Culloden Moor
On 16th April 1746 Bonnie Prince Charlie ’s Highland army made their desperate last stand on the desolate moors of Culloden.
Tired, depleted and vastly out numbered, they were mercilessly cut down by government forces. In just 68 minutes over 1000 highlanders were slaughtered and with them died the Jacobite cause and the old clan system.
Today there is an eerie stillness about the moor. The battle lines of where each regiment on either side are marked out and you can almost still sense the tension as the two armies, sized each other up before the Jacobites launched their fearsome highland charge only to be out flanked and cut to ribbons by the better equipped artillery and greater numbers of the government forces. The survivors were bayoneted on the orders of the Duke of Cumberland, giving him the moniker the Butcher of Cumberland. Soon after the highland way of life too would be acrimoniously wiped out.
Various monuments to the many clans who’s sons were buried here are a sorrowful reminder of this dark day in Scottish history, whereas with typical black humour the Scots now ‘exercise their animals’ on the field where the government troops were believed to be buried.
The visitor centre here illustrates the events of the bloody battle at Culloden and explains the roots of the Jacobite cause and the romantic story of Bonnie Prince Charlie, the charismatic leader doomed to failure and follows his adventurous flight with a price of £30,000 on his head, through the Highlands and Islands and back to France.
This attraction is included in the Great British Heritage Pass.
