'Shocker' Bannockburn trotting track plans 'erode' site where Robert the Bruce killed English knight
Plans to build a trotting track on a site connected with the Battle of Bannockburn could include the location where Robert the Bruce famously defeated an English knight, a leading battlefield archaeologist has claimed.
Dr Tony Pollard, professor of conflict history and archaeology at the University of Glasgow, said he was shocked at Stirling Council planners' decision last week to approve the controversial application for a harness-racing track within the designated battlefield on the outskirts of the city.
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Hide AdThe land is included on Scotland's Inventory of Historic Battlefields. Conservation charity the National Trust for Scotland [NTS] has called for the Scottish Government to intervene to protect the site, which is primarily associated with the first day of fighting.
Dr Pollard, who worked on the inventory, said the proposed site could include the scene of one of the most important early encounters in the June 1314 battle, when the English knight Henry de Bohun spotted Robert the Bruce and charged at him with his lance.
Bruce, on a much smaller horse, manoeuvred to the side and smashed the knight's helmet and head in two with his battle-axe. The Scots king, who took an enormous risk taking on the fight, is said to have expressed regret only that he had broken the shaft of his favourite axe.
Dr Pollard said: "The inventory was there to act as a guide to planning authorities. We produced maps with the extent of the battlefield area and the idea was that if planning applications came in, that would trigger some sort of response.
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Hide Ad"I am disappointed to see that I can't see any reference to that. There certainly doesn't seem to have been any attempt to consult with the likes of me about the situation, and I would certainly have had something to say on it.
"This site is in the area where Bruce's army was. Somewhere around there you had the first skirmishes of day one in the battle and an iconic episode from Scottish history, Robert Bruce cleaving the head of de Bohun. It could have been on that field."
He added: "We have this historic landscape. Yes it's not pristine, but, by luck rather than judgement, we have an incredible amount of terrain in the heart of that area that we can still make sense of and tell the story.
"When you start to take away those areas that are still preserved you are eroding a resource, which is to our national shame. It's a shocker really."
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Hide AdThe Battle of Bannockburn, fought on June 23-24, 1314 was a turning point in Scotland's history.
King Edward II of England led a huge army to lift the Scots’ siege of his garrison at Stirling Castle. After a day of skirmishes, Bruce's outnumbered Scots won a decisive victory and forced the invading monarch to flee back across the Border.
The NTS, which has been managing Bannockburn Battlefield since 1943, said the development would "destroy one of the few remaining undeveloped areas of the designated historic battlefield".
NTS director Stuart Maxwell said: "The creation of the Inventory of Historic Battlefields in 2010 has been an important step in better protecting our battlefields. This proposed development is in the protected area.”
A Stirling Council spokesperson said after the decision: "The panel carefully considered all information relating to the planning application in making its decision."
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