William Wallace's name has long been linked with the Irvine Valley after his spectacular defeat over the English in a swift and fierce onslaught at Loudoun Hill in 1297.

Look at this extinct volcanic plug and visualise Wallace and his men lying in wait at their vantage point over the Ayrshire and Lanarkshire moorland for the English baggage train making its way from Lanark to Ayr. At one time a cairn known locally as Wallace's Cairn marked the burial place of the English soldiers but sadly this has disappeared. Robert Bruce's defeat of the English in the Battle of Loudoun Hill in 1307 provided the turning point in his quest for Scottish freedom.

A statue commemorating this important site in Scotland's fight for freedom during the Wars of Independence has been commissioned from a local sculptor, Richard Price, and will be in place during 2002.
When you reach the Public Car Park off Limekiln Road, take the William Wallace Path which will allow access to the sculpture. This internal path loop of 500m has been constructed within newly planted native species woodland on the south side of the River Irvine close to Loudoun Hill.

The surrounding land is characterised by fluvioglacial sand and gravel deposits which are being worked commercially. There is strong evidence from the ground flora on the site that woodland once covered much of the river valley banks.