The Battle of Mulroy

A short distance along the narrow, single-track road that runs up Glen Roy from the small village of Roybridge, at the back of a lay-by stands a well-maintained cairn (right). It was the first of several historic sites which we visited during a long weekend in the beautiful, if rather damp countryside of Lochaber. While the cairn commemorates a significant moment in the history of highland Scotland, the last....

....inter-clan battle, the Battle of Mulroy in 1688, it also interested me for the name of the battle site, Mulroy, commemorated these days in the name of one of the streets in Roybridge.

Mul, I discovered, is an anglicisation of the Gaelic meall, a lump or rounded hill, and roy is ruadh, red or brown. It seems likely that the red/brown comes from the name of the....

....River Roy which rushes down the wooded glen below the cairn which, at the time we were visiting, was running strong with water the colour of whisky.

The site of the battle is, as the plaque tells us, on this low, rounded hill, meall ruadh, on the opposite side of the road.

The story of the battle is given in detail in the Wikipedia site, here, but, in brief, can be described a being fought between a force of Highlanders from the MacDonalds of Keppoch, along with allies including Camerons and Macmartins, numbering perhaps a thousand in all, against the army of Lachlan Mackintosh, with support from his Clan Chattan allies and several hundred Government infantry.

Despite Mackintosh's advantage of numbers, the Highlanders were able to defeat his force and even capture Lachlan himself. However, they were forced to release him when Government reinforcements moved to attempt his rescue. Over the following months the MacDonalds faced a campaign of brutal reprisal, until the Government forces were recalled in the build up to the Glorious Revolution.