Qualla: Battle of Nesbit Moor (1355)

Battle of Nesbit Moor (1355): Introduction

Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Rs-nourse, CC BY-SA 4.0. The Scots wanted Sir Thomas Grey out of Norham Castle, and they knew exactly how to do it. Sir William Ramsay of Dalhousie rode up to the gates in August 1355 with a small force, called Grey out to fight, and was politely refused. So Ramsay burned the village instead. He drove off the cattle. He insulted the garrison's nerve in the loud public way that medieval war-talk required. Grey, watching his tenants' livestock disappear over the moor, did the thing he was not supposed to do. He came out. He chased Ramsay north. He rode his men into the woods south of Duns, where William, Lord of Douglas and Patrick V, Earl of March were waiting with the rest of the Scottish army and sixty French knights.

Image: Rs-nourse | CC BY-SA 4.0

Battle of Nesbit Moor (1355): How the Truce Broke

Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Rs-nourse, CC BY-SA 4.0. Hostilities resumed in early 1355 when negotiations for the release of David II of Scotland - captive in England since the Battle of Neville's Cross in 1346 - finally collapsed. The English raided first, burning the Border lands of Patrick V, Earl of March. March wanted retributi...

Image: Rs-nourse | CC BY-SA 4.0

Battle of Nesbit Moor (1355): The Trap

Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Rs-nourse, CC BY-SA 4.0. Ramsay's raid drew Grey out exactly as intended. Grey had sent scouts to look for the main Scottish force; the scouts found nothing because Douglas and March had hidden their men in woods south of Duns, well clear of the obvious search routes. Lord Dacre rode with Grey. The Engli...

Image: Rs-nourse | CC BY-SA 4.0

Battle of Nesbit Moor (1355): Slaughter Hill

Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Rs-nourse, CC BY-SA 4.0. The Scots won and took valuable prisoners: Lord Dacre, Sir Thomas Grey himself, and his son who had been knighted that very day. Their own casualties were light - John Haliburton of Dirleton was the only nobleman of note killed. What happened next is the part of the battle that t...

Image: Rs-nourse | CC BY-SA 4.0

Battle of Nesbit Moor (1355): The Larger War

Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Rs-nourse, CC BY-SA 4.0. Norham Castle held; the garrison there refused to surrender even after Grey's defeat. The Berwick garrison heard of the fight and marched south expecting to find Norham besieged. Instead they ran into Douglas, March, Thomas Stewart, 2nd Earl of Angus, and the French knights, who ...

Image: Rs-nourse | CC BY-SA 4.0