The aftermath
On hearing news of the battle, the young King is said to have ordered Sir Andrew Wood of Largo, his trusted if somewhat elderly admiral, to ride hard for the battlefield and try to save as many of the rebels as he could.
However, Wood arrived to find the Earl of Arran standing over the body of Lennox and declaring that ‘the stoutest man, the hardiest man that ever was bred in Scotland was slain today’. 
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It is almost impossible to come up with an exact figure of how many died but historians estimate the figure to be at least 2,500 killed on the Lennox side alone.
The lords who fought for Lennox were summoned to appear before Angus over the ensuing months. Many forfeited their lands and rents to appease Angus. Each swore allegiance to the King and his keepers.​
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​It was not until 1528 that the King finally fled his captors, arriving at Stirling Castle in disguise. There he met with his mother and her loyal lords. They in turn marched on Edinburgh one more time. This time however they had the King at their head.
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Douglas was bottled up at Tantallon in modern-day East Lothian but survived a half-hearted siege, before slipping away to exile.​
Image of the Lennox cairn near Kettilstoun
“Perhaps the greatest legacy of this battle is the effect it all had on James's personality. He grew up into a ruthless and stubborn monarch, short tempered, trusting nobody but himself. His death at Falkland just days after the loss of his army at Solway Moss in 1542, was caused, some say, by the deep regret of losing so many men in his name. It could be said his reign came in with a battle and went out with a battle. Such is the legacy of the battle at the brig.”
Jon Cooper Historian
