Pricing Change
New pricing for orders of material from this site will come into place shortly. Charges for supply of digital images, digitisation on demand, prints and licensing will be altered.
Upcoming Maintenance
Please be advised that this website will undergo scheduled maintenance on the following dates:
Thursday, 9 January: 11:00 AM - 3:00 PM
Thursday, 23 January: 11:00 AM - 3:00 PM
Thursday, 30 January: 11:00 AM - 3:00 PM
During these times, some functionality such as image purchasing may be temporarily unavailable. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.
Archaeology Notes
Event ID 698623
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Archaeology Notes
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/698623
NS25NW 3 207 587.
(NS 207 587) Site of the Battle of Largs (NR) AD 1263
OS 6" map (1964)
The Battle has been sited at NS 205 587 because of the number of cairns and standing stone in this area (see NS25NW 1, NS25NW 6, NS25NW 10, NS25NW 12, NS25NW 24 ); however, these are of Neolithic or Bronze Age date (see also NS25NW 28).
Name Book 1855; J Dillon 1822
The Norwegian account of the Battle of Largs states that it took place on the 3rd October 1263. After a great storm on the 1st October, some boats drifted on shore on the following day, when a skirmish took place. The main Norse force of about eight or nine hundred landed on the 3rd October; some 200 occupied a hillock, while the remainder were on the shingle. The Scots, "a great force" attacked and occupied the hillock; a storm prevented Norse reinforcements from arriving. The Norse force counter attacked, but were forced to take their boats by the storm. On the 4th October the Norsemen returned to bury their dead near the church, and burn their stranded ships.
This battle appears to have been magnified in later accounts, particularly by Boece, and the fact that the Norsemen returned to bury their dead is evidence that whatever the strength of the Scots was at Ayr, the force at Largs was of no great size and had by no means achieved a decisive victory.
R L Bremner 1916
This battlefield was included in a nation-wide study of key battle sites. A detailed gazetteer was created by The Battlefield Trust, which includes an historical overview of each site, detailed assessments of the action and its location and the number of troops involved, casualties, sources of information and an interpretation of the events and its impact on history. For more detail see the gazetteer and associated materials - MS 2522.
The exact location of the battlesite is not clear today, but most of the area has been developed by housing as Largs has expanded. There are a few pockets of undeveloped land which may produce battlefield archaeology if investigated. There may be little chance though, especially since the exact location of the battle is not clear.
G Foard, T Partida 2005
