management and promotion of significant battlefields in their landscape context".
Linda Fabiani, the Culture Minister, said: "The battles fought on Scottish soil are crucial to how we understand our collective history and identity. The intention of this consultation is to look at what can be done to ensure that they get proper recognition."
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Posted by: Los Angeles, Edinburgh on 8:44pm Mon 28 Apr 08
Front rank, halberds to the fore!
Second rank, hud yer ground, steady, steady, mark yer man well!
Third rank, foot soldiers - bonnie fighters of Scotland! Hear me!
Dae ye want yer country or dae ye want servitude? Life is yours tae take if you want life! Let no man fear him self. Let no man fear wha' he cannae see nor hear. Let no man fear a single word thrown at him from the bloated and blackened lips of oor enemies.
Every stone, every rock, every tree belongs tae us. Every breeze that winds its way atween them whispers a story of oor past. We are fightin' for awe that an' more. We are fightin' for the children tha' are in their mither's womb, so they never shrivel and die where they lie but rather that they be born free to breathe the air of the Highlands.
Let me tell you I have walked this great green earth and there is no place better than thi very soil you stand upon at this very moment. I have seen other lands with great cities, and in every city there was a million rooms, and in every room a man did weep. What kind o' life is that fir a man? That's why Ah returned but wha' did Ah find bu' a pile of barren stanes where once was a village. We Scots are no' for knockin' dry stanes thi gither unless they are the heeds of the enemy. An' we're no' for weepin'.
Wha' is freedom is we havnae a bliddy country to exercise it?
Some say wan day they will mark this place as a great battlefield. The flowers an' heather an' bracken under yer feet will be mair famous than you. Aye, ye kin laugh, but dinnae think oor enenmy isnae laughing too. Are they tae inherit what you tilled an' planted and reeped? You will be naethin' bu' a ghost walkin' among low sedges an' rushes. Is tha' how ye want tae be remembered?
The battlefields are where ever we walk, whether they are marked by our blood, or by our toil, or by our sweat! They are thi very land shaped by oor ane hands. The hale o' Scotland is oor battlefield!
Stand fearless, stand proud, stand for liberty, equality, an' Scotland!
Front rank, halberds to the fore!
Second rank, hud yer ground, steady, steady, mark yer man well!
Third rank, foot soldiers - bonnie fighters of Scotland! Hear me!
Dae ye want yer country or dae ye want servitude? Life is yours tae take if you want life! Let no man fear him self. Let no man fear wha' he cannae see nor hear. Let no man fear a single word thrown at him from the bloated and blackened lips of oor enemies.
Every stone, every rock, every tree belongs tae us. Every breeze that winds its way atween them whispers a story of oor past. We are fightin' for awe that an' more. We are fightin' for the children tha' are in their mither's womb, so they never shrivel and die where they lie but rather that they be born free to breathe the air of the Highlands.
Let me tell you I have walked this great green earth and there is no place better than thi very soil you stand upon at this very moment. I have seen other lands with great cities, and in every city there was a million rooms, and in every room a man did weep. What kind o' life is that fir a man? That's why Ah returned but wha' did Ah find bu' a pile of barren stanes where once was a village. We Scots are no' for knockin' dry stanes thi gither unless they are the heeds of the enemy. An' we're no' for weepin'.
Wha' is freedom is we havnae a bliddy country to exercise it?
Some say wan day they will mark this place as a great battlefield. The flowers an' heather an' bracken under yer feet will be mair famous than you. Aye, ye kin laugh, but dinnae think oor enenmy isnae laughing too. Are they tae inherit what you tilled an' planted and reeped? You will be naethin' bu' a ghost walkin' among low sedges an' rushes. Is tha' how ye want tae be remembered?
The battlefields are where ever we walk, whether they are marked by our blood, or by our toil, or by our sweat! They are thi very land shaped by oor ane hands. The hale o' Scotland is oor battlefield!
Stand fearless, stand proud, stand for liberty, equality, an' Scotland!
Posted by: watson966, UK on 10:20pm Mon 28 Apr 08
The Battle of Bannockburn took place in a field near Stirling, simplistic but not innacurate.
The field can not be mapped or marked, a shame some might say. But that battle was not about bits of land, it was about liberty, our liberty. As one in the military and living in England, I feel the power of what those men fought for in 1314 when I'm in Stirling (and I went to University in that fine city), when I come up the brae out of Waverly station, when I'm the Cairngorms and in hot sandy places when I see tanks carrying OUR flag.
