North Mains Of Barra
Battle Site (14th Century)
Site Name North Mains Of Barra
Classification Battle Site (14th Century)
Alternative Name(s) The Bruce Field; North Mains, Barra
Canmore ID 18759
Site Number NJ72NE 4
NGR NJ 7971 2673
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/18759
- Council Aberdeenshire
- Parish Bourtie
- Former Region Grampian
- Former District Gordon
- Former County Aberdeenshire
NJ72NE 4 7971 2673.
(Name centred NJ 7971 2673) Site of Battle between the Forces of King Robert the Bruce and the Earl of Buchan AD 1307 (NAT)
OS 6" map, (1959)
A battle between King Robert Bruce and Comyn Earl of Buchan in which the latter's army was entirely routed. Fought on 25th December 1307 (Ordnance Survey name Book [ONB] 1867; NSA 1845): on Christmas Eve 1307 (Simpson 1949; Wyness 1968); AD 1308 (Dickinson, Donaldson and Milne 1958) 'Barbour in his account records 22 May 1308' (ONB 1867). The Bruce field contained until lately a number of small elliptical trenches, in one of which was found an English billhook (NSA 1845).
Name Book 1867; New Statisitical Account (NSA) 1845; W D Simpson 1949; J F Wyness 1968; W C Dickinson, G Donaldson and I A Milne (eds) 1958; Information from 'A Pictoral History of Scotland', p126.
No further information.
Visited by OS (RL) 12 February 1969.
The alleged site of a battle between Robert Bruce and the Earl of Buchan in 1308 lies in what is now cultivated ground on a gentle, N-facing slope about 350m N of North Mains of Barra farmsteading (NJ72NE 175).
Visited by RCAHMS (JRS), 15 April 1999.
Online Gallery (1306 - 1329)
The year 2014 sees the 700th anniversary of the Battle of Bannockburn, in which the army of Robert I of Scotland defeated that of Edward II of England. The battle marked a major turning point in the long, drawn-out struggle of the Wars of Independence.
The Wars have had a lasting influence upon all the nations of the United Kingdom and upon the national story. Each age has seen fit to commemorate the events in its own way: through the perpetuation of the genuine historical associations of buildings and places and also through the endowment of others with improbable or fanciful traditions. Where past generations allowed its historic buildings to decay and disappear, later generations began to value and actively preserve these for their associations. Where an event lacked a tangible reminder, as at Kinghorn where Alexander III was killed in a riding accident, a commemorative monument would be erected to act as a focus. The Wars of Independence predate the fashion for accurate portraiture: the weathered, generic military effigy of Sir James Douglas is one of the few to survive in Scotland. Later centuries saw a need and supplied it by a crowd of images of its historic heroes, William Wallace and Robert the Bruce, each depicted according to contemporary taste and imagination. The opening of the new heritage centre at Bannockburn takes this into a new dimension, through the use of three-dimensional, digital technology.
RCAHMS Collections hold many images of these buildings and locations from battlefields, castles and churches, to the many commemorative monuments erected in later years. This gallery highlights a selection of these, including antiquarian sketches, photographic and drawn surveys, and architectural designs.
Metal Detector Survey (23 March 2017 - 10 April 2017)
NJ 8074 2679 (NJ72NE 0004) A metal detector survey and evaluation were undertaken, 23 March – 10 April 2017, in advance of a proposed housing development at the edge of the area thought to be the site of the Battle of Barra. The battle was fought between King Robert the Bruce and Comyn,
Earl of Buchan, on the 23 May 1308. Post-medieval buckles, buttons and coins were recovered but nothing earlier in date. The machine cut trenches revealed the W half of the site was waterlogged and the whole site had been covered in up to 2m of soil during a neighbouring housing development.
Archive: NRHE
Funder: Aberdeenshire Council
Alison Cameron – Cameron Archaeology
(Source: DES, Volume 18)
