Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
GETTING AROUND
AROUND INVERNESS
By bus
The region's main towns are well served by public
transport, but to access Cawdor Castle and Fort George
outside of the peak summer season (when special tourist
routes are briefly opened) you will first need to travel to
Nairn and then transfer to a taxi or the local Dial-a-Bus
service (
T
01667 456066).
By car
The overloaded A96 links Inverness with Nairn, 16
miles northeast, with quieter minor roads leading off it to Fort
George, Cawdor Castle and Culloden. Heading northwest from
Inverness, most tra
c uses Kessock Bridge (the A9) to cross
the Moray Firth; the A862, which skirts the shoreline and the
mud flats, offers a slower, more scenic alternative.
Culloden
Six miles east of Inverness off B9006 • Visitor centre daily: April, May, Sept & Oct 9am-5.30pm; June-Aug 9am-6pm; Nov, Dec, Feb &
March 10am-4pm • £10.50; entrance includes an audio-guide of the site; NTS •
W
nts.org.uk/culloden
he windswept moorland of
CULLODEN
witnessed the last-ever battle on British soil
when, on April 16, 1746, the Jacobite cause was finally subdued - a turning point in
the history of the Scottish nation. Today, this historic site attracts more than 200,000
visitors annually. Your first stop should be the superb
visitor centre
, which hosts
costumed actors and state-of-the-art audiovisual and interactive technology, all
employed to tell the tragedy of Culloden through the words, songs and poetic verse of
locals and soldiers who experienced it. he pièce de résistance is the powerful “battle
immersion theatre” where visitors are surrounded by lifelike cinematography and the
sounds of the raging, bloody fight.
Every April, on the Saturday closest to the date of the battle, there's a small
commemorative service at Culloden. he visitor centre has a reference library and will
check for you if you think you have an ancestor who died here.
11
Brief history
he second Jacobite rebellion had begun on August 19, 1745, with the raising of the
Stuarts' standard at
Glenfinnan
on the west coast (see p.443). Shortly after, Edinburgh fell
into Jacobite hands, and Bonnie Prince Charlie began his march on London. he ruling
Hanoverians had appointed the ambitious young Duke of Cumberland to command
their forces, which included troops from the Lowlands and Highlands. he duke's
pursuit, together with bad weather and lack of funds, eventually forced the Jacobite forces
- mostly comprised of Highlanders - to retreat north. hey ended up at
Culloden
, where,
ill fed and exhausted after a pointless night march, they were hopelessly outnumbered by
the government forces. he open, flat ground of Culloden Moor was totally unsuitable
for the Highlanders' style of courageous but undisciplined fighting, which needed steep
hills and lots of cover to provide the element of surprise, and they were routed.
The end of the clan system
After the battle, in which 1500 Highlanders were slaughtered (many of them as they
lay wounded on the battlefield),
Bonnie Prince Charlie
fled west to the hills and islands,
where loyal Highlanders sheltered and protected him. He eventually escaped to France,
leaving his supporters to their fate - and, in effect, ushering in the end of the
clan
system
. he clans were disarmed, the wearing of tartan and playing of bagpipes
forbidden, and the chiefs became landlords greedy for higher and higher rents. he
battle also unleashed an orgy of violent reprisals on Scotland, as unruly government
troops raped and pillaged their way across the region; within a century, the Highland
way of life had changed out of all recognition.
The battlefield
Flags mark out the positions of the two armies while simple headstones mark the
clan
graves
. he
Field of the English
, for many years unmarked, is a mass grave for the fifty
or so government soldiers who died (though as this government force also included
Scottish infantry regiments, the term “English” is a misnomer).
