Battle of Falkirk Muir 1746
Outline: officially registered battlefield boundary. Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 28 January 1746 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1746 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
| Era | Early modern (1500–1799) | derived from year |
| Location | Scotland | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Europe | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Jacobite risings | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | Jacobitism, Kingdom of Great Britain | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 56.0010, -3.7840 | Wikidata P625 |
| Official record | HES Inventory BTL9 | OGL v3 |
| Registered area | 378.0 ha | OGL v3 |
About the battle
The Battle of Falkirk Muir, or Battle of Falkirk, took place near Falkirk, Scotland, on 17 January 1746 during the Jacobite rising of 1745. A narrow Jacobite victory, it had little impact on the campaign.
After their withdrawal from England in December 1745, the Jacobite army besieged Stirling Castle in early January. Lacking siege equipment, they made little progress and government forces under Henry Hawley advanced north from Edinburgh to relieve it. He reached Falkirk on 15 January but was taken by surprise when the Jacobites attacked late in the afternoon of 17 January.
Fought in failing light and heavy snow, Hawley's left wing was routed but his right held firm, and both sides believed themselves to have been defeated. As a result, the Jacobites failed to follow up their victory, allowing the government troops to regroup in Edinburgh. Hawley was replaced by Duke of Cumberland, who resumed the advance on 30 January, forcing the Jacobite army to withdraw to Inverness. The rebellion later ended at the Battle of Culloden in April.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Falkirk Muir (revision 1376070524), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Battlefield boundary: contains Historic Environment Scotland and OS data © Historic Environment Scotland and Crown Copyright and database right 2026, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. See also this battlefield on Battlefields of Britain.
Nearby battles
- Battle of Falkirk 1298 · 2 km
- Battle of Linlithgow Bridge 1526 · 10 km
- Battle of Sauchieburn 1488 · 11 km
- Battle of Bannockburn 1314 · 14 km
- Battle of Kilsyth 1645 · 15 km
- Siege of Stirling Castle (1746) 1746 · 16 km
Other battles of the Jacobite risings
- Battle of Dunkeld 1689
- Battle of Killiecrankie 1689
- Battle of Cromdale 1690
- Battle of Prestonpans 1745
- Battle of Culloden 1746
All 6 battles of the Jacobite risings →
Browse more: battles in Scotland · Europe · Early modern battles