William Wallace

[FortuneRose]

I'm not sure if this is really the appropriate place to post this, but was unsure where else to put it...

My husband has been very interested in William Wallace.  Yes, he loved the Braveheart movie, but more so in the actual man.  I have been looking to see if there are any locations linked to him and have come up with nothing.  Are any of you aware of things such as tourist sites or anything of that nature?

[DonaCatalina]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Wallace
Wallace enters history when he killed William Heselrig, the English Sheriff of Lanark, in May, 1297
Coordinates 55° 40? 29.65? N, 3° 46? 37.27? W

On 11 September 1297, Wallace won the Battle of Stirling Bridge. Although vastly outnumbered, the Scottish forces led by Wallace and Andrew Moray routed the English army.
Location Stirling Bridge, Stirling, Scotland
http://www.nationalwallacemonument.com/
http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/stirling/wallace/

A plaque stands in a wall of St. Bartholomew's Hospital near the site of Wallace's execution at Smithfield.
Coordinates 51° 31? 2.86? N, 0° 6? 0.46? W

Edinburgh Castle is guarded by the statues of Robert the Bruce and William Wallace.
Coordinates 55° 56? 55? N, 3° 12? 3? W
http://www.rampantscotland.com/edinburgh/bledin_heroes.htm

[Genievea Brookstone]

When I lived in England I had the opportunity to go York/Leeds which houses the Royal Armoury.  I picked up a small book (more like a brief tourist pamphlet) on William Wallace.

He was born in Elderslie, which is now a district of Paisley.
Spent time  with his Uncle who was a cleric at Cambuskenneth Abby. 

Loudoun Hill in Irvine Valley where he ambushed Fenwick, the knight who killed his father.
Retreated to Ettrick Forest near the towns of Selkirk, Moffat and Lanark (where he courted Marion Braidfute)
The battle of Stirling Bridge 1297
The battle of Falkirk
Last Scottish Parliament at Torphichen where he resigned as Guardian of Scottland.
Carlisle Castle is where he was taken after he was betrayed by Sir John de Menteith who was once a friend and fellow patriot.
Was taken under armed escort and roped to a horse for the 17 day journey to London.
Tried at the Great Hall in Westminster.
Place of execution, the Elms in Smithfield near the present Barts Hospital. This is where he was hanged, drawn and quartered and one quarter each was sent for public exhibition in Newcastle, Berwick, Perth and Aberdeen.

Hope this helps some! 

Gens~

[TKM]

Also, he may be interested in something that was on TV last night. Do you know the new show, Deadliest Warrior, on Spike TV? It's a show where they use scientific studies to determine who would win a fight between two different types of warriors. Yesterday they did something different by pitting two specific men rather than two types of fighters, and they had William Wallace vs African warlord Shaka Zulu. You can watch the full episode on spike.com right now if your husband is interested.

[FortuneRose]

I'm a little late in getting back to this but I'll have to go to spike.com and see if it is still up.  My husband, I'm certain, would be interested in watching it.  Thank you for letting me know about that!

[Lady Renee Buchanan]

When we went to Scotland 11 years ago, our sons were 13 and 16.  They were Braveheart crazy, so we stayed in Stirling.  Everything there is all about Braveheart/William Wallace.  We visited the Wallace Monument, Stirling Castle, the field where the battle supposedly took place and lots more to do with Wallace.  If you go to the Scottish Tourist Board and put in "Stirling," I'm sure you'll find just about anything you would want.

Actually, if anyone is going over during the summer months, we stayed in the University of Stirling.  They rent out student apartments during the off-term.  It was better for our family rather than a hotel room.  We each had our own bedroom (only single bedded rooms, so couples have to put up with it), there was a kitchen/dining area and lounge/living room.  We were able to eat breakfast in the apartment, have tea or cocoa at night and keep snacks in the fridge.  There is also a student restaurant/student center that is open during the summer.  It has the kinds of food our kids liked, i.e., pizza, burgers, etc.  There was also a large screen television, so one night Steve and the boys went over and watched the final match of some important football (soccer) tournament while I stayed in the apartment and relaxed and read. 

The campus was beautiful and there was a lake with swans and ducks, and very central to everything.  We actually stayed there for a week and made day trips to other parts of Scotland, including the Highlands.  The cost for our family of 4 for a week was less expensive than 2 nights in a hotel. 

[Rowan MacD]

  My husband and I were in Edinburgh the last 2 weeks in May this year.
  There was a street performer named Adam Watters dressed as Wallace, giving a stirring speech (in character) on a street corner no more than two blocks from the castle. 
  This guy is awesome.  I would have loved to see him at any Ren Fair or Celtic fest here in the states.  A superb actor; he had a good sized crowd standing around him just hanging on his words.
He went from an impassioned rant to just leaning wearily on his claymore. *sigh* We just soaked it up (I got some of it on video)
  When I went to drop off a tip in his bucket, turns out he was raising money for Juvenile Leukemia    Wow.

I could not find anyplace on his website to provide feedback, I would have loved to be able to leave a rave review.  He has a few different historical Persona he portrays.

http://www.adamthebraveheart.co.uk/braveheart.html

[Capt Robertsgrave Thighbiter]

I too have been to Stirling and the Wallace Monument. Very impressive and the hike up to the top o' the hill and then the monument is thundering tedious. Well worth the climb though.

What is very disapointing and I am sure a source for the ever present Scotch love of a grievance is that actually little is known factually about Wallace other then the salient points mentioned above.  I picked up a little book while there, a semi-fictional account of his life, taking those points into consideration and fleshing them out with typical activities of the time. Written in the Urse, it makes for one difficult read!

[bellevivre]

Chiming in- Stirling is a good start for William Wallace info- (and don't forget Robert the Bruce- thier stories should really be told together.)

If you can, get out to the Wallace Monument, though if you cant, on a clear day you can get some really great shots of it from Stirling Castle.

BEWARE: IMHO, anyplace in Scotland that bills William Wallace as 'Braveheart' is tourist-centric and NOT worth looking at! (it SERIOUSLY bothers me that History Channel has a show on William Wallace and refers to him as 'Braveheart' ARGH!!)