He returned to Scotland in 1303, only to find that the English had tightened their grip and that he must start from scratch to try and regain his country's liberty. The fight back began, but the odds were very much stacked against him. Wallace was eventually betrayed and captured at Robroyston near Glasgow, on 3rd August 1305. (A brief historical note: please remember that although the date on the Victorian monument at Robroyston states that the date of Wallace's betrayal and capture was the 5th of August, most Scottish historians agree that in Joseph Stevenson's "Documents Illustrative of Sir William Wallace, His Life and Times" (1841), his capture is given as the eve of Saint Dominic's feast day, which if you Google you will get variously as the 4th, 7th and 8th. The 'Handbook of Dates' that Dr Fiona Watson and most other eminent historians always use is explicit that it is the 4th, so in other words, Wallace was captured on the 3rd August.) He was taken first to Dumbarton Castle, where his sword was left behind, and then he was taken south to London. He arrived in London on the 22nd August. The crowds were so great, so eager to see this Scottish “murderer” that he had to be kept the night in a house in Fenchurch Street. The next morning he was taken to Westminster Hall, the oldest part of the Houses of Parliament, where his sham trial took place. He was allowed no defence, but he managed to shout above his accusers that he was “A Scot, born in Scotland, and did not recognise England as his sovereign nation”.



He was tied to the tails of horses, and dragged through the streets of London for 6 miles, eventually arriving at Smithfield Elms. Here he was hung, then cut down while still alive. His stomach was opened and his entrails were pulled out and burnt before him. His heart was then ripped out, ending his life. His body was cut to pieces, his head stuck on a spike on old London Bridge. The parts of his body were sent north to dishonour the Scots. Longshanks thought by giving him such an ignoble death that the Scots would forget Wallace, and there were religious connotations too. Wallace would have no body to rise on Judgement Day, and so be damned forever.



But Sir William Wallace needs no tomb. His memory lives on in the heart and souls of Scots, every generation recognising his devotion to his native soil, and he will be remembered by Scots men and women until the end of time.