Cannonball 'taken from Culloden battlefield' bought for Scotland after auction bid

The pieces have been bought by the National Trust for Scotland (NTS) following a successful bid at auction and will ultimately go on display at the Culloden Battlefield Visitor Centre.

The iron cannonball is said to have been retrieved from the battlefield following the Jacobite defeat on April 16, 1746 and was purchased for £18,900.

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It is set with a silver collar and engraved with ‘Ogilvy Culloden 16th April 1746’.

The charity also secured a pair of French silver stacking beakers, featuring the coat of Arms of Ogilvy and a mark for the Earl of Airlie. The beakers also carry an engraved armorial for Colonel David, Lord Ogilvy, a close adviser of Prince Charles Edward Stuart and a member of his privy council who was just 21 at the time of battle.

The beakers were bought for £17,640.

The pieces were owned by the Earls of Airlie, who not only fought at the battle, but have long links to the conservation charity.

Rosalyn Goulding, the NTS’s curator for the Highlands and islands, said: “This was an exceptional opportunity to secure some exciting additions for the trust’s collection at Culloden. These pieces are very special and, thanks to the support of a generous donor, we were able to secure them at auction and save them for the nation.”

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The pieces were recently sold by Lyon & Turnbull in a collection of items from the estate of the Earls of Airlie.

The catalogue entry for the cannonball said few items from Culloden “were as poignant as this” given its “provenance to a man who was there on the day leading a regiment and who would subsequently suffer the loss of land, status and home”.

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David Ogilvy (1725–1803), 6th Earl of Airlie, supported the Jacobite cause and joined the standard of Prince Charles Edward Stuart in 1745.

After Culloden, he escaped to Scandinavia, then served in the French army. He was pardoned in 1778 and thereafter allowed to return to Scotland.

His wife Margaret joined the Jacobite camp at Glasgow and shared all the dangers of the campaign with her husband until just before Culloden. She was taken prisoner at Inverness and sent to Edinburgh, but managed to escape in November 1746 and join her husband in France.

Specialists in Edinburgh are now preparing the cannonball and beakers for display.

The items will first feature in an exhibition at Montrose Museum on Angus and the Jacobites before going on permanent display at the Culloden Battlefield Visitor Centre in winter 2026.

Operations Manager Gail Cleaver said: “These fantastic pieces with their incredible connection to the Battle of Culloden will help us tell the story of Culloden in an even more compelling way. Visitors are always fascinated by any item that was on the battlefield.

“And coming from the Earls of Airlie, in Angus, it reminds us that it was not just those from the Highlands and islands who were involved in the fighting, but that many from all over Scotland, and beyond, played a part in this pivotal battle.”

David Ogilvy, 13th Earl of Airlie, served as the president of the NTS from 1997–2002. During his tenure, the conservation charity added some sites of great beauty to its portfolio, including Crarae Garden and the islands of Mingulat, Pabbay and Berneray.