: David R Ross
: On the Trail of Robert the Bruce
: Luath Press
: 9781804252161
: 1
: CHF 5.40
:
: Biographien, Autobiographien
: English
: 190
: Wasserzeichen
: PC/MAC/eReader/Tablet
: ePUB
This book charts the story of Scotland's hero-king from his boyhood, through his days of indecision as Scotland suffered under the English yoke, to his assumption of the crown exactly six months after the death of William Wallace. Here is the astonishing blow by blow account of how, against fearful odds, Bruce led the Scots to win their greatest ever victory. Bannockburn was not the end of the story. The war against English oppression lasted another 14 years. Bruce lived just long enough to see his dreams of an independent Scotland come to fruition in 1328 with the signing of the Treaty of Edinburgh. 67 places to visit in Scotland and elsewhere One general map, three location maps and a map of Bruce-connected sites in Ireland -Bannockburn battle plan Drawings and reproductions of rarely seen illustrations The trail leads us to Bruce sites in Scotland, many of the little known and forgotten battle sites in northern England, and as far afield as the Bruce monuments in Andalusia and Jerusalem. On the Trail of Robert the Bruce is not all blood and gore. It brings out the love and laughter, pain and passion of one of the great eras of Scottish history.

David Ross lives in East Kilbride. A keen motorcyclist and amateur historian, for years he has spent every free moment visiting historic sites, battlefields and castles, travelling everywhere by bike. He has immersed himself in finding out as much as he can about great Scottish heroes.

CHAPTER 1

Origins and the Last Days of Peace

THE RUINS OF TURNBERRY CASTLE stand on the edge of the world-famous golf course of that name, on a low promontory washed on three sides by the sea. Only fragments of this once formidable fortress remain, but it has a claim to fame as being the probable birthplace of Robert I, The Bruce, the hero-king of Scots. (MAP C13)

It was built by the old Celtic Lords of Galloway, afterwards the Earls of Carrick – a title bestowed in 1186 by King William the Lion on Duncan, the grandson of Fergus of Galloway. Duncan’s granddaughter married Robert Bruce, the father of our hero, in 1271, and as Countess of Carrick she brought the Earldom and the Castle under the Bruce family’s control. Robert, the future king, was born on 11 July 1274 and Turnberry, his mother’s home, would seem logical as his birthplace.

Turnberry Castle

An access road runs directly west to Turnberry lighthouse from the A719 coast road. This lighthouse towers above the castle ruins. You can park and walk along the road through the golf course to have a look at the castle remains (beware low flying golf balls!). The view to Ailsa Craig will be the same as the one young Robert viewed. The rock pools below the ruins will be the ones he explored as a child. A cave beneath the castle opens up into the very core of the fortress. In its heyday this was probably a handy defensible access for supplies and weapons to come in from the sea.

A little inland from Turnberry stands the village of Kirkoswald, and inside the ruined church is a font which is believed to have been used for Bruce’s baptism. (MAP C12)

As often happens in Scottish history, an alternative claim for Bruce’s birthplace exists, and in this case it is for Lochmaben in Annandale, Dumfriesshire, a seat of the Bruce family. The manpower of fertile Annandale formed much of the strength of the Bruce faction in Scotland. In 1274 the castle in Lochmaben stood on top of the motte hill (a motte being a fortified mound, sometimes referred to as a moot-hill), at the side of the golf course, just to the west of the church.

Font in Kirkoswald

The ruined castle which stands on a peninsula jutting into the Castle Loch a mile or so south-east of the motte was actually begun in 1298 by Edward I of England – ‘Longshanks’ – after his battle against Wallace at Falkirk, to try to consolidate his hold on south-west Scotland. The stones from the motte at the golf course would probably have been transferred to help with Edward’s building programme. In later years, as Scotland once more regained her self-respect, the Bruce family would have claimed this castle which was built by Edward as their own.

There is an old local legend that a causeway had been constructed across the loch bed to help transfer the stones from one site to the other, but this would seem to be very unlikely, especially as the distance by water is not much different to that by land.

The later stone castle is now represented by mere fragments of once mighty walls and towers. Much of the facing stone has been robbed for other building work, and it is the interior rubble of the original walls that remains. The remnants of the moat on the landward side, however, are still very impressive. (MAP C2