The Jacobite Risings are the most romanticised and most misunderstood chapter in Scottish history. Five rebellions across 57 years, ending on a windswept Inverness moor in 1746.
The story of Bonnie Prince Charlie and his catastrophic last battle at Culloden is also the historical tale behind the TV Outlander and the new prequel Blood of My Blood.
Here is the real story of the ’45, and where to visit Jacobite Scotland today.
What were the Jacobite Risings?
The word Jacobite comes from Jacobus, the Latin form of James. The Jacobites were the supporters of King James VII of Scotland (James II of England), the last Catholic monarch of Britain, who was deposed in 1688 in what English historians call the Glorious Revolution and Scottish Jacobites called the usurpation.
From 1689 to 1746, James and his descendants tried five times to recover the throne. Each rising was crushed. The last, in 1745, ended life in Highland Scotland as it had been for a thousand years.
The Risings were never simply a Scottish rebellion against England. The Jacobite cause crossed national boundaries: there were Lowland Jacobites, Irish Jacobites, English Jacobites and French and Spanish backers. Many Highland clans fought for the government, not the Stuart cause. Many Lowland Scots supported James.
The five Risings
1689: The first Rising. John Graham of Claverhouse, Viscount Dundee, raised an army for the exiled James VII. The Jacobites won the Battle of Killiecrankie in July 1689 but Dundee was killed leading the charge. Without him the Rising collapsed within months.
1715: The Earl of Mar’s Rising. The largest of the Jacobite armies, raised by John Erskine, Earl of Mar, in support of James Francis Edward Stuart (the Old Pretender). The two armies met at Sheriffmuir near Dunblane in November 1715. The battle was indecisive and the Rising fizzled out.
1719: A failed Spanish invasion. Spanish ships were wrecked by storms before they could land, and the small Jacobite force that did make it ashore was defeated at Glen Shiel in June.
1745: The ’45. The most famous of the Risings, led by Bonnie Prince Charlie (Charles Edward Stuart, grandson of James VII).
1746: The end. Strictly speaking the ’45 spilled into 1746, with the Jacobite retreat from Derby, the victories at Falkirk Muir and the disaster at Culloden on 16 April 1746.
The ’45: Bonnie Prince Charlie and the last Rising
Charles Edward Stuart, known in Scotland as Bonnie Prince Charlie and to the English as the Young Pretender, landed on the Hebridean island of Eriskay on 23 July 1745 with seven companions, the so-called Seven Men of Moidart. He had no army, no significant funds and no firm promises of support.
After landing at Loch nan Uamh on the mainland, Charles persuaded a reluctant Donald Cameron of Lochiel to commit Clan Cameron to the cause. On 19 August 1745, the royal standard was raised at Glenfinnan at the head of Loch Shiel. Around 1,200 men joined him that day.
Within a month the Jacobite army had taken Perth and Edinburgh. On 21 September 1745 they crushed General Cope’s government army at Prestonpans in 15 minutes.
The march south through Carlisle, Manchester and Derby almost succeeded. By December the Jacobites were 125 miles from London. However, with no significant English Jacobite support appearing and the French support promised but not delivered, the Jacobite army retreated.
They reached Falkirk on 17 January 1746 and won another battle, at Falkirk Muir. However, the government’s army under the Duke of Cumberland were now in pursuit. The Jacobites arrived back inInverness, exhausted, hungry and short on supplies.
Culloden, 16 April 1746
The Battle of Culloden took place on the boggy moor of Drumossie, five miles east of Inverness. Around 5,000 Jacobites faced around 8,000 government troops, including artillery and cavalry that the Jacobites lacked. The boggy ground was also wrong for the Highland charge, the Jacobites’ principal tactic.
The battle lasted less than an hour. About 1,500 Jacobites were killed, many of them cut down in the rout that followed. Government losses were around 50.
What followed, may be considered even worse. The Duke of Cumberland earned his nickname Butcher Cumberland for the systematic killing of the wounded and the prisoners taken from the field.
The Disarming Act and the Act of Proscription banned the wearing of Highland dress, the bearing of arms and the playing of bagpipes. The clan system was broken by law and the Heritable Jurisdictions Act of 1747 stripped Highland chiefs of their feudal powers.
Charles himself escaped. After Culloden he was hunted across the Highlands with a £30,000 bounty on his head, he was sheltered by clansmen and clanswomen at huge personal risk. Flora MacDonald famously helped him escape across the Minch to Skye dressed as her maid Betty Burke, the journey commemorated in the Skye Boat Song.
