The Highland Council has refused planning permission for the change of use and conversion of Cuchunaig steading.

The original application of 2015 and subsequent application of 2018 were refused, and were also rejected by the Scottish Government Ministers. One would now hope that as with the recently rejected  Treetops Stables  development (December 8) that the fate of this development has finally been determined.

The Culchunaig farmhouse sits on a pivotal part of Culloden Battlefield, outside the ownership of the National Trust for Scotland property, but where fierce hand to hand fighting took place and where soldiers of both sides fought and died.

During the battle HRH Prince Charles Edward Stewart took up a position just to the top right of the building as shown in the picture below.

The Highland Council listed six reasons underpinning their decision to refuse planning permission, which are detailed in The Highland Council Decision Notice below.

Refusal of Planning Permission_ Culchunaig Farmhouse_20-04611-FUL_2293396

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A great result for the conservation of Culloden!

 

Below is a short video from the Roaul Curtis-Machin, Operations Manager at Culloden, National Trust for Scotland concerning developments on Culloden Battlefield.

The 16-luxury house estate at Viewhill that the Group to Stop Development at Culloden (GSDC) was originally set up to oppose can be clearly seen in the video. Like an eyesore as forewarned and fully visible from what some refer to as the ‘core battlefield’.

These are the same houses that the developer, planning agent, HES, the Scottish Government-appointed Reporter and pro-development local councillors, amongst others, insisted would not be the case.

And this is the view through just a small gap in the trees along the B9006 road which are likely to be felled in the near future.

We all share the concerns of the NTS and welcome their revised recognition of the importance of other key sites such as Culchunaig, and GSDC calls on all like-minded individuals and organisations to work to prevent further unwanted developments on the battlefield.

Culloden 300 with Raoul Curtis-Machin

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uhPYQFiyFg

Thanks to David Learmonth and the GSDC  for their commitment to preserving the integrity of the Culloden Battlefield.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/817550814926691/permalink/4481997228482013/

This y-DNA project currently has 370 members. Only male testers who have done a Y-DNA test are eligible to join.

Thanks to the participation of the 370 male testers to date and the tireless work of administrators Joanne Cameron, Loraine Smith and Kim Taylor good progress is being made in identifying the various Cameron cadet lines with yDNA, and that is expected to continue as more men test. You should be aware that in order to determine if you match a particular cadet line, you will need to test at the highest level (BigY).

The goal of the project is the identification of the yDNA mutations that delineate the direct Lochiel line, the lines of the founding ‘tribes’ (Macgillonie, McMartin, McSorley), and the numerous cadet lines.

In addition, the aim is to identify and categorize the many yDNA signatures belonging to Camerons who are not descended from the line of the Chiefs or from one of the original ‘tribes’.

Lastly, evidence is sought that might validate or disprove any of the many legends regarding the origins of Clan Cameron. This necessarily involves analysis of results for other Clans that appear to have genetic links with the Camerons  (for Group A of the project, the main stem of the Clan, this is so far some MacPhees, some MacNabs, a group of Grants, and a small group of MacMillans).

Thanks to Project administrator Joanne Cameron who recently posted the following summary of findings to date.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There have been 9 new subclades downstream from R-A6138 (the Cameron defining SNP) in the last year. The advances in our understanding and better definition to the Cameron tree only comes about through the testing of the BigY700. If anyone is wondering what they need to do to advance their research of their family line then this is the way to do it. If you know of 3rd or 4th Cameron male cousins (the further out the better) then consider asking them to test also! The science really is doing all the talking and from here it can only get better! We currently have 4 BigY 700 tests in the works, it will be very interesting indeed to see what these tests reveal.