Saturday 28 February 2015

Bonnie Prince Charlie at Arnish



Bonnie Prince Charlie's cairn at Arnish, south of Stornoway. 

Kildun, where he stayed the night, is no more. The farmhouse was demolished in 1974 to make way for the Fabrication Yard. Were it to return, it would be floating in thin air - the hill it stood on was bulldozed away.
The below image of the house was taken in the 1950s,

BPC is not a figure in Scottish history I have much time for. He was badly advised, or else he did not take heed of military advice. The consequences of his failure, after being defeated at Culloden in 1746, are well documented. Changes in Scottish society were speeded up, not caused by Culloden. However, Charles Edward gave men like Cumberland the pretext to commit the atrocities that were visited upon the Highlands and Islands in subsequent years. The burghers of Stornoway could not, or would not, give succour to BPC - but neither did they want to betray him. He was allowed to slip away across moor and loch, back to Eilean Iubhair in Loch Shell at Leumrabhagh, and on to his next failed place of shelter.

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