Battlefields›Battle of Corpach
Medieval

Battle of Corpach

1470
Scotland
Era
Medieval
Battle Type
Pitched Battle
Location
Scotland
Status
Unregistered
The Combatants

Who Fought

Defeated
Clan Maclean
VS
Victor
Clan Cameron
Forces involved

Clan Cameron (led by Ailean nan Creach) versus Clan Maclean (including a young chieftain, Ewen or John Abrach, son of John Garve Maclean of Coll)

Outcome
Decisive Cameron victory; the Camerons routed the Maclean forces and retained their lands around Fort William.
The Battle

History & Significance

The Battle of Corpach was a Scottish clan battle in which the Clan Cameron routed the Clan Maclean. It took place around 1470 at Corpach, just north of Fort William on the west coast of Scotland.

After Alexander, Lord of the Isles was released from Tantallon Castle in 1431, he had awarded the Cameron lands around Fort William to the Macleans under John Garve Maclean of Coll, as punishment for the Camerons deserting him in 1429, before the battle of Lochaber.

The Clan Maclean invaded and were confronted by the Camerons at Corpach. It is recorded that a young MacLean chieftain, Ewen or John Abrach, the son of John Garve Maclean of Coll was killed. The Camerons were led in the battle by their chief Ailean nan Creach, and completely routed the Maclean forces, retaining their lands. However the Macleans would attempt to dislodge them throughout the coming years.

Battle of Inverlochy (1431) - nearby battle that had seen the Donalds heavily defeat the royalist forces of Mar and Caithness.

The ground

The ground they fought on

The site of Battle of Corpach lies on Loch Eil Group, bedrock that formed in the Neoproterozoic. The rock here is psammite.

Buried history

The Cameron chief Ailean nan Creach led his clan to a complete rout of the invading Maclean forces at Corpach around 1470, slaying a young Maclean chieftain identified as Ewen or John Abrach, the son of John Garve Maclean of Coll, and securing the Cameron hold on the lands around Fort William that had been stripped from them as punishment some four decades before.

Casualties & Losses
  • A young Maclean chieftain, Ewen or John Abrach, son of John Garve Maclean of Coll, was killed; broader casualties unrecorded
Questions & Answers

Frequently Asked Questions

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Monuments
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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
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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 Corpach

Caledonian Canal,Corpach Locks and Basin
Caledonian Canal,Corpach Locks and Basin
Scheduled monument · ~0.2 mi

Corpach Locks and Basin is a major engineering work on the Caledonian Canal in Argyllshire, Scotland. The locks and basin form the sea-level terminus of the canal system, managing the transition between freshwater and tidal waters. The structure sits upon psammite bedrock of the Loch Eil Group, f…

Caledonian Canal,Neptune's Staircase,canal locks,Banavie
Caledonian Canal,Neptune's Staircase,canal locks,Banavie
Scheduled monument · ~0.9 mi

Neptune's Staircase is a flight of eight canal locks at Banavie in Argyllshire, Scotland, forming the most dramatic section of the Caledonian Canal. Completed in the early nineteenth century, the locks descend steeply from Banavie towards Loch Eil, raising or lowering vessels by a total of 64 fee…

Fort William, fort
Fort William, fort
Scheduled monument · Iron Age · ~1.4 mi

Fort William is an Iron Age fort located in Inverness-shire, Scotland. The site occupies a naturally defensive position, its bedrock composed of ancient metasedimentary schist formed during the Neoproterozoic and belonging to the Moinian sequence. This metamorphic foundation provided a stable bas…

Caledonian Canal,Moy Swing Bridge
Caledonian Canal,Moy Swing Bridge
Scheduled monument · ~5.4 mi

Moy Swing Bridge is a moy swing bridge on the Caledonian Canal in Inverness-shire, Scotland. It is a scheduled monument protected by Historic Environment Scotland. The bridge exemplifies the engineering solutions developed for the Canal's construction in the early nineteenth century, which requir…

Caledonian Canal, Gairlochy Locks, lighthouse and signal lamp
Caledonian Canal, Gairlochy Locks, lighthouse and signal lamp
Scheduled monument · ~6.9 mi

Gairlochy Locks, Lighthouse and Signal Lamp is a scheduled monument in Inverness-shire, forming part of the Caledonian Canal's critical infrastructure. The locks sit upon fault zone bedrock comprising mylonitic rock and fault-breccia, geological features that reflect the ancient tectonic disturba…

Caledonian Canal,Corpach to Banavie
Scheduled monument · ~0.4 miles
Inverlochy Castle
Scheduled monument · ~1.4 miles
Tor Castle
Scheduled monument · ~2.4 miles
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In the same landscape

Battles near Battle of Corpach

Battle of Inverlochy I
~1.4 miles away
Battle of Inverlochy Ii
~1.4 miles away
Battle of Inverlochy (1431)
1431
~1.6 miles away
Battle of Inverlochy (1645)
1645
~1.6 miles away
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Sources
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