Remember our battlefields. But don't just map them, feel them in your blood and bones, where it matters.
The Battle of Bannockburn took place in a field near Stirling, simplistic but not innacurate.
The field can not be mapped or marked, a shame some might say. But that battle was not about bits of land, it was about liberty, our liberty. As one in the military and living in England, I feel the power of what those men fought for in 1314 when I'm in Stirling (and I went to University in that fine city), when I come up the brae out of Waverly station, when I'm the Cairngorms and in hot sandy places when I see tanks carrying OUR flag.
Remember our battlefields. But don't just map them, feel them in your blood and bones, where it matters.
Posted by: Colin B, Bearsden on 11:43pm Mon 28 Apr 08
Largely built on the Battle of Bannockburn ws fought over two days -De Bohun getting this started near the Pelstream and Roman Road- Kings Park,Whins Of Milton and where the Borestone Bar seem clear favourites.
Many Battlefield at built on eg Battle of Langside-others could be preserved eg Kilsyth
In BEarsden people take their dogs to foul on the Antonine wall
Largely built on the Battle of Bannockburn ws fought over two days -De Bohun getting this started near the Pelstream and Roman Road- Kings Park,Whins Of Milton and where the Borestone Bar seem clear favourites.
Many Battlefield at built on eg Battle of Langside-others could be preserved eg Kilsyth
In BEarsden people take their dogs to foul on the Antonine wall
Posted by: Thyme Kelpie on 11:48pm Mon 28 Apr 08
But if many do not know where these places are, how can they feel them in their blood and bones?
The story has to be told - loud and clear- and that is the development to liberty.
(It is easy enough to take an area and say within this vicinity, this happened. But if it is NOT told, it will be lost)
But if many do not know where these places are, how can they feel them in their blood and bones?
The story has to be told - loud and clear- and that is the development to liberty.
(It is easy enough to take an area and say within this vicinity, this happened. But if it is NOT told, it will be lost)
Posted by: Donald Anderson, glasgow on 6:22am Tue 29 Apr 08
Why are there no signposts leading to the newly erected cairn, by the 1820 Society, last year for the Battle of Bonnymuir, where the radicals were attacked by the 10th Hussars, during the 1820 Uprising? Why are there no signposts leading to the graves of the executed leaders, Baird and Hardy at Sighthill Cemetery, Glasgow and Wilson at Woodside Cemetery, Paisley?
This is a rhetorical question. We all know what to expect from our Hertiage industry.
Why are there no signposts leading to the newly erected cairn, by the 1820 Society, last year for the Battle of Bonnymuir, where the radicals were attacked by the 10th Hussars, during the 1820 Uprising? Why are there no signposts leading to the graves of the executed leaders, Baird and Hardy at Sighthill Cemetery, Glasgow and Wilson at Woodside Cemetery, Paisley?
This is a rhetorical question. We all know what to expect from our Hertiage industry.
Posted by: Donald Anderson, glasgow on 6:31am Tue 29 Apr 08
Why is there nothing to show that the United Scotsman's Rebellion of 1797 ever happened?
Why is Bishopbriggs Cooncil shamefully neglecting United Scotsman Leader, Thomas Muir's Huntershill House? Why is it left to the excellent Thomas Muir Cafe, opposite, to erect a Caisn and plaque, etc? Why is the Council owned property left to rot and be eyed up by private developers?
Why is the Cooncil and Heritage Industry neglecting the publicly erected Cross to Wallace at he scene of his betrayal at Robroyston? Why are there no monuments to Wallace in Glasgow to commemorate the Battle of the Bell of the Braes and other Wallace activities?
Again, this is a rhetorical question.
Why is there nothing to show that the United Scotsman's Rebellion of 1797 ever happened?
Why is Bishopbriggs Cooncil shamefully neglecting United Scotsman Leader, Thomas Muir's Huntershill House? Why is it left to the excellent Thomas Muir Cafe, opposite, to erect a Caisn and plaque, etc? Why is the Council owned property left to rot and be eyed up by private developers?
Why is the Cooncil and Heritage Industry neglecting the publicly erected Cross to Wallace at he scene of his betrayal at Robroyston? Why are there no monuments to Wallace in Glasgow to commemorate the Battle of the Bell of the Braes and other Wallace activities?
Again, this is a rhetorical question.
Posted by: TommyK60, Ayr on 12:08pm Tue 29 Apr 08
What frightens me about this is the involvement of Hysteric Scotland, I find it hard to Trust that organisation.