On 19 September 1746 he sailed for France from Loch nan Uamh, the same loch where he had landed 14 months earlier. He never returned to Scotland.
Where to visit Jacobite Scotland: 18 places to follow in their footsteps
The Jacobite story runs across the length of Scotland, from the Hebrides to the Borders, but the major sites cluster in the Highlands, Perthshire, Edinburgh, Stirling and Lochaber. Here are 18 places to visit.
Jacobite Scotland in the Highlands
Glenfinnan Monument and Loch Shiel
The starting point of the ’45. On 19 August 1745, Charles raised the standard at the head of Loch Shiel at Glenfinnan, with around 1,200 men gathered around him.
The 18-metre Glenfinnan Monument, topped with a kilted Highlander, was erected in 1815 by Alexander MacDonald of Glenaladale to honour those who fought and died for the cause. The monument is cared for by the National Trust for Scotland, with an excellent visitor centre at its foot.
Glenfinnan is also famous as the location of the 21-arch Glenfinnan Viaduct, used in the Harry Potter films as the route of the Hogwarts Express. Walk the short Glenfinnan Viaduct Trail to see both monument and viaduct together.
Glenfinnan Monument and Visitor Centre is managed by the National Trust for Scotland. Adult £6, free for members. Open March to October. Around 18 miles west of Fort William on the A830.
Culloden Battlefield, near Inverness
The most important Jacobite site in Scotland. Culloden Moor, five miles east of Inverness, is where the final Rising ended in less than an hour on 16 April 1746. The battlefield is now in the care of the National Trust for Scotland, with a modern visitor centre that tells both Jacobite and government perspectives of the battle.
Inside the centre is the immersive 360-degree battle theatre, a collection of weapons and personal artefacts from the dead, and the moving accounts of the survivors.
The walk across the moor itself is the more powerful experience. Red and blue flags mark the start lines of the two armies. Memorial stones mark the mass graves of the clan dead. Please keep voices low and treat the moor as the war grave it is.
Culloden Battlefield is managed by the National Trust for Scotland. Adult £16, free for members. The battlefield itself is free year-round, the visitor centre charges entry. Open daily, around 10 minutes’ drive from central Inverness.
Read more – my full guide to Inverness.
Eilean Donan Castle
Eilean Donan is the most photographed castle in Scotland, sitting at the meeting point of three sea lochs (Duich, Long and Alsh) in the western Highlands.
The castle has a direct Jacobite history. In 1719 a Spanish-Jacobite garrison occupied the castle in support of the failed Spanish-backed Rising of that year. A Royal Navy frigate, HMS Worcester, bombarded the castle on 10 May 1719 and reduced it to ruins. The Jacobites surrendered.
The castle lay in ruins for 200 years until it was rebuilt between 1912 and 1932 by Lieutenant-Colonel John MacRae-Gilstrap. The reconstruction is impressive but most of what you see is 20th-century.
Eilean Donan is privately managed. Adult £14.50. Around an hour west of Inverness on the road to Skye.
Borrodale Beach and Prince Charlie’s Cave, Lochaber
After Culloden, Charles fled west to the Lochaber coast, the same coast where he had landed 14 months earlier.
The cave at Borrodale, near the village of Arisaig, is one of the many caves across the western Highlands where Charles is said to have hidden during his five months as a fugitive.
The bay itself, Loch nan Uamh (the Loch of the Caves), is where Charles finally sailed for France on 19 September 1746. A small cairn on the shore marks the spot, called the Prince’s Cairn.
Free, open access. Reach the Prince’s Cairn from the layby on the A830 between Arisaig and Lochailort. The cave itself involves a beach walk and some scrambling.
Skye: the Skye Boat Song and Flora MacDonald
After Culloden, Bonnie Prince Charlie spent ten weeks as a fugitive in the Outer Hebrides, hiding in caves and bothies on South Uist and Benbecula while the Royal Navy combed the islands for him.
By late June 1746 the government net was closing. The 24-year-old Flora MacDonald, who was visiting Benbecula at the time, was persuaded to help. On the evening of 28 June 1746, Charles, disguised as Flora’s Irish spinning maid “Betty Burke”, set sail with her from Benbecula in a small boat with a crew of six. After being denied at Waternish they landed the next morning at Kilbride on the Trotternish peninsula of Skye.
