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 STIRLING BRIDGE
The Scots did not like being ruled by King Edward and began to rebel. In 1297 Edward sent an army north to crush the rebellion. William Wallace and Andrew Moray heard that the English army was moving towards Stirling, and decided to go there to stop it. The Scots were not well armed or experienced and the English expected to win.
When the English army arrived at the river, they could have walked a few more miles and used a ford to cross. Instead, they used the narrow Stirling Bridge. The Scots waited until a good number of English troops had crossed, then charged, slaughtering those who had crossed over.
The men on the bridge saw what was happening and tried to escape. At the height of the battle, the bridge was cut and the men on it drowned. Those on the other side of the river fled back over the border. Cressingham, one of the leaders of the English army, was killed. The Scots removed his skin and made it into souvenirs like purses and sword sheaths.
There is debate about where the original wooden Stirling Bridge was. The Stirling Old Bridge you can visit today dates from the 15th century. |
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 Elspeth King, Smith Art Gallery and Museum, Stirling
No-one likes to live under an oppressive and cruel foreign army. Edward I's army had no legal or moral right to be in Scotland. The Scots rose to reject this, and to fight for their freedom, and the freedom of their children. The Battle of Stirling Bridge, 11 September 1297 was a great military and moral victory for William Wallace and Andrew Moray and their army. The wooden bridge around which it was fought is depicted on the seal of the Royal burgh of Stirling. It had seven arches divided by eight wooden pillars, and an archaeologist has located the bottoms of some of these pillars in the River Forth, upstream of the old stone bridge.
 Dr Alastair Macdonald, University of Aberdeen
Contrary to the film 'Braveheart' there was both a river and a bridge at the Battle of Stirling Bridge. Defeat for the English led to the collapse of Edward I's administration of the kingdom he had conquered so easily the previous year, so the battle has to be a vital stop on the tour. In charge of the Scottish army alongside the aristocratic Murray was the relatively humble Wallace. He's seen as a leader of popular revolt by the ordinary people, but he also had important connections with the nobility. The battle's aftermath - the skinning of the body of Cressingham, Edward I's treasurer for Scotland - shows the developing hatreds of the time. |
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