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Scotland’s Global Impact Conference: Speaker Articles

9th October 2009

By: Dr Tony Pollard, Glasgow University

Title: Gathering for Battle

Thanks to the recent clan gathering in Edinburgh it would appear that the nation has at last woken up to the fact that this is the year of Homecoming Scotland.  Not since the visit of George IV in 1822 can so many people decked out in outlandish tartan garb have gathered together in the city’s open spaces or downed whisky, malt of course, with such gusto in its bars.  This time around though there was a distinct international flavour, with members of Scotland’s Diaspora coming from all corners of the world, each no doubt with their own idea of Scotland and what it means to be Scottish.  The local population also turned out for the festivities and hopes are high that many of our guests took the opportunity to see what the rest of Scotland has to offer.  When interviewed on the television news one of the overseas participants explained that he had visited Killiecrankie the day before, where the anniversary of the battle was being marked at the same time as the gathering.  The Battle of Killiecrankie, fought in 1689, was the first battle in the almost 60 year period of conflict which climaxed with Culloden in 1746, and during which gatherings served to rally the clans for the Jacobite cause. 

Killiecrankie was also chosen, again on the occasion of its anniversary, as the launch pad for the Scottish Historic Environment Policy on battlefields, which at last are being acknowledged as important elements of our shared cultural heritage.  Integral to the policy is an inventory of battlefield sites which will ensure that where they are present battlefields will be a consideration within the planning process.  Whether the policy goes on to benefit from statutory status at some point in the future remains to be seen.

There can be little doubt that when it comes to management and conservation, battlefields are very difficult monuments, covering large tracts of land and often located in places favoured by transit routes (e.g. Killiecrankie) or on the edges of expanding settlements (e.g. Bannockburn).  Life must of course go on and we can’t preserve the landscape in aspic.  We would however be doing those who shed their blood on these hallowed grounds and those who will benefit from walking in their footsteps in the years to come a great disservice if we do nothing. 

Not many battlefields survive intact and even Culloden, which represents an international flagship for their presentation to the public, has a road running through it and has suffered from the planting of trees during the 19th century.  But as a recent archaeological project has demonstrated, even places such as Prestonpans, which has suffered from the impact of coal mines, housing schemes, railways and a power station, still have a strong historical resonance thanks to blood spilled hundreds of years ago. 

In September 1745, Prestonpans was the scene of the first Jacobite victory of the ’45, when 2000 Highlanders routed a government army after taking up residence in nearby Edinburgh.  But even then it was an industrial landscape, well known for its salt and coal production, and the Jacobites charged across one of the first railways in Britain - a horse drawn tramway built to carry coal from the pits to the port at Cockenzie.  Its course can still be traced today as a footpath running through fields near the power station.  Unassuming as they may seem these fields are Scheduled Ancient Monuments and as such are legally protected in a way that the vast majority of battlefield sites are not. However, this protection is not due to their association with the battle but the presence of a series of circular features identified in aerial photographs and which are thought to represent a prehistoric settlement. 

Not a small number of the gathered in Edinburgh came from the United States, a country which has long taken the preservation of its battlefields very seriously. Many of them have national park status, though that is not to say they are entirely immune from the physical and aesthetic threats posed by shopping malls and MacDonalds outlets.  Americans visiting sites like Culloden and Bannockburn will no doubt compare and contrast the visitor facilities with those at places back home such as Manassas and Gettysburg – the latter perhaps being the only town in the world where the entire economy seems to be devoted to a battle fought nearly a hundred and fifty years ago.  The two most famous Scottish battlefields will probably come out reasonably well, with visitor centres and interpretation at both.  However, the same cannot be said for the majority of our battlefields, which as far as tourists are concerned languish in obscurity, with at best an old stone monument to give any clue to the bloody events which unfolded there.  We certainly ignore the potential economic benefits of battlefields as tourist destinations at our peril. 

Some of these issues will fall under the spotlight when Inverness hosts a Homecoming gathering of its own in October, in the form of the Scotland’s Global Impact conference, which runs between the 22nd and 24th.  The last day of this unique three day event will be devoted to a series of presentations on Scottish soldiery at home and abroad between the 17th and 19th centuries and will include speakers from as far away as Canada, where Highlanders served on both sides during the Seven Years War.  The following day delegates will be given the opportunity to join an expert led guided tour of Culloden battlefield and nearby Fort George. 

Dr Tony Pollard is Director of the Centre for Battlefield Archaeology at Glasgow University

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