Bonnie Charlie's now awa'

16 April 1746. The supreme commander of the English army, The Duke of Cumberland, had pursued the Scots north. On the morning of the 16th, the two armies faced each other in battle order. Constant English artillery fire encouraged the centre of the Scottish line to launch an attack. Lasting barely an hour, this final battle on British soil left over a thousand Jacobites dead with English losses of three hundred.

In 'Butcher' Cumberland's front rank were the 34th (Cumberland) Regiment of Foot, anticedent of the Border Regiment. They found themselves on the extreme right of this front line and were scarcely involved in the battle, losing only three men out of 24 officers and 435 other ranks. I often wonder what it would have been like to be on the battlefield hundreds of years ago. Would I have been frightened at the scene before me? Of elated by the cause I was supporting?

Ironically, a few years ago, part of the popular 'Outlander' series was filmed at Carlisle Castle. The site was closed to the public whilst we were still able to work at the Museum. Bizarre to think the local regiment connected to Carlisle had been part of the Duke of Cumberland's army which helped defeat Bonnie Prince Charlie's forces! Like many, I was fascinated with the transformation of the Castle site into a historical film set as gallows appeared in the inner ward, horses on the parade square and tartan clad folk wandered around the area.  The end result on film was about 40 seconds of Castle in one of the episodes.

Many years ago, I visited Culloden with a dear friend of mine (a Maclaren) who was keen to emphasise her family connection with this battle. We wondered around the windswept battlefield, between the clan stones and to the memorial cairn. It was a very powerful and atmospheric experience but one that highlighted the misconception that it was a straight Scottish/English battle. Nothing is ever that simple. There were Scots in the English army and Englishmen in the Scottish army. History is never that straight-forward and clean cut.

The Jacobite connection to Carlisle Castle is not lost on me. I regularly run sessions, with trainee teachers from the University of Cumbria, highlighting the use of objects, archives and historical sites when teaching history to primary children. I regularly tell them that the connection to the past is all around us. I illustrate the point by telling the students how I put my hand on the wall of the Castle and think about all those that have touched it before us. It could have been touched by either an English or Jacobite soldier in 1745, before they found themselves on the battlefield at Culloden. It is connections and stories that made me interested in history in the first place and how I ended up working in Museums. How strange that the 274th anniversary of this battle made me think of all this today?

The medallion illustrated above was made to commemorate the Battle of Culloden and is part of the Collections of Cumbria's Museum of Military Life