The Skye Boat Song commemorates one short, terrified passage in the middle of his five months on the run.
The Outlander theme song adapted “lad” to “lass” for Claire.
Flora MacDonald herself spent only a few weeks helping Charles before she was arrested and imprisoned in the Tower of London. She was released in 1747, married, emigrated to North Carolina, and eventually returned to Skye where she died in 1790. She is buried in Kilmuir Cemetery on the Trotternish peninsula in north Skye, where her tall Celtic cross stands above the cliffs of the Minch.
Read more – my complete guide to the Isle of Skye
Jacobite Scotland in Perthshire
Perthshire was the heart of Jacobite country. Both the 1689 and 1715 Risings had their pivotal battles here, and the Atholl Murrays were one of the most important Jacobite families of the era.
Killiecrankie, near Pitlochry
The site of the first Jacobite battle, fought on 27 July 1689 in the narrow gorge of the River Garry. The Jacobites under Viscount Dundee charged downhill and routed the government army of General Hugh Mackay in minutes, but Dundee was mortally wounded leading the charge. The Rising collapsed within months without him.
Walk through the Killiecrankie gorge to see the Soldier’s Leap, where a redcoat soldier called Donald MacBean is supposed to have jumped 18 feet across the river to escape the Jacobite pursuit. The path runs along the river through ancient oak woodland and is one of the prettiest short walks in Perthshire.
The Pass of Killiecrankie is managed by the National Trust for Scotland. The path and gorge are free year-round. The Killiecrankie visitor centre is currently closed for redevelopment, due to reopen in 2027.
Read more – my guide to things to do in Perthshire.
Sheriffmuir, near Dunblane
The bleak upland moor of Sheriffmuir was the site of the largest Jacobite battle of the 1715 Rising. On 13 November 1715, around 6,000 Jacobites under the Earl of Mar fought around 3,000 government troops under the Duke of Argyll.
The battle was indecisive (both sides claimed victory) and after months of further inaction the 1715 Rising collapsed. The site is now marked by a small memorial and a working farm.
Free, open access. The moor is accessed by minor road from Dunblane.
Blair Castle, Blair Atholl
The white-harled Blair Castle was Bonnie Prince Charlie’s base in late August 1745 as the Jacobite army moved south, and again during the retreat in 1746.
The Duke of Atholl’s family, the Murrays, were split: the head of the family was a government supporter, but his brothers Lord George Murray and William Murray, Marquess of Tullibardine, both fought for the Prince.
Lord George was the most talented Jacobite general of the ’45 and many historians argue that the Rising might have succeeded had he been given sole command.
Blair Castle is privately managed. Adult £18, grounds-only ticket £7. Open April to October.
Jacobite Scotland in Edinburgh
Palace of Holyroodhouse
The official Scottish residence of the British monarch, at the foot of the Royal Mile. In September and October 1745, after the victory at Prestonpans, Bonnie Prince Charlie held court at Holyrood for around six weeks. He hosted balls, accepted homage from sympathetic Lowland Jacobites, and announced his father, James Francis Edward Stuart, as King James VIII of Scotland from the Mercat Cross on the Royal Mile. The Palace’s Great Gallery still holds the portraits of the Stuart kings he came to restore.
In Outlander, the Palace appears in book three but not the TV series. In the books, Claire and Jamie travel to Holyrood to beseech the Prince to abandon his cause before Culloden.
Adult £20. Open year-round except during royal visits. Audio guide included.
Battle of Prestonpans
The Jacobites won their first major victory of the ’45 at Prestonpans, eight miles east of Edinburgh, on 21 September 1745. General Cope’s government army was caught at dawn and routed in 15 minutes. The Battle of Prestonpans Heritage Trust runs a small museum (the Prestonpans 1745 Visitor Centre) and an annual reenactment. The battlefield itself is publicly accessible.
Free, open access. The Visitor Centre is on the John Muir Way coastal path. Around 30 minutes’ drive from central Edinburgh.
Jacobite Scotland in Stirling
Bannockburn House
Bannockburn House, a 17th-century mansion on the south side of Stirling, was Bonnie Prince Charlie’s headquarters during the siege of Stirling Castle in early 1746. The Prince stayed here in late January and early February of that year, recovering from illness in what is now called the Bonnie Prince Charlie Bedchamber.
