Wallace's Well

The Scots bard Blind Harry first mentioned the Wallace Well in his poem, The Actes and Deidis of the Illustre and Vallyeant Campioun Schir William Wallace, better known as The Wallace. The well stands close to the barn where, on the 3rd of August 1305, Wallace was passing through 'Rab or Ralph Rae's Toun', now Robroyston, on a journey to Glasgow, possibly to meet the Bishop of Glasgow, Robert Wishart, in connection with the need for funds to continue the fight for Scottish Independence. The farm's owner, Rab or Ralph Rae, may have been the one who betrayed William Wallace to Sir John Menteith (aka Sir John Stewart of Menteith) who had made an arrangement with Sir Aymer Vallance, the…

An old photograph shows the well with a hand-operated cast-iron water pump on the right-hand side of the well opening, indicating that it was a regular and dependable source of water for those living locally, and a gap in the low wall shows that a flow existed at the time. However, now (datum 2018) it is very shallow and partly exposed mud. In 1923, a line drawing shows the well much as it is today (datum 2019); however, the low wall at the entrance was a low metal railing with three vertical supports. The well has seen many changes over the years, the present appearance originating from around 1911, the previous structure having had a stone with an inscription commemorative of the crucial…