Scottish Tour Guide's Blog

This evening, my theme is the Battle of Killiecrankie which took place north of Dunkeld, central Scotland, in and around the pass of Killiecrankie, a narrow and treacherous valley through which flows the River Garry.

This battle has its origins in the enforced abdication in 1688 of the Catholic leaning King James VII of Scotland/King James II of Scotland and his replacement by the Protestants, William and Mary from Holland. However, there remained a body of support for James in Scotland, collectively known as Jacobites (Jacob is Latin for James).

Two armies were facing up to eacxh other: the Jacobites under ‘Bonnie Dundee’ had a force of about 2500 Highlanders whilst the Government forces under Mackay totalled some 4000.

On July 27th, Mackay’s army navigated through the pass and deployed at Urrard House. Dundee’s forces attacked over the high ground from the direction of Blair Castle. The high ground gave the Jacobites advantage with Mackay’s forces strung out with high ground at front and the fast flowing Garry to the rear. Dundee ordered the charge at 8.00pm. continue reading…

Battle of Stirling Bridge Landscape

This evening, my theme is the Battle of Stirling Bridge which took place on September 11th 1297. I recently visited this site with a small group in context of  a one day battlefields tour.

The bridge at centre of the battle was wooden and  located a hundred meters or so upstream of the existing stone built medieval bridge which spans the River Forth and is situated on the plain between Stirling Castle and The Wallace Monument.

This battle arose as a function of the aggressive and predatory attitude of the English King Edward I towards Scotland and his desire to bring Scotland under his (English) rule.

The Scots were led by William Wallace (aka ‘Braveheart’) and Andrew Murray. John de Warenne, earl of Surrey commanded the English forces. The River Forth separated the two forces with Scots to the north and English to the south. continue reading…