Explore this beautiful part of the Highlands

Culloden Battlefield

Visit the powerfully moving site of the final Jacobite Rising.

The Battle of Culloden tool place on Culloden Moor (previously know as Drummossie Moor) on 16th April 1746. It was the final battle of the 1745 Jacobite Rising and was the last and most harrowing pitched battle to be fought on British soil. The Battle was both quick and bloody, it started with an unsuccessful Jacobite Highland charge across flat, boggy ground, totally unsuitable for this previously highly effective manoeuvre. The Jacobite troops were soon routed and driven from the field, the battle only lasting about an hour. The Battle of Culloden saw some 1,500 Jacobites killed or wounded, while government losses were lighter with 50 dead and 259 wounded.

Discover how a bloody fight that lasted only an hour changed life in the Highlands forever – a powerful, emotive and atmospheric battlefield where the 1745 Jacobite Rising came to a tragic end.

A visit to Culloden is a poignant experience. Headstones mark the graves of hundreds of clansmen who gave their lives for the Jacobite cause; a 6m-high memorial cairn honours the fallen; and an eerie silence often falls across wild Drummossie Moor – there is no escaping the emotions Culloden evokes.

There is a Visitor and Exhibition Centre, where you can find more information.

Back to Local Area page