Scotland - Day 6

On day 6 in Scotland we went to Doune Castle, Falkirk, and Dumbarton Castle. First we went to Doune Castle. Doune Castle was built by Robert Stewart Duke of Albany. The Duke made it for the King to dwell in when he left the palace. This did not happen till the Duke was dead. The Castle was made for strength and comfort. This is a picture of the outside of the Castle: We went into prison and took some pictures. Then we went up into the tower. This is a picture from the top of the tower. We took a picture of the top of the tower from the roof of the other part. After we left Doune Castle we went to Falkirk. At Falkirk there was only a memorial. There were houses around it. Joshua did a speech at Falkirk about the battle of Falkirk. The battle of Falkirk was Wallace's second major battle, and also his last. He and his men were stationed in four groups. In the above picture, they would be where the snow still is below the trees in the upper portion of the picture. King Edward, who was king of England at that time, was attacking the Scots from the direction from where the picture was taken. Edward sent his men down the valleys and commanded them (which were mostly horsemen) to attack on the Scots right and left. They move over the stream, which is in the valley, and when they reached the Scots they surrounded each group and tried to pierce the Scot's line. But the Scots had long spears, which worked well against the English horsemen, so the English horsemen fell back, and brought up some archers. The archers fired their arrows at the undefended Scots, most of whose archers had been killed by the horsemen. Finally all the groups except one fled, and the last one retreated with Wallace.
After this the English took over Scotland again, Wallace went to France to get help for the Scottish cause. When he returned he was chased for a while, and finally caught and was taken to England and executed.

It was cold and windy there. After we left Falkirk we went to Dumbarton Castle. It did not look much like a castle. Dumbarton Castle was built on Dumbarton rock, a piece of volcanic rock. It was an old stronghold, dating back to at least the fifth century AD. The vikings sieged it for 4 months before it surrendered in 870. Robert Bruce's son fled there after a defeat in 1333, and the infant Mary Queen of Scots was protected there for several months before she was taken to France in 1548. The castle declined in importance after Cromwell's death in 1658, but new structures and defences were built as it was garrisoned until WWII. It was in a strategical place, located on the James River. Here is a picture of the river from one of the towers. Here is a picture of the magazine, were they kept their ammunition. Here is a picture of Joshua, Rachel, and Stephen next to a cannon. This is a picture of the tower were William Wallace was imprisoned. This is a picture of a cannon on a tower over looking the sea. After we went to Dumbarton Castle, we went to the condo where we were staying.

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