The map of Jacobite support that alarmed the King
Scotland’s military history as seen through fascinating plans and maps drawn up over 500 years, including those based on General Wade’s intelligence gathering in the Highlands
An intelligence map drawn up after a British government reconnaissance trip into the Highlands to establish the threat of Jacobite unrest in the early 18th century has been revealed in a new book.
Scotland’s military history has been retold through a fascinating array of plans and maps drawn up over 500 years in Scotland: Defending the Nation by Christopher Fleet and Carolyn Anderson.
Among them in a map drawn up after General George Wade was dispatched to the Highlands in 1724 by George I to investigate claims that Highlanders were growing “averse to all notions of peace and tranquillity” and remained ready to “disturb the government on the first occasion”.
Mr Fleet, curator of maps at National Library of Scotland, wrote: “There was much to alarm the government in Wade’s report.”
Wade found the number of men who supported the Jacobites and could raise arms was more than double that who supported the King.
Wade’s intelligence was used to draw up a map to illustrate the clans that held lands across the Highlands, their allegiances and the number of men that each clan raised during the 1715 rising.
Two key concerns were raised by Wade’s first report.
“The first related to the loyalty of the Highlanders. Of the 22,000 men in the Highlands capable of bearing arms, only 10,000 were found to be favourable disposed towards the government,” Mr Fleet said.
Wade also reported that attempts to disarm the clans after 1715 had been “so ill executed, that the Clans the most disaffected to your Majesty’s Government remain better Arm’d than ever”.
The threat of Jacobitism triggered a new period of military map making with the state urgently requiring details on fortifications, landscapes, roads and rebels.
Plans for four new forts in the Highlands after the 1715 rising, a detailed map of Glenshiel where the government clashed with Jacobites in 1719 and a rare early drawing of Eilean Donan castle which came under Royal Navy bombardment, also in 1719, are among those included in the book.
Maps which detail military roads, the major battles and the campaigns and routes taken by armies also feature.
Mr Fleet said: “Just from the perspective of the surviving maps, it’s clear that Jacobitism posed a very real threat at this time. This was appreciated by those in Scotland, particularly the military engineers who drew the maps, but taken less seriously by their superiors in London.
“There was a dramatic rise in military map-making in Scotland straight after the succession of William and Mary to the throne and the Battle of Killiecrankie in 1689, with detailed plans for the construction of Fort William and proposed works on the major existing castles at Edinburgh, Blackness and Stirling.
“There were further peaks of military map-making during the ‘15 and ‘45 risings, which were in direct response to Jacobite concerns.”
Projects that were proposed to bolster defences against the Jacobite threat, but which never left the drawing board, are also detailed.
They include an elaborate scheme by John Slezer to fortify Edinburgh Castle in 1690 and extensive designs for Fort William that were ditched in favour of a more modest fortification and a citadel at Perth.
The Board of Ordnance, which had responsibilities for defences across the growing British Empire in the 18th century, limited projects due to financial constraints, Mr Fleet said. He added: “However, after the ‘45, for a brief period, almost no expense was spared on the incredible new Fort George at Ardersier, a deliberately impressive military and political statement.
“It took 23 years to build and cost over £200,000 in 18th century money, before the Board of Ordnance finally cut off funds.” n Scotland: Defending the Nation, Mapping the Military Landscape by Christopher Fleet and Carolyn Anderson, is published by Birlinn Books in association with National Library of Scotland.