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90 L. Corbett
1989
There are notes on the Oak, Torwood, the Blairs … in Forrester’s The
Forresters, a Lowland Clan and its Lands.
1996
A ‘reconnaissance’ of the Wallacebank Wood was made in August by Angus
Smith, warden of this SWT Nature Reserve,and Mackay and Corbett of FNH –
W. F. Howie was unfortunately unable to attend. It was proposed that the ‘tree’
might be considered a bit more left (north) and within the Nature Reserve
rather than on the boundary, which, since the 1830s Woodside plan (FNH 21
p70), has had additional plantings some ten meters wide Several current
coppiced oaks just within the wood could be seen as possible sites of an ancient
large circumference oak.
(Smith)
Notes and References
(1) Forrester, D. I. G. 1998. The Wallace Oak, Torwood – and Roy’s Military Survey. Forth
Naturalist and Historian 21,63-70.
(2) Harrison, John G. 1999. The Torwood and the Wallace Oak; some early records.
Ibid 22.
(3) Anderson, W. 1863. The Scottish Nation. Fullarton. Edinburgh.
(4) Recently one Wallace artifact remarkably recovered by the Smith Art Gallery and
Museum was one much sought, but feared lost, made from the Elderslie Wallace
Oak – a picture frame housing six Wallace supportive letters by notable European
patriots, including Garibaldi. This was a feature at the grand opening of the Stirling
Wallace monument in 1886, but long lost.
(5) A possible wording for a hoped for ?Millennium? plaque to commemorate the
Wallace Oak, Torwood –
“In this wood was the legendary Wallace Oak, Torwood – a refuge of the hero,
Guardian of Scotland, Sir William Wallace, particularly after the battle of Falkirk, 22
July 1298. This commemorative plaque is the long time ambition of Colin D. I. G.
Forrester, ancestor of the ancient royal foresters, the Forresters of Corstorphine, and
founder of the Clan Forrester. He researched and traced the site of this legendary
tree, as reported by the Scotsman of 8th April 1985, and in The Forth Naturalist and
Historian volumes 21 and 22, 1998 and 1999”.
(6) Smith, Angus. 1999. Wallacebank Wood wildlife reserve-1986-99. Forth Naturalist and
Historian 22.
(7) Ross, David R. 1999. On the Trail of William Wallace. John Donald, Edinburgh.
(8) While little of the great forest of Tor Wood remains today, the area is still patched
with woodland. It has a rich history, on which Colin Forrester has a paper in
progress. As Nigel Tranter says in his 1971 book The Heartland, the Queen’s Scotland,
Hodder & Stoughton, “Scotland would not have been the same without the Tor
Wood.”