April 16th 2010

[cessna152towser]

Poignant pics, Jock, thanks for sharing these on xmarks.

[thescot]

Jock, you are a gentleman and a scholar. Thanks for posting the photos for those of us who have not visited there.

I hope to visit in person next ear. That's the plan at least.

[MacBean]

I've been there a few times over the years, and each time, memories not my own seem to crowd in. But I have found a few other battlefields somewhat similar: Antietam in Maryland (American Civil War) is certainly one (and I have no known family connections to that War). The feeling seems to derive in part from the memories and thoughts that visitors have brought to the place, to its having been preserved in somewhat original condition. Is that what you meant Jock?

[piperdbh]

Thank you for these pics, Jock. I've read a little about the battle, and your pictures help me visualize some of the details.

How long have the gravestones been there? They appear to be freshly painted, but the moss and lichen on them hasn't been disturbed.

[LANCER1562]

Visiting Colloden Moor is on my "Bucket List".

[xman]

For the sake of good order, and to complete the full set, and for the benefit of any Clan Donald members, here with the grave marker as taken at the 2009 anniversary memorial ceremony.

ty Redshanks. The compliment of stones and the knowledge that each represents hundreds of men chokes me up. I've never though much about Culloden as a place, more an event, a meaning, but these photos make me consider the action anew.

With reverence,

X

[Jock Scot]

Thank you for these pics, Jock. I've read a little about the battle, and your pictures help me visualize some of the details.

How long have the gravestones been there? They appear to be freshly painted, but the moss and lichen on them hasn't been disturbed.

Thistledown(Rex) would know far better than me, but I think the stones were put there in early Victorian times, so about 100 years after the battle.The paint, a good idea by the way, is a newish thing and I don't recall seeing it the last time I visited some years ago.

[Ancienne Alliance]

You look good , sir.

Thank you for the photos.


Best,

Robert

[ThistleDown]

Thistledown(Rex) would know far better than me, but I think the stones were put there in early Victorian times, so about 100 years after the battle.The paint, a good idea by the way, is a newish thing and I don't recall seeing it the last time I visited some years ago.

The cairn was built and the marker stones erected by a Forbes of Culloden in 1881. The cairn incorporates an earlier stone that was the only marker on the field until then, and it wasn't placed until the 1850s. Culloden also placed stones along the line and these have now been replaced by new plaques (interesting that even those along the Jacobite line depict a trousered soldier acid-etched into the slate -- oops). At a hundred fifty years post-1746 the accuracy of placement was somewhat arbitrary; with better research there has been some re-placement in recent times, but guess-work is still largely involved.

Culloden's attachment of clan names to graves was also abitrary in that the graves were simply pits and those who tossed them in had no way of knowing to which clan a body belonged, except when they were bunched together by grape-shot or there was among them a recognisable personage . Few records were kept. There were local women allowed on the field a few days after the battle, and some of them reported on the falling places of men they knew; that's why the Clan Chattan/Mackintosh/Macgillivray and Fraser sites may be considered to be fairly accurate but the others less assured.

The black paint was added to the stone carvings a couple of years ago.

Rex

[Redshank]

I am a great lover of old maps, here is one I found for Culloden

http://www.nls.uk/maps/military/record.cfm?id=402