Battle of Aldy Charrish

The Battle of Aldy Charrish was a Scottish clan battle that took place on 11 July 1487. The Clan Mackay and possibly the Clan Sutherland defeated the Clan Ross and their allies in the Scottish Highlands, probably on the south side of Strathoykel.

The second half of the 15th century had seen a series of raids by the Mackays of Strathnaver on the Rosses of Balnagowan. According to the Blackcastle MS the Rosses had made "a predatory incursion" into the territory of the Mackays. Sir Robert Gordon, however, says that the Mackays "often molested with incursions and invasions" the lands of the Rosses. According to historian Angus Mackay, the evidence is ample that the Mackays managed to recover some of the lands in Ross-shire that had belonged to their relatives and enemies, Neil Neilson Mackay, his brother Morgan Neilson Mackay, and Neil and Morgan's father-in-law Murray of Cubin, all three of whom had been defeated and killed by the Mackays of Strathnaver at the Battle of Drumnacoub in 1433. The evidence is also ample that the Rosses managed to secure some of these lands lying in the parishes of Edderton and Kincardine in Ross-shire. So it appears that the feud between the Mackays and the Rosses arose out of a scramble for disputed lands. Finally the Rosses, led by Alexander Ross of Balnagowan, gathered their forces to attack the invaders who were led by Angus Roy Mackay of Strathnaver and who they defeated and killed at the Battle of Tarbat, some time in the 1480s. Angus Roy Mackay's son John Mackay returned in the late 1480s to attack the Rosses in revenge for the death of his father.

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