Braveheart Scottish political landscape in the mid to late 1990s. In 1997, a 12-ton sandstone statue depicting Mel Gibson as William Wallace in "Braveheart" was placed in the car park of the Wallace Monument near Stirling, Scotland. The statue, which was the work of Tom Church, a monumental mason from Brechin, included the word "Braveheart" on Wallace's shield. The installation became the cause of much controversy; one local resident stated that it was wrong to "desecrate the main memorial to Wallace with a lump of crap". In 1998, someone wielding a hammer vandalized the statue's face. After repairs were made, the
Catholic Church in Scotland cases in Europe have included Scotland and the standing of the Church has been damaged. Catholic Church in Scotland The Catholic Church in Scotland (), overseen by the Scottish Bishops' Conference, is part of the worldwide Catholic Church headed by the Pope. After being firmly established in Scotland for nearly a millennium, the Catholic Church was outlawed following the Scottish Reformation in 1560. Catholic Emancipation in 1793 helped Catholics regain civil rights. In 1878, the Catholic hierarchy was formally restored. Throughout these changes, several pockets in Scotland retained a significant pre-Reformation Catholic population, including parts of Banffshire, the Hebrides, and