Burials and Battles

Clava Cairns





These are burial cairns that were constructed approximately 4,000 years ago. Archaeological investigation suggests the land was used for agriculture prior to the construction of the cairns, the builders likely used materials from the farm structures.

Although no remains survived the passage of time, other cairns suggest that one body was put in each cairn. The cairns were built in 2,000 BC and re-used 1,000 years later. There was a low passageway for entry which would have required crawling through to gain access. The north east cairn pictured above also had a roof built of stone. It is aligned with the mid-winter solstice, the sun shines down the passageway and strikes the back wall dividing the chamber in half. There is also a stone circle surrounding the cairn.

The second cairn has no passageway, had no roof and is known as a ring cairn. The third cairn was also aligned with mid-winter solstice. There is a large stone decorated with cup-marks at the end of the passageway on the inside.

We left our car in the Clava Cairns parking lot and walked over to Culloden Moor.

The Jacobite Rising and the Battle of Culloden (Pronounced Cull-odd-en)

You will have to indulge me readers, military history is my thing so we spent hours at the Culloden Battlefield and Visitor Centre. First, a bit of history. The English had been pummelling the Scots for centuries so it was remarkable that when Queen Elizabeth I of England died without an heir in 1603, King James VI of the Scottish House of Stuart (Son of Mary Queen of Scots) became King James I of England, uniting the two kingdoms under one throne, but each kingdom retained its own parliament and institutions. Without going into detail regarding the succession of Stuart kings, James II, a Catholic, had a son James (The Old Pretender), thus opening the prospect of a line of Catholic kings which the English Protestants were not pleased about. Therefore, a group of British magnates decided to take action and invited William of Orange, ruler of Holland, to land on English soil with a Dutch army. James II fled to France, the English parliament declared that he abdicated as did the Scottish Estates.

In the mid 1690's the main features of Jacobitism were: a desire to restore the Stuart line of Kings, the potential of armed aid by the French to restore the Stuarts, the association of the Episcopalian church with the Stuart cause and the increasing alienation between the government in London and groups in Scotland. When William III died in 1702, he was succeeded by Queen Anne, a Protestant. If she died without an heir, the throne was to pass to the House of Hanover, the rulers of a Protestant state in northern Germany. The English Parliament forced the Scottish Parliament to accept the Hanoverian succession and in 1707, during a campaign of bribery and intimidation, the English persuaded the Scottish Parliament to vote itself out of existence by accepting the union of the two Crowns. Scotland retained its legal and education system but lost its currency and other essentials of sovereignty. Union was not popular in Scotland, so Prince Charlie decided to make his move.

There were several failed Jacobite risings prior to the ‘45 but I will only talk about the ‘45. In July of 1745 Prince Charles Edward Stuart, son of James (The Old Pretender) arrived in Scotland with the aim of reclaiming the British Crown for his father. Prince Charles presented the Jacobite cause as that of a sovereign power with legitimate right to the throne. The Jacobites were not a band of rebels and the forces were organized as a conventional army and not as an insurgent mob.

The Jacobite rising was not a Scottish - English conflict, it pitted father against son, brother against brother. Although many of the Highland clans declared for the Jacobites, there were Highland clans and Lowland Scots fighting for the government forces, while Lowland Scots, a small number of English Jacobites, Irish and French fought with the Jacobites.

The Jacobites marched from the west coast of the Highlands to their first battle with the Hanoverians east of Edinburgh at Prestonpans. The Jacobites had no artillery and virtually no calvary but the battle was very short, the Hanoverian forces were overwhelmed by the Highland charge, broke ranks and fled.

The march continued to Derby, England. The Jacobites were very strong marchers and could cover far more ground than the Hanoverians. The Hanoverian troops could not catch the Jacobites and the Jacobites were very crafty, implementing deception and confusing the government regarding their route. However, in England, the aid of the French had not materialized, nor had the expected support of English Jacobites. The Jacobites were only 4 days march from London, which was in turmoil and on the verge of panic when the Jacobite war committee decided to retreat to Scotland, this was a doomed plan and one that Prince Charles did not support.

The retreat took place during the winter, during which a battle against the Hanoverians was fought at Falkirk with the Jacobites succeeding once again. The Jacobites retreated to Inverness which was a tactical error as it left the east coast of Scotland in the hands of the government and left little chance for French ships to land. Jacobite forces were scattered across the north taking part in particular leader’s projects of self-interest, distracted from the cause. Prince Charles was in dire need of money, he could not keep his starving and unpaid army together for more than a few days. A French ship bearing gold was forced to the north of Scotland into the Kyle of Tongue where it ran aground and the much needed gold was lost.

There is controversy regarding the choice of battlefield at Culloden Moor, a bog that was not suitable to the Highland charge. A decision was made to attack the Hanoverian forces at night near Nairn, the plan was tactically sound but failed. The army marched toward Nairn but the March was bungled and the forces turned around and marched back toward Inverness. Prince Charlie only had three days of bread left for an army that was starving and exhausted. Meanwhile, the government forces were well rested, well fed and marching west toward Inverness.

