LANARK LANIMER DAY
An ancient celebration held within the Royal Burgh of Lanark on the Thursday between the Sixth and Twelfth days of June annually since the year 1140.
 

William Wallace - The Lanark Connection

by Ed Archer

August 23rd, 2005 will mark the 700th Anniversary of the death of William Wallace who was brutally hanged, drawn and quartered at Smithfield in the year 1305 for amongst other things, wounding and then killing William de Heselrig, Sheriff of Lanark. This anniversary is being marked by a special exhibition in Lanark Museum and a series of special events in Lanark including a Mediaeval Fair on the weekend of August 23rd. These events are taking place, because it was here in Lanark in May 1297 that Wallace struck a blow for Freedom that is still remembered to this day.

The events of 1297 were remembered in the film "Braveheart" in 1995. Despite being one of the most historically inaccurate films that Hollywood has ever made it was pivotal in securing popular support for a Scottish Parliament. Not only that, but Wallace became iconic worldwide even in the most unlikely spots - in Turkey, William Wallace tee-shirts were immensely popular and on a recent trip to Libya, mentioning Wallace's name secured me a drink from a taxi driver who was a Wallace fan. Now eight years later Wallace's death is being remembered.

Therefore it is important this year to take a look at Wallace and Lanark once more as Lanark is the most important Wallace site in Scotland. Of all the places connected with Wallace, Lanark has things that Wallace would actually have seen.

Traditionally Stirling is seen by many as the place to view sites and artefacts connected with Wallace - actually, Stirling only has the site of the Battle of Stirling Bridge and much of the battlefield site is built over. As for the rest one has to employ one's imagination. Wallace would recognise nothing at Stirling today - the castle of his day has been built over and the old wooden bridge across the Forth has disappeared. Finally the so called Wallace^ Sword at the Wallace Monument is much later than his day. From what we are told by Blind Harry, Wallace's preferred weapon was the bow.

What about Lanark then? Would Wallace recognise anything today? Yes, he would recognise parts of Lanark Castle which is at the bottom of the Castlegate. Much was destroyed by the creation of a bowling green in the mid 18th century but part of the lower section of the earth castle remains as well as the defensive ditches on the Castlebank side of the castle. The Castlebank park side of the castle was the weakest spot in the defences although there may have been an outer defence known as a bailey on this side to give added protection. This year it is hoped to do a Time Team type resistivity survey to find out whether there was a bailey at all.

The other place that Wallace would recognise in part would be the ruined church of St Kentigern's. The only parts that do not belong to Wallace's time are the family burial vaults and the arches of the north aisle; these belong to later periods. The impressive south doorway and the southern part of the nave as well as part of the chancel still remain and Wallace would recognise these. Also of interest are the grave markers stuck into the west facade of the church. There is one of a priest and another of a knight.

Less well known is the 13th century double window in Bernard's Wynd which is easily visible high up on the wall of the building opposite to the Horse & Jockey as one walks past the Wynd Gallery into the High Street. There was originally a mediaeval building here which is shown in an old engraving commissioned for an edition of Black's Tourist Guide to Scotland in the 1860's. The old doorway is shown in this engraving and a further description is provided in a newspaper article about its demolition. This article describes how there was a piscina found in the building; a piscina was used for washing communion cups. This shows that the building belonged to a religious order perhaps to the monks of Dryburgh Abbey who played an important part in the construction of St Kentigern's. Being one of a few stone buildings in Lanark this was probably the house where Wallace would have stayed after his defeat of the English garrison in Lanark Castle. It may have been at this spot that he planned the attack on the castle. Indeed there could be a good case for moving the monument to Wallace to this spot. The present alleged site of Wallace's house near St Nicholas is unfortunately, total mythology.

It is good that Lanark has two genuine sites connected with Wallace and possibly a third. Talking of sites with a Wallace connection, St Nicholas Church would nave been visited by Wallace but unfortunately there are no visible remains of Wallace's era. Some interesting items including the body of a lady of the late 13th century were found during the excavations that were undertaken during restoration of St Nicholas, as well as a few carved stones of the period. It is disappointing to have to record that the finds which were entrusted to the church at the time of the excavations have disappeared when they should be exhibited to the public. It is hoped that they will resurface and form part of the current Wallace exhibition in Lanark Museum.

