270th Anniversary of The Battle of Culloden

The Battle of Culloden took place on 16th April 1746…..exactly 270 years later many people travelled far and wide to pay their respects to all those that fell on that fateful day on the moor.

Just like last year we attended the Midnight service held at the cairn the night before (15th April). Our blog from last year :      https://invernessoutlanders.wordpress.com/2015/04/22/midnight-torchlight-service-at-culloden-battlefield/  Because this year was a special year (270) and 20 years since the midnight service started there were a lot of people in attendance.

 

The weather conditions were fairly similar to that of the night before the battle…we were all wrapped up for the weather but it was still so cold that it wasn’t too difficult to imagine what the Highlanders had to endure.

 

 

Towards the end of the service was an opportunity to lay wreaths…This was when we laid the wreath from Outlanders across the globe that had contributed to our fundraiser who wished to pay their respects but were unable to attend. Thanks you so much everyone who contributed.  You raised  £430 That was £50 going towards the wreath and £370 going to the  National Trust of Scotland Culloden Battlefield Centre. 

 

Candida Nunez wrote this beautiful Tribute for Outlander fans

Laying the Outlander  Wreath at the the Culloden Midnight service  Midnight

 

We also met Paul MacDonald from MacDonald Armouries (also an extra on Outlander) he had with him a Robertson sword that had been at the battle…. This was the first time it had been back at Culloden for 270 years.

On Saturday 16th April we arrived at Culloden for the Annual Commemoration service which has been held by the Gaelic Society    http://www.gsi.org.uk/ since 1926. After meeting and greeting old friends we set off in a long procession to the Cairn where a service mainly in Gaelic was held.

 

 

 

 

 

Just as the service began snowflakes fluttered gently down….  

 

 

Some photos we look after the service

 

 

This years service had significantly more people attending than any other year.

 

After lunch we attended some fascinating  talks about Culloden  which included  Christopher Duffy author  of  ‘Fight for a Throne The Jacobite 45 Reconsidered’,  They were very informative and as the saying goes…. You do learn something new every day! Outlander Pod recorded these we’ll post it here due course .

 

That night we attended an event at the Phoniex pub in Inverness that two members of GSDC  http://stopcullodendevelopment.weebly.com/ had organised (Many Outlanders signed the petition to stop the development of houses on or near the Battlefield) we had a great night drinking and singing with many Jacobites!

 

We received a thank you letter thanking us and all the Outlander fans for the donation of £370

 

Also a thank you tweet from Culloden.

If you wish to donate to Culloden please do so here Click here to donate

 

Listen to Outlander Pod  Episode 153: The 270th anniversary of the Battle of Culloden http://audioboom.com/posts/4777942-episode-153-the-270th-anniversary-of-the-battle-of-culloden?