Culloden finds could record moment clan chief shot

A damaged piece of grapeshot, left, and the broken shoe buckle found at Culloden

Archaeologists believe the latest finds to be made at Culloden Battlefield are connected to a moment 278 years ago when a clan chief was badly injured.

Bonnie Prince Charlie’s Jacobite army was defeated by government forces at the battle near Inverness on 16 April 1746.

Donald Cameron of Lochiel is recorded as leading an attack on the government frontline when his ankles were hit by grapeshot – small lead balls fired from artillery weapons.

The new artefacts are a broken copper alloy shoe buckle and a single piece of grapeshot that shows signs of having hit something – possibly the buckle. Both were discovered in the same 60 sq m (646 sq ft) area.

The battle was fought near Inverness 278 years ago

National Trust for Scotland (NTS), which manages a large surviving part of the battlefield, has released details of the finds as part of events marking this year’s anniversary of Culloden.

In less than an hour of fighting, 1,600 men were killed- 1,500 of them Jacobites.

Cameron had led 400 soldiers on to the battlefield.

According to accounts, he fired a shot from his pistol into government troops and was drawing his sword when he was injured.

Cameron managed to escape from the battlefield and fled to France with the prince in September 1746. The clan chief died of a stroke two years later.

NTS head of archaeology Derek Alexander said the grapeshot looked as if it had struck an angular object due to the damage done to it.

He added: “The juxtaposition of both these artefacts, recovered from the same hole and within 20-30m of the British Army front line, is intriguing and the obvious conclusion would be that the grapeshot hit the shoe buckle and broke off one end.”

Culloden is often described as the last pitched battle on British soil.

The battle saw the collapse of the Jacobite Rising of 1745, and the Jacobites’ fight to restore the exiled Stuart king James VIII to the British throne.

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