Today Case and I walked to the Clava Cairns from Culloden Moor, where yesterday we did the tour of the museum and the battlefield of the '45 as it's commonly known. The museum was really great, and it offered perspectives from both the British and Highlander sides. For those of you familiar with the Outlander tv series, this battle plays quite a large role in that story line, and the grave markers of the family name of the main character in the show (Fraser) exist in real life, and members of that clan really did fight and lose their lives here. An excerpt from the museum
website explains it best: "
On 16 April 1746, the final Jacobite Rising came to a brutal head in one of the most harrowing battles in British history. Jacobite supporters, seeking to restore the Stuart monarchy to the British thrones, gathered to fight the Duke of Cumberland’s government troops. It was the last pitched battle on British soil and, in less than an hour, around 1,600 men were slain – 1,500 of them Jacobites."
The Clava Cairns were a 30 min walk from here, and it was a very interesting ancient place, with 3 cairns dating back to 2000 BC that are surrounded by standing stone circles. More info about the circles are listed under the photos.
The rest of the afternoon we spent in Inverness, touring the city and checking out the local kilt-making shops. Tomorrow we are going to meet with my neighbour Gail Carruthers' cousin Frances, and we're looking forward to seeing more Outlander sets and inspiration!
 |
| The Clan Fraser grave marker in the battlefield. These mark mass graves throughout the moor, and weren't placed until some 130 years after the event. |
 |
| The memorial cairn |
 |
| View across the moor where the battle was fought. The red flag shows the end of what was the British line. |
 |
| The museum offered unobstructed views from the roof of the battlefield |
 |
| The walk to Clava Cairns. Don't be fooled; this is a 2-way traffic road here, not a foot path. |
 |
The south-west cairn. Weathering has turned these stones from what would've originally been reds, pinks and whites to grey.
Analysis of each slab showed how how important colour was to the cairn builders in 2000 BC. |
 |
| This is the Ring Cairn, which is an open, circular enclosure with no apparent entrance; archaeologists speculate that it was built as a temple. Traces of burning were found inside, but cremations were not a funerary practice in this part of Scotland when the first bodies were buried here. |
 |
| One of the cobble paths that link the kerb to the stone circle |
 |
| Another cobble path linking the kerb. |
 |
| The Kerb Cairn. This circle was likely built 1000 years after the others. The only thing that survived the test of time within this cairn was white quartz; a mineral that had special meaning and is found at many Bronze Age sites. |
 |
| Previously a coloured stone, it was explained that the builders chose red and pink for the stones that face the midwinter sunset on all three of the cairns. On the opposite side, facing the midsummer sunrise, they preferred paler shades. |
 |
| Some of the standing stones are outside of the protected site, and have had a road built between them as well as being integrated into stone walls and fences. |
 |
| This stone slab was decorated with rock art inside the chamber of the south-west cairn. |
 |
| The taller stones are all on the south-west side to face midwinter sunset, and there is a deliberate pattern of construction with the north-east and south-west cairns. The cairn builder's calendar revolved around midwinter. |
 |
| On the shortest day of the year, sunlight floods this passageway to illuminate the chamber. |
 |
| This is the north-east cairn once had a domed roof and was a burial chamber. |
 |
| An outlying standing stone, which we couldn't find the significance of, or if it is related to something else entirely. |
 |
| The Clava Viaduct, built in 1898 |
 |
| Inverness from the castle |
Comments
Post a Comment