Culloden filming event
Hi all!

This weekend I joined the ranks of Rose and Thistle and Lace Wars ( http://www.lacewars.co.uk ). Some weeks ago I got an invitation to join them for a filming-project for the new visitors center at Culloden Moor. I had to go.

I wrote a short account of how my weekend was over at the Highlanders and Hanoverians forum ( http://www.kezarcelts.net/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl ) and I'll just copy it, and post it here, along with a report from BBC and some pictures taken by some of the good folk at the Scotwars-website:

"Saturday was a cold day with both rain and little hail. The wind was awful and chilled to the bone. I heard there were a few cases of hypothermia...
The morning began with putting the kit on and going up to the hotel to get some breakfast. Then we went to costuming and make-up. Tod told me none of the Lace Wars men needed any changes (well, they know far more about the period than any of the costuming people did), but for one reason the unknown to me the costuming lady insisted that I should tie the upper part of my plaid around my waist rather than letting it hang from the shoulder. She argued by showing me a watercolour by Gerry Embleton!!!
The make up was just a greasing up with a dark dirty tone, which I think looked great. I was asked by some of the other reenactors if I were an African Highlander
After make up we were taken up on Lauder Moor by busses, and spent some time trying to get shelter from the wind. The first shots they did of us were shots of the jacobite rank-and-file gathering around the banners awaiting the British Army. We ran in small groups towards the standards, where officers were forming us in ranks and trying to get us in order. We had some shots of the cannons being brought up and getting ready to fire. We then did some shots of us shouting curses at the enemy and getting eager for the charge. We then did some scenes with us coming under heavy bombardment by cannonshot. One guy in the production crew shot at us with tennisballs, and we were told to fall dead to the ground if we were hit. The men standing behind the man getting hit were also told to hit the deck. When the men had fallen the officers shouted "Close the gap!" or "Fill the gap!", and all of us would look terrified, angry and miserable. The last one was easy! I was hit two times by the ball, and one of the other times if flew past my left ear and tore into the ranks standing behind me. Great stuff! They did a few scenes of highlanders just falling over without the ball, and added a few close-ups of people with blood all over. One of the battle comanders got splatter in his beard. It looked good.

There were quite a few people with really bad gear. Bonnets in electric colours, shaped like chefs-hats, and a lot of people with 17th century sleeves with slashes.) But overall the army looked convincing, I think. A bit too few muskets, though.

We did some exciting charges, and it seemed as if everyone got higher spirits when they got to run rather than standing about freezing. I certainly enjoyed it. We did some shots of the army lined up, with a bluescreen (that was actually green ) at the far end of the line. One of my favourite shots to do was when out cannons fired off their first shots, and we took off our bonnets and waved them about, shouting HUZZA! Probably the best shots (at least for us in front of camera) was when we were fireing volleys. I got a little bit of training by Tod and another nice guy in RaT (sorry, I forget names very easily), and joined in the musketry. We had a line of highlanders marching/jogging in front of us with non-fireing muskets, and they all went down as if hit by the enemy fire. They kept screaming convincingly in pain and agony while we moved up and past them in a quick and rather orderly manner. By Tods' order we all fired. Excellent! We did another volley, pretty much the same, but with a bit of shifting, and an extended line. When we had fired off our volley, the men behind us charged past sword in hand.

Even if the weather was appauling, and we all were freezing, the morale was surprisingly high, and there were a lot of jokes heard in the ranks. Especially about the weather! A very social event, I think. But I bet normal reenactments and living history events are more social and fun.

I really enjoyed getting to know some of the RaT and Lace Wars people, as well as the Glenbuckets. I've had such a great weekend mostly because of them. I owe Tod a big thanks for letting me come, lending me shoes and getting a musket for me. And I'm very proud to be a member of RaT and Lace Wars, because they really know their history, costumes, weaponry and they're a great bunch.

When the filming on sunday was canselled, Neil and Shonna decided to head back to their home in Edinburgh. On the way Neil took a detour and drove up to Prestonpans. There they gave me a guided tour of the battle site and we even went up to the church where the Camerons had a firefight with the Goverment troops the day before the battle. It was fantastic seeing what it actually looks like there.
After that they drove around Edinburgh showing me some of the places where Jacobite troops were encamped. Very interesting!

