Prince's Cairn

Prince's Cairn
Càrn Prionnsa
The Prince's Cairn by the Loch nan Uamh
General information
Type	cairn
Location	Beasdale
Coordinates	56°53′42″N 5°44′43″W / 56.89495°N 5.74517°W / 56.89495; -5.74517
Inaugurated	4 October 1956
Client	1745 Association
Technical details
Material	Stone

The Prince's Cairn marks the traditional spot from where Prince Charles Edward Stuart embarked for France from Scotland on 20 September 1746 following the failure of the Jacobite rising of 1745. The cairn is located on the shores of Loch nan Uamh in Lochaber. It was erected in 1956 by the 1745 Association, a historical society dedicated to the study, recording and preservation of the memories of the Jacobite period.

Although the cairn commemorates the final departure of Bonnie Prince Charlie before his exile to France, Loch nan Uamh is also where the Young Pretender first stepped ashore on mainland Great Britain on 25 July 1745 and from where – in April 1746 – he escaped to the Hebrides after the defeat of his forces at the Battle of Culloden.

On the morning of 4 October 1956, the 1745 Association held a ceremony to unveil the cairn that marked the traditional spot where Bonnie Prince Charlie departed for France. More than 200 people gathered on the small promontory by the shores of the Loch to watch the event. The new cairn, the ancient Highland symbol of remembrance, had been erected through subscription. It was draped with the cross of Saint Andrew surrounded by the banners of the clans that supported the Jacobite cause.

The ceremony was led by Diana Hay, 23rd Countess of Erroll, Scotland's Lord High Constable, Sir Donald Hamish Cameron of Lochiel, 26th Chief of Clan Cameron, the laird of Inverailort, and descendants of the Cameron chieftains of Glendessary. It was noted that by coincidence the last time Scotland's hereditary Lord High Constable had been a woman it was during the Rising of 1745.