Culloden ( ; from

Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic (, ; Endonym and exonym, endonym: ), also known as Scots Gaelic or simply Gaelic, is a Celtic language native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a member of the Goidelic language, Goidelic branch of Celtic, Scottish Gaelic, alongs ...

', "back of the small pond"; modern Gaelic ') is a village east of

Inverness Inverness (; ; from the , meaning "Mouth of the River Ness") is a city in the Scottish Highlands, having been granted city status in 2000. It is the administrative centre for The Highland Council and is regarded as the capital of the Highland ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

and the surrounding area. east of the village is Drumossie Moor, site of the

Battle of Culloden The Battle of Culloden took place on 16 April 1746, near Inverness in the Scottish Highlands. A Jacobite army under Charles Edward Stuart was decisively defeated by a British government force commanded by the Duke of Cumberland, thereby endi ...

History

Culloden village was originally made up of estate houses attached to Culloden House. Historic buildings include Culloden House itself, which is now a hotel, the Culloden stables, now rebuilt as holiday homes, and the historic

tithe barn A tithe barn was a type of barn used in much of northern Europe in the Middle Ages for storing rents and tithes. Farmers were required to give one-tenth of their produce to the established church. Tithe barns were usually associated with the ...

which is now the

Barn Church A barn church or barn chapel is a specific type of clandestine church, built in times that a certain church was illegal but tolerated as long as the churches were not specifically looking like churches. These were no elaborate buildings but simple ...

. Additional interesting buildings nearby include the Loch Lann Kennels, the Doocot and the ice house. In the 1960s an area near the historic village was drained for a

council housing Public housing in the United Kingdom, also known as council housing or social housing, provided the majority of rented accommodation until 2011, when the number of households in private rental housing surpassed the number in social housing. D ...

project, including Culloden Stores,

Culloden Academy Culloden Academy () is a non- denominational secondary school in Culloden, Highland, Scotland. The present enrollment is 1,117 pupils. The catchment area includes Balloch, Croy, Smithton, Cradlehall and Ardersier in the east of Inverness. A ...

and Duncan Forbes Primary School, named after the Forbeses of Culloden, who owned Culloden House from 1626 to 1897. More recent private housing developments have since grown up around it. Culloden House is now an hotel. The parish of Culloden includes three other communities: Balloch , Smithton and Westhill. Like Culloden, Balloch is a village of some antiquity. Smithton and Westhill are post-war housing developments.

Battlefield of Culloden

Today, the battlefield of Culloden is under the care of the

National Trust for Scotland The National Trust for Scotland () is a Scottish Building preservation and conservation trusts in the UK, conservation organisation. It is the largest membership organisation in Scotland and describes itself as "the charity that cares for, sha ...

, and its visitors' centre is a huge tourist attraction. The National Trust for Scotland has built a visitor centre that includes an interactive battle experience with an immersion film battle room. The visitor centre was officially opened to the public on 16 April 2008 and received 209,011 visitors in 2019.The Official Opening of the Visitor Centre, stv News 16 April 2008

Clootie well

Apart from the battlefield, the most notable site in the surrounding area is the "

clootie well A clootie well is a holy well (or sacred Spring (hydrosphere), spring), almost always with a tree growing beside it, where small strips of cloth or ribbons are left as part of a healing ritual, usually by tying them to branches of the tree (cal ...

", in Culloden Woods, where brightly coloured rags are hung as offerings from people wishing to be cured of ailments. This well was traditionally visited on the first Sunday in May. Until the early 1970s, this pilgrimage was well attended with 'buses laid on to cater for the crowds. The practice of visiting on a specific day has declined sharply in recent years. A similar, and better known, well is near

Munlochy Munlochy ( ; Scottish Gaelic: ''Poll Lochaidh'') is a small village, lying at the head of Munlochy Bay (''Ob Poll Lochaidh''), in the Black Isle in Ross and Cromarty, in northern Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, c ...

. This tradition may be based on

Celt The Celts ( , see Names of the Celts#Pronunciation, pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples ( ) were a collection of Indo-European languages, Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancient Indo-European people, reached the apoge ...

ic ceremonies, involving

votive offerings A votive offering or votive deposit is one or more objects displayed or deposited, without the intention of recovery or use, in a sacred place for religious purposes. Such items are a feature of modern and ancient societies and are generally ...

to water spirits. The Cairns of Clava, a group of Bronze Age burial mounds, are located at Balnauran of Clava, about south-east of the battlefield.

References

{{Authority control Populated places in Inverness committee area Areas of Inverness