Battlefields›First Bishops' War: Aberdeen Occupation, 1639
English Civil War

First Bishops' War: Aberdeen Occupation, 1639

1639
Aberdeenshire, Scotland
Era
English Civil War
Battle Type
occupation
Location
Aberdeenshire, Scotland
Status
Unregistered
The Combatants

Who Fought

Defeated
Royalist Gordons (Marquess of Huntly's faction)
VS
Victor
Covenanters
Outcome
Aberdeen fell without resistance to the Covenanter army. Huntly had earlier proclaimed his lieutenancy and gathered forces at Inverurie but disbanded them and retreated to Strathbogie without engaging; Montrose then occupied Aberdeen unopposed. Huntly was subsequently detained by Montrose on 11 April 1639 despite a prior safe conduct, securing Covenanter control of north east Scotland.
The Battle

History & Significance

First Bishops' War: Aberdeen Occupation, 1639 was a Civil War occupation, fought at Aberdeenshire, Scotland in 1639. Covenanters prevailed over Royalist Gordons (Marquess of Huntly's faction). Aberdeen fell without resistance to the Covenanter army. Huntly had earlier proclaimed his lieutenancy and gathered forces at Inverurie but disbanded them and retreated to Strathbogie without engaging; Montrose then occupied Aberdeen unopposed. Huntly was subsequently detained by Montrose on 11 April 1639 despite a prior safe conduct, securing Covenanter control of north east Scotland.

Confirmed battlefield location
The ground

The ground they fought on

The site of First Bishops' War: Aberdeen Occupation, 1639 lies on Old Red Sandstone Supergroup, bedrock that formed in the Late 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 First Bishops' War: Aberdeen Occupation, 1639

Balnagask motte, Baxter Place, Aberdeen
Balnagask motte, Baxter Place, Aberdeen
Scheduled monument · ~1.2 mi

Balnagask motte is a Norman earthwork located at Baxter Place in Aberdeen, Kincardineshire, founded upon bedrock of the Argyll Group formed during the Neoproterozoic era. The motte comprises an artificial mound typical of the type built across Scotland and northern England following the Norman Co…

St Machar's Cathedral and graveyard
St Machar's Cathedral and graveyard
Scheduled monument · ~1.4 mi

St Machar's Cathedral is a medieval cathedral church located in Old Aberdeen, founded in the early twelfth century on a site of earlier Christian significance associated with Saint Machar, a legendary companion of Saint Columba. The surviving structure, predominantly dating from the fourteenth an…

Torry Battery, battery 130m ESE of Old South Breakwater
Torry Battery, battery 130m ESE of Old South Breakwater
Scheduled monument · ~1.4 mi

Torry Battery is a coastal defensive fortification situated 130 metres east-south-east of the Old South Breakwater in Kincardineshire, Scotland. The battery occupies bedrock of the Argyll Group, Neoproterozoic deposits composed of psammite, semipelite and pelite that underlie much of this stretch…

Mote Hill, palisaded settlement and cairn
Mote Hill, palisaded settlement and cairn
Scheduled monument · ~1.5 mi

Mote Hill is a palisaded settlement and cairn located in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, protected as a scheduled monument by Historic Environment Scotland. The site occupies ground underlain by Neoproterozoic bedrock of the Argyll Group, comprising psammite, semipelite and pelite—ancient metamorphic ro…

St Fittick's Church, Aberdeen
St Fittick's Church, Aberdeen
Scheduled monument · ~1.5 mi

St Fittick's Church is a medieval parish church located near Aberdeen in Kincardineshire, built upon bedrock formed from Argyll Group rocks of Neoproterozoic age. These metamorphic strata—psammite, semipelite and pelite—underlie the Dee valley landscape where the church was constructed. The site…

Lang Stane,standing stone,Hilton Drive
Lang Stane,standing stone,Hilton Drive
Scheduled monument · Bronze Age · ~1.7 mi

Lang Stane is a Bronze Age standing stone located on Hilton Drive in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The monument stands on bedrock comprising an unnamed igneous intrusion of felsic rock, formed during the Silurian period. This geological foundation of ancient crystalline stone connects the monument's s…

Tullos Cairn, cairn
Scheduled monument · ~1.8 miles
Baron's Cairn, cairn
Scheduled monument · ~2 miles
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Battles near First Bishops' War: Aberdeen Occupation, 1639

Battle of Aberdeen (1646)
1646
~0.6 miles away
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~0.7 miles away
Battle of Aberdeen (1644)
1644
~0.8 miles away
Battle of the Brig of Dee
1639
~2.1 miles away
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