We need more local history taught in schools, as someone in their late 40's I'd never heard of the 1820 or the 1797 uprising and I thought I had a fairly good knowledge of Scottish History, not from school mind you, from personal reading.
What frightens me about this is the involvement of Hysteric Scotland, I find it hard to Trust that organisation.
We need more local history taught in schools, as someone in their late 40's I'd never heard of the 1820 or the 1797 uprising and I thought I had a fairly good knowledge of Scottish History, not from school mind you, from personal reading.
Posted by: jwm chapman, galloway on 3:31pm Wed 30 Apr 08
Probably people living close to a historic site remain in ignorance for longest. I lived for many years close to the indeterminate site of Bannockburn, but it is only now that I would argue that 'where the nation was forged' is Galloway rather than Bannockburn: the struggle by Robert Bruce, Earl of Carrick and Annandale, originated with the victory in the skirmish in the Galloway Forest in March 1306. This first major step - at a time when all the major Scottish castles had been captured - was the beginning of what would now be described as a guerrilla war.
This was celebrated by the national poet, Robert Burns, in 1793 in a poem and song now known as 'Scots Wha Hae' written while visiting the castle of Kenmure, the centre of the Gordons of Lochinvar, who provided the Bruces with their principal local support. The song is, of course, sung at the end of every SNP conference, almost certainly with very few participants being aware of its origins; or aware that its proper title is 'Robert the Bruce's March to Bannockburn'.
The English occupation controlled the main sea and river routes, but the guerrilla forces resorted to mountain and forest paths which still survive. An important key to victory lay in the most effective use of local topography, which is the common theme between the battle of the Galloway Forest and Bannockburn and intervening successes, such as the battle at Roslin near Edinburgh.
Manifestly, the whole of every battle site cannot always be protected and there have been battles which have been rather rashly dignified as major events. Everything hangs on wise selection and prioritisation, an art that sadly has escaped rather many of the employees of Historic Scotland and lots of others one could name. It has to be conceded that there is a dearth of capable and knowledgeable administrators. Other bodies concerned with conservation, such as Scots Pathways, have only one field researcher to catalogue fast-disappearing ancient routes for the whole of Scotland and are powerless to intervene to protect historic routes. This sadly includes the forest road from Kenmure to Edinburgh used by guerrillas, mediaeval pilgrims and Covenanters, part of which an English-owned multinational wants to use as a road to access a proposed windpower station. It does not seem to matter to the SNP ministers with the power of veto: see <www.thomascarlyle.e
u>[bold]bold[/bold]
Probably people living close to a historic site remain in ignorance for longest. I lived for many years close to the indeterminate site of Bannockburn, but it is only now that I would argue that 'where the nation was forged' is Galloway rather than Bannockburn: the struggle by Robert Bruce, Earl of Carrick and Annandale, originated with the victory in the skirmish in the Galloway Forest in March 1306. This first major step - at a time when all the major Scottish castles had been captured - was the beginning of what would now be described as a guerrilla war.
This was celebrated by the national poet, Robert Burns, in 1793 in a poem and song now known as 'Scots Wha Hae' written while visiting the castle of Kenmure, the centre of the Gordons of Lochinvar, who provided the Bruces with their principal local support. The song is, of course, sung at the end of every SNP conference, almost certainly with very few participants being aware of its origins; or aware that its proper title is 'Robert the Bruce's March to Bannockburn'.
The English occupation controlled the main sea and river routes, but the guerrilla forces resorted to mountain and forest paths which still survive. An important key to victory lay in the most effective use of local topography, which is the common theme between the battle of the Galloway Forest and Bannockburn and intervening successes, such as the battle at Roslin near Edinburgh.
Manifestly, the whole of every battle site cannot always be protected and there have been battles which have been rather rashly dignified as major events. Everything hangs on wise selection and prioritisation, an art that sadly has escaped rather many of the employees of Historic Scotland and lots of others one could name. It has to be conceded that there is a dearth of capable and knowledgeable administrators. Other bodies concerned with conservation, such as Scots Pathways, have only one field researcher to catalogue fast-disappearing ancient routes for the whole of Scotland and are powerless to intervene to protect historic routes. This sadly includes the forest road from Kenmure to Edinburgh used by guerrillas, mediaeval pilgrims and Covenanters, part of which an English-owned multinational wants to use as a road to access a proposed windpower station. It does not seem to matter to the SNP ministers with the power of veto: see <www.thomascarlyle.e
u>
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