Leachan Cottage.

Herself wanted a spot of culture today, so we went to Culloden Moor to visit the site of the last pitched battle on British soil and the final confrontation in the ’45 Jacobite rebellion on the 16th of April, 1746, nearly 270 years ago. This battle does not show up well when compared with the battle pf Prestonpans seven months earlier. At the ‘Pans, the Jacobites routed the government forces under Colonels Cope and Gardiner then set up a fieled hospital in Gardiner’s home and cared for the wounded of both sides favouring neither. At Culloden, the tables were turned and the Duke of Cumberland and his government forces hunted and slaughtered the Jacobite survivors, and anyone else who might possibly have had Jacobite leanings. In a battle that lasted just one hour, the one sided encounter cost the Jacobites ten times the number of casualties it did the Hanoverians.
 
Leachan Cottage is the sole surviving farm cottage on the site, though it has probably been rebuilt several times in the intervening years and was probably used as Cumberland’s field hospital.
 
After that excitement, we explored the three nearby bronze age Cairns at Balnuaran of Clava. These appear to be burial chambers with surrounding stone circles, there are about fifty other examples scattered around Inverness-shire. As with other such ancient monuments, the sun  plays a significant part  in the design though information on the matter is somewhat confusing. I must return when I have a tripod and more time
 
I’ve just posted Wednesday’s, “Cullen Viaduct.”