Battlefields›Capture of Roxburgh (1314)
Medieval

Capture of Roxburgh (1314)

1314
Scotland
Era
Medieval
Battle Type
Pitched Battle
Location
Scotland
Status
Unregistered
The Combatants

Who Fought

Victor
Scottish
Forces involved

Unknown, inferior to the English

2,000+

Outcome
Scottish victory.
The Battle

History & Significance

The Capture of Roxburgh was a siege that took place in 1314, which was a major conflict in the First War of Scottish Independence. This siege was a prelude to the Battle of Bannockburn.

Sir James Douglas, Lord of Douglas, after his victory over the Clan MacDougall, had been capturing several castles back from the English, but the mere thought of taking Roxburgh Castle was one that daunted him.

Roxburgh Castle was on impregnable ground, and was guarded well. Douglas and Walter Stewart, 6th High Steward of Scotland, disguised their few men as cows, so the garrison was unaware of their presence. They then used ladders to climb to the top and took the castle by total surprise. They inflicted heavy casualties on the garrison, including wounding their leader in the face with an arrow.

The Lanercost Chronicle records that "all that beautiful castle the Scots pulled down to the ground, like the other castles that they had succeeded in capturing, lest the English should ever again rule the land by holding the castles."

The ground

The ground they fought on

The site of Capture of Roxburgh (1314) lies on Stratheden Group, bedrock that formed in the Late Devonian. The rock here is sandstone and conglomerate, interbedded.

Casualties & Losses
  • Light
  • Heavy
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 Capture of Roxburgh (1314)

Wallace's Tower
Wallace's Tower
Scheduled monument · ~0.2 mi

Wallace's Tower is a late medieval tower structure located in Roxburghshire, Scotland. The tower dates to the fifteenth or sixteenth century and stands as a substantial stone-built fortification typical of the border region during this period. It is associated with the Wallace family, one of the…

Roxburgh Castle
Roxburgh Castle
Scheduled monument · ~2 mi

Roxburgh Castle is a ruined medieval fortress situated on a strategic peninsula formed by the confluence of the Rivers Tweed and Teviot in the Scottish Borders. The castle was established in the 12th century and developed as a royal stronghold of considerable importance, particularly during the A…

Ringleyhall,fort
Ringleyhall,fort
Scheduled monument · Iron Age · ~2.1 mi

Ringleyhall Fort is an Iron Age hillfort located in Roxburghshire, Scottish Borders. The fort occupies a defensible position on bedrock composed of mafic lava and tuff of Dinantian age, volcanic rocks laid down during the Mississippian period over 300 million years ago. This ancient geological fo…

Old Roxburgh,deserted town between River Teviot & River Tweed
Old Roxburgh,deserted town between River Teviot & River Tweed
Scheduled monument · ~2.2 mi

Old Roxburgh is a deserted medieval town situated on a peninsula formed by the confluence of the River Teviot and River Tweed in Roxburghshire, Scotland. The site occupies a strategically prominent position where these two major river valleys meet, with the underlying bedrock composed of Invercly…

Pinnaclehill Farm,burial mound & cists 90m NW of
Pinnaclehill Farm,burial mound & cists 90m NW of
Scheduled monument · Bronze Age · ~2.5 mi

Pinnaclehill Farm burial mound and cists is a Bronze Age funerary monument located in Roxburghshire, Scotland. The monument comprises a burial mound with associated stone burial chambers, or cists, situated approximately 90 metres north-west of the farm buildings. The site lies on bedrock of the…

Round barrow, pit circle, enclosure and pit 180m southwest of Eckford Mill
Round barrow, pit circle, enclosure and pit 180m southwest of Eckford Mill
Scheduled monument · Post-Medieval · ~2.5 mi

The Round Barrow, Pit Circle, Enclosure and Pit 180m Southwest of Eckford Mill is a scheduled monument in Roxburghshire, comprising Bronze Age and post-medieval elements located on the rolling border landscape between England and Scotland. The site sits upon bedrock of the Stratheden Group, a Lat…

Kelso Abbey
Scheduled monument · ~2.5 miles
Muirhouselaw,homestead moat
Scheduled monument · ~4.6 miles
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In the same landscape

Battles near Capture of Roxburgh (1314)

Roxburgh Fort English Occupation 1547-1550
1547
~1.4 miles away
Battle of Degsastan, 603 AD (Aedan mac Gabrain vs Aethelfrith)
603
~3.8 miles away
Siege of Roxburgh Castle (1460)
1460
~3.8 miles away
Fairnington
~4.1 miles away
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Sources
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