Gowan Hill & The Beheading Stone.

Gowan Hill/ Moat Hill.
Stirling
Scotland

Access from Lower Bridge Street, Stirling.
Rises to 278 feet.

Gowan Hill..  The hill is a fantastic but previously neglected 10 hectare open space next to Stirling Castle in Scotland. The area contains layers of ancient history (an iron age hillfort, a beheading stone, battle sites) as well as featuring strongly in the memories of living residents.

Also known as ‘The Heading Hill’ or 'Mote Hill', the Gowan is the site of an ancient Pictish Fort, this was the site of the execution of the aristocratic murderers of King James I, in 1437,

The Fort... The interior of the fort would have measured around ninety by sixty feet, and would have had a stone wall protecting its boundary. There are now only a few places where any sort of bank can now be seen here.

A report dating from 1794 stated that a rubble wall was still visible....

The fort has been known as Hurley Haaky* and Murdoch's Knowe in the past. It is thought that there may have been a second wall or bank defending the summit of the hill, laying some twenty five feet outside the first defences. There are still faint remains in this area, of what could be this earthwork, measuring some eight feet across.

Mote Hill is in fact far older and is a vitrified hill fort destroyed by fire around 250 AD. It isn't known who destroyed it, but it was likely to be either the Romans going north or the Picts raiding south. The hill fort controlled the Forth crossing, the only place an army could cross by foot for the next 2000 years!

In January 1746, Gowan Hill and Mote Hill were used as artillery batteries by Prince Charles Stuart's forces. The retreating Jacobite army attempted to take Stirling Castle from the English garrison occupying it at the time. It didn't take the Castle's guns long to destroy the batteries and force the Jacobite army to abandon any hopes of taking the castle.
 

Beheading Stone
The Stirling beheading stone is thought to have been used for capital punishments in the 15th Century and was probably used in the executions of various important figures.



The Beheading stone with Wallace Monument in the background.

In 1425, Murdoch Stewart, Duke of Albany and former Regent of Scotland and two of his sons were executed. Murdoch's father in law the the Earl of Lennox was also executed here, King James I was taking revenge for Albany's 18 year abuse of his power when the King was held captive in England.

The two cannons...
The two cannons on top of Gowan Hill have never been used, they were purchased by the town council in 1902 from the army at Stirling Castle and moved here for decorative purposes only.

* Hurley Haaky, This pastime, which was played here for centuries, involved sliding down the steep hill (here, supposedly, this was done while sitting on a cow's skull, using its horns as handlebars; in an agricultural market town like Stirling, skulls were readily available). In any case, it is thought that the name of the pastime was transferred to the hill.



Pictures taken by myself, more of Gowan Hill can be viewed HERE