Culloden, Clava Cairns & Fort Augustus
Our day began with a visit to the site of the battle of Culloden, one of the most evocative sites in all of Scotland, a pivotal place in British history. In 1745, when ‘Bonnie’ Prince Charlie raised his standard at Glenfinnnan, the protestant Hanoverian dynasty had been on the throne for over a generation. They were German; the Stuarts were the rightful heirs to the throne and were Scottish, albeit Roman Catholics. It was the latter point that was the rub: Britain was a Protestant state and there were many interests vested in its remaining so.
So, at the last hand-to-hand battle fought on British soil, the government determined to crush the treacherous Gaelic highlanders once and for all. What followed its victory at Culloden was the proscription of Gaelic culture, the dismantling of the clans and a wholesale removal of the population from its lands, the infamous highland clearances.
At the end of the day we arrived in Fort Augustus, named after the Hanoverian king’s younger son, the Duke of Cumberland, ‘Butcher’ Cumberland as he is still known in the highlands for his vicious pursuit of the Jacobites fleeing Culloden. The fort that was built on his advice to enforce the writ of the Protestant government in the highlands still stands.
In the morning we had also visited the Neolithic burial chamber at Clava and its associated bronze age megalithic stone circles. These were timely reminders of the depth of history in Scotland, mankind having interacted with the land for over four thousand years to create the landscape we see today. And in the highlands that landscape was emptied of its population after Culloden.
For exquisite views of this empty landscape there can be nowhere finer than Loch Ness, and to cross this extraordinary body of water by ship was a real treat. We lingered off Urquhart Castle a ruined castle of Norman origin built on a site of a hill fort once occupied by a local Pictish chieftain who was converted to Christianity by Columba in the sixth century. His miracle - for no self-respecting saint could be without one - was to bid the loch’s monster to dive down to the depths and never to impede the progress of travelers across the lake. Thus was born the legend of Nessie.
On arrival at Fort Augustus one of our guests donned sub-aqua gear and took an investigative dive into loch Ness but Nessie remained characteristically elusive.
