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Online publication covering Scottish history, heritage and archaeology. Featuring articles, reviews, historic attractions, places to visit, and events. mail@scottishhistory.org
On this day in Scottish History
5 May
5 May 1646: King Charles I surrendered himself to General David Leslie, commander of the Scottish Covenanter army besieging Newark-on-Trent. Charles was held in Newcastle until he was handed over to the Parliamentarians in...
On this day in Scottish History
4 May
4 May 1654: General George Monck arrived in Edinburgh and was welcomed by the city magistrates who held a banquet for him. General Monck proclaimed the Ordinance for uniting Scotland into one Commonwealth with...
On this day in Scottish History
3 May
3 May 1679: A group of Covenanters led by John Balfour of Kinloch murdered James Sharp, Archbishop of St Andrews on Magus Muir, Fife. Sharp was returning to St Andrews from Edinburgh with his...
On this day in Scottish History
2 May
2 May 1568: Mary, Queen of Scots escaped from Loch Leven castle where she had been imprisoned following her forced abdication in favour of her infant son James VI. Mary revoked her abdication and...
On this day in Scottish History
1 May
1 May 1455: During the civil war between the House of Stewart and the powerful Black Douglas family, the Black Douglases were defeated by an army loyal to James II at the battle of...
On this day in Scottish History
30 April
30 April 1940: While at anchor at the Tail o' the Bank off Greenock, the French Vauquelin-class destroyer Maillé Brézé suffered an explosion and sank following the accidental firing of one of the vessel's...
On this day in Scottish History
29 April
29 April 1690: At a council of war held at Coulnakyle, Major-General Thomas Buchan decided that the Jacobite army would encamp on the open ground at Cromdale overlooking the fords on the River Spey.
On this day in Scottish History
28 April
28 April 1746: Charles Edward Stuart wrote a final letter to the chiefs of the Jacobite clans stating that it was best if he went to France to try and get more French assistance...
On this day in Scottish History
27 April
27 April 1296: John Balliol's Scottish forces were defeated by an English army led by John de Warenne, Earl of Surrey at the battle of Dunbar.
27 April 1650: A Royalist army of Orcadian levies...
On this day in Scottish History
26 April
26 April 1711: The birth in Edinburgh of David Hume, the most influential thinker of the Scottish Enlightenment and one of the greatest philosophers of all time.
On this day in Scottish History
25 April
25 April 1710: The birth near Rothiemay of Scottish astronomer James Ferguson. Ferguson gained fame through his travelling lectures and easy-to-understand works on the basics of astronomy, despite never receiving formal training. He learned...
On this day in Scottish History
24 April
24 April 1558: 15-year-old Mary Queen of Scots marries 14-year-old Francoise, Dauphin of France in Paris. As part of the marriage contract, Mary agreed to bequeath Scotland to France if she should die without...
On this day in Scottish History
23 April
23 April 1733: Construction of Tay Bridge at Aberfeldy began when Lieutenant-General George Wade placed the first stone. The bridge was designed by William Adam and cost £4095 5s 10d. It was part of...
On this day in Scottish History
22 April
22 April 1304: Edward I of England began the siege of the strategically important Stirling Castle, held by Sir William Oliphant and 30 men. The siege ended on 24 July after 3 months of...
On this day in Scottish History
21 April
21 April 1703: Following a number of devastating fires in the city of Edinburgh, the Edinburgh Act was passed for the formation of a ‘Company for Quenching of Fires’.
21 April 1746: The City of...
On this day in Scottish History
20 April
20 April 1644: After seizing the town of Dumfries for Charles I with a force of English Royalists on 15 April, James Graham, Earl of Montrose was forced to withdraw back into England when...
On this day in Scottish History
19 April
19 April 1390: The death of Robert II at Dundonald Castle in Ayrshire. The son of Walter Stewart, 6th High Steward of Scotland and Marjorie Bruce (Robert the Bruce's daughter) Robert was the first...
On this day in Scottish History
18 April
18 April 1746: Following their defeat at Culloden on the 16th, Jacobite forces converged on the village and barracks of Ruthven in Badenoch which had become a rallying point for the army. Around 4,000...
On this day in Scottish History
17 April
17 April 1746: Following his defeat at the battle of Culloden the previous day, Charles Edward Stuart arrived at Fort Augustus while the remnants of the Jacobite army made their way to Aviemore before...
On this day in Scottish History
16 April
16 April 1130: At the Battle of Stracathro, three miles north of Brechin, the forces of Óengus of Moray and Máel Coluim mac Alaxandair were defeated by forces loyal to David I of Scotland.
