Battle of Langside 1568
Outline: officially registered battlefield boundary.
Key facts
| Date (year) | 1568 | Wikidata P585 point in time |
|---|---|---|
| Century | 16th century | derived |
| Period | Tudor & early Stuart | derived |
| Country | Scotland | derived |
| War / conflict | Marian civil war | Wikidata |
| Participants | Kingdom of Scotland | Wikidata |
| Local authority | Glasgow | HES |
| Registered area | 359.4 ha | HES |
| HES inventory reference | BTL35 | HES |
| Designated | 2012-12-14 | HES |
About the battle
The Battle of Langside was fought on 13 May 1568 between forces loyal to Mary, Queen of Scots, and forces acting in the name of her infant son James VI. Mary’s short period of personal rule ended in 1567 in recrimination, intrigue, and disaster when, after her capture at Carberry Hill, she was forced to abdicate in favour of James VI. Mary was imprisoned in Lochleven Castle, while her Protestant half-brother, James Stewart, Earl of Moray, was appointed Regent on behalf of his nephew. In early May 1568 Mary escaped, heading west to the country of the Hamiltons, high among her remaining supporters, and the safety of Dumbarton Castle with the determination to restore her rights as queen. Mary was defeated and went into exile and captivity in England. The battle is generally considered the start of the Marian civil war.
Visiting the battlefield
Location
- Local authority: Glasgow
- Approximate centre of registered area: 55.8268, -4.2663
- Registered area: 359.4 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 Langside (revision 1370447146), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; 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 Glasgow 1544 · 4 km
- Battle of Glasgow 1560 · 4 km
- Battle of Renfrew 1164 · 9 km
- Battle of Bothwell Bridge 1679 · 14 km
- Battle of Hieton 1650 · 15 km
- Battle of Drumclog 1679 · 22 km
Other battles of the Marian civil war
- Battle of Craibstone 1571
All battles of the Marian civil war →
Browse more: battles in Scotland · Tudor & early Stuart · 16th century battles