Event marking 500th anniversary of bloody skirmish that left many dead on Edinburgh's Royal Mile rescheduled for 2021

The original plan was to commemorate the 500th anniversary of Cleanse the Causeway, a landmark event in the history of Edinburgh's Royal Mile, on April 30, 2020. However, like so many things in the year of Covid-19, organisers were forced to postpone the unveiling of a specially commissioned plaque to mark the site of the battle.

Old Town resident and tour guide Hamish Allan, explains, "The best made plans of mice and men gang oft agley: the pandemic put paid to all our plans and April ​30 ​came and went unmarked, except for displaying a temporary explanation of the historical significance on the day itself. However, it is hoped that a return to some normalcy will see these plans resumed​,​ perhaps without much ceremony involved​,​ in 2021.

For those unfamiliar with the events of April 30, 1520, News’ heritage writer and founder of the popular Facebook page Lost Edinburgh, David McLean, recounts the story: ​​"On 30 April 1520, a bloody skirmish broke out on the streets of medieval Edinburgh between rivals James Hamilton, 1st Earl of Arran, chief of Clan Hamilton, and Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus, chief of Clan Douglas.​

"​Referred to as Cleanse the Causeway, the fighting was the result of a protracted monarchical struggle between the two rival houses, both angling for supremacy within the court of the infant King James V of Scotland. Desperate to put an end to the regal influence of the House of Douglas, a plot was hatched by Sir Patrick of Hamilton and Sir James Hamilton of Finnart, the Earl of Arran's bastard son, to apprehend the Earl of Angus.​"​The charge was lit when the Earl of Arran, who had assumed the role of Lord Provost of Edinburgh three years earlier, entered into a dispute with the Edinburgh burgesses over the sale of a cargo of Dutch timber.​ ​Aligning himself with the merchants of Leith, Arran invoked the fury of the Edinburgh traders, who duly approached the Earl of Angus with the intention of gaining their revenge.​"The vengeful feud reached its zenith on the last day of April as hours of intense fighting between Clan Hamilton, Clan Douglas and their supporters engulfed the slopes of Edinburgh famous Royal Mile and nearby closes.​"​The cleansing of the causeway did not end well for the House of Hamilton. Among the 70 or so deceased was Sir Patrick of Hamilton, whose life, it is said, was taken by the Earl of Angus himself.​ ​Clan Hamilton chief the Earl of Arran and his illegitimate son, Sir James, managed to survive the skirmish. The defeated pair broke free of the melee down a close and fled away from Edinburgh across the marshes of the Nor' Loch on a stolen pack horse.​"​

That story left its mark on the young Allan, who first learned of ​Cleanse the Causeway​ as a schoolboy and reflects, "Sixty years ago, when I was a young lad at school in Edinburgh, we actually learnt Scottish history, for a year or so, anyway. Quite a lot of it was 'anecdotal' or colourful​, and gory​,​ footnotes to the main events. Cleanse the Causeway was ingrained on my youthful mind then, along with other tales of battle and derring-do.

"Decades later I became an Old Town resident and a tourist guide, which encouraged me to do more research."

He continues, “​It was a significant event in the annals of Edinburgh's history. In more recent times such stramashes have become, with some exceptions such as the Porteous Riots​ of 1736 less frequent and bloody​... ​thank goodness​."

His research led him to believe that the clash was worth commemorating and the idea of marking the site with a plaque was born. Planning permission and funding for the event had "virtually been agreed by February of this year", he reveals, then the pandemic struck.

"Dr Arran Johnstone of the Scottish Battlefields Trust and I were finalising plans when lockdown started,” he says. “This would have amounted to a plaque to be erected at the junction of Blackfriars Street with the High Street, where the main melee began. In those days it was Blackfriars Wynd."

The planned unveiling would have brought together figures dressed in the liveries of the Hamiltons and Douglases to the High Street, along with a number of appropriate dignitaries. The Scottish Battlefields Trust would meet costs for the plaque, which was to carry the wording:

'In this area a bloody street fight took place between the supporters of James Hamilton, 1st Earl of Arran and Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus during the minority of King James V. 30th April, 1520. Erected to mark the 500th anniversary by the Scottish Battlefields Trust.'

As he looks forward to now staging the event in 2021 on the last day of the 500 Anniversary year, Allan adds, "Cleanse the Causeway had little lasting effect on the rival factions factions jockeying for power at that time, but between 70 and 300 people were killed, the estimates vary. That in itself is enough reason for some commemoration, though not celebration.

"Centennial and demi-millenial events don't come round that often, and there is more interest in our history among locals and visitors these days to make some physical indication of past events appropriate, albeit in a very small way."

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