Wallace Monument Thomas Carlyle, Hugh Miller, Thomas Chalmers, David Livingstone, and W. E. Gladstone. In 2017 it was announced that Mary Slessor and Maggie Keswick Jencks will be the first heroines to be celebrated in the hall. The original Victorian statue of Wallace stands on the corner of the monument and is by the Edinburgh sculptor David Watson Stevenson. In 1996 Tom Church carved a statue of Wallace called "Freedom", which was inspired by the film "Braveheart". It has the face of Mel Gibson, the actor who played William Wallace in the film. Church leased the statue to Stirling Council, who in
S. M. Stirling in their conquest of Africa, and turn earlier to breech-loading firearms and steam power than the rest of the Western World. The stranded islanders of the Nantucket Series try to rebuild their technological base once the island is stranded in 1250 BC, while the survivors of the "Change" now face a world where electricity, firearms, and internal combustion no longer work. Stirling also tends to write strong female characters who have prominent roles within the story. In the past, he has frequently collaborated with other authors, including David Drake, Jerry Pournelle, Anne McCaffrey, and Raymond E. Feist. S. M. Stirling