Battle of Dunbar

Dunbar is a town in East Lothian on the southeast coast of Scotland, approximately 28 miles east of Edinburgh and 28 miles from the English Border... at Berwick-upon-Tweed. Dunbar is a former Royal Burgh and gave its name to an ecclesiastical and civil parish. The parish extends around 7½ miles east to west and is 3½ miles deep at greatest extent or 11¼ square miles and contains the villages of West Barns, Belhaven, East Barns and several hamlets and farms. Its strategic position gave rise to a history full of incident and strife but Dunbar has become a quiet dormitory town popular with workers in nearby Edinburgh, who find it an affordable alternative to the capital itself. Until the 1960s the population of the town was little more than 3,500. The town is served by Dunbar railway station. Dunbar is home to the Dunbar Lifeboat Station, the second oldest RNLI station in Scotland. The name Dunbar has Brythonic roots and means approximately 'summit-fort', which gives an indication to its origins.
more

The First War of Scottish Independence lasted from the invasion by England in 1296 until the de jure restoration of Scottish independence with the... Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton in 1328. De facto independence had been established in 1314 at the Battle of Bannockburn. Throughout Scotland, there was widespread discontent and disorder after the supposed conquest, and acts of defiance were directed against local English officials. In 1297, the country erupted in open revolt, and Andrew de Moray and William Wallace emerged as the first significant Scottish patriots. Andrew de Moray was the son of a northern landowner, Sir Andrew de Moray of Petty. Andrew and his father were both captured in the rout after the Battle of Dunbar in April 1296. Andrew the younger was initially held captive in Chester Castle on the Anglo-Welsh border, from which he escaped during the winter of 1296-97. He returned to his father's castle at Avoch on the northern shore of the Moray Firth, where he raised his banner in the name of Scotland's king, John Balliol.
more