The little Highland cottage that survived Culloden and helped inspire Outlander

On the Battlefield of Culloden, you'll find what looks to be an unassuming little farm cottage.

However, what you may not realise, is that Old Leanach cottage actually survived the bloody battle itself and even went on to help inspire Outlander author Diana Gabaldon when it came to creating her own Highland hero.

The cottage stands sentinel on the wild moor where just over 276 years ago, the Jacobite dream of restoring the Stuarts to the throne ended as the Jacobite army was decisively routed by a British government force.

Incredibly, it is thought that it even served as a field building for the wounded on the battlefield that day.

But Outlander fans may be surprised to discover that it could, in fact, be the reason that Sam Heughan's character in the books and hit show was eventually named as a Fraser.

Many believe that this iconic building (or at least one of its now lost outbuildings) was the one mentioned by Eric Linklater in his book The Prince in the Heather.

Telling the story of how Charles Edward Stuart, the Young Pretender, fled the country after the disastrous defeat at Culloden, it references how around 20 wounded Jacobites came to take refuge in a farmhouse after the battle.

Diana Gabaldon told the National Geographic in 2014, that while reading the book as part of her research for Outlander, she was inspired by a particular passage.

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The entry states that after two days, the wounded Jacobites were taken out and shot, except for one man, "a Fraser of the Master of Lovet's regiment", who survived the slaughter.

She revealed that it made her realise that if she expected Jamie to survive Culloden then his "last name better be Fraser" - (she'd already been inspired to call him Jamie after a Dr Who character ).

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The stoic little cottage with its stone walls, small windows and thatched roof, was inhabited until 1912.

It was donated to the National Trust of Scotland in 1944 by Hector Forbes, the local landowner.

The NTS then used it as their original visitor centre for the battlefield, even restoring the roof to its former glory to make it even more historically accurate.

According to the conservation charity, the thatching was made from heather sourced from the battlefield and built by local tradesmen.

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It was eventually closed in the early 2000s when the new modern visitor centre was opened, it is now a temporary exhibition space for visitors to discover more about Culloden’s heritage.

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