Battle of Harlaw - Inverurie, Aberdeenshire
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creg-ny-baa
N 57° 18.396 W 002° 24.844
30V E 535300 N 6351667
Metal plaque at the foot of the monument erected in 1911, commemorating the Battle of Harlaw, between Highlanders and Lowlanders, fought here, just north of the Aberdeenshire town of Inverurie in 1411.
Waymark Code: WM154CM
Location: Northern Scotland, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 10/14/2021
Views: 2
The Battle of Harlaw was a day long conflict, fought on July 24th 1411, between the invading Highlanders, and Lowlanders defending the city of Aberdeen. The battle was bloody and inconclusive, and is marked by a turret-style monument at the site, two miles to the north of the Aberdeenshire town of Inverurie. The monument was designed by scholar-architect William Kelly and erected by the Burgh of Aberdeen in 1911, five hundred years after the battle. At the foot of the monument is a metal plaque on a plinth with historical information and verse on the battle which reads as follows:
'The Battle of Harlaw was fought on the heath to the north-west of the monument on 24 July 1411. It is commemorated in ballad and legend as a major conflict between Highlanders and Lowlanders, each side claiming victory.
The army of Donald. Lord of the Isles, campaigning to enforce his claim to the Earldom of Ross, had encamped overnight on the High Road from Inverness to Aberdeen. Early in the morning this this ten thousand strong force was surprised by a smaller army assembled by Alexander, Earl of Mar to defend Aberdeen and the Lowlands against the Highland Host. Amongst the levies from Aberdeenshire, Kincardineshire and Angus were townsfolk of Aberdeen led by Provost Robert Davidson.
The conflict was bloody and indecisive, both parties retreating under cover of night. Among the dead lay Provost Davidson, Sir Alexander Irvine of Drum and Hector Maclean of Duart. In Aberdeen the battle is still remembered as a great deliverance.
As I cam in by Dunidier,
An down by Wetherha
There were fifty thousand Heilanmen
A marching to Harlaw.....The Heilanmen wi their lang swords,
They laid on us fu sair;
And they drove back our merrymen
Three acres breadth or mair.
....The first ae stroke that Forbes struck,
Made the great Macdonell reel;
The second stroke that Forbes struck,
The great Macdonell fell.
And sic a pilleurichie,
The like ye never saw,
As was many Heilanmen
When they saw Macdonell fa.
....and sic a weary burying,
The like you never saw,
As there was the Sunday after that
On the muir down by Harlaw.
And gin Heilan lasses spear at you,
For them that aged awa,
Ye may tell them play and plain enough,
They're sleeping at Harlaw!'
The site is reached by heading north out of Inverurie on the B9001 road for a mile, then turning left along a minor road where the monument is situated on a bend in the road.