The Castle of Leys (8 of 8)
This view, with the crannog in the foreground again, looks north towards the Hill of Fare (the top of which isn't quite visible from here).  At the right-hand end of the line of hills, the mouth of a glen can be seen, much filled with forestry, like most of the rest of the scene!  I have never seen it called 'Glen Corrichie', but the burn that flows down it is called the Corrichie Burn, and a major battle was fought here in October 1562.  

The battle was fought between George Gordon, 4th Earl of Huntly, and his implacable foe, James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray, who was the illegitimate half brother of Mary Queen of Scots.  Curiously, the Gordons were essentially supporters of Queen Mary, but Moray was intent on breaking their power and used his position to do so. The Gordons were defeated at the battle, the Earl of Huntly died of an apoplexy shortly after its conclusion (people don't seem to die of apoplexies these days, which is a shame!) and his heir was executed in Aberdeen three days later.  Queen Mary, who watched the battle, was of course executed in 1587 and the Earl of Moray, who became Regent after her capture, was assassinated in 1570.  No good became of any of them in fact!
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