Battles & Campaigns · 1690
Battle of Cromdale
Cromdale, Speyside, Scotland, UK
What happened
Buchan's army had shrunk to about 800 men. He camped at Cromdale hoping to win support, but Livingstone's larger force arrived and his cavalry crossed the River Spey. The Jacobites began to retreat, made a brief stand, and then thick fog came down and the pursuit stopped.
Why it matters
The defeat effectively ended the 1689 Jacobite rising in Scotland.
What came next
The battle was remembered in the ballad 'The Haughs of Cromdale', which mixes it up with an earlier battle.
Did you know?
A writer who collected the ballad called it 'the worst specimen of the truth of Scottish song'.
Timeline
- 21 Aug 1689Battle of Dunkeld.
- 30 Apr 1690Buchan camps at Cromdale.
- 1 May 1690Battle of Cromdale.
- 1 Jul 1690Battle of the Boyne in Ireland (O.S.).