The Yew Tree, The Wallace Oak, and The Cult of William Wallace

The Yew Tree, The Wallace Oak, and The Cult of William Wallace. . , The Yew Tree , This tree is known locally as the Wallace Yew. It is thought to be 300 years old. It has been surveyed and a programme of treatment is under way to improve its health. , The Wallace Oak , An ancient oak which stood by the burn on the north side of the main road was the traditional site of an incident in the epic 15th century about Wallace by Blind Harry. Like Robin Hood, Wallace was said to have hidden from his enemies in the tree, along with an impossible number of his men. An acorn from the tree, which fell in 1856, was planted in Fountain Gardens in Paisley., The Cult of William Wallace , Every generation has reinvented William Wallace to meet its own needs. In medieval ballads he was described as a Robin Hood figure, an outlaw of the greenwood. Blind Harry, the 15th century Scottish poet, laid the foundations of a national hero-cult in his epic poem The Wallace. In the early 20th century the frieze on the monument had to compete with hundreds of statues to military heroes of the British Empire, so Wallace is made gigantic in body and mood- an expression of growing Scottish national feeling. A hundred years later our image of Wallace influenced by Hollywood. These changing images of Wallace tell us more about ourselves than they do about the man who was raised here and who served his country so well.