Commemoration and Archaeology
The battle would be remembered as "one of the hardest fought that ever took place on Scottish soil", The fighting was so fierce that the battle would go down in history as "Red (Reid) Harlaw". The battle is commemorated in a march, The Battle of Harlaw, and in ballads such as Child ballad 163. Maidment has a different ballad which apparently shares the same tune, but he is sceptical of its antiquity. Sir Walter Scott mentions Harlaw in his 1816 novel The Antiquary, particularly in Elspeth's ballad in Chapter 40.
Tradition has it that Mar founded Chapel of Garioch after the battle, to celebrate masses for the souls of the fallen. In 1911, Aberdeen Town Council erected the Harlaw Monument, located to the north of the town of Inverurie, to the memory of Provost Robert Davidson and the Burgesses of Aberdeen that fell in the battle. Designed by Dr. William Kelly and located to the south of Harlaw House, the granite monument is hexagonal and 40 feet (12.2 m) tall. There were once several cairns in the area that were traditionally associated with the battle, but little remains of them now - Drum's Cairn, Provost Davidson's Cairn, Donald's Tomb and the Liggars Stane. 12 human skeletons were uncovered northeast of Harlaw House in 1837;. Although there have been several discoveries of prehistoric artefacts, such as stone axeheads and a flint core, no artefacts directly attributable to the battle have been recorded. However, the battlefield has been inventoried and protected by Historic Scotland under the Historic Environment (Amendment) Act 2011.
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