Battlefield Walk:Loudoun Hill-Bruce Strikes Back

Been a long time since I posted-news of my demise was slightly premature. However in light of recent stresses at work, and for my peace of mind, I am revitalizing this platform, now hopefully regularly updated with progress on the new book, battlefield walkswalks, historic site visits, museums and book reviews and video logs. Above all accuracy, as far as we can tell will be the key.

It is no secret to anyone that knows me that battlefields are my passion. In the words of Churchill, "they are the punctuation marks of history". Not should they rightly be governed by trust or indeed museums rational, who would want to impose a particular interpretation rationale upon them. Battlefields are not stuck in time, they need to be covered as a multifaceted body of debatable fact, not merely stuck in the time period they were thought, but motors be their collective commemoration, memory and significance, culturally and politically.

Battlefields, for their continued preservation, have to move with the times, technologically and as a display space, to retain societal significance within the computer age. And let's face it, it is a tourist resource. We kid ourselves that we have to go abroad to see places so amazing where significant and beautiful rents happened, then these places could also occur down  the road from where you live. You just need to look for them. If you're like me on a long bus/car journey, you can play the spot the battlefield game. You don't have anythig better to do!

With this in mind, a couple of weeks ago, I decided to visit the battlefield at Loudoun Hill, about 3 miles outside the town of Strathaven.

A desicated volcanic plug/lava chamber of a similar age to Stirling, Edinburgh and Dumbarton, it not only served as the site of a Roman fort (since quarried away) a 1st Wars of Independence Battlefield, but also the site of a Conventicle that directly influenced English intervention in the 1679 Whig Rising and led t o the twin battles of Drumclog and Bothwell Brig.

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Convertible held in front of Loudoun Hill, 3 May 1679. Mural from Master's Tearomom, between Strathaven and Darvel, now closed down.

But onto our battlefield. Aymer de Valence, Earl of Pembroke had been directly provoked by James Douglas attack on Philip Mowbray to move north with 3000 men to crush Bruce, after his defeat at Glen Trool, March 1307

Aymer de Valence

Philip Mowbray

On 10 May 1307, Bruce with 600 men had used what appears to be the remains of the fort, to create a defensive position for his 600 pike. Barbour while poetic, provides little information (exaggerated) about the course of the fighting beyond English cavalry leading a frontal assault (the options open with the terrain argue more forgotten actions were undertaken but have been forgotten). However eventually, de Valence was forced to retreat.

Theories as to the original site of the battlefield abound. Site A is overlooking the remains of the Northern slopes of the hill. Site B is set between two sets of bogland, abutted by the Roman Road to Strathaven, overlooked by a wind farm today. However no archaeological study has tied down these events.

Site A

Site B

Interpretation is sparse, a plaque at the top of the hill and in the car park, although both also mention Wallace's battle, almost certainly Blind Harry transplanting Bruce's victory to Wallace. A monument to Wallace is also present. Care also needs to be taken ascending to the top of the hill, precipitous edges and treacherous footing mean good walking boots are a must.

Wallace Memorial

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Bruce Memorial on top of Hill

Not a bad afternoon's battlefield walking and certainly one of the most picturesque battlefields I've seen.
REferences:
Historic Environment Scotland, Register for Historic Battlefields: Loudoun Hill 1307 (Edinburgh, 2009)

Auldearn

Apologies for lack of posts recently, time has been spent expanding this article just recently published on the Helion and Co. blog. In particular, I think it highlights the plight and nature battlefield preservation follows everyday. While we can argue that changes to the landscape are negligible, not touching the contemporary landscapes, the altering of the modern and even future landscape upon which a fixed in time interpretation of a battlefield site has the ability to completely change the politics of immersion, experience, interpretation and meaning on a battle site. Removing any sense of memoriality by supplanting a modern cosmopolitan bustle, as has been experienced on battlefields such as Langside, Barnet  and Newbury etc., while not directly harming the physical remains, metaphysically alters and destroys any sense of psychological understanding of the site. More on the subject anon. For now, enjoy the following article.

http://blog.helion.co.uk/does-the-march-of-progress-threaten-the-battlefield-at-auldearn-warwick-louth-investigates/

The Military Heritage of Kirkintilloch, East Dunbartonshire

Often we get blinded by the dearth of battlefields and historic sites around us, but often neglect the more normal, but nevertheless significant heritage surrounding our local area. Dotted in the right in the middle of the town I currently live, Peel Park is more than the Victorian green space we are so used to. Undulating in a curve around the North West peripheries of this site, there is what at first appears to be a naturally occurring ditch, even under some interpretation, a possible 18^th century haw-haw. In actual fact this forms the Roman mile castle on the Antonine Wall, according to Nennius, known as Caerpentaloch, its obvious advantage over the surrounding country formed from the presence of a underlying volcanic drumlin. Substantial finds, from sarcophagi, bath house material, ballista bolts and sling shot show this to be a significant site, as confirmed by continuous excavation between 1914-53, covering a base area of 1.4ha, aligned East to West, extending into the present Tesco’s car park.

