The Battle of Coilsfield was a legendary conflict associated with the vicinity of Coilsfield and Coylton near Tarbolton and Ayr in South Ayrshire, Scotland. According to antiquarian and traditional accounts of the past few centuries, the conflict took place between an allied force of Picts and Scots under Fergus I and an army of Britons led by 'Coilus', who in the context of the legend is identified with Coel Hen of the northern British Welsh genealogies rather than the earlier second century mythical British King Coilus. The authenticity of the battle and its associations have little credibility, especially owing to evidence of deliberate conflation with Ayrshire in the mid-17th century by the Dutch cartographer Joan Blaeu or his textual editor Sir John Scot, Lord Scotstarvit. The site is associated with the legendary grave of King Coil near Coilsfield Mains at NS 44699 26247.
Traditional Narrative The popular traditional narrative states that the Britons had invaded Ayrshire in response to an uprising and established a substantial camp on or near the banks of the River Doon, south of the town of Ayr. Fergus allowed the Britons to languish in their camp well into winter, so as to exhaust their supplies and whittle down their numbers through disease and desertion. Taking advantage of a drunken Yule-tide revelry in the camp, the Picts and Scots attacked at night during the first watch. The camp, which according to Vegetius had no ramparts or palisade, was successfully overrun. The army of Coilus fled the Doon-side camp in complete panic. After a circuitous retreat south around the 'Craigs of Kyle', over the flooded 'Water of Coyle' at a place remembered as 'the King's Steps' and back again northwards. Fergus cornered the remaining foes west of the hamlet of Failford, and slaughtered Coilus and his men at the place now called Coilsfield. The few survivors rallied around the remnants of the baggage train, and after a brief truce the following day, Fergus wisely allowed them to depart.Robertson, W., Historical Tales and Legends of Ayrshire (London: Hamilton, Adams, & Co., 1889) pp. 111-122.Macintosh, J., Ayrshire Nights' Entertainments: A Descriptive Guide to the History, Traditions, Antiquities, &c., of the County of Ayr (Ayr: Dunlap & Drennan, 1894) pp. 29-32.
Place-names in the area associated with this legend or at least inspired by it, include 'Dead-mens Holm', 'The Bloody Burn', 'Fergus-lea', 'Cairn-gillan Hill', 'Shackle Hill', and 'King Coil's Grave'.Steuart, J. A., 10 by 9 (Davidson & Mackay, 1914) pp. 23-25.Wilson, Prof., footnote matter in, The Works of Robert Burns with a complete life of the poet, v.2 (Glasgow: Blackie & Son, 1853 [and earlier editions]) p. 85.
Historiography The legend, as provided in the popular literary narrative, is given little attention in mainstream Scottish historiography where it regarded as mostly fictitious, principally because it is only known from relatively recent and low quality source material, the main one being popular literature. This issue was already apparent to relatively naïve Georgian writers, who commented in or before the 1840s that "it is very certain that the date assigned to [Coil's] existence, being so long antecedent to the dawn of genuine history in our island, must be fabulous; but we are disposed to pause before dismissing him altogether from the page of history".Wilson, Prof., footnote matter in, The Works of Robert Burns with a complete life of the poet, v.2 (Glasgow: Blackie & Son, 1853 [and earlier editions]) p. 85. Critically, all the key historical works dealing with Ayrshire, including important early works, make no mention of the tradition, which is unlikely for such an important association had it been genuinely known and regarded as true. No Medieval literature records such an event at or near Coilsfield, and evidence in the tradition itself points to its fabrication by later actors unaware of key aspects of Scottish and Roman history. This includes the suggestion of a British invasion in an area that was already a British territory, and a mention of a Scottish state (Scots) many centuries before such existed. A main early inspiration for the popular traditions is a short version provided by the Dutch cartographer Joan Blaeu, whose 1654 Atlas novus included published refinements of the maps surveys of Timothy Pont, as well as literary accompaniments by Bleau himself and his editors. This publication talks of Coilsfield on the following terms -
"The Sheriffdom of Ayr embraces in its midst Kyle, named from Coil, King of the Britons, whom Fergus, first King of the Scots, defeated in a severe battle and killed there in 325 B.C. Several monuments of this famous victory are even now in existence. The plain in which it was fought retains the King’s name; and not far off the church of Coylton; the River Kyle, which flows into the Ayr about four miles above the market-town, quite a famous name for the river; there is also in the vicinity Fergus Loch, near which the Scots pitched camp, and finally it was by the good fortune of that battle, that the Scots offered the kingship to Fergus [...] On the field of battle a curved trumpet, resembling a horn in shape and extremely melodious, was dug up many years later; it is used by the lairds of Caprington, whose principal seat in that region is called Field of Coil, in the vernacular Coilfield, to summon their tenants and workers".Bleau, J., Theatrum Orbis Terrarum five Atlas Novus (Amsterdam, Joan Blaeu, 1654) pp. 54-55
It is probable from the self-apparent contents of the text, and the analysis of the same by Ian Cunningham,Cunningham, I., ed., 'Sources of the texts' in, The Nation Survey'd: Timothy Pont's Maps of Scotland (East Linton: Tuckwell Press in association with the National Library of Scotland, 2001) that Blaeu's source of this content was Buchanan's History of Scotland published in 1582, which provides a bearer version of the later popular literary legend, albeit stripped of modern place-names and other familiar associations. It includes important identification points such as 'in this battle Coilus himself fell, with the greater part of his army, and made the place in which it was fought famous, from his name'.n.d. (trans.), Buchanan, G., [Rerum Scoticarum Historia] The History of Scotland, from the earliest accounts of that nation, to the reign of King James VI. Fifth edition, V.1 (Edinburgh: Alexander Donaldson, 1762) pp. 127-129
However, Buchanan made no reference to Ayrshire, Coilsfield, or any other local associations. The text does state that the locus of the event was the river Don, but this could well represent several watercourses called Don in Scotland, such as the River Don, Aberdeenshire, and there is nothing in the text to imply it represents the River Doon in Ayrshire.Ibid, p. 128 As Joan Blaeu's atlas is the first proven example in print of this narrative being applied to Ayrshire, long before other printed legends appear, then it may represent the progenitor of the folklore that developed in Ayrshire on this subject over the next few centuries.