16 April...
On this day in Scottish History
15 April
15 April 1644: James Graham, Earl of Montrose and his force of English Royalists seize the town of Dumfries. He would be forced to withdraw back to England on 20 April in the face...
On this day in Scottish History
14 April
14 April 1582: James VI of Scotland signed a royal charter which gifted old ecclesiastical revenues to the burgh of Edinburgh to establish a college. It would lead to the establishment of Edinburgh University...
On this day in Scottish History
13 April
13 April 1689: In support of the deposed James VII and II, Tory laird and soldier John Graham of Claverhouse, Viscount Dundee raised the Royal Standard of the House of Stuart on Dundee Law,...
On this day in Scottish History
12 April
12 April 1606: James VI of Scotland and I of England issued a royal decree for the creation of a union flag to represent the regal union between England and Scotland. It was initially...
On this day in Scottish History
11 April
11 April 1746: The three divisions of the Duke of Cumberland's army converged at Cullen on the Banffshire coast and Cumberland established his headquarters at Cullen House which had just recently been badly damaged...
On this day in Scottish History
10 April
10 April 1512: At Linlithgow Palace, Margaret Tudor, Queen of Scots, gave birth to a boy who would become King James V of Scotland. He would inherit the throne at seventeen months following the...
On this day in Scottish History
9 April
9 April 1650: The advance guard of James Graham, Marquis of Montrose's royalist force led by Major-General John Hurry (Montrose's old adversary and now ally), crossed the Pentland Firth from the Orkney Islands and...
On this day in Scottish History
8 April
8 April 1746: After receiving reports that the level of the River Spey had subsided, Prince William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland ordered his army to move out from Aberdeen and began the march north...
On this day in Scottish History
7 April
7 April 1522: A squadron of seven English warships entered the Firth of Forth and attacked Scottish shipping and coastal towns and villages during the Anglo-Scottish War of 1522-1524.
On this day in Scottish History
6 April
Declaration of Arbroath
6 April 1320: The Declaration of Aberbrothock (Arbroath) was sent to Pope John XXII from the earls and barons of Scotland. Written in Latin, possibly by Bernard of Kilwinning, it set out...
On this day in Scottish History
5 April
5 April 1820: An armed group of striking Glasgow workers marching to seize weapons at the Carron Ironworks in Falkirk were attacked by troops of the 10th Hussars and Stirlingshire Yeomanry in the so-called...
On this day in Scottish History
4 April
4 April 1406: Robert III died at Rothesay Castle shortly after receiving the news that his son and heir James had been captured by pirates while en route to France.
4 April 1661: The death...
On this day in Scottish History
3 April
3 April 1746: A Jacobite force under Donald Cameron of Lochiel and Alexander Macdonald of Keppoch broke off the siege of Fort William. Charles Edward Stuart had ordered all Jacobite detachments to assemble at...
News
Crannog Centre reopens after devastating fire
The Scottish Crannog Centre on Loch Tay welcomed the first visitors to its new site following a catastrophic blaze which destroyed the original site in 2021.
Located in Dalerb in Perthshire, the new site is...
On this day in Scottish History
2 April
2 April 1572: Dumbarton Castle which was held by a garrison loyal to Mary, Queen of Scots was seized by supporters of James VI during the Marian Civil War.
2 April 1746: While in camp...
On this day in Scottish History
1 April
1 April 1746: Major-General John Lindsay, Earl of Crawford with St George's Dragoon Regiment and 400 Hessian infantry began to push up from Dunkeld towards the Pass of Killiecrankie to reconnoitre the Jacobites before...
On this day in Scottish History
31 March
31 March 1295: The death at Lochmaben Castle of Scoto-Norman nobleman Robert de Brus, 5th Lord of Annandale, the son of Robert de Brus, 4th Lord of Annandale and Isobel of Huntingdon. He gained...
On this day in Scottish History
30 March
30 March 1296: After his summons to King John Balliol was ignored and in direct response to the sacking of Carlisle and atrocities committed by Scottish forces in the north of England, Edward I...
On this day in Scottish History
29 March
29 March 1746: At Dunkeld, Prince Frederick of Hesse-Cassel received a report that a large body of Jacobites were marching towards Dunkeld to attack his Hessian forces stationed there. Frederick drew his regiments up...
On this day in Scottish History
28 March
28 March 1560: Under the terms of the Treaty of Berwick (27 February 1560), an English army under Lord Grey crossed the border into Scotland to support the Scottish Lords of the Congregation and...