Battle of Glenshiel 1719
Outline: officially registered battlefield boundary.
Key facts
| Date (year) | 1719 | Wikidata P585 point in time |
|---|---|---|
| Century | 18th century | derived |
| Period | Jacobite & later | derived |
| Country | Scotland | derived |
| War / conflict | Jacobite rising of 1719 | Wikidata |
| Participants | Jacobitism, Kingdom of Great Britain, Kingdom of Spain | Wikidata |
| Local authority | Highland | HES |
| Registered area | 615.2 ha | HES |
| HES inventory reference | BTL10 | HES |
| Designated | 2011-03-21 | HES |
| Last amended | 2012-12-14 | HES |
About the battle
The Battle of Glen Shiel, 10 June 1719, was the decisive military engagement of the Jacobite rising of 1719. Fought near Glen Shiel in the Scottish Highlands, a Jacobite army composed of Highland levies and Spanish marines was defeated by British government troops.
The rebellion was backed by Spain, then engaged in the 1718–1720 War of the Quadruple Alliance with Britain. Originally intended only as a diversion for a landing in south-west England which was cancelled several weeks earlier, its failure was seen as having fatally damaged the Jacobite cause.
The battlefield is now included in the Inventory of Historic Battlefields in Scotland, and protected by Historic Scotland.
Visiting the battlefield
The mountain where the action was fought is called Sgurr na Ciste Duibhe; a subsidiary peak named Sgurr nan Spainteach, or 'Peak of the Spaniards', commemorates the Spanish marines.
Now owned by the National Trust for Scotland, the stone breastworks built on the northern slope are a rare example of surviving fieldworks in Britain, and designated a scheduled monument.
Location
- Local authority: Highland
- Approximate centre of registered area: 57.1683, -5.3148
- Registered area: 615.2 hectares
Battlefields are often on private farmland: please keep to public rights of way and respect landowners.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Glen Shiel (revision 1375543908), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section and section(s) “Battlefield today”; condensed by selecting paragraphs; citations removed. No text added.
Contains Historic Environment Scotland and OS data © Historic Environment Scotland and Crown Copyright and database right 2026, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Nearby battlefields
- Battle of Lochaber 1429 · 27 km
- Battle of Drumlui 1330 · 29 km
- Stand-off at the Fords of Arkaig 1665 · 31 km
- Battle of the Shirts 1544 · 34 km
- Battle of Bun Garbhain 1570 · 36 km
- Highbridge Skirmish 1745 · 37 km
Browse more: battles in Scotland · Jacobite & later · 18th century battles