Myth and legend have pinpointed the exact location of Bonnie Prince
Charlie's remarkable hide-out on Ben Alder. Historical evidence and
recent research have proved to David Trainer that it lies on another
slope.
BEN ALDER is a particularly beautiful and attractive mountain.
Overlooking the 20-mile long narrow stretch of Loch Ericht in the
Scottish Highlands, it enjoys a remoteness today which makes it a
popular haven for hillclimbers and backpackers. Happily, the busy A9
road at Drumochter, with its noisy and impatient traffic, is
sufficiently far enough away to be out of sight and sound.
The greatest boast of Ben Alder, however, is a historical one. A
long-standing tradition states that it was on the slopes of this high
and rough mountain that Prince Charles Edward Stuart, Bonnie Prince
Charlie, spent an idyllic week in September 1746. After his humiliating
defeat at Culloden, the Prince had been on the run for his life and near
the end of a gruelling five months of hide-and-seek with the dreaded
''saighdeiran dearg'' (red soldiers) he ended up on Ben Alder. Here he
was able to revel in the relative comfort and safety of a remarkable and
cleverly constructed hide-out nicknamed ''Cluny's Cage''. It was built
for the chieftain of the Macpherson clan, Cluny Macpherson, who like the
Prince carried a price on his head. The name ''Cage'' was given to it
because of the vertical rooted trunks of holly trees that were used in
its construction.
The exact location of the cage has been and is confidently proclaimed.
Television crews are helicoptered to the spot and armchair viewers are
invited to marvel at this romantic spot overlooking the southern sweep
of Loch Ericht and imagine the fugitive Prince Charlie lying there in
hiding.
There are many serious reasons for saying that ''Cluny's Cage'' was in
fact on Ben Alder. Firstly, all the Ordnance Survey maps mark it on a
spot high above Alder Bay with the description ''Prince Charlie's
Cave''. Then there are historical documents like the famous Lyon in
Mourning, which clearly indicate that the Cage was on the south-eastern
slopes of the mountain. This publication of the Scottish History Society
(1895) is a prestigious collection of documents, stories, and eyewitness
accounts of the Jacobite Rebellion made by Bishop Robert Forbes and its
evidence must be taken seriously. Finally, Robert Louis Stevenson in his
novel, Kidnapped, paints a memorable and historically accurate picture
of Cluny's Cage and clearly describes it as being on Ben Alder.
In the face of all this evidence could anyone doubt the traditional
location of the famous cage? Well, it would appear that the answer is a
clear ''yes''. There have been questions raised and respectable authors
like Walter Blaikie, Eric Linklater, and Affleck Gray are only some of
those who have expressed doubts about it in their writings.
For many years I have been fascinated by the mountain route taken by
Bonnie Prince Charlie after Culloden and I followed the actual route
across the Highlands in his footsteps. In order to relive as much of the
Prince's experience as possible I travelled across the mountains at
night as he had done. As far as I know, I am the only person ever to
have done this. It was on this journey when I was carefully picking my
way across the slopes of Ben Alder in the middle of a dark night that I
began to have serious doubts about the place where Cluny's Cage actually
was. Ever since then I have been on a journey of a different kind -- a
journey in search of the exact location of the Cage.
The first stage in my journey was to find historical evidence. The
Cage, I discovered, was definitely not a cave, but rather an artificial
structure of two storeys on the face of a rocky hill in a thicket of
holly. It was so located that sentries could give warning. The trunks of
the holly trees were wattled with branches and it was covered with moss
to keep out the rain. The upper room was for eating and sleeping and the
lower one served as a storage and cooking place. The place was
deliberately chosen so that the cliff face of the mountain above was the
same colour as smoke, a clever strategy that provided a natural
camouflage ensuring that no-one from a distance could ever see the smoke
from the Cage's cooking fire and discover its location.Ironically, it
was on the very day the Prince moved into the Cage that two French
ships, L'Heureux and Le Conti, were dropping anchor in Loch Nan Uamh on
the west coast of Scotland near Arisaig. According to The Lyon in
Mourning, the Prince had moved to the Cage from a ''superlatively bad
and smoky'' sheiling called ''Culra'' (from the Gaelic Chaoil Reidhe)
just a few miles away. After spending six days there a messenger arrived
at one o'clock in the morning with the news about the French ships.
Escorted from the Cage that same night, the Prince began a dangerous
76-mile journey to the coast and at daybreak he stopped and hid in the
nearby Culra sheiling.
Why would a man with a price on his head, an army searching for him,
and two friendly ships waiting for him, travel a few miles to Culra and
hide there for the day? The Prince took six days to cover only 76 miles.
This was a slow time when you consider, for example, that a respectable
time for the 92 miles of the West Highland Way is five days. Why did
they waste the first night by travelling a mere four miles?
