Arbroath silent for anniversary of Declaration

ANGUS: Events on hold as Scotland goes online to celebrate landmark national day

It should have been a day of celebration to mark 700 years since one of Scotland’s landmark moments.

But streets were silent as six months of events planned for Arbroath were put off due to the Covid-19 outbreak.

Arbroath 2020 chairman Harry Simpson said: “It feels like Groundhog Day just now but Arbroath 2020+1 does have a nice ring to it.

“It has been three years in the planning so it was very disappointing to have to cancel.

“But the main thing is that everyone stays safe.”

Since 1947, shows by the Arbroath Abbey Pageant Society have enacted the Declaration of Scottish Independence.

The last full performance was in 2005, but a small band of pageant players come together to play out a pivotal scene from the historic event each year.

Kenneth Lownie, part of Abbey Time Themes group, said the day was instead being marked online.

He said: “Thanks to the technology that is the internet, which monks in 1320 would have considered wizardry, the day can be commemorated throughout the world.”

The first pageant, in 1947, raised money for the YMCA’S overseas fund.

On April 6 1320, Scottish nobles gathered in the town’s abbey and, in the presence of King Robert the Bruce, signed Scotland’s most iconic document.

The letter, sealed by eight earls and 40 barons, was addressed to the Pope in Avignon, asking him to recognise Scotland’s independence and to acknowledge Bruce as the nation’s king.

Local events by the Arbroath 2020 group were also cancelled including a horse-led procession to the harbour.

Thousands were also expected for an All Under One Banner rally in Arbroath on Saturday before it was postponed.

Organisers appealed to independence supporters to mark the day online, in ways such as gathering pictures of people and places with Scottish flags and streaming music and speeches.

A new tartan by Arbroath designer Steven Patrick Sim was created to mark the 700th anniversary.

Picture: Paul Reid. An independence flag flutters from a house in Arbroath, whose streets were deserted on what should have been a day of national celebration.