The battlefield guide said the Jacobites had not eaten for four days and they were exhausted from the failed night march. They were also outnumbered by a few thousand men. In prior battles, the Hanoverian calvary blundered into the battle with no strategy and the Jacobites took control; however, at Culloden, the Hanoverian calvary was fed into the battle around two flanks when the opportunity was favourable, this left the battle in the hands of the Hanoverian artillery which was devastating for the Jacobite army. The Jacobite artillery did not perform well as they lacked skilled gunners, had improper shot and could not re-load fast enough to counter the Hanoverians.

The Jacobites charged across the boggy moorland in three wedges, for reasons unknown, the centre wedge veered right which resulted in a mass of some 1500 men when the centre and right-hand wedges converged. The Highland charge was an all or nothing tactic which depended on impetus and terror, but the charge came to a halt, hemmed in on three sides by the enemy. Where a break-though did occur in the Hanoverian front line, the Hanoverian second line counterattacked. It is estimated that 700 Jacobites were killed within minutes.

The Jacobites were forced to retreat but the Hanoverian calvary had free run of the battlefield killing fleeing Jacobites, the road to Inverness was covered in dead bodies. Cumberland, (later referred to as the Butcher) the commander of the Hanoverian forces sent out murder squads after the battle to kill any wounded Jacobites. There are many stories of horrors committed against wounded and hiding Jacobites and regular people. Since the Jacobites were not uniformed, innocents were also killed, including women. It is estimated that 1,500 Jacobites were killed during and after the battle with only 154 of the ‘rebel Scots’ taken prisoner, whereas the French and Irish prisoners numbered 222. A regular French soldier was four times more likely to be taken prisoner than a Scot because the Scots were killed instead. There is a cut stone wall at the Visitor Centre with 1,500 stones protruding from the wall to represent the 1,500 dead and 50 stones to represent the Hanoverians killed. The numbers are controversial, in the book I read the historian states that 300 Hanoverians were killed and perhaps more.

Prince Charles became a fugitive with a 30,000 GBP bounty on his head. Hundreds of people had to have known his whereabouts, but he was never given up to the government. He eventually escaped to France, aided by Flora MacDonald and Neil MacEachain, although all you read about is Flora MacDonald because she dressed Charles as a maid to avoid capture while he travelled from Skye to the mainland.

Culloden marked the end of the clan way of life. Cumberland knew the Jacobite rising had deep social roots; therefore, he took a course of severe repression. The Navy devastated the Outer Hebrides (The Western Isles) and finally brought Orkney under control. Cumberland set up a chain of fortified posts, executed or deported prisoners and enacted repressive laws. The Disarming Act of 1746 banned the wearing of the Highland Dress and the possession of weapons. The playing of the bagpipes were banned as was the use of the Gaelic language. Clansmen had their houses burned down and their cattle driven off, they were left to starve. The law against wearing the Highland Dress was not repealed until 1782. The clan chiefs lost their independent judicial powers over the clansmen, thus severing the traditional ties of mutual obligation which bound their society together. Cumberland chose to eradicate the social roots of resistance through pacification, not peace.

The Visitor Centre is excellent, as it details history prior to the rising, the battle and the aftermath. There are wonderful weapon displays with many Highland broadswords. The dead Jacobites were completely looted by the Hanoverians, the most troubling exhibit was a small section of fence made with the blades of Highland broadswords, the fence was in London. There is a room with four huge screens on each wall and a video representation of the Highland charge and the devastating result of the artillery and weapons fire of the Hanoverians. A couple of older people seemed to not like the video and walked out.

The battlefield tour was not detailed enough, so we hung around after and I talked to the guide about the tactics and the layout of the battlefield. The Hanoverian line was about a mile long, thus parts of the battlefield are not owned by The National Trust for Scotland. The land was originally owned by a farmer who built the memorial in the 1800's at his own expense.

When we came in to pay admission at the Visitor Centre, an older Scot asked me if the poppy I was wearing was Canadian, so I gave it to him and he gave me his poppy which is an older Scottish version. Then he said he would copy the list of Fergusons who fought at Culloden, on both sides. Four hours later when we were finally ready to leave we ran into him at reception and he handed me an envelope with a few other documents copied as well.

Culloden Visitor Centre



Culloden Moor Battlefield



Mass Burial Site of Clan MacIntosh



Even Horses Wear The Tartan



Valley Near Clava Cairns



We are staying in Tain tonight. Driving on the other side of the road and dealing with roundabouts and single track roads is a total gong show. We booked an automatic but there was some problem at the car rental company so we took a standard. John is shifting with the left hand and I am yelling LEFT and we are freaked out most of the time.

We went out tonight for dinner at a restaurant in an old hotel, I could hear a piper tuning then he came out playing for a small wedding party, it was awesome. The kilted groom, who was a bit older, gave a speech and we all listened in and clapped. It was hilarious, he said his wife is Mrs. MacKenzie the III, then he said this is the foukin last one!

After that, a couple of non-accented middle-aged lounge lizards got up playing two electric guitars and singing crap American music, such life shattering tunes as ‘Okie from Muskogee.’ John and I both hurled and left.

Off to Orkney tomorrow if the Pentland Ferry runs, the woman on the phone told me they are expecting bad weather and they will call if they cancel the ferry. The Pentland Firth is a bit of a nasty body of water, it is where the North Sea meets the North Atlantic off the north of Scotland. Oh great, we just caught the forecast, gales and heavy rain, the weatherman said, ‘at least it is not cold,’ hahahahahaha.