Battlefields›Siege of Inverness (1562)
Tudor

Siege of Inverness (1562)

1562
Scotland
Era
Tudor
Battle Type
Siege
Location
Scotland
Status
Unregistered
The Combatants

Who Fought

Defeated
Supporters of George Gordon, 4th Earl of Huntly:; Clan Gordon
VS
Victor
Supporters of Mary, Queen of Scots:; Clan Fraser of Lovat; Clan Munro
Outcome
Fraser & Munro victory.
The Battle

History & Significance

The siege of Inverness Castle took place in 1562. When Mary, Queen of Scots, visited Inverness on 9 September 1562 the gates of the castle were shut in her face by Alexander Gordon upon the orders of George Gordon, 4th Earl of Huntly, who was chief of Clan Gordon and Sheriff of the county. The castle was subsequently besieged by supporters of the Queen.

The siege lasted for three days and, when the castle fell, Alexander Gordon was hanged for treason. His head was displayed on the castle. Some key members of the garrison, which consisted of only 12 or 14 "able persons", were imprisoned, the others allowed to go free. The Queen slept at Inverness Castle on the nights of 11, 12, 13, and 14 September 1562, then moved on to Spynie Palace. She bought gunpowder and 15 tartan plaids for her lackeys and members of her household in Inverness.

Upon hearing of the danger of their princess, a great number of the ancient Scots, partly by persuasion, and partly of their own accord, flocked around her, particularly the Frasers and Monros, the bravest of these tribes. When the queen found herself sufficiently strong, she laid siege to the castle, which having neither a sufficient garrison, not being properly fortified for sustaining an attack, surrendered, when the commanders were executed, and the men dismissed.

The English diplomat Thomas Randolph recorded a remark made by Queen Mary at Inverness, who was in high spirits and undismayed in the conflict. When the night watch returned in the morning she regretted that she was "not a man to know what life it was to lie all night in the fields, or to walk upon the causeway with a jack and knapschall, a Glasgow buckler and a broad sword."

The ground

The ground they fought on

The site of Siege of Inverness (1562) lies on Middle Old Red Sandstone (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Middle Devonian. The rock here is conglomerate, sandstone, siltstone and mudstone.

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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 Siege of Inverness (1562)

Remains of Cromwell's Fort, bastion west of Lotland Place, Inverness
Remains of Cromwell's Fort, bastion west of Lotland Place, Inverness
Scheduled monument · ~0.8 mi

Remains of Cromwell's Fort is a bastion fort west of Lotland Place in Inverness, constructed during the English military occupation of Scotland in the mid-seventeenth century. The fort sits on bedrock of Middle Old Red Sandstone, a durable conglomerate and sandstone foundation laid down in the Mi…

Caledonian Canal,Clachnaharry Sea Lock to Muirtown Quay
Caledonian Canal,Clachnaharry Sea Lock to Muirtown Quay
Scheduled monument · ~1.3 mi

Clachnaharry Sea Lock to Muirtown Quay is a section of the Caledonian Canal that forms the navigable link between Inverness and the Moray Firth on the north-east coast of Scotland. This stretch encompasses the tidal sea lock at Clachnaharry and the inland basin at Muirtown, two essential componen…

Lower Slackbuie, unenclosed settlement 90m E of 1 West Heather Road
Lower Slackbuie, unenclosed settlement 90m E of 1 West Heather Road
Scheduled monument · ~1.6 mi

Lower Slackbuie is an unenclosed settlement located 90 metres east of 1 West Heather Road in Inverness-shire, Scotland. The site occupies ground underlain by Middle Old Red Sandstone bedrock of Middle Devonian age, a mixed sequence of conglomerate, sandstone, siltstone and mudstone that would hav…

Ashton Farm Cottages, ring ditch 415m SW and pit circles 460m WSW of
Ashton Farm Cottages, ring ditch 415m SW and pit circles 460m WSW of
Scheduled monument · ~2 mi

Ashton Farm Cottages is a Bronze Age settlement in Inverness-shire, protected as a scheduled monument by Historic Environment Scotland. The site comprises a ring ditch situated 415 metres south-west of the cottages and pit circles located 460 metres west-south-west of the main structure. These fe…

Caledonian Canal,Dochgarroch Lock - Muirtown Locks
Caledonian Canal,Dochgarroch Lock - Muirtown Locks
Scheduled monument · ~2 mi

Dochgarroch Lock to Muirtown Locks is a section of the Caledonian Canal in Inverness-shire, Scotland. This waterway forms part of Thomas Telford's ambitious early nineteenth-century scheme to connect the east and west coasts of Scotland via the Great Glen. The canal's route follows the geological…

Holme Mains, motte 210m SE of
Holme Mains, motte 210m SE of
Scheduled monument · Medieval · ~2.1 mi

Holme Mains is a medieval motte situated in Inverness-shire, Scotland, approximately 210 metres south-east of the settlement from which it takes its name. The monument represents a characteristic form of feudal fortification established during the medieval period, when such earthworks served as t…

Inverness, site of Dominican friary and effigy of a knight, Friars' Street
Scheduled monument · ~0.3 miles
Craig Phadrig,fort
Scheduled monument · Iron Age · ~1.6 miles
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