Bus trip To Culloden Battlefield and Visitor Centre.
Thursday, 15th May, 10am.
Thirty three members joined the excursion to Culloden battlefield, on a fine sunny spring morning. On arrival, we were all rather surprised by the number of cars and buses in the car park – the battlefield is now a very busy tourist attraction. Most of us had opted to go on the guided tour and once we were out on the moor, the crowds melted away. We had a very knowledgeable and enthusiastic guide for our tour of the site of the last major battle to be fought on British soil, which marked the end of the Jacobite rising of 1745. The battle between the Jacobites, led by Charles Edward Stuart, and the government troops, led by the Duke of Cumberland, youngest son of George II, lasted little over an hour: at the end 50 government soldiers and approximately 1,500 Jacobites lay dead.
Our guide led us across the whole battlefield. Today the government positions are marked by red flags, and the Jacobite lines by blue flags. On such a sunny day, with the sky full of larks, it was difficult to imagine the carnage on that bitterly cold April day in 1746. The Jacobites faced an enemy that was better armed and better fed, and the tactics that had served them so well the previous year failed them in the face of a well prepared army. This was the only battle that the Jacobites lost, and the only one that Cumberland was to win.
The battlefield is also a graveyard, with memorial stones for the different clans, and one large memorial erected in 1881, by Duncan Forbes the landowner of the moor. The tour ended at Leanach Cottage, which served as a field hospital at the time of the battle. It was rebuilt in the nineteenth century, and in the twentieth century it became the first “visitor centre”. The cottage is made of stone and turf and thatched with heather. The cottage was closed temporarily for structural reasons.
It was then time for a picnic or cafe lunch and a visit to the excellent museum, which tells the story of the battle from the perspectives of both participants. It features an immersive experience in a 360 degree theatre. The visitor centre also features an explanation of the ongoing campaign against inappropriate development: further information on the NTS Culloden website.
Sara Marsh
23/6/25
