Sandside Chase
| Sandside Chase (Battle of Ruoig-Hansett) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Scottish clan wars | |||||||
Sandside Bay | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
| Clan Mackay | Clan Gunn | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
|
Neil Mackay, 8th of Strathnaver John Aberach Mackay | |||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| Unknown | Unknown | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| Unknown | "Crushing defeat" | ||||||
The Sandside Chase (The Chase of Sandside, The Chase of Sansett; in Gaelic, Ruoig-Hansett, Ruaig Handside or Ruaig-Shansaid) was a Scottish clan battle which took place in 1437 in Caithness, about 6 miles (9.7 km) west of Thurso. The Clan Mackay launched a raid from Strathnaver towards Thurso until they encountered resistance from the locals at Dounreay. The Mackays then pulled back to Sandside, where they were joined by reinforcements and slaughtered the defenders on the coast north of Reay.