Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Every April, on the Saturday closest to the date of the battle, there's a small
commemorative service at Culloden. The visitor centre has a reference library and will
check for you if you think you have an ancestor who died here.
Brief history
The second Jacobite rebellion had begun on August 19, 1745, with the raising of the
Stuarts' standard at Glenfinnan on the west coast (see p.221). Shortly after, Edinburgh
fell into Jacobite hands, and Bonnie Prince Charlie began his march on London. The
ruling Hanoverians had appointed the ambitious young Duke of Cumberland to
command their forces, which included troops from the Lowlands and Highlands. The
duke's pursuit, together with bad weather and lack of funds, eventually forced the
Jacobite forces - mostly comprised of Highlanders - to retreat north. They ended up
at Culloden, where, ill fed and exhausted after a pointless night march, they were
hopelessly outnumbered by the government forces. The 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.
3
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. The clans were disarmed, the wearing of tartan and playing of bagpipes
forbidden, and the chiefs became landlords greedy for higher and higher rents. The
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). Half a mile east of the
battlefield, just beyond the crossroads on the main road, is the Cumberland Stone ,
thought for many years to have been the point from where the duke watched the
battle. It is more likely, however, that he was much further forward and simply used
the stone for shelter. Elsewhere, the restored Leanach cottage marks the spot where
thirty injured Jacobites were burnt alive.
Cawdor Castle
14 miles northeast of Inverness off the A96 • May-Oct daily 10am-5pm • £9.75; gardens & nature trails only £5.50 • T 01667 404401,
W cawdorcastle.com • From Nairn (see p.210), take a taxi for the 6 miles (around £14; book with Taxi 24/7 Nairn T 01667 459595) or
book Nairn's Dial-a-Bus service by 6pm the day before ( T 01667 456066)
The pretty village of CAWDOR , eight miles east of Culloden, is the site of Cawdor
Castle , a setting intimately linked to Shakespeare's Macbeth : the fulfilment of
the witches' prediction that Macbeth was to become thane of Cawdor sets of his
tragic desire to be king. Though visitors arrive here in their droves each summer
because of the site's literary associations, the castle, which dates from the early
fourteenth century, could not possibly have witnessed the grisly historical events
on which the Bard's drama was based. However, the immaculately restored
monument - a fairy-tale affair of towers, turrets, hidden passageways, dungeons,
 
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