Bannockburn flagpole site gets time capsule

The completed restoration of the historic flagpole at Bannockburn will be celebrated with the burial of a time capsule later today.

David Anderson, monuments architect for the Bannockburn Project, with the new wind vane. Picture: PA

The National Trust for Scotland will sink a package of items underground at the spot where Robert the Bruce allegedly put his standard the night before the battle.

That location is now marked by the Rotunda monument at the heritage site near Stirling where the flagpole was erected on June 25, 1870.

For almost five years there has been no saltire flying due to conservation and reconstruction works to the pole, and during these repairs to the topmast a time capsule from 1937 was discovered.

Tribute

It was put there by specialist riggers from the Grangemouth Dockyard Company after they replaced the topmast because of storm damage and added a steel battleaxe, as a weathervane, in tribute to Bruce.

Items hidden in 1937 included a 1911 Falkirk coronation medal, a 1924 Farthing, and a 1928 Half Crown, and these will all be placed in the 2013 time capsule along with contributions from contractors Mansell Construction Services Ltd, members of the project’s Academic Advisory Panel including historian Fiona Watson, and others with a connection to the Battle of Bannockburn project.

The time capsule will be buried by David McAllister, project director, the Battle of Bannockburn Project, Alastair Smith, curator, the National Trust for Scotland and Rory MacLeod, the grandson of Alexander Aikman, OBE, the chairman and managing director of the Grangemouth Dockyard Company who made the decision to bury the 1930s time capsule.

The flagpole has been renovated as part of the Battle of Bannockburn project run by the National Trust for Scotland and Historic Scotland to restore the site for the 700th anniversary of the battle next year.