Boom time for Culloden as big gun set to roar again

In less than an hour of fierce and bloody fighting, government forces under the Duke of Cumberland, backed by decisive firepower, laid waste to Bonnie Prince Charlie's army.

But while the gunsmoke may have long cleared from the battlefield, more than 250 years of myth and romanticism have obscured many of the facts about what took place on that bleak and boggy moor.

It is known that the Jacobite forces were ill-prepared and heavily outnumbered, and their favoured tactic of charging the enemy with broadsword and spear put them at a severe disadvantage against the government artillery.

But the precise nature of how the big guns affected the battle's outcome is still unclear.

Now a team from the University of Glasgow hopes to uncover some of the mysteries about precisely how the Duke of Cumberland and his troops triumphed on Drumossie Moor, with a resolutely Boy's Own piece of academic research.

The researchers will this afternoon fire a replica cannon, built from detailed period drawings and loaded with ammunition similar to that used in the 1746 battle.

Already possessed of a "huge assemblage of artefacts" from Culloden, including lead projectiles, many of which feature marks and distortions from impact, the team of engineers and archeological historians aim to assess the cannons' role.

Dr Tony Pollard, director of the Centre for Battlefield Archeology at Glasgow University, said: "Using the cannon to test how lead projectiles react when they hit various surfaces, we will be able to compare the results with artefacts from the site.

"These results can tell us how the cannons were used and, depending on what they struck – human bodies, the earth or stone – how effective they were."

Cannons were vital to both sides. The government forces possessed three-pounders, with around ten positioned in their front row. The Jacobites had around the same, perhaps more, but were hindered by a lack of trained troops.

Cannon fire, it is widely believed, heralded the start of the conflict, given that the opposing armies stood too far apart for musket fire to prove effective.

The Hanoverians are believed to have taken the upper hand, firing solid iron shots to disable the Jacobite cannons before blasting grapeshot – a gruesome mass of loosely packed metal slugs – into the charging troops.

Such anti-personnel ammunition, Dr Pollard said, was "very, very nasty", transforming the cannons into little more than large-scale shotguns.

Though crude, such warfare is not a historical relic, Dr Pollard insisted. "Armies still use what we could call grapeshot in tank rounds, which fire what is effectively ball bearings. It is a lethal weapon, like a swarm of bees being unleashed," he explained.

The notion of replicating a three-pounder cannon was hatched in the pub by Dr Pollard and Alan Birkbeck, a technician from the university's department of mechanical engineering, who then spent a year building the weapon, which weighs half a tonne, in his spare time. He said: "It is an unusual project but it is a good balance between fun and science."

Today's firing, at a university-owned farm in West Dunbartonshire, will involve gunpowder only, with no cannonballs, ostensibly to showcase the weapon's awesome firepower. Ballistic testing is due soon, probably on an army site.

The team is prepared for the arguments that will doubtless greet their conclusions.

Dr Pollard said: "There's always controversy about historical battles, and that's especially true with Culloden. There are wounds that have never healed, and there will always be arguments. But all opinions are welcome. It's healthy that people are interested in history."

Whatever secrets the team unearth, they will not stand still, with plans for a similar study of the 1745 Battle of Prestonpans.