Wallace Chair 2015

WALLACE CHAIR 2015

The new chair

When the Wallace Chair was first mentioned my ears pricked up. I thought I was the very man for the job and ultimately I was honoured to be asked to make it. The initial photos we found were pretty poor, but I managed to work out a few details about the way the chair was constructed. It consisted of six important pieces of timber - four round posts and two heavy cross rails. It looked like it was made from oak, and in a pretty poor state of repair, with rot and worm causing a lot of damage. The chair was also covered in a loose leather cover, which hid a lot of the other detail. We made some enquiries and were sent some close up pictures of the chair by its present owner and these helped immensely. From that, I did a rough sketch and it was agreed we would try to make the chair into a two-seater bench from pressure treated softwood. The first problem I had was to do the turnings as close to the ones we saw in the picture. In softwood this proved very difficult as by the time I started to work on the posts, the wood had dried out and was beginning to show signs of splitting. It actually went better than I thought, although I did not do the turnings on a lathe, I used a table saw and finished the grooves off with a rasp. Working with round section timber threw up various problems and I had to come up with a way to make the back strong, comfortable and not too detached from the original design. I also made the chair higher than it looked in the pictures. With time, the original legs would have rotted and been cut to make firm again. They probably lost about four inches over time. I made the bench normal seat height, even though Wallace might have needed it higher due to his extreme size.

Having spent so much time creating the replica chair, I was interested to find out a wee bit more about the original, so I did a little bit of research but unfortunately, there is very little known about the so called 'Wallace Chair'. It belonged to the Lockhart-Ross family of Bonnington estate in Lanarkshire and is reported to have been in the family for centuries. Sir Charles Lockhart Ross (1763-1814) was a wealthy landowner whose mother had bequeathed him large estates in Lanarkshire (including Bonnington House) and Ross-shire. The family fancied themselves as landscape designers, and turned their estate into a popular tourist destination. With the Napoleonic wars putting a scupper on the grand tours of Europe so favoured by the gentry, 'petit' tours of the British countryside became all the rage. Charles' wife, Lady Mary Ross, cannily perpetuated myths about William Wallace's connection with the area, i.e. Wallace's Chair and Wallace's Cave, where he was said to have hid from English soldiers. Bonnington House (now gone) which stood adjacent to the ancient gorge through which the river Clyde carved its way, was home to an original portrait of Wallace as well as the chair, and a carved wood and silver cup, which they claimed to have belonged to Wallace, whose connection to Bonnington was through his wife Marion Braidfute, a local noblewoman. Even 20 years or so before the start of the Victorian era and their mania for William Wallace and all things Scottish, Wallace artefacts were placed high on the tourist's 'must see' list. These items are now in the possession of the current owner of Balnagown Castle, Mr Al Fayed, Balnagown Castle being the Lockhart-Ross family's other residence.

The Wallace Chair is described in some detail by Robert Chambers in 'The Picture of Scotland' which was published in 1827 when he was only 25 years old. Chambers was born in Peebles in 1802 and wrote extensively on a variety of Scottish subjects including Edinburgh, the Jacobite Risings, Walter Scott, Robert Burns and Scottish ballads, poems and anecdotes. The material for 'Picture of Scotland' was gathered in the course of successive tours made through the districts described and gives an excellent early first hand description of the chair (see image).

Chamber's excerpt on the Wallace Chair from 'Picture of Scotland'

Like so much related to William Wallace, we need to file the Wallace Chair under the title 'legend'. I knew it was going to be hard to prove the history of the chair, but the fact that this one is being used as a way to commemorate Davy's walk is enough of a connection to Wallace for me - the rest can be folklore.

George Kempik - Secretary

The original chair

The original chair in situ, Balnagown Castle

The original chair

George hard at work on the chair

Construction continues

George and Fiona Hyslop try out the chair

The new chair

Tried out for size by Chris and Kez

Helen, Sam, Chris, Donna and Kez approve

The Society of William Wallace is a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation Registration number SC045959