King Coil's Grave & Place-names The site identified as King Coil's Grave was partly excavated and was dated using morphological and typological approaches. It was dated as prehistoric, likely with Bronze-age origins as a burial mound, but with no evidence of possible later use. A cist containing a food vessel filled with burnt bones was found when digging a gravel pit at Coilsfield. The cover-stone, which measured about 5 ft by 2 1/2 ft was sculptured with cup and ring marks, spirals etc., thus further indicating its period of origins.Simpson, D. D. A., (1965a) 'Food vessels in South-West Scotland', Transactions of the Dumfriesshire and Galloway Natural History and Antiquarian Society, 3rd series, vol.42, 1964-5. p. 38, no.9.Morrison, A., The Bronze Age in Ayrshire (Ayr, 1978) p. 143.
The tradition that this is the burial site of Coel Hen does not appear in the oldest known material of Buchanan concerning the River Don area, nor explicitly in Bleau's reference which only goes as far to say 'several monuments of this famous victory are even now in existence'. Written descriptions became much more detailed during the later Georgian and Victorian eras. The eminent Professor John Wilson (Scottish writer), alias Christopher North, noted that - "a circular mound, enclosed by a hedge, and planted with oak and other trees: on the top of this eminence, in its centre, are two large stones, masses of basalt, which, according to tradition, mark the spot where the remains of 'old king Coil' were deposited".Wilson, Prof., footnote matter in, The Works of Robert Burns with a complete life of the poet, v.2 (Glasgow: Blackie & Son, 1853 [and earlier editions]) p. 85.
Robert Burns' poem The Vision written in an earlier period also probably alluded to the traditions surrounding this mound -
"There where a sceptred Pictish shade, Stalk'd round his ashed lowly laid, I marked a martial race portray'd, In colours strong; Bold, soldier-featured, undismay'd, They strode along. "Black, C., Black's Picturesque Tourist of Scotland, fifteenth edition (Edinburgh: Adam & Charles Black, 1861) p. 405
Burns made frequent references to Coila as a poetic embodiment, a pseudo-female goddess or Coila (muse) of the territory of Kyle, quite detached from the Kingly origins of the legend.
Referring to the analysis of the grave finds that point to a prehistoric origin, some may argue that other archaeological evidence supports the possibility that a battle of some form did take place nearby. In the New Statistical Account of the parish of Tarbolton, 1842, the author noted that an old man remembered that his father spoke of the discovery of 'pieces of ancient armour and fragments of bones when ploughing the 'dead men's home [holm]'. These artifacts are not known to survive. Regardless of the veracity of this claim, the author of the Statistical Account also spuriously claimed that the early historical accounts, such as Buchanan, placed the battle in Carrick near the Doon.Ritchie, D. 'Parish of Tarbolton' (January 1842) in The New Statistical Account of Scotland: Ayr, Bute, v.5. (Edinburgh: William Blackwood and Sons,1845) pp. 752-754. He also sought to summarise the available evidence, some discussed above, and in doing so sought to reconcile the provenance issues with an early-seventeenth century metrical extract that includes the lines:
"The country people fra thenceforth does it call Coylsfield in Kyle as ever more it shall."
According to William Robertson writing some decades later, who provides a fuller version of this rhyme, it was authored by a John Bonar, a schoolmaster in Ayr about the year 1631. Predating the Bleau Atlas, and evidently using language appropriate for the early 17th century, Robertson claimed that this was evidence of a continued tradition in the area, and that it favoured a conclusion that Coil was not only a real king but also met his death in battle in the local area.Robertson, W., p. 122. He admitted that doubters would demand more tangible proof. This lack of corroboration was easy to justify in his view because it concerned an age of which no surviving literature survives for Ayrshire. An issue with this evidence is that the original is not known to survive, and there may be doubt over the dating of 1631.
The fuller version of the relevant verses is contained in a footnote in the said Statistical Account, and was said to be derived from a manuscript volume of poems and miscellaneous pieces written around the year 1631, and in the possession of David Constable, Advocate. The verses are as follows:
"The britones marchet, tuo dayes before the feild To Marrok's mote, for easement and for beild; Afore the night they waughtet liquor fyne, Lyke filthie beasts lying like drunken swine. Quhen fergus heare they wer in sutch a pley, Doune fra Craigsbian he came right suddenly,