Gardiner, S. R. 1893 History of the Great Civil War: 1644-45. Longman, London.
Reid, S. 1990 The Campaigns of Montrose: a military history of the Civil War in Scotland 1639 to 1646. Mercat Press, Edinburgh.
Information on Sources & Publication
Kilsyth is a well documented battle, thanks particularly to the account prepared by Baillie as part of the inquest into the disastrous Covenanter defeat. This is complemented by several Royalist accounts. The two strands of Royalist accounts, Gordon's and Wishart's, emphasise very different aspects of the battle, the one focussing on the cavalry attack of Aboyne, the other on the rash action of the Highlanders. Both are seen as the decisive actions that turned the battle at the outset. However, Wishart's account is supported by (or perhaps partly derived from) the wholly contemporary True Relation, and in minimal form is supported by the Clanranald account and indeed by Baillie's Covenanter report. Hence, although Wishart's account is generally said to be of very little value, in reality it provides considerable detail. In contrast, Gordon shows only a very small part of the action, claiming this cavalry action determined the battle, yet all the other accounts suggest that it was the intense infantry fire-fight for the ditches and walls of the enclosures that proved the critical focus of the action. As at Auldearn, Gordon's account focuses just upon a limited part of the battle and troops in which he had a particular interest. Though he does give some incomplete evidence on the battle array of the Covenanter vanguard, which complements that from Baillie, he provides no topographical detail at all with which one can place the action.
The Clanranald account is a useful complement to Wishart, but it was intended to represent the role of the 'Gaels' in the Civil War, which it claims is little noticed and asserts that it was they who 'did all that was done' on the king's side; as a result, it presents everything from a distinct perspective (Nimmo & Gillespie, 1880). Of the other reports, none add much of substance, Fraser's being close to detail in Wishart and the others such as Guthry's seemingly wholly derivative.
There is substantial difference of view between several of the secondary sources as to the exact deployment of the forces, the viability of, and reasons for, Baillie's outflanking move and indeed the sequence and nature of the whole action. Gardiner, using the main primary sources and considering the terrain, is probably the most effective of the early studies (Gardiner 1893). This has now been superseded by Reid, who effectively exploits the primary sources, and reassesses numbers and deployments, providing conjectural plans for the location of the various stages of the action (Reid, 1990). None of the other discussions provide significant additional insights.
Primary Sources
anon 1645 The True relation of the late & happie victorie at Kilsyth, 15 August, 1645. J. Brown, Aberdeen
Baillie's 'Vindication' Baillie, R. 1775 Letters, and journals: containing an impartial account of public transactions, civil, ecclesiastical, and military, in England and Scotland, from the beginning of the civil wars, in 1637, to the year 1662. Creech & Gray, Edinburgh. 264-79.
Clanranald Manuscript: reprinted in (Nimmo and Gillespie, 1880) I, 226
Fraser, J. & Mackay, W. 1905 Chronicles of the Frasers: the Wardlaw manuscript entitled 'Polichronicon seu policratica temporum, or, The true genealogy of the Frasers', 916-1674. Scottish History Society, Edinburgh. 299-301.
Gordon, P. & Dunn, J. 1844 A Short Abridgement of Britane's Distemper: from the yeare of God MDCXXXIX to MDCXLIX. Spalding Club, Aberdeen. 139-45.
Wishart, G. 1720 A Complete History of the Wars in Scotland; under the conduct of the illustrious James Marquis of Montrose. London. 119-34
Cartographic & Illustrative Sources
No further information.
Secondary Sources
Anton, P. 1893 Kilsyth: a parish history. J. Smith & Son, Glasgow.
Baillie, R. 1775 Letters and Journals: containing an impartial account of public transactions, civil, ecclesiastical, and military, in England and Scotland, from the beginning of the civil wars, in 1637, to the year 1662. Creech & Gray, Edinburgh.
Blaeu, J. & Pont, T. 1654 Theatrum Orbis Terrarum sive Atlas Novus: Atlas of Scotland.
Gardiner, S. R. 1893 History of the Great Civil War: 1644-45. Longman, London.
Millar, H. B. 1980 The History of Cumbernauld and Kilsyth: from earliest times: including a guide to places of interest in the district. Cumbernauld Historical Society, Cumbernauld.
Nimmo, W. & Gillespie, R. 1880 The History Of Stirlingshire. Hamilton, London.
Reid, S. 1990 The Campaigns of Montrose: a military history of the Civil War in Scotland 1639 to 1646. Mercat Press, Edinburgh.
About the Inventory of Historic Battlefields
Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating sites and places at the national level. These designations are Scheduled monuments, Listed buildings, Inventory of gardens and designed landscapes and Inventory of historic battlefields.
We make recommendations to the Scottish Government about historic marine protected areas, and the Scottish Ministers decide whether to designate.
The inventory is a list of Scotland's most important historic battlefields. Battlefields are landscapes over which a battle was fought. We maintain the inventory under the terms of the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979.
We add sites of national importance to the inventory using the selection guidance published in Designation Policy and Selection Guidance (2019)
The information in the inventory record gives an indication of the national importance of the site(s). It is not a definitive account or a complete description of the site(s).
Enquiries about development proposals requiring planning permission on or around inventory sites should be made to the planning authority. The planning authority is the main point of contact for all applications of this type.
Find out more about the inventory of historic battlefields and our other designations at www.historicenvironment.scot/advice-and-support. You can contact us on 0131 668 8914 or at designations@hes.scot.
Images
There are no images available for this record, you may want to check Canmore for images relating to Battle of Kilsyth
There are no images available for this record.
Search Canmore