Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for Sauchie

Sauchie, an estate, with a mansion and a ruined fortalice, in St Ninians parish, Stirlingshire, 3 miles SSW of Stirling. At the death of his cousin, Mr Ramsay, in 1865, it passed, with Barnton, to Sir Alexander Charles Gibson-Maitland, Bart., of Clifton Hail, whose great-grandfather, the Hon. Gen. Alexander Maitland, received the baronetcy in 1818, and was the fifth son of Charles, sixth Earl of Lauderdale. Accordingly his son, Sir James Ramsay-Gibson-Maitland, present and fourth Bart. (b. 1848; suc. 1876), is a claimant, since August 1884, to the earldom of Lauderdale. (See Thirlestane Castle.) He holds 6023 acres in Stirling and 4505 in Edinburgh shire, valued at £5809 and £14, 246 per annum.

The Battle of Sauchie, called also the Battle of Sauchieburn or Stirling, was fought on 11 June 1488, between James III. and his insurgent nobles. The two armies met on a tract of ground, now called Little Canglar, on the E side of the streamlet of Sauchie Burn, about 1½ mile from the field of Bannockburn. The malcontent army was 18, 000 strong, and was ranged in three divisions, commanded respectively by Lords Home and Hailes, by Lord Gray, and by officers acting as prompters to the Prince of Scotland, a youth of 15. The King's army is variously stated in strength, and was also disposed in three divisions, commanded, we are not told under what arrangement, by the Earls of Menteith and Crawford, the Lords Erskine, Graham, Ruthven, and Maxwell, and the second Lord Lyndsay of the Byres. The King was armed cap-a-piea., and mounted on a spirited grey charger, which Lord Lyndsay had given him that very day, with the assurance that he might at any moment trust his safety to its swiftness and surefootedness, provided only he could keep his seat. The malcontents saw their first line driven back at the onset; but, the second speedily giving support, all became firm and composed; and they soon not only recovered their ground, but pushed the first and the second lines of the royalists back to the third. The King, who was not noted for courage, soon lost the little he possessed; and-previous to the striking of any decisive blow-put spurs to his horse, and galloped off, with the view, it is thought, of saving himself on one of Sir Andrew Wood's two ships, which lay in the Forth near Alloa. After the King's flight, his troops continued to fight with great bravery; but, eventually finding themselves unable to stand their ground, and disheartened by a flying rumour of the King's death, they began to retreat towards Stirling, and were allowed to retire without much pursuit. The victorious army lay all night upon the field, and next day marched to Linlithgow. The number of slain on both sides must have been great, as the action was of several hours duration, and stubbornly maintained; and, on the royalists' side, it included the Earl of Glencairn, and some other persons of high rank. James himself, in his flight, was on the point of crossing the Bannock Burn at the village of Milton, when his horse started at a pitcher which a woman, in the act of drawing water, dropped at the sight of the furious rider. The King was thrown to the ground, and sustained such damage from his fall and the weight of his armour, that he fainted away. He was removed, by the miller and his wife, into a mill in the immediate vicinity, and treated by them, though ignorant of his rank, with every possible care. When he had somewhat recovered, he told them who he was; and, supposing himself dying, called for a priest. The miller's wife flew in search of a ghostly adviser, and, meeting a party of the malcontents who had observed the King's flight, and were tracking his steps, entreated that, if there were a priest among them, he would stop and ` shrive his majesty. ' ` I, ' said one of them, whose name is not certainly known, ` I am a priest: lead me to him.' Being introduced, he approached on his knees under pretence of reverence, treacherously ascertained that the King thought he would recover if he had the aid of a surgeon, and then stabbed him again and again to the heart. ` Beaton's Mill, ' a small old house, with crowstepped gables, but a mill no longer, is pointed out as the scene of this tragedy. The King was buried in Cambuskenneth Abbey.—Ord. Sur., sh. 39, 1869.


(F.H. Groome, Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (1882-4); © 2004 Gazetteer for Scotland)

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "an estate, with a mansion and a ruined fortalice"   (ADL Feature Type: "land parcels")
Administrative units: St Ninians ScoP       Stirlingshire ScoCnty

Pages for linked administrative units may contain historical statistics and information on boundaries.