William Wallace Statue

An eccentric vision

Along this path a dramatic statue of William Wallace gazes out across the Tweed. This is just one of a number of features in the area built by David Stuart Erskine, the 11th Earl of Buchan: if you continue down the hill you can find another, the enchanting Temple of the Muses. The path to the statue is about on third a mile, (ten to fifteen minutes' walk) with a good surface all the way.

The Earl was a vain, eccentric man, but he was passionate about conserving and recording anything to do with Scotland and its heroes. He was fascinated by the Greek mythology too, and once held a party in his drawing room where he dressed up as the god of Apollo on Mount Parnassus, with nine maidens to play the part of the Muses in attendance.

He commissioned local sculptor John Smith of Darrick to carve the statue, which was unveiled in 1814 on 22 September: the anniversary of Wallace's great victory at the battle of Stirling Bridge in 1297. It seems to be the earliest monument to Wallace, that legendary symbol of Scottish patriotism.

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