Wander around our landscaped grounds and enjoy views across to Stirling Castle, which played a central role in the battle. Stand where the Scots made camp and where, according to legend, Bruce raised his royal standard on the eve of battle. There’s also a medieval physic garden and a commemorative area, including a memorial cairn and the remarkable statue of Robert the Bruce.
Visitors have been journeying to this iconic site for centuries, in honour and curiosity. The monuments erected here are a tribute to the thousands of men who fought and died during the Battle of Bannockburn.
To mark the battle’s 700th anniversary in 2014 we carried out significant work to conserve and restore the monuments. This included the iconic equestrian statue of Robert the Bruce by Charles d’Orville Pilkington Jackson, which we returned to its original, striking bronze finish.
In the centre of the rotunda, the topmast of the flagpole from the 1870s was also replaced, complete with battleaxe weathervane.
When the original rotunda monument was designed in the 1960s, the intention was for it to bear an inscription. So we commissioned a new poem by the acclaimed Scottish writer Kathleen Jamie, to be inscribed on the replacement ring beam of the rotunda. The poem concludes with the following lines, which express the ‘universal truth’ of this deeply significant Scottish landscape:
‘Come all ye’, the country says
You win me, who take me most to heart.