Author: Charles Leighton
Barber/Surgeon, Colonel Hugh Fraser’s Regiment of Dragoones

Orders of the day, Volume 34, Issue 3, 2002

As background to the Battle of Fyvie this year it may interest members to know that although this was not a major theatre of the war there were many small battles, skirmishes and sieges in and around the north east of Scotland.

In May 1639 an unsuccessful Royalist attack on Towie Barclay Castle, quite close to Fyvie, resulted in the first fatality of the war, David Pratt. Four days later the “Trot of Turriff” resulted in a dramatic Royalist victory. In June there was an indecisive engagement at Megray Hill, just north of Stonehaven on the coast, where the Royalist troops under Aboyne, facing stiff Covenanter opposition, declined to advance and retired to nearby Aberdeen in confusion. On June 18th and 19th Royalist forces defended the Brig o’Dee, the main entrance to the city from the south for two days against Montrose, who at that time was fighting for the Covenanters. Both sides were unaware of the peace treaty which had been signed on the 18th.

There remained a period of almost a year during which there was virtually no activity in the North East. The treaty was again broken in June 1640, when the Covenanting army seized Drum Castle just outside Aberdeen and then went on to take Strathbogie Castle, near Huntly. This was followed by the “Battle of Auchindoun” in Speyside which was little more than an exchange of shots. In July the Scottish Covenanters invaded England and captured Newcastle; many of the men involved were from the north east of Scotland. In October 1640 the treaty of Ripon was signed and hostilities ceased temporarily.

In March 1644 a band of Royalists under Sir John Gordon of Haddo raided the city of Aberdeen and kidnapped the Provost. In April Royalists under Irvine of Drum and Nathaniel Gordon stormed the town of Montrose. In September Montrose, now a Royalist, defeated the Government forces at Aberdeen and in the following month he placed his forces in earth-walled agricultural enclosures close to Fyvie Castle, facing the River Ythan. Argyle’s army surprised them, but before the battle began the entire Strathbogie regiment (Royalists) deserted. The battle consisted of three assaults on the enclosures, each apparently less effective than the preceding one due to the constrictions posed by the enclosures and the bodies of the fallen. Argyle was forced to move to Crichie in order to find provisions and Montrose took this opportunity to disengage and set off northwards towards Turriff. Skirmishing continued in the area for two more days.

In February 1645 a regular cavalry regiment led by Lord Gordon defected to the Royalists, causing the cathedral city of Elgin to fall into their hands. Sir John Hurry (who changed sides several times) harassed the Royalists in the city of Aberdeen. In May Highland Royalists defeated the Covenanters from the North East at the Battle of Strathdon. The Royalist army under Montrose defeated the Covenanters at the Battle of Alford in July, with the death of 700 Covenanters. In January 1646 Covenanting forces reoccupied the city of Aberdeen and in April the Covenanters capture Fyvie Castle. A month later the Royalist Huntly stormed the city of Aberdeen.

One of the last actions of the Civil War was also fought in the north east of Scotland, the Siege of Dunnotar Castle, near Stonehaven, in May 1652. The garrison was starved out after several months by Cromwell’s troops. However the prize that he sought, the regalia of Scotland (Scotland’s crown jewels) were smuggled out of the castle by the local minister’s wife, then hidden under the pulpit of the local kirk for many years, and were only brought to light on the restoration of the monarchy. They can still be seen at Edinburgh Castle along with the Stone of Destiny.