16/04/2026
📍Culloden Battlefield ⚔️
On this day 280 years ago on this moor nearly 13,000 soldiers took to the field at Culloden in what would become the last pitched battle on British soil (1746).
In less than an hour, around 1600 of them would lose their lives.
On April 16, 1746, the Battle of Culloden was a violent and definitive end to the Jacobite Rising. Led by the Duke of Cumberland, crushed the Jacobite army of Bonnie Prince Charlie. ⚔️
I frequently mention Jacobite history in my tours and have researched the impact it had on our history...some of which still shocks me.
What followed was turmoil for Scotland - after the battle of Culloden, there was a restriction of wearing Tartan.
From August 1st 1747, no man or boy within the land of Great Britain, other than His Majesty's Armed Forces, shall wear or put on the clothes known as “Highland wear”.
If you were caught wearing tartan, then it was imprisonment without bail for six months. If a second offence was committed, then the punishment was being shipped off to overseas plantations within the colonies. You were to work at the plantation for 7 years.
The enforcement of the act was undertaken by the Redcoats. They would patrol the mountains. The Magistrates of Scotland were also punished if they suspected they were being lenient. One soldier was sentenced to 600 lashes, for apparently turning a blind eye to the law.
At the weekend (18th April) there will be a memorial service at the Memorial cairn to remember those lives lost. ♥️
