The Goosecroft Friar in The Snowdon Cemetery

Prior to 1560 all of Scotland was Catholic and Stirling had two priories: The Domincans or Black Friars and The Franciscans or Grey Friars. The Black Friars were the biggest and longest established having come here in the 1230s. Famously, they were involved in negotiating peace with William Wallace at the Battle of Stirling Bridge and hosted both Edward I and Robert the Bruce (at different times).

During a development at their former priory opposite Stirling train station the remains of a single young man in his 20s were uncovered. He was found with a belt buckle and is likely to be a Domincan Friar. Radiocarbon dating proved he died between 1272 and 1320 and thus he could’ve been a witness to the Battles of Stirling Bridge and Bannockburn and to have seen William Wallace, Robert The Bruce, Edward I and Edward II!

On the 29th of February 2020 he was reburied in a mass conducted by his current Domincan brethren in a funeral supported by Stirling Council’s Civic Office. The memorial stone was the last stone quarried from Abbey Craig for The Wallace Monument but never used and was donated by the Cowanes Hospital Trust.