Around Inverness

Tuesday, 23 June, 2010

A quick trip to the car park to pay for a £1 parking ticket and then back to the hostel for breakfast. In all the years we have been using hostels this is the first one we have encountered that doesn’t unlock the kitchen till 8:00 am, back luck for those leaving early as they couldn’t have any breakfast.

We thought today we would visit a historic site near Inverness, this site probably arouses more emotion in the Scots than any other, it is Culloden the site of the defeat of Charles Stuart, “Bonny Prince Charlie” who was trying to restore the Stuarts to the throne. Up until Culloden the Jacobites had won every battle and had captured Edinburgh and other towns in England but their troops were getting weary and food and money was short and Charlie wouldn’t listen to his advisors to withdraw to the mountains. His forces comprised Clansmen, French Jacobite soldiers and Irish troops.

The Duke of Cumberland’s forces were camped at Nairn and were celebrating his 25^th birthday so Charles Stuart decided to march his men through the night and launch a surprise attack on the British, however the Jacobites were tired, hungry and the weather closed in so the withdrew to Culloden, not Inverness as he was advised, where there was food and fortifications.

After several defeats Cumberland changed his defensive tactics to counter the Jacobites who fired a volley from their muskets and then threw them away charging the British lines armed with broadswords and shields and slashed their way through their ranks, these tactics won some battles in minutes rather than hours.

Cumberland’s troops marched for Culloden at 5:00 am and by 11:00 the forces lined up at Culloden, as the Jabobites advanced the British fired several volley with muskets and cannon and when the Jacobites charged each soldier defended the soldier next to him with his bayonet, this new tactic resulted in 700 Jacobites being killed in the first charge. The British continued with musket and cannon volleys and their cavalry attacked the fleeing Jacobites who fled the field. At the end of the day the Jacobites had lost 1500 men and the British only 50, the dead of both armies were buried in mass graves, the men from each clan were buried together.

Two years ago the National Trust of Scotland opened a new display at Culloden which provides details of the whole campaign together with memorabilia and a 360 degree moviere-enactment of the battle, with a warning at the door to the theatre that the scenes may be too violent for children. When we had completed viewing the display we were given an audio device fitted with a GPS so as we walked around the Culloden Moor we received a commentary about the battle based on where we were standing. Just outside the visitors' centre is a small stone cottage which is believed to be used by the British as a hospital, it was occupied until 1909 when the last resident died.

Culloden was the last battle to take place on British soil.

From Culloden we drove about four miles to the site of several Bronze Age stone burial mounds, these are estimated to be from between two and three thousand BC and apart from the roofs having collapsed they were in remarkable condition.

From here we drove to Fort George which is built on a spit of land protecting the entrance to Moray Firth. Fort George is the finest example of 18th-century military engineering to be found anywhere in the British Isles. This vast garrison fortress was begun in the aftermath of the Battle of Culloden (1746), which crushed the final Jacobite Rising. It took over 20 years to complete and in the event it was never attacked. It remains virtually unaltered today, and still serves as an important military base. When we arrived it was only half an hour to closing time, so we didn’t go in.

Tomorrow we go in search of “Nessie”.