Stirling’s Kokishote and the Sma’ Folk

tirling is dominated by monuments to the Wars of Independence. From the south there is the discrete and atmospheric rotunda of the National Trust for Scotland Bannockburn centre, while the north is dominated by the magnificent National Wallace Monument, the largest monument to a person in Britain. Both have stories to tell and tickets to sell; they celebrate the victories and honour the dead, but are best understood as war memorials, removed from the actual conflict. There are, of course, locations contemporary with the fighting: the castle, Cambuskenneth Abbey and St Ninians church. Stirling may even have a grave of a witness to the period. Following development at the site of the Dominican priory, a 13th- to 14thcentury friar was recently reburied with full Catholic Mass in Stirling’s Valley cemetery. The Dominicans of course negotiated with Wallace