Bickering Bush

[2] Legend has it that in around the year 1292[3] Sir William Wallace was involved in an incident in which he killed two or three out of five English soldiers who were attempting to take his catch of fish and the 'Bickering Bush' thorn marked the spot.

[4] Another version is that; "Sir William Wallace was fishing on the River Irvine at the old Monksholm also Maxholm Farm,[5] about half a mile to the west of old Riccarton castle,[6] when a troop of English soldiers dismounted and demanded that he give up his catch.

[13] After killing Selby, Governor of Dundee, William Wallace took refuge in Riccarton Castle; another time being after he had revenged his uncle's death at the Barns of Ayr.

[5] Local tradition states that immediately after the 'Bickering Bush' incident Wallace went to his uncle's castle and was urged by the housekeeper to take on the disguise of a woman working at her spinning-wheel, thereby managing to avoid the English troops who were there shortly after to arrest him.

[5] The location of the old thorn tree is today (datum 2018) a gently undulating field of poorly drained abandoned pasture, separated from the River Irvine on one side by a dual carriageway.

The Hethel Old Thorn in Norfolk consists of one ancient hawthorn tree, which is claimed to have been planted in the thirteenth century and when measured in 1755 had a girth that was circa 9 feet.