Battle of Bothwell Bridge

Battle of Bothwell Bridge
	Part of Scottish Covenanter wars
	; Battle of Bothwell Bridge
Date	22 June 1679
Location	Bothwell Bridge, near Bothwell, South Lanarkshire, Scotland
Result	Government victory
Belligerents
Scottish Government	Covenanters
Commanders and leaders
Duke of Monmouth ; The Viscount Dundee	Robert Hamilton
Strength
c. 5,000	c. 6,000
Casualties and losses
Few	c. 600
Registered battlefield
Designated	21 March 2011
Reference no.	BTL5

Last updated October 09, 2024

The Battle of Bothwell Bridge, or Bothwell Brig' took place on 22 June 1679. It was fought between government troops and militant Presbyterian Covenanters, and signalled the end of their brief rebellion. The battle took place at the bridge over the River Clyde between Hamilton and Bothwell in Lanarkshire, Scotland. The battlefield has been included in the Inventory of Historic Battlefields in Scotland and protected by Historic Scotland under the Historic Environment (Amendment) Act 2011.^[1]

Background

Following the Restoration of King Charles II, the Presbyterians in Scotland were increasingly persecuted for their beliefs, and a small armed rising had been put down in 1666. Although some Presbyterian ministers were "Indulged" by the government from 1669, allowing them to retain their churches without having to accept Episcopacy, the more hard-line elements continued to hold illegal outdoor meetings, known as conventicles. These were often broken up by squads of government dragoons, including those led by John Graham of Claverhouse. On 1 June 1679, Claverhouse had encountered such a gathering near Loudoun Hill, but his troops were routed by armed Covenanters at the Battle of Drumclog, and he was forced to flee to Glasgow. Following this initial success the Covenanters spent the next few weeks building their strength, as did the government. Charles' son James, Duke of Monmouth was sent north to take command, and the militia were raised.

Battle

The Covenanters had established their camp on the south bank of the Clyde, north of Hamilton. The rebels numbered around 6000 men, but were poorly disciplined and deeply divided by religious disagreements. They had few competent commanders, being nominally led by Robert Hamilton of Preston, although his rigid stance against the Indulged ministers only encouraged division. The preacher Donald Cargill and William Cleland, the victor of Drumclog, were present, as were David Hackston of Rathillet and John Balfour of Kinloch, known as Burley, who were among the group who murdered Archbishop Sharp on 3 May. The government army numbered around 5000 regular troops and militia,^[2] and was commanded by Monmouth, supported by Claverhouse and the Earl of Linlithgow. The royalist troops were massed on the northern or Bothwell bank of the river Clyde on sloping ground that included a field that has since become known as the Covenanters Field - not because the battle was fought there but because for many years it was the venue for a covenanters conventicle organised by the Scottish Covenanters Memorial Association.

The battle centred on the narrow bridge across the Clyde, the passage of which Monmouth was required to force in order to come at the Covenanters. Hackston led the defence of the bridge and had some initial success in the initial skirmishes at the bridge itself. But his men lacked artillery and ammunition, and were forced to withdraw after around an hour. Once Monmouth's men were across the bridge, the Covenanters were quickly routed. Many fled into the parks of nearby Hamilton Palace, seat of Duchess Anne, who was sympathetic to the Presbyterian cause, and it was in this area that the final engagements took place. The numbers of covenanters who were killed varies widely with estimates ranging from 7 - 700 according to the Scottish Battles Gazetteer. Around 1200 were taken prisoner.

Aftermath

The prisoners were taken to Edinburgh and held on land beside Greyfriars Kirkyard, an area now known as the Covenanters' Prison. Many remained there for several months, until the last of them were transported to the colonies in November. However, a later ship wreck allowed 48 of the 257 prisoners to escape. All those who had taken part on the Covenanter side of the battle were declared rebels and traitors, and the repression during this period has become known as "the Killing Time" in Covenanter histories.^[3] A core of hard-line rebels remained in arms, and became known as the Cameronians after Richard Cameron their leader. Cameron was killed in a skirmish at Airds Moss the next year, but his followers were eventually pardoned on the accession of William and Mary in 1689.

Memorials

The battle is a central event in Sir Walter Scott's 1816 novel, Old Mortality . Scott fictionalises the battle and the events leading up to it, introducing real people who were not actually present, such as General Tam Dalyell, as well as his own fictional characters. However, his description of the flow of the battle is considered accurate.

