Battlefields›Battle of Airds Moss 1680
Jacobite Risings

Battle of Airds Moss 1680

1680
Ayrshire, Scotland
Era
Jacobite Risings
Battle Type
Skirmish
Location
Ayrshire, Scotland
Status
Unregistered
The Combatants

Who Fought

Defeated
Covenanters led by Richard Cameron
VS
Victor
Government forces (Sir Andrew Bruce of Earlshall)
Forces involved

Covenanters: approximately 60 fighters under Richard Cameron. Government: approximately 112-120 cavalry under Sir Andrew Bruce of Earlshall

Outcome
Short, desperate skirmish; Richard Cameron and his brother Michael Cameron killed along with 7 others (9 Covenanters total); 5 Covenanters captured and later executed in Edinburgh; remainder escaped across the moss; government forces reported 28 killed; militarily a government victory though it produced a Covenanter martyr whose name was later given to the Cameronian Regiment.
The Battle

History & Significance

Battle of Airds Moss 1680 was a Jacobite skirmish, fought at Ayrshire, Scotland in 1680. Government forces (Sir Andrew Bruce of Earlshall) prevailed over Covenanters led by Richard Cameron. Short, desperate skirmish; Richard Cameron and his brother Michael Cameron killed along with 7 others (9 Covenanters total); 5 Covenanters captured and later executed in Edinburgh; remainder escaped across the moss; government forces reported 28 killed; militarily a government victory though it produced a Covenanter martyr whose name was later given to the Cameronian Regiment.

Confirmed battlefield location
The ground

The ground they fought on

The site of Battle of Airds Moss 1680 lies on Scottish Coal Measures Group, bedrock that formed in the Moscovian. The rock here is mudstone, siltstone, sandstone, coal, ironstone and ferricrete.

Casualties & Losses
  • Covenanters: 9 killed (including Richard Cameron and his brother Michael), 5 captured (later executed in Edinburgh), remainder escaped. Government: reportedly 28 killed
Questions & Answers

Frequently Asked Questions

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Overview
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Monuments
The legally protected scheduled monuments around the location, each with its period, type and significance.
Battlefields
The battles and sieges fought on this ground, mapped and set on a timeline of the wider conflict.
Roman Britain
The Roman roads, forts and towns near here, and the Iron Age people who held the land before Rome arrived.
Stat Accounts
The parish Statistical Accounts of the 1790s and 1830s, describing life, work and population here.
Civil War
The Civil War fighting, garrisons and recorded militaria in this area, woven into the arc of 1642 to 1651.
Geology
The bedrock beneath the site, its age and rock type, reaching back hundreds of millions of years.
Local Names
What the street and field names around here actually mean, and the history buried inside them.
Historical Maps
Ordnance Survey maps from the 1800s, layered over the location as it stands today.
Literature
The books, county histories, charters and archives that mention this place, quoted with their sources.
Legal
The protected sites nearby and the metal-detecting, access and treasure laws that apply to this ground.
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Protected heritage nearby

Scheduled Monuments near Battle of Airds Moss 1680

Old Foundry Holm,ironworks
Old Foundry Holm,ironworks
Scheduled monument · ~3.2 mi

Old Foundry Holm ironworks is a historic industrial site in Ayrshire, Scotland, protected as a scheduled monument by Historic Environment Scotland. The foundry operated within the landscape of the lower Ayrshire valleys, where access to water power and local coal deposits made ironworking viable…

Catrine, water works for Catrine Mill 30m S of 9 St Cuthbert's Street
Catrine, water works for Catrine Mill 30m S of 9 St Cuthbert's Street
Scheduled monument · ~4.3 mi

Catrine Water Works is a water supply system constructed to serve Catrine Mill, located 30 metres south of 9 St Cuthbert's Street in Ayrshire, Scotland. The works were engineered to harness water resources for the mill's industrial operations, forming part of the significant industrial infrastruc…

Glen Garr,cairn
Glen Garr,cairn
Scheduled monument · ~4.4 mi

Glen Garr cairn is a prehistoric funerary monument located in Ayrshire, Scotland. Constructed from stone gathered from the surrounding landscape, the cairn sits upon bedrock of Silurian mudstone, siltstone and sandstone, which would have offered abundant material for its construction. The monumen…

Muirkirk, remains of tar works, mines and structures E of Garpel Water
Muirkirk, remains of tar works, mines and structures E of Garpel Water
Scheduled monument · ~5.9 mi

Muirkirk tar works is a remains of tar works, mines and structures situated east of Garpel Water in Ayrshire, Scotland. The site represents the industrial heritage of Scotland's eighteenth and nineteenth-century chemical manufacturing sector, when local coal and shale deposits were exploited to p…

Kingencleugh Castle
Kingencleugh Castle
Scheduled monument · ~6.1 mi

Kingencleugh Castle is a medieval fortified structure located in Ayrshire, Scotland. The site represents a significant example of late medieval defensive architecture in the region, constructed during a period of considerable strategic importance in southwest Scotland. The castle comprises the re…

Auchinleck Castle
Auchinleck Castle
Scheduled monument · ~6.2 mi

Auchinleck Castle is a medieval stronghold situated in East Ayrshire, Scotland, dating from the fifteenth century. The castle represents a typical Scottish baronial tower house of its period, featuring the characteristic defensive architecture employed by minor nobility and landed gentry in the r…

Chapelhouse,chapel and farmstead
Scheduled monument · Medieval · ~3.3 miles
Blacksidend,cairn
Scheduled monument · ~3.6 miles
More from this era

Other Jacobite Risings Battles

Battle of Landguard Fort
1667
England
Battle of Dungeness (1666)
1666
England
Battle of Rullion Green, 1666
1666
Midlothian, Scotland
Stand-off at the Fords of Arkaig
1665
Scotland
In the same landscape

Battles near Battle of Airds Moss 1680

Aird's Moss, Covenanters Monument
1680
~2.9 miles away
Lugar Water, Waterside Wood
~4.1 miles away
Mauchline Moor
~6.5 miles away
Battle of Mauchline Muir
1648
~6.5 miles away
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