Culloden Wood, Prisoners' Stone

This is a large, irregular boulder, about twelve feet across each way and six feet high, which lies in Culloden Wood, nearly a mile south of Culloden House. The tradition in the neighbourhood respecting the event which makes this stone interesting, is the following. Seventeen of Prince Charles' party were taken, wounded, at the close of the battle of Culloden and confined in the dungeon of Culloden House; kept there for three days, and then put into two carts and conveyed to this stone; against which they were placed and shot, at point blank distance. The soldiers then clubbed their muskets and smashed the heads of those they had shot, in order to make sure work; but, strange to say, one man, named Fraser survived and managed to crawl away and escape. This is the account given by the present proprietors, who received this information from Alexander Bain Sage, who died a few years ago at Smithtown village, and was the son of one of the men who carted the prisoners of to the stones. The event, he stated was vividly impressed on his father's memory, and he often spoke about it. The account, however, differs in some few points from those given in Bishop Forbes' Culloden Papers. These papers were originally written by different.

Name Book 1878.

According to local tradition, the Prisoners' Stone, in Culloden wood, marks the spot where 17 wounded prisoners were executed three days after the battle. The prisoners were placed against the conglomerate boulder and were shot and clubbed to death. The boulder measures about 5.5m in diameter.

Information from Martin Briscoe and Historic Environment Scotland (AKK) 30 September 2016