Letitia Elizabeth Landon's poetical illustration Claverhouse at the Battle of Bothwell Brig . follows her reading of Scott, whom she greatly admired. It relates to an engraving of a painting by W Hartley.^[4]

In 1903, on the 224th anniversary of the battle, a monument was dedicated on the site. This stands beside Bothwell Bridge, which was largely rebuilt in the 19th century.

Notes

↑ Historic Environment Scotland. "Battle of Bothwell Bridge (BTL5)" . Retrieved 29 November 2019.
↑ "Battle of Bothwell Bridge". UK Battlefield Resource Centre. Battlefields Trust. Retrieved 18 February 2010.
↑ Scottish Covenanter Memorials Association.
↑ Landon, Letitia Elizabeth (1836). "picture". Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1837. Fisher, Son & Co.Landon, Letitia Elizabeth (1836). "poetical illustration". Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1837. Fisher, Son & Co.

Related Research Articles

John Michael Welsh of Irongray was a leader of the Scottish Covenanter movement. Dunlop, an early 20th century writer, says: "It is a noteworthy fact that there exists no memoir of John Welsh of Irongray, though from the Battle of Rullion Green till Bothwell Bridge he was the most conspicuous Covenanting minister in Scotland. Had he glorified God in the Grassmarket, or fallen in some scuffle with Claverhouse's dragoons, or even like his friend Blackadder of Troqueer languished in prison on the Bass Rock, some pious hand would have been moved to write his story." Dunlop also wrote: "The events of Welsh's life must be sought for in the pages of Wodrow and Kirkton and in the letters and State papers of the reign of Charles II. After spending a fortnight hunting him in the British Museum, I have come to sympathise with Clavers and his dragoons. Mr John Welsh is a most elusive gentleman."

John Graham, 7th of Claverhouse, 1st Viscount Dundee was a Scottish soldier and nobleman, a Tory and an Episcopalian. He was responsible for policing southwest Scotland during and after the religious unrest and rebellion of the late 17th century, and went on to lead the Jacobite rising of 1689.

James Sharp, or Sharpe, was a minister in the Church of Scotland, or kirk, who served as Archbishop of St Andrews from 1661 to 1679. His support for Episcopalianism, or governance by bishops, brought him into conflict with elements of the kirk who advocated Presbyterianism. Twice the victim of assassination attempts, the second cost him his life.

Old Mortality is one of the Waverley novels by Walter Scott. Set in south west Scotland, it forms, along with The Black Dwarf, the 1st series of his Tales of My Landlord (1816). The novel deals with the period of the Covenanters, featuring their victory at Loudoun Hill and their defeat at Bothwell Bridge, both in June 1679; a final section is set in 1689 at the time of the royalist defeat at Killiecrankie.

The Killing Time was a period of conflict in Scottish history between the Presbyterian Covenanter movement, based largely in the southwest of the country, and the government forces of Kings Charles II and James VII. The period, roughly from 1679 to the Glorious Revolution of 1688, was subsequently called The Killing Time by Robert Wodrow in his The History of the Sufferings of the Church of Scotland from the Restoration to the Revolution, published in 1721–22. It is an important episode in the martyrology of the Church of Scotland.

The Battle of Drumclog was fought on 1 June 1679, between a group of Covenanters and the forces of John Graham of Claverhouse, at Drumclog, in South Lanarkshire, Scotland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Loudoun Hill</span> Mountain in Scotland

Loudoun Hill is a volcanic plug in East Ayrshire, Scotland. It is located near the head of the River Irvine, east of Darvel.

Stonehouse is a rural village in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is on Avon Water in an area of natural beauty and historical interest, near to the Clyde Valley. It is on the A71 trunk road between Edinburgh and Kilmarnock, near the towns of Hamilton, Larkhall and Strathaven. The population of Stonehouse is around 7,500.

John Brown (1627–1685), also known as the Christian Carrier, was a Protestant Covenanter from Priesthill farm, a few miles from Muirkirk in Ayrshire, Scotland. He became a Presbyterian martyr in 1685.