Recutting of the Antonine Wall and the extent of the Roman Fort

In the North East section of this fort, there is a clear rise in the ground, in the form of a Norman motte. The mound measures30mx17m and is said to have held a stone keep, that has since been robbed out. However the lack of space required for the production of foundation trenches, coupled with the forts proximity to Glasgow and Cumbernauld, argues the point that this was merely a grey hag, or minor fortlet manned by a sharpened stockade and palisade, the presence of an early curving hornwork to the East reinforcing this. This is further reinforced by looking at the livery and maintenance associated with manorial rights, as a knights retainder, maintaining 27 knights and 19 crossbowmen The town, formed as a burghal fort in 1211 by William Comyn (providing the name Comyn Castle), was one of the first forts to be captured by Edward I after Dunbar on 10^th June 1296. An English garrison under Sir Phillip Moubray, one of the captors of Wallace and governor of Stirling Castle was emplaced.

                                                                        Kirkintilloch Motte

                             The summit, presenting not a lot of space to erect a proper stone building

By the summer of 1306 Bruce had been crowned king and was finding ways of legitimising his claim. Part of this was to firstly take the Scottish home counties and form a barrier against further incursion. Barely having time to be reinforced by 20 archers from Linlithgow, a force under Bishop Robert Wishart of Glasgow invested the fortress. With a lack of siege engines Wishart requisitioned timbers meant for the building of Glasgow cathedral for use in siege engines, although what their nature actually was we cannot tell. What we do know is that this would require a siege camp to be created, requiring flat, dry land for alignment and ease of use of trebuchet, perrier and mangonel, within easy reach of the castle walls. As the immediate fields surrounding the road at the base of the hill are flat, but wetland, it can only be deduced that Wishart had already taken the outer bailey of the town, likely running in parallel to the motte down Kirkintilloch High Street (reinforced by the lower reaches being named Cowgate). Alternatively two crossings of the Clyde possibly suggest likely sites for approximate positions, although their distance from the motte would suggest that counterweight and traction siege engines were constructed, rather than small manpowered ones.

Kirkintilloch High Street, marking the likely alignment and spread of the bailey. The half of the town over the Forth-Clyde canal likely represents the annexing of the burghal form post 1400.

Possible position of siege camp, although the fact that it is wetland means it is unlikely

Whatever the case, the siege was not to be a success and it would not be until a follow up attempt under Sir John Comyn , during the 1314 siege of Stirling that Kirkintilloch fort was to fall. It was subsequently slighted, like so many fortifications under Robert I (the Bruce) to prevent their falling into English hands.

This was not to be an end to Kirkintilloch’s military history. On 3^rd January 1746, the Jacobite Army, having reached Derby and turning back in the direction of Falkirk. A straggler was shot and a couple of pot shots were made at Charles Edward Stuart from one of the barns surrounding The Auld Kirk Conventicle. On hearing of this, Charles wanted to burn the town. Only on the better judgement of his Quarter-Master General, Colonel Sullivan and a substantial payment from the towns people, did Charles spare the town.

The Old Kirk Coventicle, site of an attempted ambush on “Bonnie Prince Charlie” Stuart’s Jacobite Army

Bibliography

Brown, C. (2008) Scottish Battlefields: 500 Battles that Shaped Scottish History Tempus Publishing, Stroud

Cornell, D. (2009) Bannockburn: The Triumph of Robert the Bruce Yale University Press, London

RCAHMS, Canmore: Kirkintilloch http://canmore.rcahms.gov.uk/en/site/45204/details/kirkintilloch/ DOI: 25/01/2016 17:12

Watson, F. (1998) Under the Hammer: Edward I and Scotland 1287-1307 Tuckwell Press, East Linton

Copyright, all rights reserved Warwick Louth

The Arte Militaire

So as I mentioned above, I have just finished writing a manuscript for an upcoming book on the below subject for Helion and Company Publishing, to be released late 2016. Set directly in the middle of the Military Revolution, its main argument is that there are no coincidental artefact depositions associated with Early Modern battlefields, as the level of drill and dictation of movement dictates the frequency and nature to which such finds are lost; a factor that can be measured and modelled clearly through archaeology. Originally based upon my Masters Dissertation, it has been a project long in the gestation and thought process before coming to fruition. It not only focuses upon manuals use within a battlefield environment, but equally stretches to creating models and norms that can be applied to earthworks and defensive features and their effective protection due to todays urban sprawl. Coming to a bookshop near you soon
http://blog.helion.co.uk/military-manuals-and-battlefield-interpretation-warwick-louth/

Introductions

Well as you have obviously found my blog space, I should introduce myself. I am trained as a conflict archaeologist and military historian, with a passion for the 17th century, The Wars of the Three Kingdoms in particular (although I will occasionally branch out into new areas of interest) as well as battlefield preservation. I am also Archaeological Advisor and Trustee for the Scottish Battlefields Trust. I am also a freelance author and lecturer (please contact me for more information on giving talks/writing articles) and have literally written what I hope are the final words in a publication based around the use of 17th century manuals for conflict archaeology, to be published in full by Helion & Co. Publishing in late 2016. More on that as it becomes available. My research posts, unlike my other blog are likely to be more infrequent, or indeed linked to other articles that I might have written for other websites and blogs. I hope you find them as enlightening as I did writing them