Another attempt later this year at the battle of Linlithgow Bridge on September 4 fails again to relieve the young King James from the clutches of Angus.
Margaret had persuaded the Earl of Lennox and Cardinal Beaton to support her cause.
Lennox has raised an army over ten thousand and marches on Edinburgh from his base in Stirling.
By this time Archibald Douglas has won the support of James Hamilton, 1st Earl of Arran and the latter is sent to try to delay the march by mustering the people of Linlithgow and the surrounding area.
Arran arranges his force of twenty-five hundred men on the strategically important Pace Hill overlooking Linlithgow and the River Avon.
Lennox, seeing the strength of this defensive position, has to rethink his plans.
Lennox intends to outflank and defeat Arran before Douglas can arrive from Edinburgh with reinforcements.
Downstream from the town, the river is impassable, but his scouts find a ford a mile upstream, at Manuel Convent.
Lennox forces a crossing there and advances on Arran’s flank.
However, Arran sees the threat and places his troops facing south along the ridge of Pace Hill.
Lennox’s attack is across the Avon, over boggy ground and finally uphill, but he very nearly succeeds in dislodging Arran’s outnumbered men.
However, time runs out for Lennox as Douglas reinforcements arrive, followed by the reluctant King James.
Many of the Lennox men are killed either on the ridge or along the banks of the river Avon.
The Earl of Glencairn is captured and Lennox himself is wounded.
Lennox surrenders to his opponents but is subsequently murdered by James Hamilton of Finnart.
The location of Lennox’s murder is commemorated with a cairn that stands at the entrance to the Kettilstoun estate.
Lennox is succeeded by his son Matthew Stewart, 4th Earl of Lennox, the father of Henry Stewart, Lord Darnley and grandfather of James VI of Scotland.
