Stirling Castle (10)
There are two graveyards beside Stirling Castle, the one in the foreground is the Ballengeich Cemetery (above the road through the Ballengeich Pass (&quot;windy pass&quot; in Gaelic) where the campervans are parked), and the Old Town Cemetery, just visible through the trees beyond the red van parked on the esplanade.  In January 1746, when Bonnie Prince Charlie and his Jacobites arrived back from their trip down to Derby and back, the decision (mainly at his insistence) was made to attempt to take the castle, which was held for the Hanoverian government by General William Blakeney.  The only tangible Jacobite result since marching south from Edinburgh, was the capture of Carlisle, so success in some form was no doubt considered very desirable - particularly when news arrived that Carlisle had surrender to Cumberland.  Many senior Jacobites considered a siege to be futile.

The previous November, Mirabel de Gordon, a French engineer of Scots descent, landed at Montrose with a small number of heavier guns, including two 18 pounders.  Summoned to Stirling, de Gordon arrived on January 6th, although unfortunately, he was widely regarded as incompetent!

The siege artillery needed to be placed as high as possible in order to have any hope of penetrating the castle's walls, and the Jacobites set about establishing batteries in the two cemeteries, with the larger guns set up here, in the Ballengeich Cemetery on Gowan Hill.  The shallow bedrock at this location meant the gun positions had to be protected using sacks of earth and wool, transported up the hill from behind.  The troops employed on construction duties suffered daily casualties from mortar fire, although General Blakeney is said to have minimised this, not wishing to discourage the Jacobites from investing so much effort in poorly-sited positions.

With the besiegers getting low on supplies, de Gordon finally opened fire on 30 January, with only three of his six guns in place.  The castle's guns promptly responded with highly accurate counter-battery fire.  After only half an hour, the Jacobite guns were put out of action and the battery was abandoned, as &quot;no one could approach it without meeting certain destruction&quot;.  One of the cannon was later found to have been hit no less than nine times.  The last siege of Stirling Castle was over.
dji089495 stirling stirlingcastle scotland fortress ballengeichcemetery ballengeichpass oldtowncemetery 1745 jacobitesiege