'Guardian of Scotland'

spent all day at the office today. on the way home I always pass this small memorial to William Wallace - a 'local lad' - which stands just at the entrance to what is now a small block of flats. every year around the 23rd of August the local nationalists hold a Wallace memorial ceremony and lay floral tributes here. we were away, but last Saturday about 100 people marched down Lanark High Street with the pipe band in full flow and marked the occasion with these flowers.

the plaque shows a [fairly crude] etching of Wallace and his wife Marion and the wording reads:

Sir William Wallace
Circa 1270 - 23rd August 1305

This plaque marks the site of the house reputed to be the marital home of Sir William Wallace and Marion Braidfute

It was at Lanark in 1297 that Wallace first drew sword to free his native land. He was captured and cruelly executed at Smithfield, London on 23rd August 1305.

The original memorial stone, restored by Lanark and District Civic Trust, was replaced by this plaque in 2005 to commemorate the 700th anniversary of the death of Wallace 'Guardian of Scotland'