Post by dreamy on Nov 18, 2005 8:57:55 GMT 10
( A panoramic view of the famous battlefield)
Moor the better for new Culloden visitor plansWILL SPRINGER
WHEN the National Trust for Scotland acquired Culloden battlefield from the Forestry Commission in 1982, the grounds were covered with conifer trees and brush. People would walk through glades in the woods in search of the occasional marker.
It was hardly a visitor-friendly experience for such an important historical site. You couldn't see the moor for the trees, one might say.
In an effort to restore the area to its natural appearance from the famous battle of 1746, the Trust cut down the trees – not without a bit of controversy – and returned the ground to an open moorland. A good start, indeed, but more "clearing" was required.
In this 30-second, sound-bite world that we live, the Trust recognised a need to communicate a crisp, clear and more accurate picture of the events behind the battle. It's a huge challenge for the man entrusted with improving the experience for the more than 200,000 people whom visit each year.
"Our mission is to restore the site to that condition, in 1746," says Alexander Bennett, co-ordinator of the Culloden Project, a wide-ranging effort that includes a new £8 million visitor centre. "That clearly means some fairly major changes to the site."
Culloden, home to the last major battle fought on British soil, clearly changed the way of life of the Highlands forever. The battle pitted Prince Charles Edward Stewart's (Bonnie Prince Charlie's) Jacobite troops of devoted Scottish clan members and Irish supporters against the Hanoverian government forces, well-trained and –armed British soldiers led by the Duke of Cumberland. In the last stand of the failed '45 rebellion, between 1,000 and 2,000 Jacobite troops died to the 50 or so Hanoverians who fell.
The event still evokes a powerfully emotional response from people who stand on this hallowed ground. For many, Culloden is a place of pilgrimage. It triggers great spiritual significance as a war memorial and the final resting-place for the Stewart's cause.
The battlefield has been on display in one form or another since 1937. Nine parcels of land have been acquired since that time, increasing the size of the site to about 180 acres. A visitor centre has been there since 1970, and while it has been expanded and improved several times, the facility has never achieved great success in effectively communicating what the battle represents to British history.
"The visitor never really engaged with the story the way we would do today – in terms of living history," says Bennett. "We're going to take a character-led approach to the whole presentation in the future."
(An artist's impression of the new centre. The building will blend with the natural environment.)
The Culloden experience will attempt to follow a model established by cutting-edge facilities at the Flanders Fields Museum in Belgium and the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC, designed by Ralph Appelbaum Associates of New York.
"They've both chosen to go down the route to select the character-led approach," Bennett explains, where people will be asked to assume a character in the battle and follow their fate. "We’ll take people through the '45 – the full story of Bonnie Prince Charlie – from the time he arrived in Scotland.
"We'll then take visitors to the 'immersion area' – or the equivalent to our theatre. It's a standing area (seating will be provided for people with disabilities) where they'll engage in the actual battle. A 270-degree cinema screen: one way, you will say the Jacobite charge, and the other way you'll see the government response. So the visitors will be right in the middle of it."
Adding a bit of suspense to what we might see, Bennett says: "Our advisors – these are serious academics – have told us not to hold back. This will be six minutes of live-action footage and it will be intense."
Appelbaum will create the exhibition space in concert with Gareth Hoskins Architects of Glasgow. (The two companies are currently redesigning the Royal Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh.) The new centre and parking area are to increase by three times, and although the Trust continues to raise funds for the new facility the aim is to open by 16 April 2007. (In addition, 2007 is the Highland Year of Culture, a year-long celebration.)
The building is still on track but "we've got to get started by December" to have a reasonable chance to be open by 16 April (2007), Bennett says. But final contracts still have to be signed.
"If they (the building contractors) are not on site by December – or probably by the first few weeks of January at the latest – then we're going to be struggling to achieve April 2007," he adds.
When it does open the visitor centre will include weaponry presentations, as well as a battlefield interaction area, where high-resolution, ceiling-mounted projectors will explain how the battle took place. It will also feature a commitment to education and to Gaelic - the native tongue of many Jacobite soldiers. The building itself will be constructed with sustainable materials and will blend into the existing landscape. A heather and grass roof will provide people with ideal views of the battlefield, tempting them to walk around the site for a close-up look at the grounds.
(Culloden cairn pays tribute to those lost in battle.)
The existing centre – 200 metres north of the new facility – will be dismantled after the new opening and the land restored to the way it appeared 259 years ago. Since the building was constructed in the late 1970s, research has determined that the centre sits on the third line of the government troops. "We got it wrong, but we didn't know it at the time," concedes Bennett, who has been with the Trust since 1979.
One of the most sensitive areas that will be added to the bigger exhibition space will address the battle aftermath when government forces went on attack across the Highlands. Cumberland's forces slaughtered opposing troops, as well as bystanders, and innocent women and children who lived miles away.
"All these years in the Highlands & Islands, nobody has delved into this area," notes Bennett. "People have written about it and hinted at the atrocities but we're going to talk about it. We're not going to hold back from the truth."
Clearly.
heritage.scotsman.com/places.cfm?id=2107822005
