Remembering when Scots beat the English in "bloodiest battle" on British soil

It's one of the most epic battles in Scottish history and broke out partly after an English knight lost the woman he loved to a Scots noble.

Memorial to those who fought in the 1303 Battle of Roslin, in which 35,000 men reportedly lost their lives. PIC: TSPL.

The Battle of Roslin on February 24 1303 reportedly cost the lives of an estimated 35,000 men.

If the figure is correct, the death toll would make it the bloodiest encounter on British soil - but still the Battle of Roslin remains a relatively obscure event lost in the deep history of the Wars of Independence.

At the time, Scotland was occupied by the English under the governance of Sir John de Segrave, a knight of Edward I.

It was a time of retaliatory campaigns against the Scots following the earlier expulsion of Edward I's sheriffs and bailiffs but the lead up to the Battle of Roslin is also shaded with the hurt pride and bitterness of a lovelorn Sir John.

According to accounts, Sir John had fallen in love with Lady Margaret Ramsey of Dalhousie. But when he discovered that she had run off to marry Henry St Clair, Lord of Rosslyn, the Englishman was furious.

Sir John de Segrave’s forces arrived in the Scottish Borders in mid-February, and from here the Scots began to track their advance north.

De Segrave split his 30,000-strong army into three divisions, sending one group to attack Borthwick Castle near Gorebridge, the second group towards Lady Margaret’s Dalhousie Castle, and the third, led by Sir John himself, to Henry St Clair at Roslin. I

On the eve of the battle John Comyn’s Scots army set up camp in the woods at Bilston to prepare themselves for attack.

The men launched their surprise offence under the cover of darkness the next morning and met with de Segrave’s forces as they slept by the River Esk. It was a slaughter. The English who fled were picked off by smaller groups of Scots positioned around the local area.

Comyn’s troops then laid siege to de Segrave’s second army holed up at Dalhousie Castle. Sir Ralph de Confrey, leader of the second division ordered his men to march towards the summit of Langhill to meet the Scots, but his forces were decimated by Comyn’s archers and pikemen. Again, the Scots spared no one.

No sooner had this combat ended than the third English division appeared, presumably better prepared for action than either of the first two.

"Again with the encouragement of their leaders the Scots re-entered the fray and to the astonishment of all won their third victory, though not before putting the survivors of the first two battles to the sword and taking their horses," according to an account by Historic Environment Scotland.

It added: "The Battle of Roslin was a crushing blow to the English, with what was mean to be a punitive raid into Scotland to crush resistance turning into a morale boosting victory for the Scots against the odds.!

Some sources suggest that fewer than 3000 of the English force returned home, although this number is likely to be an exaggeration, HES said.

"Furious at his army having suffered such a crushing defeat by the Scots, Edward I raised a fresh force of considerable strength and in 1304 he personally led another incursion into Scotland, launching ferocious attacks by land and sea," the account added.

The King took control of all the major fortresses, taking oaths of loyalty from most of the Scots nobility with Enlgish lords put back into positions of power.