Wallace Statue

31-foot stone statue of William Wallace overlooking the Tweed

The Wallace Statue is one of the older and stranger pieces of Scottish romantic nationalism — a 31-foot stone figure of Sir William Wallace erected in 1814 in a private wood on the Bemersyde estate, about four miles east of Melrose. It looks out across the Tweed at the same view that inspired Sir Walter Scott, who frequently stopped at the spot now signposted as "Scott's View".

A short steep path through the woods reaches the statue from a layby on the B6356. Combine it with a stop at Scott's View itself and the Leaderfoot Viaduct in the valley below for an excellent half-hour Borders detour.

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A story
The Bemersyde Wallace Statue was commissioned in 1814 by the eccentric David Steuart Erskine, 11th Earl of Buchan — almost five centuries before the more famous Wallace Monument at Stirling was built. Carved from local red sandstone by a self-taught Edinburgh stonemason, the 31-foot figure stares out across the Tweed valley dressed in a Roman-style toga rather than a medieval kilt, which Erskine, in defiance of historical accuracy, considered more dignified for a national hero.