By Michael Lloyd For BBC News Online Scotland

Richard Price is seeking planning permission to start work on a site overlooking the location of Wallace's famous victory at the battle of Loudoun Hill, in the Irvine Valley.

Standing four-and-a-half metres tall, the sculpture will be in the shape of a warrior, cut out of what looks like a huge standing stone.

The monument of Wallace in silhouette

Looking through the cut-out figure, visitors will get a panoramic view of the battle site, at which Wallace's small band of warriors routed a larger English contingent in 1297.

They ambushed an English baggage train, intercepting it en route from Lanark to Ayr.

Wallace is said to have avenged his father's death by slaying his killer.

"Other areas maximise on their history much more than we have," said Graham Welby, landlord of the Loudoun Hill Inn, which overlooks the battlefield site.

Mr Welby is also chair of the Irvine Valley Regeneration Partnership, which is helping to meet the �30,000 cost of the project.

But the idea came from Richard Price himself, following an abortive earlier attempt at a commemorative monument.

Local connection

"I was fascinated by the history and had done some reading so I picked up the ball and ran with it," said the artist, who lives locally.

Wallace's ancestors settled in the Kilmarnock area, granted the land from the spoils of the Norman conquest.

Wallace himself is thought by many to have been born at Ellerslie, near Kilmarnock.

I didn't want to create a standard bronze sculpture which is too staid in my view Richard Price Artist

Mr Price considered a number of designs before settling on the cut-out Wallace shape.

"I didn't want to create a standard bronze sculpture which is too staid in my view.

"Originally, it was to be a kind of large standing stone, then I thought of an archway but that proved too expensive."

Unlike the better-known Wallace monument, which overlooks Stirling and would have cost millions in modern money, this memorial is relatively cheap.

Mr Price says there is no rivalry intended, but he hopes his work will last at least as long as the one on the Stirlingshire crag.

"It is well galvanised so the chances of it rusting are remote," he said.

"Although you can't plan for coping with vandalism and suchlike, nonetheless we have built in serious longevity to this project."

Mr Price hopes that it will bring in tourists, and help to raise the profile of the Irvine valley.