The Battle of Carbisdale took place close to the village of Culrain, Sutherland, Scotland on 27 April 1650 and was part of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. It was fought by the Royalist leader James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose, against the Scottish Government of the time, dominated by Archibald Campbell, 1st Marquess of Argyll and a grouping of radical Covenanters, known as the Kirk Party. The Covenanters decisively defeated the Royalists. The battlefield has been inventoried and protected by Historic Scotland under the Scottish Historical Environment Policy of 2009. Although Carbisdale is the name of the nearest farm to the site of the battle, Culrain is the nearest village.
The Royalists were in the field to the left of the village, and fled up the hill in the top-left of this photo
Carbisdale Wood, looking towards Bonar Bridge down the Kyle of Sutherland and with Culrain in the foreground
Ardvreck Castle where Montrose surrendered to Neil Macleod of Assynt after the Battle of Carbisdale
James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose
James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose was a Scottish nobleman, poet, soldier and later viceroy and captain general of Scotland. Montrose initially joined the Covenanters in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, but subsequently supported King Charles I as the English Civil War developed. From 1644 to 1646, and again in 1650, he fought in the civil war in Scotland on behalf of the King. He is referred to as the Great Montrose.
Portrait by Anthony van Dyck, 1636
Portrait attributed to Willem van Honthorst
Passage Of Montrose's Army Through Glencoe by Sir George Reid, 1876
Montrose in streets of Edinburgh before the day of his hanging