Culloden Battlefield Culloden

Few battles in Scottish history can still reawaken such strong feelings of pride and despair with the Scottish people as the Battle of Culloden (Blàr Cùil Lodair). Fought on the morning of 13^th April 1746 between the armies of Bonnie Prince Charlie and the Duke of Cumberland and was, if we listen to the romance that still surrounds the tale, a fight between the brave Scots and the ruthless English.

Nothing could be further from the truth. The battle of Culloden was the end of the war of succession to the throne of Great Britain. The 2 protagonists were the Jacobites, supporters of the Stuart claim to the throne, and the Hanovarians, supporters of George III and the Hanovarian succession.

The Stuart claim to the throne went back to the glorious revolution of 1689 when Catholic James II & VII was forced to flee to France whilst his Protestant daughter Anne and her Husband, William of Orange, accepted the throne of England, Scotland and Ireland from a grateful population. What followed was a hundred years of Jacobite intrigue and rebellion to try and claim back the throne from the eventual monarchs, the Hanovarians.

In 1745, Charles Edward Stuart, grandson of James II, raised his standard at Glenfinnan on behalf of his father in France and led his army of Highland Clansmen on a march to Derby where, rather than march on to London and seize the crown, he was persuades to retreat back into Scotland. The 3^rd son of King George II, William Duke of Cumberland, followed him to the battlefield of Drummosie Moor and destroyed the last Jacobite hope forever.

The choice of battleground was a bad one. Charlie's highland army was outnumbered, by 6000 to 9000, and had no high ground with which to use their main weapon, the Highland charge. Facing the Clansmen was a well trained and disciplined army of Redcoats whose tactics and professionalism won the day. This army contained more Scots than the army of Charlie, which puts paid to the theory, or romance, of the last battle fought between the 'Auld enemies' and the last battle fought on British soil. Their superior tactics and training had finally managed to stand and to repel the Clansmen in a short, but bloody battle.

Prince Charlie was forced to flee the field and what followed was a desperate journey to return to France. This is where Charlie made his everlasting fame, and from this journey comes the romance and myth that is still associated with his failed cause today. Bliadhna Tearlach, Charlie's year, is still remembered with fondness in the many Gaelic songs and stories sung and told, however, rather than told in the privacy of the home, they are sung openly in remembrance of a romantic period of Scottish history.

What followed, however, was a period of calculated brutality by the Duke of Cumberland on behalf of the British crown. On the battlefield itself, injured clansmen were put to death where they lay, and as his hunt for the elusive Prince continued, the Clan system of the Gael was destroyed forever. Jacobite estates were forfeited, Jacobites hunted down, tartan and bagpipes forbidden and the Highland system eradicated in a prelude to the infamous Highland Clearances. Ironically, tartan, which so symbolised the Highland Clan, was to return a hundred years later with the Highland regiments of the British army and symbolise not only Scotland but also the power of the British Empire.

Opening Times
Feb, Nov & Dec 11am - 4pm;
Mar 10am - 4pm;
April, May, Sept & Oct 9am - 5:30pm;
June, July & Aug 9am - 6pm.
Closed Jan and 23^rd, 24^th & 25^th Dec

Admission
Battlefield Free admission.
Visitor Centre & Cottage: Adult £5
Concession £4
Adult Group £4
Family £14 / Single Family (one adult) £10.00.

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