The Battle of Tarbat, 1480s: Sanctuary Set Alight
At a glance
| Date | 1480s (c. 1486, uncertain) |
| War | The Mackay–Ross feud |
| Where | Tarbat, near Portmahomack, Easter Ross |
| Winner | Clan Ross of Balnagown |
| Loser | Clan Mackay |
| Trigger for | the Battle of Aldy Charrish (1487) |
Background
A Mackay raiding party pushed deep into Easter Ross and was cornered by the Rosses of Balnagown on the Tarbat peninsula.
The battle
Tradition holds that the surviving Mackays took sanctuary in Tarbat church, which the Rosses set on fire, killing those inside — the Mackay chief among them. It was a Ross victory, and the death of the Mackay chief here was the direct spark for the revenge battle at Aldy Charrish the next year.
Honesty note: the battle rests on Sir Robert Gordon’s partisan history and the Wardlaw Manuscript. No reliable casualty numbers exist; “all in the church killed” is a traditional claim, and church-burning is a recurring motif in these clan histories. Even the Mackay chief’s style (“9th of Strathnaver”) is not settled — the genealogies of this period are muddled.
The site today
Tarbat Old Church at Portmahomack (rebuilt 1756) still stands — now the Tarbat Discovery Centre, famous chiefly for its Pictish monastery, not the clan fight. Not on the HES Inventory as a battlefield.
The clans & people involved
- Clan Ross of Balnagown — Alexander Ross, victorious.
- Clan Mackay — their chief killed.
Sources
- Battle of Tarbat — Wikipedia; Sir Robert Gordon; the Wardlaw MS.
đź“ť Kevin’s note: a photo of Tarbat Old Church, Portmahomack — add from our own visit.
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