Maybe it took them too long to get ready or perhaps they were drunk
when the messenger arrived! But if either of these situations were the
case then why should they move at all from a cleverly concealed and
comfortable hide-out to an exposed and extremely uncomfortable sheiling?
It began to be clear to me that the Cage must have been in fact much
further away.
My next doubt was related to the historical descriptions of rocky
slabs above the hide-out disguising the smoke. There are no cliffs above
the traditional site and in any case the track just below it beside the
loch is so close that soldiers on patrol would smell the smoke!
Then there were the dangers encountered on the journey to the coast.
Every time the loyal clansmen travelled at night with their precious
human cargo they crossed a dangerous road or a loch -- every time, that
is, except for the first night. The short journey to Culra crosses
nothing dangerous. I came to the conclusion that the Cage must have been
further away and across some military hazard. Where could it be?
The only place was the other side of Loch Ericht. I went there,
searched around and found a huge crag opposite Alder Bay. I estimated
that the Cage must have been somewhere here. High above were gigantic
steep slabs of rock sweeping down from the hill top. They would easily
camouflage smoke rising from the Cage. Modern maps call the place
''Creag na h-Iolaire'' (the crag of the eagle) and it seemed to me to
fit the description of the Cage in The Lyon in Mourning perfectly. High
above a sentry would see an enemy boat coming down the loch when it was
miles away.
If the Cage was in fact at the other side of Loch Ericht, it would
have been too dangerous to cross the loch during the day. A boat could
be seen for miles up the loch and, once seen, would almost certainly
provoke a widespread and most unwanted search. Therefore, the speedy
departure of the Prince at 1am now becomes very logical. It would be
absolutely imperative for him to be taken across the loch immediately
under cover of darkness. By the time the Prince reached the other side
of the loch and was escorted across Ben Alder to Culra it would be
daylight and they would have to hide up for the day. The location of
Cluny's Cage across the loch makes a lot of sense.
The next stage in my journey took me to Edinburgh where I visited the
National Library to study Roy's Military Map which shows a track down
the west bank of the loch. In the library I discovered a map, Map of
Counties of Perth and Clackmannan (1783), by a certain James Stobie. To
my utter amazement I saw on the east bank of Loch Ericht opposite Alder
Bay the handwritten words: ''Place where C. S. hid himself 1746''. It
was the date of the map which caught my attention. 1783 was within 40
years after Culloden and there could be no doubt that Stobie was acting
on local information from people who had actually lived through the
Jacobite rebellion. The cryptic reference to ''C. S.'' (Charles Stuart)
and the omission of the designation ''Prince'' was understandable
considering that in 1783 Charles Edward Stuart was still very much alive
in Italy calling himself King Charles III of Great Britain and Ireland!
Is James Stobie a reliable source? My next step was to visit Blair
Castle where I discovered that Stobie had been a well-respected estate
manager employed by the Duke of Atholl. His work as a surveyor is
considered to be of a very high standard. The map which he spent two
years surveying is reckoned to be one of the best county maps of
Scotland.
My next discovery was to happen by the chance reading of a travelogue
by an English woman, Sarah Murray, who toured the Highlands in 1796. In
her book, A Companion and Useful Guide to the Beauties of Scotland, she
describes how she was taken by a local Highlander to Alder Bay from Loch
Rannoch and, obviously acting on local knowledge, she clearly indicates
the location of the Prince's hide-out on the mountainside at the eastern
side of Loch Ericht: ''On the east bank of this lake is a prodigiously
high, rough, bare mountain, in the hollows of which poor Charles Stuart
concealed himself.''
There can be no doubt that all the evidence points to the location of
Cluny Macpherson's Cage on the east side of Loch Ericht at ''Creag na
h-Iolaire''.
The Ordnance Survey Map of Scotland published by Sir Henry James in
1873 clearly indicates Cluny's Cage on Ben Alder with the title ''Prince
Charlie's Cave''. Right up to the present day all the Ordnance Survey
maps have repeated this error and for some mysterious reason the
location across the loch has faded into oblivion. There probably was
some kind of a hide-out on Ben Alder, but, with respect to the Ordnance
Survey, to The Lyon in Mourning and (dare I say it?) to Robert Louis
Stevenson, it was certainly not Cluny's Cage.
As I stood with two friends on the grassy hill high above the true
site of Cluny's Cage, we looked across Loch Ericht to a bleak-looking
Alder Bay overshadowed by a dark, mist-capped Ben Alder. The magnificent
view of the loch below us was quite breathtaking. There is a tangible
stillness in this extremely remote and inaccessible spot and we paused
for a moment to reflect on the great secret that this quiet hillside has
kept for more than 200 years.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article