The Battle of Stirling Bridge
A very real battle
• Forget what you’ve seen in films - that’s fiction!
• This battle has no glorious charge of knights, no long pikes or spears and
doesn’t take place on an empty field.
• However, the ‘real’ battle of Stirling Bridge is vastly important.
• It proved to a demoralised Scottish nation that an English army could be
defeated.
The importance of Stirling
• Look at the map.
• If an army marches north into
the heartlands of Scotland, they
need to pass by Stirling Castle.
• Why?
• It’s the easiest and cheapest
route.
March to the west?
• An army can’t march up the west
coast of Scotland.
• First of all, it’s very barren, ie no
food.
• The region is mountainous.
• There are rivers to cross, eg the
Clyde, presenting a formidable
obstacle.
March to the east
• Equally, it is as difficult to march up
the eastern coast of Scotland.
• The land is blocked by the Firth of
Forth.
• The river Forth is only passable by
ferry, which is too slow and too
dangerous to do with an army.
• The only real crossing of the river
Forth is at Stirling Bridge.
Stirling Castle
• Stirling Castle was an almost impregnable fortress.
• Wallace and Murray had no hope of capturing the castle.
• Their only hope was to starve the defenders out.
• But first they had to win the battle.
Wallace and Murray’s plan
• As plans go it’s actually very
simple.
• The Scottish army will wait on a
hill across the river bank.
• The English will expect the Scots
to wait until they finish crossing
the bridge before they attack –
the chivalrous thing to do.
The plan (continued)
• Wallace and Murray had no
intention of being chivalrous.
• As soon as the English were halfway across they charged into
combat.
• The battle was actually fought on
the bridge.
A bloody battle
• The picture here is an artist’s
impression of the battle.
• It accurately portrays the narrow
battlefield of the bridge.
• This made the numerical
superiority of the English useless.
http://www.stirling.gov.uk/index/stirling/hist
orytimeline/wars_of_independence/battles
b.htm
Significance of the victory
• Stirling Bridge was not a significant military victory.
• However, it did prove that the mighty English army could be defeated in
battle by the Scots, something that they had so far been unable to do.
• After the victory Wallace and Murray were able to win a lot of support in
Scotland, and both were named joint Guardians of Scotland.
• Unfortunately Murray died a few weeks later from infected wounds he
received at Stirling.
What happened afterwards
• Murray’s death was unfortunate, as he may have been the tactical genius
behind the victory rather than Wallace.
• Wallace decided to take the battle to England.
• He raided as far south as York, causing a great deal of damage and terror
in the northern counties.
• However, Edward had now returned from France, determined to finally
settle the Scottish question.