Battle of Glen Trool

Who Fought

History & Significance

The Battle of Glen Trool was a minor engagement in the First War of Scottish Independence, fought in April 1307. Glen Trool is a narrow glen in the Southern Uplands of Galloway, Scotland. Loch Trool is aligned on an east–west axis and is flanked on both sides by steep rising hills, making it ideal for an ambush. The battlefield is currently under research to be inventoried and protected by Historic Scotland under the Scottish Historical Environment Policy of 2009.

Robert Bruce had been crowned King of Scots after being involved in the killing of John "the Red" Comyn, a leading rival, a long time enemy, and one of the most powerful men in Scotland, the previous year 1306. Robert the Bruce's rightful claim to the Scottish throne led to a war between King Robert and King Edward I and his allies the Comyns and the MacDougalls.

After his defeat at the Battle of Methven and subsequently, at the Battle of Dalrigh in the summer of 1306 the recently crowned King Robert was little better than a fugitive, disappearing altogether from the historical record for a number of months. It wasn't until the spring of 1307 that he made a reappearance, landing in the south-west of Scotland with soldiers recruited, for the most part, from the Macdonald controlled Isles (not merely the Western Isles that today are the Outer Hebrides but all the Isles. It was an understandable move; for he came ashore in his own earldom of Carrick, where he could expect to command a large degree of local support. Perhaps even more important, the countryside itself was well known to Bruce, and there were plenty of remote and difficult areas that allowed cover and protection for his men.

The English border was not far distant; all of the local castles were strongly held by Edward's forces; and, perhaps most important of all, the Lordship of Galloway, the old Balliol patrimony, was adjacent to Carrick, and controlled by the MacDoualls, hostile to King Robert the Bruce and his cause. When his brothers Thomas and Alexander, Dean of Glasgow attempted a landing on the shores of Loch Ryan, they met with disaster at the hands of Dungal MacDouall, the leading Balliol supporter in the area.

King Robert managed to establish a firm base in the area but it was vital that he made progress against the enemy if his cause was to attract the additional support that was so clearly needed. An early success came with a raid on an English camp on the eastern shores of the Clatteringshaws Loch. It also alerted the enemy to his presence. Aymer de Valence, King Robert's second cousin and opponent at Methven, received intelligence that his enemy was encamped at the head of Glen Trool.

The ground they fought on

The site of Battle of Glen Trool lies on Portpatrick Formation And Glenwhargen Formation (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Caradocian. The rock here is wacke.

Frequently Asked Questions

Scheduled Monuments near Battle of Glen Trool

Minnoch,Old Bridge of

Scheduled monument · ~3.6 mi

Old Bridge of Minnoch is a historic bridge spanning the River Minnoch in Kirkcudbrightshire, south-western Scotland. The bridge crosses watercourse cut through wacke bedrock of the Portpatrick and Glenwhargen Formations, Ordovician sedimentary rocks that underlie this part of Galloway. These hard…

White Cairn, chambered cairn 630m W of Glentrool School

Scheduled monument · Neolithic · ~4 mi

White Cairn is a Neolithic chambered cairn located 630 metres west of Glentrool School in Kirkcudbrightshire, south-west Scotland. The monument is protected as a Scheduled Monument by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM1049. It represents the funerary architecture of the Neolithic pe…

King's Cairn, chambered cairn 450m NE of Kirriemore

Scheduled monument · Neolithic · ~4 mi

King's Cairn is a neolithic chambered cairn situated 450 metres north-east of Kirriemore in Kirkcudbrightshire, south-western Scotland. The monument stands on bedrock of the Kirkcolm Formation, a wacke deposited during the Caradocian period, which would have provided suitable stone for the cairn'…

White Cairn,cairn 910m NNE of Bargrennan Cottage

Scheduled monument · ~4.5 mi

White Cairn is a cairn situated 910 metres north-north-east of Bargrennan Cottage in Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland. It stands upon bedrock of the Kirkcolm Formation, a wacke deposited during the Caradocian period, which creates the underlying geology of this upland region. The monument is protecte…

Middle Bridge of Cree,cairn 110m WNW of

Scheduled monument · ~4.7 mi

Middle Bridge of Cree, cairn 110m WNW of is a Bronze Age cairn located in Wigtownshire, south-west Scotland. The monument sits on bedrock of the Kirkcolm Formation, a wacke deposit laid down during the Caradocian period of the Ordovician era. This underlying geology would have influenced the avai…

Mary and Angus Hogg / CC BY-SA 2.0 / Wikimedia Commons

Cairn Kinna, two cairns 960m ESE of Corrafeckloch

Scheduled monument · ~4.7 mi

Cairn Kinna is a pair of Bronze Age burial cairns situated 960 metres east-south-east of Corrafeckloch in Kirkcudbrightshire, south-western Scotland. The monuments stand on bedrock of the Kirkcolm Formation, a wacke deposit laid down during the Caradocian period of the Ordovician, which provides…

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Battles near Battle of Glen Trool

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• Battle of Glen Trool · Wikidata
• Battle_of_Glen_Trool · Wikipedia
• Glen Trool · Canmore