On a hill beyond Redding is a stone that is called Wallace's stone, marking out the spot from which
Sir William Wallace, after his quarrel with Sir John Stuart, one of the
Scottish chiefs, is said to have viewed the
Battle of Falkirk, from which he had been compelled to retire, and to have witnessed the defeat of the Scottish army. The village is one of the older settlements in the area and is shown on Timothy Pont's map of Stirlingshire from around 1590. In 1923, the small
mining community was the scene of the
Redding mining disaster, one of the worst
disasters in the history of the Scottish
coalfield, which claimed the lives of 40 men. At 5.00am on Tuesday 25 September 1923 an inrush of water flooded the pit. This trapped 66 miners underground, 21 of whom were successfully rescued after about five hours. A further five men were rescued after having been trapped in the mine for 10 days. A further 11 men survived for around two weeks in a dry section of the mine, but ultimately died before rescuers were able to free them. In 2023 the 100th anniversary of the disaster was marked by a march and ceremony to rededicate the memorial stone, with relatives of those killed traveling from Australia and North America to attend. ==See also==