Scotland won a decisive victory at Stirling Bridge in September 1297, when a Scottish army under William Wallace and Andrew Moray destroyed an English force as it crossed a narrow bridge over the River Forth a few men at a time. It was the first great victory of the Scottish Wars of Independence and made Wallace a national hero.
In September 1297 a Scottish army led by William Wallace and Andrew Moray destroyed an English force at a narrow bridge over the River Forth near Stirling. As the English crossed the bridge only a few at a time, the Scots swept down, seized the crossing, and cut the enemy army in two. Stirling Bridge was the first great victory of the Scottish Wars of Independence and made Wallace a national hero.
Scotland under English rule
In 1296 Edward I of England had overrun Scotland1 and stripped it of its king. Within a year a rising spread across the country, led in the south by William Wallace and in the north by Andrew Moray, who joined forces to face an English army sent to crush them.
The trap at the bridge
The English army under the Earl of Surrey reached Stirling, where the only crossing was a narrow wooden bridge over the River Forth, wide enough for just a couple of horsemen abreast2. The Scots drew up on the high ground beyond and waited, letting part of the English army file across before striking3.
The bridge becomes a killing ground
When enough of the English had crossed, the Scots charged down and seized the bridgehead, trapping the vanguard on their side of the river. The rest of the army could neither reinforce nor rescue them across the narrow span. The trapped force was cut to pieces, and Surrey's hated treasurer Cressingham was killed.4
Wallace ascendant
The victory cleared the English from much of Scotland. Moray soon died of wounds taken in the battle, and Wallace was knighted and chosen Guardian of the kingdom. Wallace was later beaten at Falkirk in 1298 and executed in 13055, but Stirling Bridge endures as an emblem of Scottish freedom.
The road to Bannockburn
Stirling Bridge proved that the English could be beaten, but the war for Scottish independence lasted another three decades. In time, leadership passed to Robert the Bruce, crowned king in 13061, who rebuilt the cause through years of guerrilla warfare. In 1314, close to the same bridge, his army defeated Edward II at Bannockburn, and in 1328 the Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton recognised Scotland's independence1. Stirling Bridge was the first great Scottish victory on that long road.
