Stirling’s Kokishote and the Sma’ Folk
Dr Murray Cook reports from an excavation this summer, at the site of Coxet Hill, a small hill near the site of the battle of Bannockburn that may have played a big part in the outcome of the famous conflict
Stirling is dominated by monuments to the Wars of Independence. From the south there is the discrete and atmospheric rotunda of the National Trust for Scotland Bannockburn centre, while the north is dominated by the magnificent National Wallace Monument, the largest monument to a person in Britain. Both have stories to tell and tickets to sell; they celebrate the victories and honour the dead, but are best understood as war memorials, removed from the actual conflict. There are, of course, locations contemporary with the fighting: the castle, Cambuskenneth Abbey and St Ninians church. Stirling may even have a grave of a witness to the period. Following development at the site of the Dominican priory, a 13th- to 14thcentury friar was recently reburied with full Catholic Mass in Stirling’s Valley cemetery.The Dominicans of course negotiated with Wallace ahead of Stirling Bridge and both Edward I of England and Robert the Bruce stayed at the priory.
However, there is another overlooked location, without tickets or interpretation, which may have been more intimately associated with the battle of Bannockburn and could even have played a key role in securing the victory: Coxet Hill.This small, domed hill is dominated by a modern housing estate known as Cultenhove. It was first recorded in 1307 in a charter of Robert the Bruce as the ‘old Kokishote’. Cock shot woods are cruciform forests used for hunting woodcock. Nets were placed