Jacobite Travels Pt3

 A trip to the Mecca of Jacobite warfare Culloden ,my favourite battle field,it really gives you an impression of what it must have been like on that fateful day ,the markers to the fallen and the many information boards make for a interesting and emotional visit .The visitors centre is excellent although a lot of the hands on stuff was out of bounds due to covid but the highlight of the center was open which is the battlefield emersion room , you basically stand betweeen four huge screens and see and hear the battle take place around you in all its bloody glory . We also visited Clava Cairns a ancient burial site which I believe appeared in the Outlander TV series .

the following are of Clava Cairns 

Jacobite Travels pt2

on our way to Inverness we stopped at Ruthven barracks ,the scene of two sieges during the 45 the first in August 1745 12 British Soldiers under Sergeant Molloy held off over 200 jacobites ,killing 2 and wounding many more for the loss of 1 of their own .The following year the now Lieutenant Molloy held off a large jacobite force who had artillery long enough to cause a lot of casualties before surrendering the barracks .The day after Culloden a large jacobite force gathered at the barracks waiting further orders ,whe the order came it was everyman for them selves and the departing Jacobites set fire to the buildings before going ,leaving what we see today. Inverness has many stories regarding the 45 ,the most moving is the story of the Jacobites executed in Old High Church Graveyard and buried beneath what is now the path ,British wounded from Culloden watched from the house across the river .In the photos the 2 small curved grave stones reputedly were where the British troops rested their muskets as they took aim ,the twin chimneys are the white house where the Injured Brits watched from .Inverness has many statues and monuments to Hughland regiments .

The two curved stones with anewer grave between them 

Old Hugh Church viewed from the Whitehouse

one of the locals

Jacobite Travels part 1

With my love of Scotland and my wargaming interest in the Jaocbite rebellion of 1745 we thought we would combine a holiday to take in both . We based our selves in Inverness  so as its a 7hr drive thought we spend a night halfway so we stopped in Carlisle for the first night with an enroute stop at Clifton moor , a small skirmish the last battle on English soil 18th December 1745 ( if you dont count the "battle of Graveny Marsh"1940) .There is a nice memorial stone in the Graveyard to the British Dead (10) recently put in the area of their graves by the teh Queens Royal Hussars ,their modern day counterparts ,a bit further down the road is an old well ,now sealed off which carries acouple of plaques to the battle ,one is strange as it mentions atree ,and there is not atree for a distance so I guess this used to sit elsewhere  .In a modern housing estate at the end of the village is a grand tree known as the Rebel tree here the Jcobite dead were buried and some were possibly hung from it although that may be just a legend ,a nice info board has been put up recently .

Carlisle Castle is a nice preseved building in Carlisle city centre ,it has a long history but for my interests  the castle was captured by the Jacobites but it was later recaptured and the Jacobite force were executed .Today it is the home of the Cumbria Museum of Military Life covering the Cumbria County Infantry Regiment ,the Border regiment and the Kings own Royal Border Regiment plus local militia units. The musem contains some excellent uniforms and weapons

Our Second day took us up to Inverness with a stop along the way ,this will be the next post