A wooded pass and battlefield from the first Jacobite Rising in 1689 — decades before Bonnie Prince Charlie.
The first rising
The Battle of Killiecrankie was fought on 27 July 1689 after James VII and II had been removed from the throne. Jacobites led by John Graham of Claverhouse, known as Bonnie Dundee, defeated government forces under Hugh Mackay in a fierce Highland charge.
Victory with a fatal cost
The Jacobites won the field, but Dundee was killed. Without his leadership the rising soon faltered. Killiecrankie belongs to the first Jacobite Rising and should never be narrated as an episode of Charles Edward Stuart's 1745 campaign.
The pass and battlefield
The battlefield lies north of the visitor centre while the troops also moved through the dramatic pass. Woodland paths lead toward Soldier's Leap, associated with a government soldier escaping across the River Garry. The walk combines natural and military landscape rather than one preserved battle line.
What to look for while you're here
- The constricted pass through which troops and fugitives moved.
- Soldier's Leap above the River Garry.
- Interpretation separating the 1689 battlefield from the later 1745 Rising.
Before you go
- The site is open year-round; visitor-centre hours vary seasonally.
- Paths into the pass are steep, uneven and stepped.