Inverness

Culloden Moor, to the east of Inverness, was the scene of the last battle fought on British soil.This took place on 16 April 1746 between the Jacobites who supported Bonnie Prince Charlie’s claim to the throne and the gov ernment forces loyal to the House of Hanover.Thjs was a dynastic struggle which resulted in a civil war, with all the horrors and complexities which that brings, Its roots were steeped in religion and ideology.

There were Scots and English on both sides and there were also Highland clans-men among the 8,000 government troops led by the Duke of Cumberland.

The poorly armed and exhausted Jacobite army, which numbered less than 5,000 men, was defeated in under an hour. This effectively settled the fate of the House of Stuart. Over 1,000 men were killed in the battle and many more were slaughtered as they tried to escape afterwards. They were buried on the bleak moorland.

Their graves are marked with stones, some bearing the names of their clan. A giant cairn of stones stands as a memorial to the fallen. Bonnie Prince Charlie himself spent five months on the run in the Highlands before he was able to escape to France.

Legend has it that birds do not sing near the graves of the clans and there have been many strange sightings by people crossing Culloden Moor. One evening a party of men were making their way home across the moor when a huge black bird rose from the ground in front of them, blocking out the evening sky. While all stared in shock and disbelief, the apparition disappeared in front of their eyes. It is said that Lord George Murray, the Jacobite commander, had seen a huge black bird on the eve of battle — a bad omen and harbinger of doom. He called it ‘a great scree’ and in his heart he knew that the next day would not go well for his exhausted and starv ing men. The last reported sighting of what is called ‘the Great Scree of Culloden’ was inJuly 2005.

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