Despite their battlefield victories, the Scots lacked the expertise or resources necessary to sustain a lengthy siege; after failing to breach the walls, they withdrew on 1 August.

[3] Previously held by the Scots, Berwick was captured by Edward I in 1296, and frequently changed hands until 1482, while Carlisle was besieged seven times between 1171 and 1461, the 1315 siege being among the most determined.

[4] Carlisle was first fortified in 72 CE, when a timber and earth Roman fort was built there; in 1092, William II of England constructed a stone castle on the same site, subsequently expanded by his successors.

[6] Despite successes under William Wallace, the Scottish would find themselves still fighting the English in 1314 when Robert the Bruce, now King of Scotland, defeated Edward II of England at Bannockburn, uniting the nation under his leadership.

[9] Expecting Carlisle to be attacked following their defeat at Bannockburn, the English had strengthened the garrison there, and six months prior to the siege Andrew Harclay, as governor of the castle, commanded a few hundred regular soldiers.

Attempts to gain entrance to the castle using long ladders, bridges over the moat, and the use of a sow, a mobile shelter used to provide protection to sappers trying to undermine the walls, would all come to no avail.

[10] This too failed, and the siege ended on 1 August when the Scots withdrew, either in response to the rumoured approach of a relief column, or news of a defeat suffered by Edward Bruce in Ireland.

[15][16] During the 1321 to 1322 Despenser War, Harclay led Royalist forces in the north; at the decisive Battle of Boroughbridge in March 1322, he deployed his infantry in the Scottish schiltron formation.