Lanark

We were in the town of Lanark today, and I noticed the carving of William Wallace. I had always thought it would make an informative blip, so here it is.

In May 1297 William Wallace gathered a body of men at Lanark and, to revenge the death of his wife for having assisted his escape from an English force, killed the occupying English Sheriff of Lanark and many of his men. With this act Wallace sprang into the national conscience and started the First War of Independence.

Wallace would have known the present parish church of St Nicholas. At that time it was a fairly small but well used chapel. Physically little remains of the period of Wallace apart from a few fragments of carved stone of the early Middle Ages. During renovations pottery of this period was found and also skeletons were excavated including that of a woman who would have been alive about the time of Wallace. Today the church is famous for its statue of William Wallace that has looked down from its niche in the steeple for almost two centuries. It was donated to the Royal Burgh of Lanark by a local sculptor, William Forrest, in 1822. It is perhaps not the most accurate rendering of Wallace but it is undoubtedly the most important symbol of him to be seen in the town.

I notice that the statue does not in any way resemble Mel Gibson!!!!