FIVE WEE SIDE STORIES
BRUCE’S STONE In a quiet corner of the Galloway Forest Park, overlooking Loch Trool is a stone in dedication to that great Scottish warrior, Robert the Bruce. This cairn commemorates the Bruce’s victory over an English cavalry five times the size of his own army in an act of guerilla warfare on the shores of Loch Trool at the start of the Scottish War of Independence. ELIBANK CASTLE In the Scottish Borders in the early 1600s lived two neighbouring families with a long running feud – the Scotts of Harden and the Murrays of Elibank. In 1611, the eldest son of ‘Auld Wat’ Scott, William Scott, set off from his home at Aikwood Tower to raid the cattle of his father’s oldest enemy. In this time raiding across the border between England and Scotland was common practice.
From Elibank Castle, set high up on the southern side of the Tweed Valley the raiders were seen and captured. William Scott was thrown into the castle’s dungeon.
Scott was given a choice – hang or marry the Murray’s daughter, Agnes, known as Meg. Meg was described by James Hogg in his account of the matter ‘The Fray of Elibank’:
‘Now Meg was but thin an’ her nose it was lang, and her mou’ it was muckle as could weel be. Her een they were grey and her colour was wan, but her nature was generous, gentle and free.’
Willie initially refused but relented and married Muckle-Moothed Meg of Elibank on 14 July 1611. A direct descendent from this reportedly happy union would be Sir Walter Scott. SICCAR POINT In 1788 James Hutton took a boat along the Berwickshire coast and seeing red sandstone overlying older, steeply pitched sedimentary rocks known as greywacke at Siccar’s Point, confirmed his theory that the earth was much, much older than believed at the time. From these observations, Hutton would set out the principles that would found the modern science of geology. MULL OF GALLOWAY LIGHTHOUSE This far-flung lighthouse sits on the southern most tip of Scotland, warning seafarers of the perilous cliffs below. On a sunny day it will yield views to Ireland, England and the Isle of Man. It was built by Robert Stevenson, grandfather to author Robert Louis Stevenson. It has recently been included in the Lighthouses of Galloway e-bike tour as an alternative way to see this stunning scenery and iconic building. KIRK O’ THE FOREST With Scottish King John de Balliol imprisoned in London, Scottish hero William Wallace set himself to regain control from the English. After success at the Battle of Stirling, Wallace conducted guerrilla warfare from the Ettrick Forest.
In 1297, he was appointed Guardian of Scotland at the ‘Kirk o’ the Forest’ in Selkirk in the Scottish Borders. A 2016 geophysics survey found the remains of a medieval chapel below the present kirk ruin – could this be where the ceremony was held?