It is encouraging to see the Scottish Executive, the Scottish Tourist Board and South Lanarkshire Council taking an interest in Lanark's heritage as well as the Wallace Trust, the Lanark and District Archaeological Society, Lanark Museum Trust and the Guildry, as Lanark has the potential to be a significant tourist attraction and the story of Wallace is part of what Lanark has to offer to the world. All these organisations will be doing their bit to remember Wallace.

Why are so many people and organisations commemorating Wallace? Wallace has achieved iconic status and what he did serves as an example to oppressed peoples throughout the world whose lands have been illegally occupied by foreign forces.

One of the big problems facing anybody trying to tell the story of Wallace is the Tack of historical facts. It is possible to work out certain aspects of the story by looking at other contemporary records, archaeological reports, books on the Middle Ages dealing with everything from arms and armour to Mediaeval heraldry and carefully re-examining works such as those of Blind Harry.

The most common question is why Wallace became involved in fighting the English and why Lanark was chosen as the starting off point for the fight for Freedom. Wallace always maintained that he was fighting to reinstate John Balliol, who had been exiled to France after his defeat at the hands of Edward I. Many people often think that Wallace was some sort of Nationalist leader fighting for the rights of the ordinary man but he was a typical knight who had given his oath to support his king namely John Balliol. This was the reason that Wallace was committed to the cause of getting rid of the English forces who had illegally occupied Scotland.

Other knights and landowners had given a written undertaking to recognise Edward I as their king after John Balliol's defeat in 1296; this document is known as the Ragman's Roll. Many were to regret this as Edward I of England saw this as a heaven sent opportunity to tax the Scots heavily to finance a war that he was fighting in Flanders, modern Belgium. The money was to come from wool - in 1297 wool was of equivalent importance to Scotland as oil is in today's Scotland. Lanark in these days was the most important centre for wool in the whole of Southern Scotland, indeed the name Lanark comes from Norman French and means the place of the wool workers.

Here was a golden opportunity for Wallace to raise the banner of freedom and a good time to do this would be at the sale of the spring Iambs when the full impact of the extra taxes would be felt. It would be the right moment for a bit of networking for the man from Riccarton in Ayrshire, namely William Wallace.

In 1997 the rediscovery of a cast of Wallace's seal showed that he came from this area and not Elderslie. Many Lanarkshire families had close family links with those from Ayrshire and thus Wallace was well placed to stir up trouble. Apart from the family networks, to hit the army of occupation at Lanark made strategic sense. Lanark lay on two main routes - east/west and north/south. Hitting the English here was going to cause major logistical problems.

Another prominent question about Wallace and Lanark is the relationship with Marion Braidfute. Unfortunately this is as much legend as the connection of Wallace with the French wife of Edward II in Braveheart who was only five years old at the time of Wallace's death.

Much has been made of Blind Harry's reference to Marion Braidfute but in fact no reference is made to her until alterations were made to the original text of Blind Harry in the seventeenth century at the behest of the Baillie's of Lamington who invented the character of Marion Braidfute. Even with this invention Marion was not married to Wallace as it was not until Miss Porter's book on the Scottish Chiefs in the Victorian period that it was thought decent to alter the story yet again to marry Wallace to Marion in St Kentigern's, Lanark. Nor was there a Marion Braidfute at Lamington in 1297 - the landowner at the time was William de Lamington who swore an oath of fealty to Edward I in 1296 just like the majority of his neighbours.

However all the stories about William Wallace are not entirely myths. Blind Harry used as a source of his information the biography of Sir Thomas Gray, one time parson of Libberton. The interesting thing about Blind Harry's work that even in the earliest surviving manuscripts the account of the events that occurred in Lanark show that the writer had an intimate knowledge of the area. This is particularly so in the linkage of Wallace's trusted companion Auchinleck with Kilbank, Kirkfieldbank. Much work still remains to be done on sorting out fact from fiction just in the same way as historians are trying to find out the truth about the Trojan War. This is perhaps the main reason why I personally find the Wallace story fascinating and I hope that everybody who reads this article whether they agree with it or not, takes time to visit the exhibition on Wallace being organised by the Museum Trust.