Bonnie Prince Charlie's Culloden battle hoard found
- Published
Musket balls believed to have been part of a stashed supply of weapons for Bonnie Prince Charlie have been found near a ruined Lochaber croft.
Amateur archaeologists made the discovery while trying to find armaments that arrived from France, but too late to help the prince.
They were sent as part of his doomed attempt to defeat government forces as part of the 1745 Jacobite rebellion.
The hoard included 215 musket balls, coins and gilt buttons.
The arms shipment is thought to have landed in Lochaber two weeks after Bonnie Prince Charlie's forces were defeated at Culloden.
Fought near Inverness in April 1746, the battle resulted in the deaths of 1,500 Jacobites - who were fighting to restore the prince's father to the thrones of England and Scotland - at the hands of the Duke of Cumberland's government army.
France, which supported the Jacobite cause, sent the weapons and gold to the prince in Scotland.
The discovery was made by a group called Conflicts of Interest, who were given permission to use metal detectors in the area.
They found the musket balls and coins near a ruined croft house which once belonged to the prince's Gaelic tutor - at Sandaig on the shores of the sea loch, Loch nan Uamh.
The find has now been reported to Treasure Trove, an organisation with responsibility for protecting archaeological finds of national significance.
Paul Macdonald, of Conflicts of Interest, told BBC Naidheachdan: "The find was made by joining the dots.
"We knew there were arms landed in the area and it then became a matter of narrowing down where they might be."
He said the balls were of a size matching the calibre of muskets sent to the Jacobites.
Mr Macdonald said the balls along with other supplies may have been distributed locally and then hidden.