A COUNCIL has come under fire for agreeing to have a memorial to one of Scotland's greatest national heroes Sir William Wallace lit up in red, white and blue as a tribute to the Queen.
South Ayrshire Council has said that the Wallace Tower in Ayr will remain lit up till tomorrow, for the Queen's funeral to commemorate her life.
But the decision has been criticised, with complaints directed at the council, with some causing it a "desecration" of the 'Braveheart' memorial.
Wallace ewas the leader of the Scottish resistance forces during the first years of the long and finally successful struggle to free Scotland from English rule under King Edward I at the end of the 13th century.
He was taken to the Great Hall at the Palace of Westminster where he stood trial for treason.
He was made to stand on a scaffold and crowned with laurel leaves in mocking reference to a claim he had reportedly once made "that he should wear a crown in that same hall".
Wallace was executed in London in 1305 by being hung, drawn and quartered.
After his death, his head was dipped in tar and put on a spike on London Bridge.
The four parts of his body were sent to Berwick, Newcastle, Stirling and Perth One objector, Bill Cruickshank, in a complaint to the council said that its social media message confirming the move was "one of the greatest insults ever tweeted against the people of Scotland".
He said: "Have you any idea how offensive that is to the memory of William Wallace?
"He was tried and sentenced to the most horrific death in the Great Hall of Westminster where Elizabeth Windsor lies in state. Absolutely unbelievable!"
Another said: "South Ayrshire Council are you really so stupid that you don’t realise how inappropriate this is? How can you use a monument to William Wallace to commemorate the death of the Queen, when Wallace was brutally tortured & executed by order of her predecessors? It’s insulting!"
Dun Garbhan added: "You ought to be ashamed of yourselves. Insulting the memory of our hero William Wallace who was hung, drawn and quartered by an English king because he refused to accept his hegemony. Your disrespect of Wallace is calculated and disgraceful."
The minority Conservative-run council, made the announcement on Wednesday, the day after Scotland said its final goodbye to the Queenas her coffin began its journey to London escorted by daughter Princess Anne.
On Sunda, the government said the queue to see the Queen lying in state at Westminster Hall is at capacity and has been paused for new joiners.
The line was about five miles (8km) long, stretching to Southwark Park in south-east London.
not to be confused with The Wallace Monument in Stirling, the Wallace Tower in Ayr predates its Stirling sibling by approximately a decade It is a picturesque Gothic 19th century structure built to commemorate the national hero.
The architect Robert Snodgrass Sr. in 1855-7 built a square plan Gothic tower from polished sandstone ashlar blocks.
The monument is 60ft high with a pinnacled parapet.
The Wallace family coat of arms and their motto Pro Libertate Patriae (for the freedom of my country) are located above the entrance, carved by John Logan, a local sculptor.
A Visitors' book originally sat in the warden’s lodge which existed alongside the tower, demonstrating that in its opening year (1857-8) over two thousand visitors passed through the Tower and lodge.
A number of historically significant portraits were displayed inside, with subjects including Robert Burns, Robert the Bruce and Wallace himself.
A spiral staircase leads up to the viewing platform and the arms of the Wallace family are emblazoned above the entrance door. At the base of the tower on three sides are bronze panels telling the story of William Wallace’s life, with rousing proclamations of his virtues, triumphs and misfortunes.
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