News > Gurkha visit to Killiecrankie
Gurkha visit to Killiecrankie
13/07/2010
Fifty-five Gurkha officers and soldiers from the 70 Gurkha Field Support Squadron of The Queen’s Gurkha Engineers visited the National Trust for Scotland site at Killiecrankie on Monday 12 July.
Dressed as either Jacobites or Redcoats, with many of the soldiers in home-made costumes, the visit was part of their battlefield studies. Other battle sites, including Sheriffmuir and Bannockburn have been incorporated in the visit.
The group participated in the Battle of Killiecrankie interactive talk in the woods above Soldier’s Leap. There was great enthusiasm and much shouting and cheering as the story of the battle unfolded. Many visitors to the site stopped to watch and look at the costumes too. The Gurkhas thoroughly enjoyed their morning at Killiecrankie – with an opportunity to handle the replica weapons, walk to the key battle localities of Soldier’s Leap and Trooper’s Den and to enjoy the exhibition in the visitor centre.
Trust Ranger Emma O’Shea said: “We have never had such a well-dressed group before – it was a pleasure to be able to welcome the Gurkhas to Killiecrankie and facilitate their study programme. The soldiers had spent time before doing their own study on battlefield tactics and it was exciting to be able to demonstrate the Highland Charge and explain about why there was a battle at Killiecrankie.”
The Gurkhas are based in Maidstone, Kent and are visiting Scotland on a week long stay as part of their battle field studies and adventurous training programme – with hiking, mountain biking and canyoning planned for later in the week. They have already been to the Highland Games at Alva, a ceilidh and Stirling Castle and the Wallace Monument.
The group participated in the Battle of Killiecrankie interactive talk in the woods above Soldier’s Leap. There was great enthusiasm and much shouting and cheering as the story of the battle unfolded. Many visitors to the site stopped to watch and look at the costumes too. The Gurkhas thoroughly enjoyed their morning at Killiecrankie – with an opportunity to handle the replica weapons, walk to the key battle localities of Soldier’s Leap and Trooper’s Den and to enjoy the exhibition in the visitor centre.
Trust Ranger Emma O’Shea said: “We have never had such a well-dressed group before – it was a pleasure to be able to welcome the Gurkhas to Killiecrankie and facilitate their study programme. The soldiers had spent time before doing their own study on battlefield tactics and it was exciting to be able to demonstrate the Highland Charge and explain about why there was a battle at Killiecrankie.”
The Gurkhas are based in Maidstone, Kent and are visiting Scotland on a week long stay as part of their battle field studies and adventurous training programme – with hiking, mountain biking and canyoning planned for later in the week. They have already been to the Highland Games at Alva, a ceilidh and Stirling Castle and the Wallace Monument.
