Wallace's Heel Well plaque, River Ayr, Scotland

Wallace's Heel Well or Wallace's Heel is located beside the

River Ayr The River Ayr (pronounced like ''air'', ''Uisge Àir'' in Gaelic) is a river in Ayrshire, Scotland. At it is the longest river in the county. The river was held as sacred by pre-Christian cultures. The remains of several prehistoric sacrificia ...

(NS35502122) near the old Holmston lime kiln,

Ayr Ayr (; sco, Ayr; gd, Inbhir Àir, "Mouth of the River Ayr") is a town situated on the southwest coast of Scotland. It is the administrative centre of the South Ayrshire council area and the historic county town of Ayrshire. With a population ...

, Scotland. It is a

petrosomatoglyph A petrosomatoglyph is a supposed image of parts of a human or animal body in rock. They occur all over the world, often functioning as an important form of symbolism, used in religious and secular ceremonies, such as the crowning of kings. Some a ...

said to represent the imprint of a heel and is associated with the story of an escape from English soldiers made by the Scottish hero

William Wallace Sir William Wallace ( gd, Uilleam Uallas, ; Norman French: ; 23 August 1305) was a Scottish knight who became one of the main leaders during the First War of Scottish Independence. Along with Andrew Moray, Wallace defeated an English army ...

Description

The well or spring lies on the river bank below the footpath and has been reached by steps since at least

Victorian times In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardi ...

as witnessed by postcards from that era. A freshwater spring flows from a 'heel shaped' cavity in the bedrock. A drystone dyke forms the boundary with the footpath and this carries a plaque that reads ''Wallace's Heel''. In 2017 the ladle is no longer present, the well is partly obscured by plant growth and most of the garden flowers are absent. The well is flooded by river water when the river is in spate. A postcard dated circa 1888 show a brass ladle attached by a chain with the handle pushed into the dyke allowing visitors to take a drink. Postcards of the late 1940s show that the area was planted up with garden flowers. The Holmston

lime kiln A lime kiln is a kiln used for the calcination of limestone ( calcium carbonate) to produce the form of lime called quicklime (calcium oxide). The chemical equation for this reaction is : CaCO3 + heat → CaO + CO2 This reaction can take pla ...

stands nearby and is known locally as the 'keep' or 'castle'.

History

Following an incident in

Riccarton Riccarton may refer to: New Zealand * Riccarton, New Zealand, a suburb of Christchurch ** Riccarton (New Zealand electorate), the electorate named after it ** The location of Riccarton Race Course * a locality on the Taieri Plains in Otago Scotlan ...

in which an unarmed

had single handedly killed or injured several English soldiers the Scottish hero and patriot was forced into hiding and he chose Leglen Wood near

Auchencruive Auchincruive is a former country house and estate in South Ayrshire, Scotland. It is located east of Ayr, on the north bank of the River Ayr. Auchincruive House was built in the 18th century on the site of an earlier mansion. In 1927, the estate ...

as the most suitable site of concealment. However, he made several expeditions to

and on one occasion he encountered a group of English troops who were challenging all comers to try their strength against one of their number in return for the payment of one groat (four pence), a significant sum at the time. The challenge was to strike the man's back with a staff and William did so with such great force that he broke the soldier's spine and as a result the remaining soldiers were determined to capture and imprison this Scotsman who had demonstrated his superior strength. William immediately set off eastwards towards Leglen Wood along a path that lay above the bank of the

and after a while it became clear that the hounds being used by the English troops were rapidly making ground on him and that his scent trail would be his undoing. William reached Holmston where he jumped down onto the rocks at the edge of the river and in doing so the heel of his boot is said to have left an imprint from which a spring began to flow. His next act was to dive into the river and swim across to the opposite northern bank where his horse had been tethered. William made it safely back to the tree lined gorges of Leglen Wood and Wallace's Heel Well has continued to flow into the Ayr from that day to this.

Petrosomatoglyphs

Wallace's Heel Well, River Ayr, Scotland

Wallace's Heel is a good example of a

defined as "''a supposed image of parts of a human or animal body in rock. They occur all over the world, often functioning as an important form of symbolism, used in religious and secular ceremonies, such as the crowning of kings. Some are regarded as artefacts linked to saints or culture heroes.''" Another example of a petrosomatoglyph heel prints is to be found at

Stonehenge Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, west of Amesbury. It consists of an outer ring of vertical sarsen standing stones, each around high, wide, and weighing around 25 tons, topped by connec ...

on stone number 14 in the outer circle. Footprints are amongst the most common petrosomatoglyphs however other examples include elbows, knees, the head, hands, horses hooves, dogs feet, etc.

Micro-history

Wallace's Cave was located nearby on the opposite side of the river and it is said that

also on occasion used it to hide from English troops. A monument to

and his great admirer

Robert Burns Robert Burns (25 January 175921 July 1796), also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the best known of the poets who hav ...

is located in the remnant of Leglen Wood on the west side of the Auchencruive/Belston Road, just south of Oswald's Bridge over the

. The Cairn was erected by The Burns Federation in September 1929. The site was gifted by Mr. John Haddah of Girvan Mains and the costs covered by the Reverend J. C. Higgins, Minister of Tarbolton Parish. The Wallace Burns Cairn

The inscription on the cairn reads: '''WALLACE AND BURNS'' ''FOREVER, NEVER, SCOTIAS REALM DESSERT'' ''BUT STILL THE PATRIOT AND THE PATRIOT BARD'' ''IN BRIGHT SUCCESSION RAISE HER ORNAMENT AND GUARD. '''SYNE TO THE LEGLEN WOOD WHEN IT WAS LATE'' TO MAKE A SILENT AND A SAFE RETREAT''.

References

Notes

Sources

# Boyle, Andrew M. (1996). ''The Ayrshire Book of Burns-Lore. Darvel : Alloway Publishing. . # Love, Dane (2000). ''Ayr Stories''. Ayr : Fort Publishing. . # Love, Dane (2009). ''Legendary Ayrshire''. Auchinleck : Carn Publishing. . # Love, Dane (2010). ''The River Ayr Way''. Auchinleck : Carn Publishing. . # Ross, David (2001). ''On the Trail of William Wallace.'' Luath Press.

External links

Video footage of Wallace's Heel Well.
{{coord, 55, 27, 25.9, N, 4, 36, 10.3, W, region:GB_type:city, display=title Springs of Scotland Landforms of South Ayrshire Buildings and structures in Ayr Heel Well