Glasgow, High Street
Battle Site (12th Century)
Site Name Glasgow, High Street
Classification Battle Site (12th Century)
Alternative Name(s) Bell O' The Brae Battle
Canmore ID 44085
Site Number NS56NE 24
NGR NS 5987 6523
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/44085
- Council Glasgow, City Of
- Parish Glasgow (City Of Glasgow)
- Former Region Strathclyde
- Former District City Of Glasgow
- Former County Lanarkshire
NS56NE 24 5987 6523.
(Name: NS 5987 6523) Site of Battle (NR) AD 1300
OS 25" map, (1966)
The battle of "Bell o' the Brae" took place in 1300 (Gordon 1872).
Harry the Minstrel describes how Wallace over- came a body of English troops under Earl Percy (Gordon 1872) in the streets of Glasgow. The story is circumstantially told and vouched by the expression "as weyll witnes the buk" suggesting that he was proceeding on more than oral tradition. The attacking party formed into two groups, that under Wallace marching up the "playne streyt" (ie. the present High Street) to the Castle, attacking the garrison from the front. At the opportune moment, the second party under the Laird of Auchinleck attacked from the rear by " the north-east raw (ie. Drygait). The English garrison was thus routed.
The narrative is true to the locality in its outstanding features, and though there is no mention of the battle in the scant remains of contemporary chronicles, with some of the details given by the minstrel erroneous or exaggerated there is reason to believe that his account was based on a real incident.
R Renwick and J Lindsay 1921; A Gordon 1872; J Cowan 1951.
Battle site centred at NS 5987 6523 from the information above.
Visited by OS (F D C) 19 September 1951.
EXTERNAL REFERENCE:
Glasgow, Bell o' the Brae.
The Mitchell Library, Glasgow: Glasgow in Former Times I p.63 - 2 Lithographs. 1820.
Wm Graham Album I - Photograph of print.