page_title: Gillies Hill
section_title: Polmaise Castle
hierarchical_section_title: Gillies Hill / History / Polmaise Castle
caption_attribution_description: English: Polmaise Castle spring, Gillies Hill, Cambusbarron, Scotland
context_page_description: Gillies Hill is located west of Stirling and the M9, south of Cambusbarron, and north of the Bannock Burn in Central Scotland.
  Gillies Hill covers a 140 hectares crag and tail which rises from a height of 79 metres at the Bannock Burn Bridge near Sauchie Craig to an elevation of 162 metres at a point which overlooks the former quarrying operation to the west and Stirling Castle to the east. The hill lies north of the Bannock Burn, northeast of Sauchie Craig, east of the Touch Hills and Murrayswood, south of Cambusbarron, and west of Stirling and the M9.
  Gillies Hill is the hill from which Robert the Bruce’s camp followers, or Gillies, descended onto the field of the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314 turning the tide of the battle which granted Scotland nearly 400 years of independence.
  The majority of Gillies Hill has been classified as a Semi-natural Ancient Woodland by the Woodland Trust using aerial surveys and by a follow-up Phase 1 habitat survey conducted in 2010.
context_section_description: The ruined Polmaise Castle set in the middle of Gillies Hill was built for £30,000 by Col. John Murray, 23rd Laird of Touchadam and Polmaise, upon his return from the Crimean War. Murray commissioned David Burn to design the Scots Baronial mansion in 1865. The building was demolished in 1966 long after the death of the Murray's only son and heir in The Great War.
  The original Murray house was known as Touchadam Castle which was located to the west of Gillies Hill near Gartur. Only its ruins remain today. In 1673 Murrays Hall located beneath the western craig of Gillies Hill was built as a gift from the Laird to his son. It was eventually occupied by Jacobite Ladies of Murrayshall. These three maiden ladies who lived their entire lives in Murrays Hall were regionally known for their hospitality and kindness to those of all walks of life. Perhaps the most colorful of their stories involves loyalty to the Jacobite cause; the ladies would discreetly end each meal with either a verbal toast "To Him over the water," or by a delicate movement of the glass over the pitcher of water on the table if more discretion were required. The last of the Jacobite Ladies died in 1829, at which point Murrays Hall became a farmhouse lasting until it was destroyed in its entirety by 20th Century quarry operations.
caption: Polmaise Castle spring, Gillies Hill.
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