My family history after the Battle of Culloden sent a 'shiver up our backs'

Heritage group’s purchase of old church will help preserve tales from Highland glen for future generations

IT was Highland hospitality that may well have changed the course of history.

At Crasg Sheumais in Strathnairn, just south of Inverness, soldiers searching for Bonnie Prince Charlie following his defeat at Culloden stopped for refreshments, with one local woman obliging them with a flagon of milk.

The woman served the men and, when she turned to enter her house, one of the soldiers thumped her on the back of the head with the jug.

She complained to the officer it was no way to treat her hospitality and was asked to point the soldier out, with a promise that he would be flogged. She told him not to bother and went back indoors.

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The ugly episode gives a sense of that dark post-Culloden period, when British soldiers marched through villages and glens, torching buildings and rooting out Jacobites as the manhunt for Bonnie Prince Charlie intensified.

And that breach of hospitality - and the flagon of milk - possibly even played a pivotal role in aiding the escape of the Prince, who went on to evade capture after the battle for five months.

Alasdair Forbes, chairman of Strathnairn Heritage Association, whose ancestor served the milk, said the story of his relative, the milk and the flagon had been handed down through his family for generations.

He said: “Much later I read an account of this, which had appeared in a newspaper shortly after Culloden.

“It said that if the troops had not stopped off for refreshments, they would have been within touching distance of catching Prince Charles

“That sent a shiver up our backs. That was our story, our family story, and it had been verified by an historian.”

Alasdair Forbes, chairman of Strathnairn Heritage Association, said stories of life in glen had been at risk of being "lost" given the passing of forebearers. | Contributed

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It is precious stories such as these that Forbes, whose family history stretches back 900 years in the glen, and fellow members of the association are so passionate about saving.

As their forebears passed away and new arrivals started to outnumber the original families, the association was created given “memories of the glen were at risk of being lost,” he said.

The association has now bought Dunlichity Parish Church from the Church of Scotland to create a heritage centre after locals were left “aghast” at its sale by the Kirk.

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A place of worship has stood on the site since the 6th Century and, later, Dunlichity became linked to the Battle of Culloden in several ways. Soldiers gathered here before going into fight and sharpened their swords on the churchyard wall, where their marks can still be seen in the stone. Bonnie Prince Charlie would have passed here as he made his escape.

The Battle of Culloden. Government troops marched through Strathnairn in the aftermath of the fight as Bonnie Prince Charlie made his escape. | CC

Forbes said: “The very idea that our church, which had been owned by the people of Strathnairn for about 1500 years, could now be sold off to a private owner so that we no longer could make use of the building at funerals and have to put up with an outside party being in residence for holiday or other reasons, left the locals quite aghast.”

Since the association was set up in 1999, members have collected written material, photos and old documents. Forbes has for many years interviewed older locals using a video camera.

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Now, with the purchase of Dunlichity, they will have a premises to work from for the first time, where stories can be kept safe and shared. Lectures will be held and archives added to.

Forbes added: “Educating the local children will, we believe, give them a feeling of 'belonging' to this glen.”

The church will also serve as a focal point for the many overseas visitors who arrive in Strathnairn to search for their ancestry. Funerals of local people will continue to be held in the churchyard “for many years to come,” Forbes added.