It is known from Beaton's financial records that he had prepared gabions (baskets filled with gravel for gun emplacements) and bought new cannons in anticipation of an English invasion. Other commentators, such as Marcus Merriman have seen the failure of the Scottish forces to take the newly equipped castle as indicative of inadequate technology of Arran's army.Merriman, Marcus, Rough Wooings, (2000), 218 The Castilians themselves attributed Arran's failure to continue his artillery battery to the losses they had inflicted on Arran's gunners. Henry Stewart, Lord Methven, the master of the royal artillery, thought the castle could have been won with Arran's own "sobir artalyerij" and pointed out the ease and efficiency of the French captains who "ordourlie persewit" their short assault.Scottish Correspondence of Mary of Lorraine, SHS (1923), 208–210.
