Last reviewed 16 October 2026 · A three-minute read · 2200 BC–2011
Inverness holds Culloden Battlefield, the open moor where the Jacobite army of Charles Edward Stuart was defeated by government troops under the Duke of Cumberland on 16 April 1746, a day that ended Highland clan life as it had existed for centuries.
The short answer
Culloden Battlefield, near Inverness, is the open moor where government troops under the Duke of Cumberland defeated the Jacobite army of Charles Edward Stuart on 16 April 1746. Around 1,600 Jacobites died in under an hour of fighting and the pursuit that followed. The moor is now kept as protected parkland by the National Trust for Scotland.
Memorial Cairn at Culloden — 1996 · Douglas Nelson · CC BY-SA 2.0
16 April 1746
The Highland charge broke here in under an hour
The Battle of Culloden was fought right across this ground, and today the moor is kept as open parkland by the National Trust for Scotland. Around 5,000 exhausted Jacobite rising of 1745 troops under Charles Edward Stuart lined up here against roughly 8,000 government soldiers commanded by William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland. The men had marched all night on a failed surprise attack and had barely slept.
The fighting opened with cannon fire around one in the afternoon. Government guns tore into the Jacobite ranks for nearly half an hour before the Highland charge even began. When it came, the men on the right, Alexander MacGillivray of Dunmaglass's Clan Chattan regiment among them, crashed into government lines and fought hand to hand. Several MacDonald regiments had been placed on the left instead of their usual position on the right, and the charge on that side never reached the enemy. Some clan chiefs blamed the placement for the slaughter that followed.
Government cavalry swept around both flanks and turned the defeat into a rout. Soldiers chased fleeing Jacobites all the way back toward Inverness, cutting down wounded men as they ran. By the end, as many as 1,600 Jacobites were dead or wounded. The government lost only a few hundred. Charles watched the collapse from a safe distance, then fled the field himself.
1746 to 1747
Captured Jacobites were executed in an Inverness churchyard
Soldiers marched captured Jacobites into Inverness and locked them in the tower of the Old High Church, a short walk from the battlefield. Many starved or died of their wounds there. Others were shot in the churchyard outside, their bodies buried in unmarked pits or rolled into the River Ness. Wounded government officers recovering at Balnain House, just across the water, could watch the executions from their windows.
1745 to early 1746
A failed rising forced the Jacobites back to Inverness
Charles Edward Stuart had landed in Scotland in July 1745, trying to put his father James Francis Edward Stuart back on the British throne. His army swept through Scotland and pushed as far south as Derby before turning back. By early 1746, the Duke of Cumberland had taken Edinburgh from General Henry Hawley, and the Jacobites fell back to Inverness, short on food and supplies. Culloden was the fight they could no longer avoid.
After the battle
A misplaced regiment took blame for the collapse
The MacDonald regiments were placed on the left of the Jacobite line that day, instead of their usual place on the right. Some blame that decision, along with the boggy ground and government cannon fire, for the charge collapsing before it reached the enemy. The guides on the moor will also tell you that some Highland families sent one son to fight for the Jacobites and another for the government, hedging against whichever side won.
1881
A stone cairn was raised to mark the dead
More than a century after the battle, a stone cairn went up on the moor to mark the Jacobite dead. It still stands among the clan burial markers, small stones naming regiments like the MacGillivrays and the Frasers who fell here.
2008 to 2011
The battlefield gained a visitor center and legal protection
A visitor center opened near the old government lines in 2008, built on ground where archaeologists later found the earlier center had been sited on the third government position. It holds muskets, swords and cannonballs dug from the moor, along with a theater that replays the battle. In 2011, the battlefield itself was placed on the national heritage record as a Registered Battlefield, reference BTL6, giving the ground formal protection.
The moor is laid out today with gravel paths and colored flags marking where the Jacobite and government lines stood.
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Prehistoric
2200 BC–800 BC
The Clava cairns at Balnuaran, built as burial monuments between roughly 2200 and 800 BC, stand about 1.5 kilometers from here — people were marking their dead on this ground long before any battle was fought.
On 16 April 1746 around 5,000 exhausted Jacobite troops under Charles Edward Stuart charged roughly 8,000 government soldiers commanded by the Duke of Cumberland, and were cut down by grapeshot and musket fire.
Jacobite guns opened first but fell short; government artillery answered for nearly half an hour, tearing into the Highland ranks before they ever moved.
Government dragoons swept around the Jacobite flanks and pursued the broken army all the way to Inverness, cutting down nearly 100 men as they fled and hunting down the wounded where they fell.
Balnain House, across the River Ness from the Old High Church, was used to treat wounded government officers after the fighting around Inverness in 1746.
On 15 April 1746 the starving Jacobite army tried to surprise Cumberland's camp near Nairn but lost its way in the darkness and turned back before reaching it, exhausting the men hours before the battle.
Lord Robert Kerr, a captain of grenadiers, speared a charging Highlander on his spontoon before being cut through the head and killed, the sole high-ranking government casualty of the day.
Culloden Battlefield, including the Graves of the Clans and the Well of the Dead, is protected as a single scheduled monument covering the ground right under your feet.
A stone cairn was raised on the battlefield in 1881 to commemorate the dead, and it now stands as part of a protected monument barely fifty meters from here.
Around 5,000 exhausted Jacobite troops under Charles Edward Stuart charged roughly 8,000 government soldiers commanded by the Duke of Cumberland after half an hour of cannon fire. The charge collapsed, government cavalry swept around both flanks, and as many as 1,600 Jacobites were dead or wounded by the end.
What was here before the Battle of Culloden?
The ground had been used as a burial place long before the battle: Bronze Age cairns at Balnuaran, built between roughly 2200 and 800 BC, stand about 1.5 kilometers away, and Bronze Age barrows near Allanfearn, about 3.9 kilometers off, predate the fighting by millennia.
What happened to the Jacobite prisoners after the battle?
Soldiers marched captured Jacobites into Inverness and locked them in the tower of the Old High Church, where many starved or died of wounds. Others were shot in the churchyard outside and buried in unmarked pits or rolled into the River Ness.
Why did the Jacobite charge fail at Culloden?
Several MacDonald regiments were placed on the left of the line instead of their usual position on the right, and that charge never reached the enemy. Boggy ground and sustained government cannon fire are also blamed for the charge collapsing before it closed with the government troops.
Is Culloden Battlefield protected today?
Yes. The battlefield, including the Graves of the Clans and the Well of the Dead, is a scheduled monument, and in 2011 it was formally entered on the national heritage record as a Registered Battlefield, reference BTL6.
What is the cairn at Culloden?
A stone cairn was raised on the moor in 1881 to commemorate the Jacobite dead. It still stands among smaller clan burial markers naming regiments such as the MacGillivrays and the Frasers who fell there.
Where this came from
1
Wikipedia — The Highland charge broke on this moor in under an hour
