Battlefields›Edinburgh Castle: Destruction of the Water Supply, 1573
Tudor

Edinburgh Castle: Destruction of the Water Supply, 1573

1573
Scotland
Era
Tudor
Battle Type
Siege
Location
Scotland
Status
Unregistered
The Combatants

Who Fought

Defeated
Sir William Kirkcaldy of Grange's Marian (Queen's party) garrison
VS
Victor
English forces under Sir William Drury (supporting the King's party)
Outcome
The castle's water sources were destroyed during the closing phase of the Lang Siege: St Margaret's Well had earlier been poisoned by besieging forces, and the final English bombardment (17-28 May 1573) brought down David's Tower, destroying the castle's last remaining well. Deprived of water and facing mutiny, Kirkcaldy surrendered the castle to the English on 28 May 1573.
The Battle

History & Significance

Edinburgh Castle: Destruction of the Water Supply, 1573 was a Tudor siege, the investment of a fortified position, fought in Scotland in 1573. English forces under Sir William Drury (supporting the King's party) prevailed over Sir William Kirkcaldy of Grange's Marian (Queen's party) garrison. The castle's water sources were destroyed during the closing phase of the Lang Siege: St Margaret's Well had earlier been poisoned by besieging forces, and the final English bombardment (17-28 May 1573) brought down David's Tower, destroying the castle's last remaining well. Deprived of water and facing mutiny, Kirkcaldy surrendered the castle to the English on 28 May 1573.

Confirmed battlefield location
The ground

The ground they fought on

The site of Edinburgh Castle: Destruction of the Water Supply, 1573 lies on Inverclyde Group, bedrock that formed in the Osagean. The rock here is sandstone, siltstone and mudstone.

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Roman Britain
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Geology
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Protected heritage nearby

Scheduled Monuments near Edinburgh Castle: Destruction of the Water Supply, 1573

Edinburgh Town Wall, Flodden Wall, Johnston Terrace to Grassmarket
Edinburgh Town Wall, Flodden Wall, Johnston Terrace to Grassmarket
Scheduled monument · ~0.1 mi

Edinburgh Town Wall, Flodden Wall, Johnston Terrace to Grassmarket is a sixteenth-century defensive wall built to protect Edinburgh's southern approaches following the Scottish defeat at Flodden in 1513. This section of the wall, which extends from Johnston Terrace to the Grassmarket, represents…

Edinburgh Town Wall, Flodden Wall, Drummond Street to Pleasance
Edinburgh Town Wall, Flodden Wall, Drummond Street to Pleasance
Scheduled monument · ~0.6 mi

Edinburgh Town Wall, Flodden Wall, Drummond Street to Pleasance is a sixteenth-century defensive wall constructed following Scotland's defeat at the Battle of Flodden in 1513. Built to protect Edinburgh's growing population and commercial centre, this section of the wall extends between Drummond…

Gareth Davies / CC BY-SA 4.0 / Wikimedia Commons
Holyrood Abbey, precinct and associated remains
Holyrood Abbey, precinct and associated remains
Scheduled monument · ~1.1 mi

Holyrood Abbey is a Augustinian monastery founded in 1128 by King David I of Scotland in the Canongate area of Edinburgh, Midlothian. The abbey became one of Scotland's most important religious houses and a royal mausoleum, with its precinct encompassing substantial buildings including the abbey…

Holyrood Park
Holyrood Park
Scheduled monument · ~1.5 mi

Holyrood Park is a historic landscape in Edinburgh, Midlothian, centred on the extinct volcanic hill of Arthur's Seat. The park encompasses a complex of archaeological features spanning multiple periods, including prehistoric remains and medieval structures associated with the former royal huntin…

Hanging Stanes,gallows bases,Braid Road
Hanging Stanes,gallows bases,Braid Road
Scheduled monument · ~1.8 mi

Hanging Stanes is a gallows base located on Braid Road in Midlothian, Scotland. The monument comprises the stone foundations of a gallows structure, a rare surviving example of judicial architecture from Scotland's medieval and early modern period. Such gallows were public instruments of law enfo…

Leith Links, artillery mounds
Leith Links, artillery mounds
Scheduled monument · ~2.1 mi

Leith Links artillery mounds is a set of defensive earthworks constructed during the sixteenth or seventeenth century to protect Edinburgh's port. The site occupies gently sloping ground above the Forth estuary, where the underlying bedrock of Strathclyde Group sedimentary rocks provided a stable…

Edinburgh Castle/Caisteal Dhùn Èideann
Scheduled monument · ~0 miles
Edinburgh Town Wall, Flodden Wall and Telfer Wall, Heriot Place
Scheduled monument · ~0.2 miles
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In the same landscape

Battles near Edinburgh Castle: Destruction of the Water Supply, 1573

Battle of Boroughmuir
1335
~1.2 miles away
Caiyside Hill, Oxgangs, Edinburgh
~3.4 miles away
Englands Hill
~4.8 miles away
Pentland
~5.3 miles away
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