SWLSbruce – by Tom Bevan and Alison Campsie
A group of Robert the Bruce fans have fulfilled his dying wish by taking his ‘heart’ back to the Holy Land – in a black rucksack.
The remarkable modern pilgrimage to transport the mythical remains of the King of Scots has been revealed in a new book – with the journey from an old railway station in Scotland to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.
In marking the 3,500 mile trip, the group of ordinary fans honoured the last wish of of Robert the Bruce more than 700 years after his death – after spending 15 years trying to make it possible.
Members of Strathleven Artizans, a historical group who founded the Robert the Bruce Heritage Centre in the old Renton station, initially wanted his true heart, which is held in Melrose Abbey, but were rebuffed in 2008 by Historic Scotland.
The Scottish hero had led his army to victory at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314 and secured recognition for Scotland as an independent nation.
They eventually managed to carve a ‘heart’ from the Bruce Oak Tree, which legend states was planted by the young nobleman in the grounds of what is now Strathleven House near Dumbarton.
The tree was burned down in an arson attack in 2004 – it was so big that people used to light fires within its trunk, it is said – with the remains now owned by the Strathleven Artizans.
What is left of the tree is stored in a secure container nearby, where it has dried out for 15 years.
From this oak, many pieces which honour Robert I have been carved, including a wooden heart, which was made by member Arthur Murdoch – and it is this that was taken to Jerusalem.
Duncan Thomson, one of the founders of the centre, said: “We decided when we set up that we wanted to take Robert the Bruce’s heart to the Holy Land in honour of his last wish.
“We phoned Historic Environment Scotland, who are the keepers of the heart, and said ‘I am taking it to Jerusalem’. I wanted to dig it up and take it there to bury it. They said ‘absolutely no way’. They just refused. It went on from there.
“Arthur said ‘take this wooden heart to Jerusalem’. Robert the Bruce touched the tree, he planted it, he is connected to it.”
The heart then travelled from Renton to Jerusalem in 2023, with the piece also heading through Spain in a nod to the fatal journey attempted in 1330 by Sir James Douglas, a Scots nobleman and key figure during the Wars of Independence, to take the embalmed heart of his friend to the Holy Land.
He wore it around his neck in a silver casket.
Mr Thomson added: “For about 15 years, we always said we were going to do it, to take the heart, and then a couple of years ago, it happened.”
The man charged with taking the heart to Jerusalem was Simon Collins, of Renton, who took it with him on a trip to see his family. He carried it not in a silver casket, but a black rucksack.
Mr Thomson said: “We said to him ‘you will be the guy who fulfils Robert the Bruce’s greatest wish’. To think it is a wee charity, a wee visitor centre that has saved the tree and made a heart which then went to Jerusalem. It is we, the people, who have done this.”
Mr Collins, 46, who is originally from Palestine, described it as a “privilege” to take the heart to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which stands on the spot where Jesus is said to have been crucified, buried and rose from the dead.
Mr Collins said: “It was a privilege to take the heart there. It really is a very special place. I said a wee prayer for Robert the Bruce.”
The original pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1330 to honour Robert I’s wishes had come to a violent end when Sir James, who set sail from Dundee with his entourage of knights and nobles and moored up in Seville, was killed when the men were diverted to join fighters of Alfonso XI of Castile in a crusade.
Sir James was killed in battle with his body and King Robert’s heart later brought back to Scotland.
The king’s heart was finally buried at Melrose Abbey, where it remains today.
Days after the death of Sir James, the castle of Teba fell to Castilian control. But the Moors showed their respect for the Scot by returning his body to his men, along with Robert I’s heart.
The adventures of the Strathleven Artizans have now been documented in a new book The Bruce Oak Heart: Tour of the King’s Realm, which has been compiled by Jim Gilhooly.
The book has won the endorsement of Lord Charles Bruce, the 12th Lord Elgin, who is a direct descendant of Robert I.
In his foreword, written last year, he wrote: “I commend this book as a fitting tribute to King Robert in his 750th anniversary year, but also as the culmination of diligent and painstaking research.”
