Culloden Battlefield [“Drumossie Moor”] In The Rain (Oh, surpriZe!)

After finding my way back to the Motorway, and thereafter taking the CORRECT exit,
I easily found Culloden. Unfortunately, it was raining upon my arrival.

HEY!!! According to the Weather Channel dot com, it was supposed to rain almost every day of this trip – but, it hardly EVER did! So, I cannot complain about being rained on at Culloden. NOR should any traveler base travel plans upon Weather Forecasts!

Anyway. For those of you who have no flippin’ idea WHY I’d be interested in visiting a BATTLEFIELD, here’s a really brief historical synopsis, and a bit o’ information about Culloden Field, as it exists today.

Charles Edward Stuart is popularly remembered as “Bonnie Prince Charlie” or “The Young Pretender.” [Or – by those of us who read Gabaldon’s books – as “The Asshole!”] In a life of 67 years he spent a mere 14 months in Scotland and England, in the fruitless pursuit of his family's claim to the British Crown. But during that brief visit he set in train a series of events that utterly destroyed the traditional Highland way of life forever.

On April 16, 1746, the last battle to be fought on British soil took less than an hour to reach its bloody conclusion on “Drumossie Moor” – what is now known as Culloden Moor. It was not, as often portrayed, a battle between the Scots and the English. In reality, the Scots on the “Government side” outnumbered those fighting for the Jacobites [Charles’ supporters]. Rather it was the last chapter in a sporadic civil war for succession to the throne, that had been under way since 1688.

[For more historical information about the '45 rising, Start at the Culloden Website.]

As for Culloden Moor itself, the battlefield has over the intervening years been treated almost as badly as the wounded who were left lying on it at the end of the 1746 conflict. The supreme insensitivity came in 1835, when a road was built through the mass graves of the clans. Then, later, the whole area was turned into a conifer plantation!

In more recent years, much of the battlefield has been reclaimed, and today there is an excellent visitor center run by the National Trust for Scotland. The conifers that covered the battlefield have been removed; “though we still feel it is much more heavily overgrown than illustrations and accounts show it to have been in April 1746. As a result it still needs an act of imagination to visualize two armies peering at one another across 500 yards of open moorland, before the cannon fire of the Government artillery provoked the mass charge of the Jacobites.”

Yet, Culloden is an evocative place, and the National Trust for Scotland should be congratulated for the work they have done to restore it to a state that would have been more easily recognized by a participant on the day.

As it was raining upon my arrival at Culloden, I first dashed into the wonderful Visitor Center.

It offers regular showings of a brief FILM about the history involving Culloden, and has a “Museum” of Jacobite relics. (And a Gift Shoppe, and a Snack Bar!) It also offers Guided Tours (of varied lengths) of the battlefield area. But, since it was STILL RAINING when I finished inside the Center, I decided to SKIP the Guided Tour!

The battlefield site has tons of signs with directions to all the sites, and little bits o’ information about same. So, the only thing you “miss” when skipping the Guided Tour is the in-depth verbal information provided by the guides. But, considering the rain – and the fact that this place is HUGE! – I didn’t want to tramp about the WHOLE battleground, or visit ALL the “sights,” anyway! Instead, I just sloshed my way from the Visitor Center to the Memorial Cairn, checking the individual Clan Grave Stones and markers I found along the way.

When I reached the huge “Memorial Cairn,” there was another couple visiting. So, we took pix o’ each other in front of the cairn. Ain’t my Rain Gear attractive?! NOT!!! LOL (Put your MOUSE on the pic!)

There’s a path that leads West from the Memorial Cairn to a “Vantage Point” that allows you to look over the “field” where the major part of the battle was waged.
If you can play my Mini-Vidz Click Here to See Culloden Battlefield!
It’s just a QUICKIE pan of a brush- and heather-covered FIELD … no big woof!
It’s just a moment I want to remember, and occasionally re-visit! LOL

“The Well of the Dead” is pretty much just a hole in the ground.

However, legend has it that “Here was found the body of the heroic Alexander MacGillivray of Dunmaglass (Alsdair Ruadh na Feile) who led his men of Clan Chattan with such ferocity in the charge, that he broke right through Cumberland’s first line of defense before he was killed.”

According to what few records exist, Prince Charles’ supporters (the “Jacobites”) numbered much less than 5000 when they met their final end at Culloden. There is no official (or accurate) account of how many Jacobites died on Culloden field. “A conservative figure for those killed in action, or later murdered on the battlefield, is 1000. Few wounded survived.”

After the English Government troops finished slaughtering all they came upon (whether fighting, surrendering, or attempting to render aid to the fallen), there were so many dead bodies laying about that most were simply dumped together into large burial trenches. However, when the locals who were conscripted to bury them recognized a Clan tartan or badge, they buried those bodies together in separate “Clan” trenches. LEFT: A “Mixed Clans” Grave Stone

There are SEVERAL Clan Grave markers. I only snapped a pic o’ Clan Fraser’s Headstone! (If you wonder why – don’t worry about it!) Today, the burial trench sites “confirm the local belief that, although heather grows nearby, it will not grow over the graves.” Ooooh!!!

OTHERWISE, Head to the Next DAY SIX Pix Options
(in order of trip occurrence):
Cawdor Castle
Cawdor Tavern
Scottish Youth Hostel

If you have suggestions for The Miller Fandamily Web Site,
OR contributions to the photo gallery!
please Email WebMistress Chas!
c-d-miller@neb.rr.com
That’s: c-d-miller@neb.rr.com –
those are hyphens/dashes (-) between the “c” and “d” and “miller”