I've not told you everything worth telling, but I'm a bit tired and need a wee dram now.
To summon everything up, I'll quote a very good comment one of the fellows standing near me said; "It's the worst weekend of my life, and I wouldn't miss it for the world!" I don't agree, I had a great weekend, but I just loved that comment. " (This is a quote of what I wrote at the H&H forums)

Pictures are found here (about 150 of 'em): http://www.scotwars.com/culloden/
And the BBC report is found here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/south_of_scotland/6466317.stm

Here are some snaps by Steve Trenholme, one of my fellow reenactors in RaT (All the photos were taken during breaks, so modern stuff will appear):

Tod and I with the John Roy Stuart Regimental banner.
[ Linked Image ]

A small portion of us during a break.
[ Linked Image ]

Tod (in his Royal Eccosois coat) with another reenactor (who had a very nice kit).
[ Linked Image ]

"This was taken from the coach Sunday. The snow is travelling at around 30MPH as it was overtaking us, the wind chill was -8."
[ Linked Image ]

Cheers,
Henrik
Henrik...

Looks like you had a great time, in spite of the cold. Love the photos and just wish I could use one of them for my desktop background.

I have done a bit of Revolutionary War and French and Indian War reenacting in the US, in my younger days, but always wanted to participate in something like Culloden. The battle is recreated in the US but usually quite a distance from where I live, so time does not allow me to go.

Thanks for sharing your experience.
Henrik,
All I can say is that you are one lucky dog! We were there this past summer and I'd kill to of had that opportunity. Doubt my current kit would match standards though, so maybe it's for the best I wasn't, hehe. Beautiful kits on a lot of the guys and looked to be a real blast all around regardless of the weather conditions. Congrats and thanks for sharing!

-Greg
Thanks so much for sharing your personal experiences on this...
I saw the blurb on the BBC about this event, and thought it looked like a really nice idea... I read it's being filmed "from the center" so that visitors to the Culloden museum center can see what the battle looked like while standing in the center of it.
In the photos I saw, no one had anything really garish (at least no "modern" tartans that I saw), although I agree some of the bonnets were a bit blue...
One of the regular groups at the Jamestown, Virginia, Marching Through the Ages living history weekend is the Appin Regiment from the '45. They always present themselves very well and usually win in one or more of the classes in which they are eligible. They are quite an interesting bunch.
Rab has obviously uploaded a video clip to the Scotwars website. If you go straight there you can see a small version of it. But if you use this link: http://www.scotwars.com/html/images/charge.wmv it will open in your Media Player. Sadly it's without sound. Enjoy!

Cheers,
Henrik
Hi Henrik.
Nice report of the filming event. I was sorry to have missed it. As a R&T member as well, I guess we will meet a some point.
Cheers .
Dave Cameron
Follow up. More pictures!
Hi all,

I went back to the second filming, and here are some links with more pictures:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/6610941.stm
http://www.flickr.com/groups/battleofculloden2007/pool/

A couple of shots of me as a dead jacobite, courtesy of Andy Robertson:
[ Linked Image ]
adress for the second one: http://www.xvld.org/dead_henrik_02.jpg

I had an accident with my foot the week before the filming, so that's why I'm wearing a modern boot and a felted woolen slipper.

Cheers,
Henrik
Hugh Fuller wrote:
One of the regular groups at the Jamestown, Virginia, Marching Through the Ages living history weekend is the Appin Regiment from the '45. They always present themselves very well and usually win in one or more of the classes in which they are eligible. They are quite an interesting bunch.


I was briefly affiliated with the Appin Regiment back in the early 80s, but was never able to be a full participant. Glad to know that they still exist.
These two films popped up on youtube some time ago:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HR_ltIlAeYA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGBOcDI778Q

The first one is the actual trailer for the new Culloden experience, and the other is a trailer only showing footage from the first shoot (it doesn't feature any redcoats).

Enjoy!

Cheers,
Henrik

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