Culloden: The Battle That Shaped Great Britain

Summary

The 275th anniversary of the last Jacobite Rebellion

The Battle of Culloden on 16th April 1746 shaped the future of Great Britain, with the post Culloden ‘pacification’ of the Highlands, the clan system eviscerated, disarming, the banning of highland dress, and far-reaching shifts in land ownership resulting in the Clearances. In this tour, we’ll explore the short period from Prince Charles Edward Stuart’s hopeful arrival in the Highlands in August 1745, until the crushing of Jacobite hopes at Culloden eight months later. It could be argued that this ultimately freed Scotland, laying open the way for the Enlightenment, economic improvement and population growth. That said, here ended all hope of the Catholic Stuarts reclaiming the throne, while cementing George II’s Hanoverian rule and the development of the British Empire. The dream of a Scotland, sovereign and free, died and was trampled into the heather of the Culloden battlefield, along with the 2000 dead clansmen who had worn the white cockade of the Jacobite cause.

Tour highlights:

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• Experience Bonnie Prince Charlie’s glittering Court at the Palace of Holyroodhouse when he was embraced by Edinburgh society
• Visit the poignant clan monuments on the battlefield, learning how the results of recent archaeological work are changing our understanding
• See the strategy of post-Culloden pacification embodied in stone at the mighty Fort George, constructed close to the battlefield, which banged the nails in the coffin of Jacobitism