Battle of the Shirts 1544
Outline: officially registered battlefield boundary.
Key facts
| Date (year) | 1544 | Wikidata P585 point in time |
|---|---|---|
| Century | 16th century | derived |
| Period | Tudor & early Stuart | derived |
| Country | Scotland | derived |
| Local authority | Highland | HES |
| Registered area | 893.7 ha | HES |
| HES inventory reference | BTL29 | HES |
| Designated | 2012-12-14 | HES |
About the battle
The Battle of the Shirts (Scottish Gaelic: Blàr na Léine, also the Battle of Kinloch-Lochy) was a Scottish clan battle that took place in 1544 in the Great Glen, at the northern end of Loch Lochy. The Clan Macdonald of Clanranald and their allies the Clan Cameron fought the Clan Fraser and men from Clan Grant. The battlefield has been included and protected by Historic Scotland in their Inventory of Historic Battlefields in Scotland.
Clan tradition of the clans involved and all histories written since the period have stated that the name was derived from the fact that the day was so hot that both sides threw off their chainmail hauberks and Plaids, fighting in their shirts.
Visiting the battlefield
Location
- Local authority: Highland
- Approximate centre of registered area: 57.0266, -4.8228
- Registered area: 893.7 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 the Shirts (revision 1370602259), 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 Lochaber 1429 · 11 km
- Stand-off at the Fords of Arkaig 1665 · 14 km
- Battle of Mulroy 1688 · 15 km
- Highbridge Skirmish 1745 · 17 km
- Battle of Drumlui 1330 · 25 km
- Battle of Inverlochy 1645 · 27 km
Browse more: battles in Scotland · Tudor & early Stuart · 16th century battles