Culloden Battlefield – A Traveling Fool

I love history anyway, so I can easily get excited over seeing someplace like Hadrian’s Wall or Egyptian pyramids and temples or battlefields like Gettysburg, Fredericksburg, Yorktown, Culloden, the D-Day landing beaches, etc. Smaller historical events are also intriguing to me.

Whether you are fascinated by history or not, knowing just a little bit about a place can make it much more interesting, such as what is the significance of an old cemetery? Who is buried there?

In St Augustine, Florida, I was fascinated by the fort. It had been built by the Spanish prior to the English settlements at either Jamestown or Roanoke, Virginia or Plymouth, Massachusetts.

In Israel, Masada would have just been several piles of rocks up on a high, hot plateau without knowledge of its history. For those who hadn’t read up on it before the trip, there was a short film down at the base that everyone watched before taking the cable car up to see it.

At Thermopylae in Greece, without knowledge of what had taken place there a couple thousand years ago, just looking at a monument to Leonides and the 300 Spartans who fought and died there wouldn’t have been all that fascinating. Since I knew the story, I could use my imagination. And a good imagination was necessary. The topography has changed quite a bit since 480 BC.

On this trip, my knowledge of Joan of Arc came in handy while in Rouen. I knew that the museum dedicated to her was in the very building where her trial had taken place. I also knew about all of the other locations associated with her.

In Avignon, I was aware of the history of the town, the Pont de Avignon, and the Palais des Papes. Despite it being a very hot day, my back hurting, and lots of stairs to climb, I was very interested in seeing it all.

Sometimes when visiting a place where you already know the history, you can find that seeing the place itself can make your understanding of it much clearer. It was one thing to read about traboules (the secret passages that had been used by the French Resistance to escape detection), but quite another to actually walk through a few of them. They had been built in the old, Renaissance portion of Lyon back when that part of the city was new. People who lived there knew about them. But people who didn’t live there were at a loss. To this day, only a handful of them are open to the public.

Although most people are well aware of who Napoleon was and his role in history, I always find it to be fun to see personal objects used by such iconic public figures. In Napoleon’s case, it was his hat on display in the library of Malmaison – the home he shared with Josephine. It made him seem more human. Like when I saw one of Queen Victoria’s gowns and Admiral Horatio Nelson’s uniform.

Located in Moray, Scotland, Brodie Castle was built in 1567 by the Brodie family. They had been in the area from the 12^th century, so likely had an earlier castle on the site that may have been swallowed up by this castle.

The Entrance Hall to the current castle is in the 16^th century part of the castle, flanked by a Guard Chamber (rather disturbingly containing the skeleton of a child in a glass case) on one side and the Library on the other. From this part of the house, a staircase leads up to the Dining Room.

The Dining Room has a very ornate and heavy ceiling. It also has a portrait of a lady who is pointing to the ceiling. Is she trying to say, “Look up?” And is she indicating the ceiling or the room above?

The lady in question is Lady Margaret Duff, who was the wife of Lord James Brodie back in 1786. In the room directly above the Dining Room, known as the Best Bedchamber, Lady Margaret fell asleep by the fireplace where her clothes were set on fire and she died. She is said to haunt the castle.

In the Blue Drawing Room, which is just off of the Dining Room, a ghostly soldier often sits in contemplation. The Red Drawing Room leads to the very large and airy Victorian Drawing Room. This was my favorite room in the castle, other than the suite of Nursery Rooms. Brodie was the only castle on this tour where we could see a Victorian Nursery with all of its furnishings and even the toys. It covered the entire top floor and looked as though the children would be returning any minute. A little ghostly dog probably would agree as it is often seen heading for the Nursery.

The child’s skeleton was found when some renovations were being carried out on a set of turnpike stairs in the castle. Surprisingly enough, there doesn’t seem to be a ghost associated with the bones. Maybe that, and the fact that nobody seems to know who it is, are why they haven’t been buried anywhere and are on display in the Guard Chamber instead.

I have been to Culloden Battlefield four times. Each time has been completely different. The first time was on the second anniversary of 9/11 in 2002. It was a gloomy, rainy day. Not much was there at the time. It was mainly a rather overgrown field with a path leading to the monument. Said path was dirt, so quite muddy on that occasion. We all tromped out to the monument and had a minute of silence for 9/11 in the rain and mud.

Other than the path and monument, was the little, thatched cottage. We could go inside back then. It was decorated to look as it had after the massacre of the battle when those would took refuge there were all slain.

The second time I was there, they were starting to clean up the area – mowing the grass and uncovering the various small, stone markers to indicate the mass graves of those who had fallen. They were also raising money for a visitor center. I contributed. That was in 2005.

By my next visit in 2009, the visitor center was up and running. They had artifacts from the battle, a timeline, a display of the history behind it all, and a very moving film. To see the film, just stand in the middle of the room and watch the battle unfold all around you. I have seen it twice now and it moved me to tears both times.

The battlefield had flags indicating where each side was, the ground had been cleared, paths were created, the clan grave markers could be seen and other signs had been added. There were also benches to sit on if needed or desired.

The best part was that there were GPS devices with recorded commentary. These would beep when you entered a space where something notable happened. Then they would tell you all about it when you pushed the button in response.

I had looked for my name on the ceiling of the main room of the visitor center, but couldn’t find it. All contributors towards its building were supposed to be represented. But it was in order of contribution which made it difficult to find. There were a lot of names there.

During the 2017 visit, I watched the film for the second time, went out and explored the battlefield again, and then came back to the cafeteria for some lunch. I have included with this post, photos of some of the mass grave markers for some of the clans.

The nearby Clava Cairns were built about 4,000 years ago and constitute a Bronze Age cemetery. After many years of suffering from a lack of interest, the site has become famous as the inspiration for Craigh na Dun in the “Outlander” books and series.

We visited the main site, known as Balnauran of Clava. It has three large burial cairns, each with its own stone circle. Two of the cairns are called “passage cairns” where you enter through a narrow corridor. The third cairn (in the middle of the other two) is completely enclosed. All three have lost their roofs as well as their contents.

Of the four photos I selected to include here, the first shows two of the cairns with several of the standing stones. The second is my viewpoint from inside of one of the passage cairns. The third is a lovely tall stone. The fourth is the infamous split stone which, if you are an Outlander fan, you should recognize immediately as Claire’s means of time travel.

That night we spent the night at Knockomie House Hotel, a stone house built in 1812. The owners have it set up as a 15 room inn. Each room is different. Mine was dark purple and had a Victorian iron bed and plaid drapes. The reception area where we checked in was very quaint. Next to that was a small pub where they also pushed together a few tables and served us a delicious dinner.

We were served a Chicken and Ham Terrine (kind of a pate) with Chutney; Haddock with a nice variation on a Hollandaise Sauce and some Lemon Dill Mashed Potatoes; and a Sticky Toffee Pudding with a Butterscotch Sauce and some Ice Cream. I remember sleeping quite peacefully after that meal.

Next time – our last day on the Scottish Castles Experience tour with Ruthven Barracks, Dalwhinnie Scotch Distillery, lunch at Pitlochary, and Loch Leven Castle.