OS1/32/16/88
| List of names as written | Various modes of spelling | Authorities for spelling | Situation | Description remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Site of Battle | Site of Battle &c. Site of Battle &c. Site of Battle &c. Site of Battle &c. Site of Battle &c. |
Sir Archibald Edmonstone Bart [Baronet] New Statistical Account "Brief Notices of Kilsyth" Rev [Reverend] J. Anderson Patrick Yuill |
029.05 | On the night of the 14th Augt [August] 1645 James Graham Marquis of Montrose marched his army by the Hill Road from Stirling and encamped for the night on the rising ground above Colzium. On the morning of the 15th the Covenanters under General Baillie came along the line of the present Turnpike road and proceeded to attack the Royalist army in the position they had chosen, The account of the Battle is as follows: "The officers of the Covenanters acted as independent Commanders, remaining at or quitting the stations to which they were directed as they judged most convenient, The consequence was inevitable. The enemy under the sole direction of Montrose, who soon perceived their confusion, and, before they had arrived on the ground, attacked them with impetuosity. The charge was successful, The horse were driven back on the foot, and the disorder became at once general and irremediable, No quarter was given, and the historian of Montrose's wars relates that 6000 were put to the sword." Brief Notices of Kilsyth. "The most memorable event in the civil history of the parish is the Battle of Kilsyth fought in 1645 betwixt General Baillie and Montrose, and which proved so disastrous to the Covenanters, The site of the battle is not very visible to the eye, It is in the valley rough and stony below Riskend farm, the greater part covered with the reservoir" New Statistical Account. Sir Archibald Edmonstone, who pointed out the site, states that the foot of Montrose's Army fought nearly naked, and the Cavalry with bared arms and without coats. [List of Names as written on the Plan] - Site of Battle betwixt the Covenanters under General Baillie, and the Royalists under the Marquis of Montrose. (15 August. 1645.) [Note beside 'Site of Battle'] - "But by far the most interesting antiquities, or antiquarian reminiscences, are those connected with the Battle of Kilsyth, the most disastrous in which the Covenanters acted a part, and at once the most sanguinary and the most victorious, whence the gallant but utterly mistaken Montrose plucked wreaths of blood-soaked garments in lieu of green laurel. This battle was fought on the 15th August, 1645. The scene of action was the district immediately around the hollow which now contains the artificial lake or reservoir of the Forth and Clyde Canal, a field so broken and irregular, that, did not tradition and history concur in identifying it, few persons could believe it to have been the arena of any Military operation." Fullarton's Gazetteer. |
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[Page] 88Co [County] Stirling -- Kilsyth Parish
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