Battlefields›Siege of Inverness
Jacobite Risings

Siege of Inverness

1689
Scotland
Era
Jacobite Risings
Battle Type
Siege
Location
Scotland
Status
Unregistered
The Battle

History & Significance

The siege of Inverness that took place in 1689 was carried out by the Clan MacDonald of Keppoch, a Highland Scottish clan against the people of the city of Inverness. In 1665 the people of Inverness had rioted seriously injuring a number of men of the Clan MacDonald. Twenty four years later in 1689 the feud was re-ignited and the Clan MacDonald of Keppoch laid siege to the city with 800 to 900 men. They plundered the town and took hostages. Through the mediation of John Graham, 1st Viscount Dundee a ransom was paid for the release of the captives and the MacDonalds of Keppoch went home with their plunder, robbing and devastating all before them. The MacDonalds of Keppoch soon after supported John Graham, 1st Viscount Dundee at the Battle of Killiecrankie.

The ground

The ground they fought on

The site of Siege of Inverness 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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Everything a full report reveals about Siege of Inverness

This page covers Siege of Inverness. A full Aubrey report for the area pulls together this battle alongside scheduled monuments and everything else the record holds within a few miles:

Overview
An interactive map of the location with every monument and battle plotted, and a plain-language history built only from what the record holds.
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
A deep dive into the most remarkable, lesser-known history of the place, traced back to the record.
Target Zones
For detectorists: the most promising ground to search nearby, ranked by confidence, with what to expect.
Timeline
The whole story of the location told era by era, from prehistory to the present day.
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Protected heritage nearby

Scheduled Monuments near Siege of Inverness

Remains of Cromwell's Fort, bastion west of Lotland Place, Inverness
Remains of Cromwell's Fort, bastion west of Lotland Place, Inverness
Scheduled monument · ~0.3 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 · ~1.1 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…

Ord Hill,fort
Ord Hill,fort
Scheduled monument · Iron Age · ~2 mi

Ord Hill is an Iron Age fort located in Ross-shire, northern Scotland. The fort sits upon bedrock of Middle Old Red Sandstone, a conglomerate and sandstone formation dating to the Middle Devonian period. This underlying geology of mixed conglomeratic and fine sedimentary rocks would have presente…

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 · ~2.1 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…

Lower Slackbuie, unenclosed settlement 90m E of 1 West Heather Road
Lower Slackbuie, unenclosed settlement 90m E of 1 West Heather Road
Scheduled monument · ~2.2 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…

Caledonian Canal,Dochgarroch Lock - Muirtown Locks
Caledonian Canal,Dochgarroch Lock - Muirtown Locks
Scheduled monument · ~2.4 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…

Inverness, site of Dominican friary and effigy of a knight, Friars' Street
Scheduled monument · ~0.3 miles
Craig Phadrig,fort
Scheduled monument · Iron Age · ~1.7 miles
More from this era

Other Jacobite Risings Battles

Battle of Landguard Fort
1667
England
Battle of Dungeness (1666)
1666
England
Battle of Rullion Green, 1666
1666
Midlothian, Scotland
Stand-off at the Fords of Arkaig
1665
Scotland
In the same landscape

Battles near Siege of Inverness

Inverness, Longman Airfield
~0.3 miles away
Siege of Inverness
1429
~0.5 miles away
Siege of Inverness (1746)
1746
~0.5 miles away
Siege of Inverness (1562)
1562
~0.5 miles away
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Sources
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