Culloden Battlefield Paths
·
In summer 2005 there was an NTS
meeting in
·
In early March 2007 it was found that some of
the Battlefield paths had been dug up such that the Clan Donald wooden markers
and the Keppoch and Clan Donald stones were widely separated and up dead end
paths making the usual circular tour by the Clan Donald group at the annual
Culloden celebration impossible
· On 16 March 2007 the Project Manager at the Culloden Visitor Centre apologized and said they could have ploughed up the section between the stones and the Hanoverian line if they had known how Clan Donald would feel!
· Objectors then received a ‘Statement on the new arrangements for footpaths and trees on the Battlefield’, but it transpired that there were two versions. These both finish with: ‘A Statement on the site as a whole’ :
1. ‘The NTS has worked very hard to ensure that the impact of visitors to the site is minimised, and instead, to ensure that the conservation of the battlefield is its priority for all time. The site is open and accessible to visitors all year round and in formulating its policies manages the site for the greater good of all and not for the needs of small groups or individuals. That way it can ensure that its policies are sustainable and defensible.
2. ‘The NTS has worked very hard to ensure that the impact of visitors to the site is minimised, and instead, to ensure that the conservation of the battlefield is its priority for all time. Interpretation of the battlefield will be by minimum intervention and with the minimum interpretation points necessary to present the story. This will be supported by the use of Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) to provide ‘virtual’ information and interpretation of the site.
The site is open and accessible to visitors all year round and in formulating its policies, the Trust will manage the site for the greater good of all. That way it can ensure that its policies are sustainable and defensible.
The first version was received by someone who wrote to the Chairman of the NTS. Both this ‘Statement’ and a ‘Dear Clan Members’ e-mail sent out by the Project Manager attaching the statement and a plan (which did not make the situation clear) referred to the “MacDonald” and Keppoch Stones, instead of the “Clan Donald” and Keppoch Stones.
· Many objectors worldwide, including Glengarry, did not receive replies from the Project Manager or simply received the ‘Statement’.
·
On 5 April there was an NTS Highland Members
Group AGM. The
· People disillusioned with the response – or lack of it – from the Project Manager started writing to the Chairman. Her responses gave no opening for any negotiation whatsoever, maintaining that decisions were made in the best interest of the Trust and its wider membership.
· At the rededication of the Battlefield on 14 April, prior to the annual commemoration, the Chairman made a point of stating how much acclaim had been received from historians. No evidence was given of any involvement of clan representatives.
·
At the Clan Donald Forum at Armadale on 9 June the High Chief, Macdonald of Macdonald,
agreed that the High Council would write to the President of the National Trust
for
· Al Manning passed information round Clan Donald about Clan Livingstone objecting to the plan by the NTS to change the wooden marker board ‘Appin Regiment’ to an engraved Caithness stone marker to read "Appin Regiment - Stewarts and MacLarens".
·
At the AGM of the NTS in
· 3 January, 2008, this picture was taken:
·
· It is not clear as to whom it is best to write, but there is a suggestion that letters should be addressed to the President, with a copy to the Chairman. An e-mail address is available only for the Chairman.
His Grace The Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry, KBE, DL, President
Ms. Shonaig Macpherson, Chairman
The National Trust for
Wemyss House
EH2 4ET
Revised January 2008