Battle of Harlaw Monument

Battle of Harlaw Monument. . ( inscribed around the top of the tower ) To the Memory of Provost Robert Davidson and The Burgesses of Aberdeen Who Fell Here AD.1411 Harlaw July 24 A.D.1411. Erected by the Burgh of Aberdeen A.D.1911 Adam Maitland Lord Provost. ( engraved on the plaque ) The Battle of Harlaw was fought on the heath to the north west of the monument on 24 July 1411. It is commemorated in ballad and legend as a major conflict between Highlanders and Lowlanders, each side claiming victory. , The army of Donald, Lord of the Isle’s campaigning to enforce his claim to the Earldom of Ross, had encamped overnight on the High Road from Inverness to Aberdeen. Early in the morning this ten thousand strong force was surprised by a smaller army assembled by Alexander Earl of Mar to defend Aberdeen and the Lowlands against the Highland Host. Amongst the levies from Aberdeenshire, Kincardineshire and Angus were townsfolk of Aberdeen led by Provost Robert Davidson. , The conflict was bloody and indecisive, both parties retreating under cover of night. Among the dead lay Provost Davidson, Sir Alexander Irvine of Drum and Hector Maclean of Duart. In Aberdeen the battle is still remembered as a great deliverance. , As I cam in by Dunidier, And down by wetherha There were fifty thousand Heilanmem A marching to Harlaw. , … The Heilanmem William their long swords, They laid on us fu sair; And they drave back our merrymen Three acres breadth or mair. , … The first ae stroke that Forbes struck, Made the great Macdonell reel; The second stroke that Forbes struck, The great Macdonell fell. , And siccan a pilleurichie, The like ye never saw, As was amang the Heilanmen When they saw Macdonell fa. , … And sic a weary burying, The like you never saw, As there was the Sunday after that On the muirs down by Harlaw , And gin Heilan lasses speer at you, For them that gaed awa, Ye may tell them plain and plain enough They're sleeping at Harlaw! , The monument, designed by the scholar-architect William Kelly (1861 – 1944), was erected by the Burgh of Aberdeen in 1911. The dedication reads: to the memory of Provost Robert Davidson and the Burgesses of Aberdeen who fell here, AD1411. Aberdeen City Council. ( engraving caption ) Gilbert de Greenlaw, killed at the Battle of Harlaw. His re-used stone slab can be seen in Kirkell churchyard, south-east of Inverurie.