Used by infantry of the 97th Regiment to carry military equipment. Part of a large collection of weapons and military equipment from the Strathspey Regiment, the 97th Regiment of Foot and the Inverness-shire Volunteers, raised by Sir James Grant at the time of the Napoleonic Wars in the late 1790s and 1800s. Known as the Seafield Collection after the Dowager Countess of Seafield who donated it to the State, it is now on display at Fort George, near Inverness. On loan courtesy of National Museums Scotland.

Fort George

Fort George is the finest example of 18th-century military engineering anywhere in the British Isles, though the army base never fired a shot in anger. Today, the fort would cost nearly £1 billion to build and equip.

Strategically located on a promontory jutting into the Moray Firth, the army base was designed to evade capture. Fort George was built on a monumental scale, making use of sophisticated defence standards, with heavy guns covering every angle.

The boundary walls of the fort housed:

  • accommodation for a governor, officers, an artillery detachment and a 1,600-strong infantry garrison
  • more than 80 guns
  • a magazine for 2,672 gunpowder barrels
  • ordnance and provision stores
  • a brewhouse
  • a chapel

Countering the Jacobite threat

The Jacobite Rising of 1745–6 proved to be the last attempt by the Stuart dynasty to regain from the Hanoverians the thrones of Scotland and England and Wales.

Fort George was one of the ruthless measures introduced by the government to suppress Jacobite ambitions after the nearby Battle of Culloden. It was intended as the main garrison fortress in the Scottish Highlands and named after George II.

Architecture of warfare

Lieutenant-General William Skinner was the designer and first governor of Fort George.

He mapped out the complex layout of:

  • ramparts
  • massive bastions
  • ditches
  • firing steps

Defences were heavily concentrated on the landward side of the promontory – the direction from which a Jacobite assault was expected. Long stretches of rampart and smaller bastions protected the remaining seaward sides.

An active army base

Later in the 1700s, when the Jacobite threat was over, the fort became a recruiting base and training camp for the rapidly expanding British Army. Many a Highland lad passed through its gates on his way to fight for the British Empire across the globe.

Between 1881 and 1964, the fort served as the depot of the Seaforth Highlanders.

Fort George is currently the home of the Black Watch, 3rd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland (3 SCOTS).

Find out more about Fort George

Details

Date Made
18th century
Dimensions
830 x 453 x 20mm
Property Information
Fort George
Object Number
M.1978.10.17
Access Status
Display

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