The house is currently undergoing restoration and runs occasional guided tours that combine the Jacobite history with the Outlander: Blood of My Blood filming history (the house was Lady Nairn’s home in the prequel, used as the location of the Jacobite meeting with Rob Roy).
Bannockburn House run guided tours, check the Bannockburn House website for dates.
Jacobite Scotland in Lochaber
Fort William and the West Highland Museum
The town of Fort William takes its name from the government fort built here in the 1690s to control the western Highlands. The original fort was demolished in the 19th century to make way for the railway, but the West Highland Museum in the town centre holds one of the best small collections of Jacobite artefacts in Scotland.
The highlight is the secret portrait of Bonnie Prince Charlie: a smear of paint on a small wooden panel that resolves into the Prince’s portrait only when reflected in a polished metal cylinder. Jacobites used these for secret toasts during the years when supporting the Stuart cause was treason.
West Highland Museum is free. Open Monday to Saturday year-round.
Read more = my guide to things to do in Fort William.
The Jacobite Steam Train
The most famous train journey in Scotland. The Jacobite Steam Train runs from Fort William to Mallaig and back, a 84-mile round trip across the West Highland Line.
The journey passes Loch Eil, crosses the Glenfinnan Viaduct, and runs along the coast to Arisaig and Morar with views to the Small Isles. The journey lasts around 6 hours including the two-hour stopover at Mallaig.
The train is operated by West Coast Railways and usually runs from early May to late October. Standard class is around £69 return, first class around £105.
The Glenfinnan Viaduct featured in the Harry Potter films as the route of the Hogwarts Express, but the train itself shares its name with the Jacobite cause and crosses the heart of Jacobite country.
Book the Jacobite Steam Train at West Coast Railways. The 2026 season is currently suspended whilst the train undergoes safety improvements.
The Jacobites in Outlander and Blood of My Blood
The Jacobite Risings are the central historical backdrop of Outlander, the entire premise of which is Claire Randall’s accidental time travel into the run-up to the ’45. The show’s storylines run from the Frasers’ attempts to dissuade the Prince in season two, through the Battle of Prestonpans, the retreat from Derby, the Battle of Falkirk Muir and the final disaster at Culloden in seasons two and three.
The prequel, Outlander: Blood of My Blood, is set thirty years before the ’45 in the aftermath of the 1715 Rising. Lord Simon Fraser, 11th Lord Lovat (Jamie’s grandfather), is a major character, and the political tension between the Jacobite cause and the Hanoverian government runs through the entire season.
The episode “Luceo Non Uro” features a Jacobite meeting at Lady Nairn’s home (filmed at Bannockburn House) attended by Rob Roy MacGregor.
Read more:
- My full guide to Outlander filming locations in Scotland.
- My full guide to Blood of My Blood filming locations.
- My Clans of Scotland travel guide.
How to plan a Jacobite Scotland road trip
The Jacobite sites can be visited in two main road trips, or combined into one longer Highland tour.
Edinburgh and central Scotland (one day): Start at Holyrood Palace and walk the Royal Mile. Drive east to the Battle of Prestonpans site and the Prestonpans 1745 Visitor Centre. Lunch in Edinburgh or Aberlady. Afternoon at Bannockburn House (book ahead) or Sheriffmuir.
The Highlands (three to four days): Drive north from Edinburgh via Killiecrankie and Blair Castle to Inverness. Spend a full day at Culloden and Clava Cairns. Drive west via the Great Glen to Fort William, stopping at the West Highland Museum. Take the Jacobite Steam Train to Mallaig and back. Drive west to Glenfinnan and the Prince’s Cairn at Loch nan Uamh. If time, cross to Skye to visit Flora MacDonald’s grave.
A full Jacobite Scotland tour (a week): Combine the above with Eilean Donan on the way to Skye, the Cuillin and Trotternish on Skye itself, and a return to Edinburgh via Inverness and Perthshire.
Frequently asked questions
What were the Jacobite Risings?
The Jacobite Risings were five rebellions between 1689 and 1746 that aimed to restore the Stuart monarchy to the British throne. The word Jacobite comes from Jacobus, the Latin form of James, after King James VII of Scotland (James II of England) who was deposed in 1688. The Risings were defeated and the last, in 1745, ended at the Battle of Culloden on 16 April 1746.
Who was Bonnie Prince Charlie?
