Battlefields›First Bishops' War: Defence and Fortification of Leith, 1639
English Civil War

First Bishops' War: Defence and Fortification of Leith, 1639

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

Who Fought

Defeated
Crown (Marquis of Hamilton's Royalist naval expedition, unable to land)
VS
Victor
Covenanters
Outcome
Covenanter forces fortified Leith and the Firth of Forth in spring 1639. The Marquis of Hamilton was sent with a fleet (reported as roughly 40 ships carrying about 6,000 troops) to the Forth to threaten the Covenanters' rear, but the strength of the Leith and Forth defences meant no landing could be made; the fleet was reduced to blockade only. No engagement took place, and the crisis ended with the Treaty of Berwick on 18 June 1639.
The Battle

History & Significance

First Bishops' War: Defence and Fortification of Leith, 1639 was a Civil War occupation, fought at Midlothian, Scotland in 1639. Covenanters prevailed over Crown (Marquis of Hamilton's Royalist naval expedition, unable to land). Covenanter forces fortified Leith and the Firth of Forth in spring 1639. The Marquis of Hamilton was sent with a fleet (reported as roughly 40 ships carrying about 6,000 troops) to the Forth to threaten the Covenanters' rear, but the strength of the Leith and Forth defences meant no landing could be made; the fleet was reduced to blockade only. No engagement took place, and the crisis ended with the Treaty of Berwick on 18 June 1639.

Confirmed battlefield location
The ground

The ground they fought on

The site of First Bishops' War: Defence and Fortification of Leith, 1639 lies on Strathclyde Group, bedrock that formed in the Visean. The rock here is sedimentary rock cycles, strathclyde group type.

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Everything a full report reveals about First Bishops' War: Defence and Fortification of Leith, 1639

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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.
Spotlight
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Protected heritage nearby

Scheduled Monuments near First Bishops' War: Defence and Fortification of Leith, 1639

Leith,dry dock off Sandport Street
Leith,dry dock off Sandport Street
Scheduled monument · ~0.2 mi

Leith dry dock off Sandport Street is a maritime engineering structure situated in the port of Leith, Midlothian. The dock was constructed to facilitate the construction and maintenance of vessels by allowing ships to be drained of water for repair and inspection work. Such facilities became esse…

Edinburgh,Citadel Arch at Johnston Street
Edinburgh,Citadel Arch at Johnston Street
Scheduled monument · ~0.3 mi

Edinburgh Citadel Arch at Johnston Street is a citadel arch surviving in the heart of Edinburgh's historic fabric. The structure stands on bedrock of the Strathclyde Group, sedimentary rocks formed during the Visean period of the Carboniferous era. These ancient deposits underlie much of central…

Custom House,hydraulic crane & cabin S of,Albert Dock,Leith
Custom House,hydraulic crane & cabin S of,Albert Dock,Leith
Scheduled monument · ~0.4 mi

Custom House, hydraulic crane & cabin S of, Albert Dock, Leith is a late 19th-century or early 20th-century industrial complex serving Leith's thriving port. The site comprises a Custom House building alongside a hydraulic crane and associated cabin positioned south of Albert Dock, reflecting the…

Leith Links, artillery mounds
Leith Links, artillery mounds
Scheduled monument · ~0.4 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…

Holyrood Abbey, precinct and associated remains
Holyrood Abbey, precinct and associated remains
Scheduled monument · ~1.6 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…

Edinburgh Town Wall, Flodden Wall, Drummond Street to Pleasance
Edinburgh Town Wall, Flodden Wall, Drummond Street to Pleasance
Scheduled monument · ~1.9 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
Martello Tower,Leith
Scheduled monument · ~0.9 miles
St Triduana's Aisle,chapel and wellhouse
Scheduled monument · Medieval · ~1.4 miles
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Battles near First Bishops' War: Defence and Fortification of Leith, 1639

Battle of Boroughmuir
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