A conventicle originally meant "an assembly" and was frequently used by ancient writers to mean "a church." At a semantic level, conventicle is a Latinized synonym of the Greek word for church, and references Jesus' promise in Matthew 18:20, "Where two or three are met together in my name."

James Baylis Allen (1803–1876) was a British engraver. Allen, together with Edward and William Radclyffe and the Willmores, belonged to a school of landscape-engravers which arose in Birmingham, where there were numerous engravers working on iron and steel manufactures.

George Livingston PC was a military officer and third Earl of Linlithgow.

David Hackston or Halkerstone, was a militant Scottish Covenanter, remembered mainly for his part in the murder of Archbishop James Sharp of St. Andrews in 1679 and his involvement in the events of 1680 which led to his capture and execution.

Robert Hamilton (1650–1701), second baronet of Preston, was one of the leaders of the Scottish Covenanters. He was the son of Sir Thomas Hamilton, and brother of Sir William, first baronet of Preston. Hamilton was educated at Glasgow University under Professor Burnet. He attached himself to the cause of the Covenanters, and appears in command at Drumclog and Bothwell Brig. After the defeat he retired to Holland, where he remained with his brother-in-law, Gordon of Earlston, until the Revolution of 1688. He declined to recognise title of Prince of Orange, on the ground that he was not a Covenanted sovereign. He was arrested in Edinburgh for being concerned in the second Sanquhar Declaration of August, 1692, issued by the "United Societies". On liberation, he left his testimony afresh against backsliding in Church and State, and becomes as far as one person could be the main stay of "the afflicted Remnant." He died, unmarried, aged 51.

Drumclog is a small village in South Lanarkshire, Parish of Avendale and Drumclog, Scotland. The habitation is situated on the A71, between Caldermill and Priestland in East Ayrshire at a height of 196.7m and about 5 miles west of Strathaven.

John King was an outlawed minister of the Covenant, chaplain at one time to Lord Cardross, but seized by Claverhouse among the insurgents after the affair at Drumclog. King was taken to Edinburgh along with another preacher named John Kid. They were each subjected to torture, condemned to death, and executed. Following his death King's head and limbs were displayed at the Netherbow Port on Edinburgh's Royal Mile beside James Guthrie's skull.

John Kid was an outlawed minister of the Covenant. He was seized by Claverhouse among the insurgents after the affair at Drumclog. He was released by the insurgents but recaptured in a bog a few miles from Bothwell Bridge with a sword in his belt. Kid was taken to Edinburgh along with another preacher named John King. They were each subjected to torture, by the boots, condemned to death, and executed. Following his death Kid's head and limbs were displayed at the Netherbow Port on Edinburgh's Royal Mile beside James Guthrie's skull.

John Balfour of Kinloch was the principal actor in the assassination of Archbishop Sharp in 1679. For this crime his estate was forfeited and a large reward offered for his capture. He fought at Drumclog and at Bothwell Bridge, and is said to have escaped to Holland, and to have there tendered his services to the Prince of Orange.

Events from the year 1679 in the Kingdom of Scotland.

The Trumpeter's Well at Caldermill in South Lanarkshire is recorded as the site of the death of a government trumpeter or cornet who was killed in the aftermath of the 1679 Battle of Drumclog at which the Covenanters were victorious.

References

Scott, Walter (1816) Old Mortality.
"Bothwell Bridge Battlefield". Gazetteer for Scotland. Retrieved 18 February 2010.
Scottish Covenanter Memorials Association. "Covenanters' Prison, Greyfriars Churchyard". Covenanter Memorials Association. Archived from the original on 23 October 2015. Retrieved 14 August 2011.
Martin, John (1896). "Bothwell Bridge". Herald of Mission News. 10 (3): 60-64.
Thomson, J.H (1875) The Martyr Graves of Scotland

External links

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[1] Historic Environment Scotland. "Battle of Bothwell Bridge (BTL5)" . Retrieved 29 November 2019.

[2] "Battle of Bothwell Bridge". UK Battlefield Resource Centre. Battlefields Trust. Retrieved 18 February 2010.

[FOOTNOTEScottish_Covenanter_Memorials_Association-3] Scottish Covenanter Memorials Association.

[4] Landon, Letitia Elizabeth (1836). "picture". Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1837. Fisher, Son & Co.Landon, Letitia Elizabeth (1836). "poetical illustration". Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1837. Fisher, Son & Co.

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