What's on in the area

Bannockburn Heritage Centre

Daily

Cost: £3.50; concessions £2.60; family ticket £9.50

Hours: Battle site open daily
Heritage Centre Apr-Oct 10am-5.30pm
Nov-Mar (excluding Jan) 10am-4pm
Closed Jan

Celebrating Robert the Bruce's victory over Edward II's English armies at Bannockburn, the Bannockburn Heritage Centre, run by the National Trust for Scotland, sits close to the actual battle site just south of Stirling.

Here in The Kingdom of the Scots exhibition you can discover the background to the dispute that saw the Sassenachs (a traditional Celtic derogatory term for the English) march north to take Stirling Castle and re-impose English rule. Scotland's War of Independence had started years before with William Wallace (also commemorated close by) and culminated in the two-day rout of Edward II's troops. In total some 30,000 soldiers clashed at Bannockburn.

The 650th anniversary of Robert the Bruce's victory was marked, in June 1964, with the Queen's unveiling of Pilkington Jackson's magnificent bronze equestrian statue on the Boresone site that is thought to have marked Bruce's command post before the battle.

Bannockburn Heritage Centre