Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The Old Pretender's son, Charles Edward
Stuart, better known as Bonnie Prince Charlie
or the Young Pretender, landed in Scotland for
the final uprising. He had little military experi-
ence, didn't speak Gaelic and had a shaky
grasp of English. Nevertheless, supported by
an army of Highlanders, he marched south-
wards and captured Edinburgh, except for the
castle, in September 1745. He got as far south
as Derby in England, but success was short-lived; an Hanoverian army led by the duke of
Cumberland harried him all the way back to the Highlands, where Jacobite dreams were
finally extinguished at the Battle of Culloden in 1746.
Although a heavily romanticised figure, Bonnie Prince Charlie was partly responsible
for the annihilation of Highland culture, given the crackdown following his doomed at-
tempt to recapture the crown. After returning to France he gained a reputation for drunk-
enness and mistreatment of mistresses. France had serious plans to invade Britain during
the mid-18th century, but eventually ceased to regard the prince as a serious character.
Bonnie Prince Charlie's flight after the Battle of
Culloden is legendary. He lived in hiding in the re-
mote Highlands and islands for months before be-
ing rescued by a French frigate. His narrow escape
from Uist to Skye, dressed as Flora MacDonald's
maid, is the subject of the 'Skye Boat Song'.
The Highland Clearances
In the aftermath of the Jacobite rebellions, Highland dress, the bearing of arms and the
bagpipes were outlawed. The Highlands were put under military control and private
armies were banned.
The clansmen, no longer of any use as sol-
diers and uneconomical as tenants, were
evicted from their homes and farms by the
Highland chieftains to make way for the flocks
of sheep. A few stayed to work the sheep
farms; many more were forced to seek work in
the cities, or to eke a living from crofts (smallholdings) on poor coastal land. Men who
had never seen the sea were forced to take to boats to try their luck at herring fishing, and
many thousands emigrated - some willingly, some under duress - to the developing
colonies of North America, Australia and New Zealand.
If you do much walking in the Highlands and islands, you are almost certain to come
across a pile of stones among the bracken, all that remains of a house or cottage. Look
around and you'll find another, and another, and soon you'll realise that this was once a
crofting settlement. It's one of the saddest sights you'll see in Scotland - this emptiness,
where once there was a thriving community.
Most clan tartans are in fact a 19th-century inven-
tion (long after the demise of the clan system)
partly inspired by the writings of Sir Walter Scott.
