The first Jacobite Battle at Killiecrankie and the A9
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- čas přidán 11. 09. 2024
- The A9 passes through the heart of the Jacobite Battlefield at Killiecrankie. Do you know what happened just metres from the road in 1689 when a smaller Jacobite Clan army defeated regular red coat soldiers. 330 years ago. So the next time you drive through the Pass of Killiecrankie you know you are driving through history.
Amazing. So in depth! Thank you for the great work
I’ve driven this part of the A9 many times, but this is fascinating. Thank you.
Really interesting stuff James. Thank you.. The amount of times ive driven past there and did'nt even know it was a battle field.
Thank you Paul. If you are interested int he battle as described by the two top men who survived the battle, both leaving their accounts. General Hugh McKay who commanded the Scottish Government Red Coat army and Cameron of Lochiel Bonnie Dundee's right hand man. In first lock down I produced a 10 part series from these two accounts, walking the battlefield. They are on the Soldiers of Killiecrankie web page www.soldiersofkilliecrankie.co.uk/battleofkilliecrankie/
Just watching this CZcams documentary about the battle and at the end about the dead bodies it was my understanding when we did our detecting in 1978 that one of the no go areas was mounds near Urrard House thought to have been mass graves from the battle and that was also mentioned in a number of publications as well
Mmmm.... interesting about the mound being a no go area, I never picked that up. When you say 'our detecting in 1978' that was before Two Men in a Trench. Is your work published anywhere. Sorry if I am being stupid. I do beleive all this work is vitally important for retaining the history. Going back to the mound at Urrard, I am sure we could have had it investigated with the previous owners. Sadly a missed opportunity. Didn't Tony Oliver and Two Men in the Trench investigate it?
@@JamesRattray hi James I recall back in 1978 we had to abide by the landowners wishes quite strictly - and he pointed out where it was taken gor gospel the burial mounds were but sometime after 1978 I recall there was a small hand book on Scottish Battle Sites and in the book it mentions the burial mounds or graves as well the book I think was published by Shire Publications early 1980's - in Two Men and a Trench there was nothing mentioned as far as I am aware - it might be worth asking at Blair Castle for I think at the time in 78 the Laird or owner of Urrard House had connections there - and somebody must know about the burial mound or graves site - when I did research for the Dundee Club activities in the 1980's for other places when I was an office bearer for the club I would always have my head in books researching new sites for the club and obtaining permissions - one thing I did find was a great source of information was in The Scots Magazine and there was a number of articles related to the Battle of Killiecrankie in them and I am sure mention again made to the graves of the dead another pointer we were told about was like so many battles there was Camp Followers that were at the battle site after possibly family members some of whom may have taken bodies of loved ones to bury elsewhere 👍
I was only starting the hobby of metal detecting at the end of 1977 joining the Dundee Club that met at the YMCA for it's first initial meetings - the early committee members who obtained permission to search Killiecrankie and Culloden were a John Stewart, Neale Deasley, and Bill McKay - Neale Deasley used an early Cine Camera to record film footage of the outings by 1980 all three had left the Club, John moved to England and Neale took over a farm at Errol and Bill just gave up - Neale sadly died around 1984 or 1985 and very suddenly - the battle site detecting was written about in Club books like a diary account and mentioned later briefly in newspaper articles about the club - I would love to know where that Cine footage is now if indeed it survived
@@DavidDrummond-mu3ur David, really fascinating. Does the Dundee Metal Detecting Club still exist? I just tried to Google it and came up with a blank. The club diary account would be important records in their own right. Did you detect anything, what type of finds? Which parts of the battlefield did you explore? Did Neale Deasley have a wife and kids? As you say it would be wonderful if you could find that old footage of the 1978 detecting.
Hi James, the Dundee club Search 77 lasted until the late 1990's early 2000's and was left in the hands of Robert Fotheringham and then just sadly disbanded I left in the 1990's having been a sites officer for the club for quite some time after being the Secretary Treasurer during the 1980's Search 77 also was part of the Scottish Federation of Metal Detecting Clubs which I was the Secretary of for two years - if any of the original diary like books survived Robert Fotheringham might have had these - if not then the original owners would have taken them - Neale Deasley did have a wife and children but I have no idea where any of them are now -
I didn't have my own metal detector at the Killiecrankie day out and could only watch what was being found - there were members there with cameras taking pictures as well and someone is bound to have these in some album in some attic dome where - a number of members also had important day time jobs as well on member was soon to become the head of the Parks Department in Dundee a Charles Lawrence and there was one or two members who worked for the Dundee Museum and three American Marines who were based at the Edzell Air Base as well at the time - I also remember there were two brothers like twins who shared one detector but had double ear phones in it so they could both hear for signals we had a similar turnout at Culloden the following year but a Bus was hired for that trip - I had a metal detector for the Culloden trip and again all funds were handed to the curator of the Culloden visitor centre - including a brass Hanovarian Button I found -
Only one significant coin was found at Killiecrankie by an Anthony Fitzgerald and it was a silver coin of William III - it would be interesting to know what became if all the finds we handed over
Was 8 years after the act of union it was a British army unit.
I am not sure what you are referring to. Battle of Killiecrankie was 1689, Act of Union (of the Parliaments) creating the United Kingdom was in 1707.
@JamesRattray I apologise you were correct I was thinking of the 1715 uprising. My bad 🤭
Why do you refer to the red coats as the Scottish government army ?
Because the red coats soldiers were all Scots, except for one under prepared English Regiment, called Hastings, every other regiment fighting the Jacobite were Scottish red coats. You have to remember the Jacobite wars were Scotland's two societies, Lowland English speaking culture versus the Gaelic or Highland Culture. The Jacobites weren't just Scots, there were English, Welsh and Irish Jacobites a plenty. It was a civil war, supporters of one Monarch Catholic King James VII verses Protestant William of Orange who had been invited over by the Protestants.