Trusts join forces to explore Culloden’s complexities

Each year, more than 250,000 visitors come to the battlefield, which is in the care of the National Trust for Scotland. National Trust for Scotland President and Love Scotland presenter Jackie Bird said: ‘The Battle of Culloden is one of the most enduring events in Scottish history, and all these years later there is still so much to learn. Professor Pittock’s insights into the role of Lord George Murray and his difficult relationship with Charles Edward Stuart give us a sense of these historical figures as real people, with complex motivations.’

Michelle Douglass, Senior Podcast Producer at the National Trust, said: ‘People love history podcasts because these are stories that tell us something bigger about the human condition. There are all sorts of points of views and angles to how we tell our histories. Working with the National Trust for Scotland is the first time we’ve explored this kind of story-telling opportunity: to bring listeners history from two different perspectives. They’ll get a deep dive into the Battle of Culloden – the people involved, the build-up, what happened at the battle and what it meant for Britain. It’s a unique treatment of a pivotal moment of our past.’

• The National Trust for Scotland’s Love Scotland episode on Lord George Murray will be released on Friday 18 April.
• The National Trust’s episode on James Wolfe will be released on Monday 30 April.

You can listen and subscribe to Love Scotland from the National Trust for Scotland and Back When from the National Trust on Apple and Spotify.

2025 marks the 279th anniversary of the Battle of Culloden and is the 100th year that the Gaelic Society of Inverness have been commemorating the event. The commemoration service will take place on Saturday 19 April. The event begins at 10.30am with a procession starting at the Culloden Visitor Centre and ending at the memorial cairn, where the service takes place from 11am until 12 noon.

Inside the visitor centre, costumed presentations will take place over the weekend including Clach An Airm, the story of a clan as they prepared for battle, and Fight like a Highlander, where visitors can discover what it was like to wield a basket-hilted broadsword on the field at Culloden. As part of the Christopher Duffy Memorial Lecture series on Saturday 19 April at 1.30pm, Dr Darren Scott Layne and Dr Arran Johnston will share insights into the Jacobite Rising using data and eyewitness testimony.