 Blind Harry's poem "The Actes and Deidis of the Illustre and Vallyeant Campioun Schir William Wallace" placed William Wallace in and around the village four times in his heroic tales of the patriot, calling it Cumno and Dunbars' castle, which sat on Castlehill in the midst of a vast loch, as "Black Bog Castle".Both William Wallace and Robert Bruce were hunted within the Afton's glen, where Robert Burns' "Sweet Afton" still flows gently, until it merges into the River Nith.Wallace seems to have known the surrounding area very well indeed; in fact many believe he may have spent much of his youth there.