Battle of Langside - 1568

Picture embroidered by Jane Brumlen depicting the painting 'Mary Queen of Scots Mourning over the Dying Douglas at the Battle of Langside' by Charles Landseer, ca. 1870 (Said to be George Douglas of Lochleven.)

Mary of Scotland mourning over the dying Douglas at the Battle of Langside, 1568; a priest administers last rites, a bishop stands to the left behind the fallen soldier; painted by F. Hartwich A different version of the scene

The Battle of Langside was fought in 1568 between the forces of Mary, Queen of Scots and those of the Regent Moray.

Moray was based in Glasgow while Mary had come from Hamilton via the southern bank of the River Clyde. Moray managed to position his troops on Langside Hill, while Mary`s troops were on the lesser Clincart Hill (now the site of Langside College),1km (½ mile) to the east. Mary herself watched from Cathcart Hill at a place now known as Court Knowe. After an unsuccessful cavalry charge, Mary`s foot soldiers approached Langside Hill up what is now Battlefield Road, but they were met by gunfire as well as other forces coming down from the site of Pathhead Farm. Between these two wings of Moray`s forces, archers and then the cavalry attacked the oncoming army. One hundred of Mary`s men were killed and her army fled; the battle had only taken three quarters of an hour. Mary turned southwards and headed into England.

''he old inhabitants of the village of Langside would have it that George Douglas, temporary keeper of Lochleven Castle, was killed where the solitary old tree grows on the bit of waste ground at the entrance to the village. This is probably a story from the pen of Sir Walter Scott, in his novel 'The Abbot'.