Qualla: Battle of Harpsdale https://qualla.com/battle-of-harpsdale en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:25 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_res/siteimages/rsslogo.png Qualla: Battle of Harpsdale https://qualla.com/battle-of-harpsdale Battle of Harpsdale: Introduction https://qualla.com/battle-of-harpsdale/ Angus Dow Mackay - Angus the Black - was the chief of a clan that Sir Robert Gordon would later describe as the "leader of 4,000 Mackays" of Strathnaver. He took his son Neil and the fighting men of the western glens and crossed into Caithness in 1426. The Clan Gunn, who held the country east of Thurso, chose a piece of ground at Harpsdale, about eight miles south of the town, to make their stand. What happened next, according to the only chronicler who bothered to record it, was great slaughter on both sides. The battle was inconclusive. That is everything we know about the fighting. The interesting story is what came after.

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]]> Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/f/m/k/battle-of-harpsdale-wp/gfmk-battle-of-harpsdale-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Battle of Harpsdale: The Chronicler's Account https://qualla.com/battle-of-harpsdale/ Sir Robert Gordon, who lived from 1580 to 1656 - more than 150 years after Harpsdale - wrote the only surviving narrative of the battle in his Genealogical History of the Earldom of Sutherland. He set it down in the seventeenth century, drawing on family papers, oral tradition, a...

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]]> Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/f/m/k/battle-of-harpsdale-wp/gfmk-battle-of-harpsdale-the-chroniclers-account.mp3 0:06 2 full Battle of Harpsdale: The Parliament at Inverness https://qualla.com/battle-of-harpsdale/ James I of Scotland had been crowned in 1424 after spending eighteen years as a prisoner in England. He returned with a project: to bring royal authority back to a kingdom that had run loose during his captivity. In spring 1427 he summoned a Parliament at Inverness, ostensibly to...

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]]> Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/f/m/k/battle-of-harpsdale-wp/gfmk-battle-of-harpsdale-the-parliament-at-inverness.mp3 0:06 3 full Battle of Harpsdale: Niel-Bass Mackay https://qualla.com/battle-of-harpsdale/ Angus Dow Mackay, hearing that the king was at Inverness, came down from Strathnaver to submit himself. He brought his son Neil - then fourteen years old - and offered the boy as a pledge of future obedience. The king accepted the submission and sent Neil Mackay to be held on the...

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]]> Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/f/m/k/battle-of-harpsdale-wp/gfmk-battle-of-harpsdale-niel-bass-mackay.mp3 0:06 4 full Battle of Harpsdale: The Field at Harpsdale https://qualla.com/battle-of-harpsdale/ Achardale, the modern name for Harpsdale, is a quiet stretch of farmland in the Caithness flow country, about eight miles south of Thurso along what is now the B870. There is no monument, no battlefield centre, no marked field. The little river Thurso runs nearby; the road goes p...

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]]> Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/f/m/k/battle-of-harpsdale-wp/gfmk-battle-of-harpsdale-the-field-at-harpsdale.mp3 0:06 5 full