'A plan of the battle of Culloden'
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Fought in April 1746, Culloden was the last battle on the British mainland, and the final conflict in the Jacobite rising, which began in 1745.
'A plan of the battle of Culloden and the adjacent country, shewing the Incampment of the English Army and Nairn and the March of the Highlanders in order to attack them by night' is a first-hand account of that battle, so this map is a valuable primary source from the conflict. The cartographer, John Finlayson, was present in the Jacobite artillery at Culloden.
The inclusion of an outline for Fort George at Ardesier shows that the map was drawn sometime after the battle, as Fort George was only designed in 1747.
Finlayson's map shows the battlefield as a place where people lived and worked the land, with fields, cottages and enclosures.
Symbolism is included in the decorative title cartouche: the broken unicorn horn, the snapped thistles and the guttering candle all indicate the passing of the Jacobite cause.