Atlas of Battles

battle, early modern

Battle of Kilsyth

Battle of Kilsyth was a battle fought on 15 August 1645 at Kilsyth, in what is now United Kingdom. It was part of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, which ran from 1638 to 1651. The recorded result: Royalist/Irish Victory. Recorded strength: 3,000 foot; 500 cavalry against 7,000 foot; 800 cavalry.

See it on the globe Read the article

Inscription on the cairn commemorating the battle of Kilsyth
Inscription on the cairn commemorating the battle of Kilsyth. Chris Wimbush, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Fought15 August 1645
WhereKilsyth, United Kingdom55.984N, 4.019W
OutcomeRoyalist/Irish Victory
BelligerentsRoyalists; Irish BrigadeagainstCovenanters
Casualties and lossesLightand4,500
Battlefield todayBattle of Kilsyth battlefieldHistoric Environment Scotland entry BTL13, 876 ha
Part ofWars of the Three Kingdoms1638 to 1651

Where it sits in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms

Battle of Tippermuir, 1644Battle of Aberdeen, 1644Battle of Inverlochy, 1645Battle of Auldearn, 1645Battle of Alford, 1645Battle of Kilsyth, 1645Battle of Philiphaugh, 1645Battle of Annan Moor, 1645Battle of Lagganmore, 1646Battle of Aberdeen, 1646Battle of Rhunahaorine Moss, 1647Battle of Mauchline Muir, 1648Battle of Stirling, 1648Siege of Dublin, 1649Battle of Carbisdale, 1650Battle of Dunbar, 1650Battle of Inverkeithing, 1651Battle of Worcester, 1651Battle of Dalnaspidal, 1654Battle of the Severn, 165516441655Battle of Kilsyth, 1645
20 placed engagements of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms in time order; taller ticks are more widely documented. Each tick is a link.

Record

Date15 August 1645
PlaceKilsyth, United Kingdom
55.984N, 4.019W
KindBattle, early modern
Strength3,000 foot; 500 cavalry7,000 foot; 800 cavalry
Casualties and lossesLight4,500
Commanders
Battle of KilsythBattle of Kilsyth5 km55.984N, 4.019W
The recorded site, with the nearest other engagements in the atlas. The dashed outline is the registered battlefield area (Historic Environment Scotland). Present-day coastlines, rivers and borders; towns from Natural Earth.

Nearest engagements

In the same war

Elsewhere in 1645

Combat data (CDB90)

Attacker: SCOT ROY ARMYDefender: SCOT COV ARMY
Strength4,9006,800
Casualties6 (0.1%)6,000 (88.2%)
Mission accomplishment, 1 to 1092
Outcomeattacker won
Duration2 days
Front width0.7 km0.7 km
Attacker advanced0.8 km

From the US Army Concepts Analysis Agency Database of Battles (CDB90, battle 23), public domain, in the CC0 tidy edition by Jeffrey B. Arnold. Figures are the database's estimates, compiled in 1990 from published histories, and may differ from the Wikipedia infobox above.

Historic Environment Scotland registers this as the Battle of Kilsyth battlefield (entry BTL13), 876 hectares, under the Open Government Licence.

Battle of Kilsyth is one of 1,470 engagements of the 17th century in the atlas and one of 695 in present-day United Kingdom.

Sources

Identity, coordinates, dates and the war from Wikidata Q4087434, released under CC0. Result, belligerents, commanders, strength and casualties from the infobox of the English Wikipedia article Battle of Kilsyth, revision 1370267142, read 2026-11-14, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; the article's text is not reproduced here. Present-day country and state from Natural Earth. Battlefield boundary and area from Historic Environment Scotland (Open Government Licence). Dates before 1582 follow the Julian calendar as recorded.