The Battle of Cromdale, 1690: The End of the First Jacobite Rising

At a glance

Date	1 May 1690
War	The first Jacobite rising (1689–90)
Where	The Haughs of Cromdale, on the Spey
Winner	Government (Williamite) troops
Loser	the Jacobites
Noted for	effectively ending the rising

Background

After the Jacobite Pyrrhic victory at Killiecrankie (1689) and the check at Dunkeld, Major-General Thomas Buchan led a dwindling Jacobite force — desertion had cut it to around 800 — down Speyside, and camped on the open riverside haughs of Cromdale, poor defensive ground.

The battle

Sir Thomas Livingstone made a surprise dawn attack from the Inverness garrison and caught the Jacobites unprepared. The Highlanders were routed; a thick hill fog then covered the survivors’ escape.

The song vs the battle — the big one: the rousing ballad “The Haughs o’ Cromdale” (collected by James Hogg, 1817) is historically unreliable — it welds the 1690 defeat onto Montrose’s 1645 victory at Auldearn, 45 years and a different war apart, turning a rout into a fictional triumph. Hogg himself called it about the worst specimen of the truth of Scottish song. The actual battle was a Jacobite defeat. The dying-piper ‘Piper’s Stone’ is local tradition; the casualty figures are reported estimates.

Why it mattered

Cromdale effectively ended the 1689 rising in Scotland; the Highland Jacobites could not mount another major campaign until 1715. It is on Historic Environment Scotland’s Inventory of Historic Battlefields.

The clans & people involved

Jacobite: Thomas Buchan, with Cameron of Lochiel; a largely Highland force (MacDonald, MacLean, MacPherson, Grants of Invermoriston).
Government: Sir Thomas Livingstone. Note Speyside was Grant country and divided — most Grants were pro-Government.

Sources

Battle of Cromdale — Wikipedia; Historic Environment Scotland Inventory.

📝 Kevin’s note: a photo of the Haughs of Cromdale / the Piper’s Stone — add from our own visit.

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