Bonnie Prince Charlie was Prince Charles Edward Stuart (1720-1788), the grandson of King James VII and the Stuart claimant to the British throne. He led the 1745 Jacobite Rising, the largest and most famous of the Risings. He landed at Eriskay in July 1745, took Edinburgh in September, marched as far south as Derby, and was finally defeated at Culloden in April 1746. He escaped to France via Skye and the Hebrides and never returned to Scotland.
What was the Battle of Culloden?
The Battle of Culloden was fought on 16 April 1746 on Drumossie Moor, five miles east of Inverness. Around 5,000 Jacobites under Bonnie Prince Charlie faced around 8,000 government troops under the Duke of Cumberland. The battle lasted less than an hour and around 1,500 Jacobites were killed. It was the last pitched battle fought on British soil and marked the end of the Jacobite cause.
Where can I visit Jacobite sites in Scotland?
The main Jacobite sites in Scotland are Glenfinnan Monument (the starting point of the ’45), Culloden Battlefield near Inverness (the final battle), the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh (where Bonnie Prince Charlie held court), Killiecrankie in Perthshire (site of the 1689 Jacobite victory), the West Highland Museum in Fort William, Eilean Donan Castle (where Spanish Jacobites were besieged in 1719), and the Prince’s Cairn at Loch nan Uamh (where the Prince landed and later escaped).
Is Outlander based on real history?
Outlander is fiction but is set against real Jacobite history. The Battle of Prestonpans, the march on Derby, the Battle of Falkirk Muir and the Battle of Culloden all take place in the show as they did in life. Bonnie Prince Charlie and the Duke of Cumberland appear as characters. The Fraser clan are based on the historical Frasers of Lovat, including Simon Fraser the 11th Lord Lovat, who was a real Jacobite executed in 1747. Outlander: Blood of My Blood, the prequel, is also set against real Jacobite history, in the aftermath of the 1715 Rising.
Where did Bonnie Prince Charlie land in Scotland?
Bonnie Prince Charlie landed on the Hebridean island of Eriskay on 23 July 1745. A few days later he moved to the mainland and landed at Loch nan Uamh on the Lochaber coast, near the village of Arisaig. The royal standard was raised at Glenfinnan, at the head of Loch Shiel, on 19 August 1745.
Where did Bonnie Prince Charlie escape to after Culloden?
After Culloden, Bonnie Prince Charlie fled west into Lochaber and the Hebrides, with a £30,000 bounty on his head. He spent five months as a fugitive in the western Highlands, sheltered by clansmen and clanswomen. Flora MacDonald famously helped him escape across the Minch to Skye in June 1746, dressed as her Irish maid Betty Burke. He finally sailed for France from Loch nan Uamh on 19 September 1746 and never returned to Scotland.
What is the Skye Boat Song about?
The Skye Boat Song commemorates one short overnight boat crossing in June 1746: Bonnie Prince Charlie’s escape from Benbecula in the Outer Hebrides to the Isle of Skye, disguised as Flora MacDonald’s Irish maid Betty Burke. It is not about Charlie’s arrival in Scotland (which was at Eriskay in 1745) or his final escape to France (which was from Loch nan Uamh on the mainland in September 1746). The best-known lyrics (“Speed bonnie boat, like a bird on the wing”) were written by Sir Harold Boulton in 1884, more than a century after the events they describe. A second set of lyrics (“Sing me a song of a lad that is gone”) was written by Robert Louis Stevenson the following year, and it is Stevenson’s poem that was adapted for the Outlander theme tune by composer Bear McCreary, with “lad” changed to “lass” for Claire.
How long do you need to see Jacobite Scotland?
A focused day from Edinburgh can cover Prestonpans, Bannockburn House and Sheriffmuir. A long weekend can add Culloden and Inverness via the A9. A full week covers the Highlands in depth including Glenfinnan, the Jacobite Steam Train, Lochaber, Eilean Donan and Skye, with optional stops in Perthshire and Stirling.
Are you planning a Jacobite Scotland road trip? Let me know which site you’re most looking forward to.
Love from Scotland x
Read more
- Outlander filming locations: every spot in Scotland to visit in 2026
- How to visit Culross, Fife: Scotland’s prettiest village and Outlander’s Cranesmuir
- Clans of Scotland travel guide
- Things to do in Fort William, Scotland
- Things to do in Inverness, Scotland
- Perthshire things to do
- How to take a tour through Scotland’s royal history
