Bannockburn, Glasgow Road, Bannockburn Heritage Centre

The year 2014 sees the 700th anniversary of the Battle of Bannockburn, in which the army of Robert I of Scotland defeated that of Edward II of England. The battle marked a major turning point in the long, drawn-out struggle of the Wars of Independence.

The Wars have had a lasting influence upon all the nations of the United Kingdom and upon the national story. Each age has seen fit to commemorate the events in its own way: through the perpetuation of the genuine historical associations of buildings and places and also through the endowment of others with improbable or fanciful traditions. Where past generations allowed its historic buildings to decay and disappear, later generations began to value and actively preserve these for their associations. Where an event lacked a tangible reminder, as at Kinghorn where Alexander III was killed in a riding accident, a commemorative monument would be erected to act as a focus. The Wars of Independence predate the fashion for accurate portraiture: the weathered, generic military effigy of Sir James Douglas is one of the few to survive in Scotland. Later centuries saw a need and supplied it by a crowd of images of its historic heroes, William Wallace and Robert the Bruce, each depicted according to contemporary taste and imagination. The opening of the new heritage centre at Bannockburn takes this into a new dimension, through the use of three-dimensional, digital technology.

RCAHMS Collections hold many images of these buildings and locations from battlefields, castles and churches, to the many commemorative monuments erected in later years. This gallery highlights a selection of these, including antiquarian sketches, photographic and drawn surveys, and architectural designs.

NS 7964 9057 A programme of work consisting of a GPR survey, evaluation and watching brief was undertaken, 10 August–11 October 2011, in the car park of the existing Bannockburn Heritage Centre in advance of the construction of a new heritage centre. The trial trench evaluation consisted of the excavation of ten trenches, covering 360m2, equivalent to 15% of the development area. The trenches were placed in a diagonal pattern across the site and also targeted anomalies identified by the GPR survey. The watching brief monitored the excavation of one borehole and eight test pits. No significant archaeological features were recorded.

Archive: RCAHMS (intended)

Funder: The National Trust for Scotland

GUARD Archaeology Ltd, 2011

Information also reported in Oasis (guardarc1-115070) 27 August 2012

An archaeological evaluation was carried out by GUARD Archaeology Limited on behalf of The National Trust for Scotland, on an area proposed for development at Bannockburn Visitor Centre, Stirlingshire. The trial trench evaluation was carried out over two small areas to the east and south-west of the visitor centre. No significant archaeological features were encountered during the evaluation.

Information from Oasis (guardarc1-123636) 22 October 2013

GUARD Archaeology Limited were commissioned by Scottish Water to undertake an archaeological watching brief and metal detecting sweep during the excavation of three test pits along the route of an existing water pipe route. This work was undertaken on the 16th of August 2022 and revealed no archaeological remains within the parameters of the test pits.

METAL DETECTING SURVEY

Prior to the excavation of all test pits, a metal detecting survey was undertaken of the area to be excavated, and upcast spoil created by the excavation was also metal detected. No metal artefacts were recovered during this survey.

WATCHING BRIEF

The topsoil or overburden was removed in spits by machine using a smooth‐edged (toothless) bucket to the first archaeological horizon or, where none was found, to the natural subsoil. When the existing water pipe was reached, it was fully exposed by hand excavation.

TEST PITS

A total of area of 3.24m2 was excavated across three test pits, to a depth of between 0.85 m and 1.10 m.

The watching brief work has proved that no archaeologically sensitive deposits or features exist within the areas tested. In consequence, it is recommended that no further archaeological work is required.

Information from OASIS Id: guardarc1-437945 (Warden, K.) 2023

GUARD Archaeology Limited were commissioned by Scottish Water to undertake an archaeological watching brief and metal detecting survey during the excavation of a pipe trench within the grounds of The Battle of Bannockburn Visitor Centre. This Watching Brief was undertaken during excavations conducted between 15/05/23 and 23/05/23. Several metallic objects of likely nineteenth or twentieth century date were recovered during the metal detecting survey. Excavation of the pipe trench encountered heavily mixed deposits containing relatively modern material. The watching brief encountered no significant archaeological remains.

METAL DETECTING SURVEY

The metal detecting survey conducted within the area to be excavated recovered 27 metallic objects. 25 of these objects were iron/iron-alloy, and two were copper-alloy. All were recovered from either the uppermost turf layer, or from deposit (001), the topsoil.

TEST PIT

The trench was excavated to a total depth of c.1.2 m. Three distinct deposits were encountered; (001), (002), and (003).

Deposit (001) appears to comprise of a combination of made ground and heavily mixed topsoil. Finds recovered from the deposit were primarily from the twentieth century, probably representative of loss or discard from the site’s use for commemorative gatherings for the Battle of Bannockburn anniversaries and other NTS events.

Finds recovered from deposit (001) comprise of twentieth century ceramic fragments, glass fragments, and metal fragments. Several of these finds are suggestive of previous construction work, for example: a fragment of copper-alloy measuring tape SF10; an iron rasp SF13; and a modern graphite drawing stick SF21. Similar graphite stick fragments were recovered during the surveys carried out in 2012 (Bailie); these are thought to relate to the construction of the rotunda in 1962-64, being dropped or discarded by the construction team. One fragment of horseshoe SF19 and one intact horseshoe SF9 were also recovered, with the presence of a “toe clip” on SF9 suggesting a twentieth or later nineteenth century date of manufacture (Sparkes, 1989: 26).

Deposit (002) appears to comprise the subsoil across the working area. Several examples of agricultural field drains were encountered, each oriented north to south, suggesting that the area was previously utilised as agricultural land, before being developed into the current open parkland we see today.

WATCHING BRIEF

The archaeological watching brief identified archaeological remains relating previous land-use and development in the area.

The watching brief encountered no significant archaeological remains. It is therefore advised no further archaeological works are likely to be required by Stirling Council Archaeologist for this part of the main pipe diversion works on this development.

Information from OASIS Id: guardarc1-437945 (Barbour, J.) 2023