Bannockburn site revisited

Robert the Bruce statue at the Battle of Bannockburn

A panel of heritage experts led by a university historian has revealed the "true site" of the Battle of Bannockburn.

Researchers were brought in by Stirling Council to pinpoint the exact location of the battlefield and solve a 600-year-old mystery.

Now Stirling University historian Dr Fiona Watson believes she has found the location - between Whins of Milton and Bannockburn itself.

She based her findings on documents and letters gathered from round the globe.

Dr. Watson said a ditch in the area offered the best clue as to what happened during the battle.

She said: "The poor English soldiers came down this way to try and get south and it was said that some could run dry-shod over the bodies of their comrades."

Her conclusions were a closely guarded secret until a public meeting on Tuesday night.

In arriving at their decision, the heritage experts studied, then discounted, three other possible sites.

Local historian John Harrison said the site chosen would surprise many people.

"It's certainly not what has become known as the traditional site and it's certainly going to upset some people," he said.

"Of course many people wouldn't be impressed even if we had a note from Robert the Bruce saying 'X' marks the spot."

Prepared to act

According to Mr Harrison, the location raises further questions surrounding the nature of the battle.

"It certainly makes the Scots' victory even more surprising since the ground here should have been more advantageous to the English than the traditional site."

Dr Watson said the task of choosing a specific battle site had proved difficult.

"We sifted through a heck of a lot, I can tell you. In 2000, there were nine books published on Bannockburn alone - it was a fair job."

Councillor Gillie Thomson confirmed that some kind of marker would now be considered.

"We would like to mark the sites as agreed, but how we do that would be in consultation with the local people by a cairn or hopefully some sort of monument," he said.

Large parts of the site have been covered by housing which was built over 40 years ago.