Thursday, September 06, 2007

The Clans of Lochaber

Following the Battle of Culloden, the Duke of Cumberland suggested that men from the Clans of Lochaber - the most troublesome Jacobite clans - should be branded on the forehead with a 'Z' when deported to Carolina, so that if a man should return to Scotland, he could easily be identified as a villain. Thankfully the idea was never put into practice.

Lochaber is broadly the area round Fort William (it is no coincidence that Fort William was the first government fort in the Highlands). I was down there yesterday at the invitation of Lochaber College; we were discussing with Andy Mckenna who runs the definitive website on the area how we might provide an enhanced service to worldwide members of the local clans - Camerons, Macleans and MacDonalds - visiting their clan lands. More on this later.

On the way back I was more than delighted to see that the principal seat of one of these clans, the MacDonnells of Glengarry, is finally being consolidated. Perhaps the collapse of both stair towers has prompted some overdue support from the authorities. Credit for getting this underway must go to David and Janetta MacCallum of Glengarry Castle Hotel.

Prince Charles Edward reportedly arrived at Invergarry Castle late in the night following the Battle of Culloden. There were warm embers in the grate but no people, food or drink. Old Glengarry, having lost a son in the campaign and unsure who might be a-knocking on his door that tragic night, was presumably taking no risks. The castle was nevertheless later burned by government troops.

Although the collapse of the stairs means there is no access to the upper floors, this is still a noble ruin and a 'viewing platform' is planned. What a rich heritage of 17th century castles we would have in the Highlands were it not for that misconceived rising!

3 comments:

Ross said...

Dear Mr Cunningham

INVERGARRY CASTLE Following a recent visit, I thought that the Wikipedia entry on the castle needed some updating. In Sept 2007, you posted a very interesting photo on your 'blog' showing the ruin partly scaffolded. I think this would be a really good photo to put on the Article, it's much better than the one on Geograph.
However, it's your copywight, and to use it it would need to be posted on Wikimedia Commons, and given an open CC-BY-SA (Attribution ShareAlike) licence. I wonder if you might be prepared to do this? (Problem is if a third party puts up the image, you get into all sorts of bother, while if you do it it's very straighforward.) Of course, you are still credited as the originator of the work.

Hope you might consider this, look forward to hearing from you

Ross

Alastair Cunningham said...

Done!

Ross said...

Thank you - I'll put it up on the Article within the next few days Ross