Scotland on Sunday

As the costs soar and the delays mount there are loud accusations of mismanagement and claims the entire project is a "huge disfiguration" and a "fantastic nightmare". Newspapers show no mercy, declaring that the iconic building that was to be an expression of Scottish nationhood is a "grand mistake". But if all this controversy sounds like yet another bitter exchange over the new Scottish parliament at Holyrood, think again, wind the clock back 140 years and shift the action about 40 miles north-west of Edinburgh. The target was none other than the construction of the Wallace Monument, now widely regarded as one of Scotland's most spectacular landmarks.