The historic Battle of Bannockburn site, where Robert the Bruce won his biggest victory against the English, is in danger of being taken over by property developers. And the Scots, as you’d expect, aren’t happy about it.
Stirling Council has approved controversial plans for a horse racing track to be built very close to the battle site, but campaigners from the National Trust said building a new trotting track and 200-space car park would ‘desecrate one of Scotland’s most significant heritage sites’. Fighting words.
Fought in June 1314, The Battle of Bannockburn is where Robert the Bruce and the Scots obliterated the English troops led by King Edward II.
National Trust for Scotland objected to the plans on the grounds that the development is ‘in the vicinity of where Bruce’s army faced off against the vanguard of Edward’s army on the first day of the battle’.
Director of conservation and policy at the National Trust, Stuart Brooks, said: ‘We need as many people as possible to stand with us to defend this special place now and for the future. The fields in question are on the national Inventory of Historic Battlefields. Although they don’t fall within the land owned and cared for by the trust, they are within the boundaries of the 1314 conflict.’
Thanks to the National Trust’s lobbying, the Scottish government has stepped in and said it review the proposals. It’s not yet been confirmed when the decision will be made.
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