The battle
The Queen’s force of over 10,000 men, led by the Earl of Lennox, began a march from Stirling to Edinburgh. But this was halted about a mile south-west of Linlithgow Bridge at the Manual Nunnery on the banks of the River Avon.
Despite a ford in the river, marshy ground slowed Lennox’s men and left them in a bottleneck as they faced a force of around 2,500 men led by the Earl of Arran.
Arran was then joined by re-enforcements of up to 3,000 men based on Pace Hill (nowadays Avontoun Park and Mill Road to the south of the Edinburgh-Glasgow railway line). This height advantage is believed to have more than made up for the lack of numbers in the pro-Douglas force and their pikes led to a swift slaughter of Lennox’s men.
Lennox was wounded and then captured. The chronicler Robert Lindsay of Pitscottie records that he was led to a point behind the lines where he handed his sword to the Laird of Pardovan, a member of the Hamilton family whom he recognised and trusted. It was then that James Hamilton of Finnart stepped forward and cut Lennox down. Finnart then mercilessly led the pursuit hacking down all that came within sword reach.
