Flora MacDonald's Grave, Isle of Skye, Scotland
Memorial to Jacobite Heroine & Helper of Bonnie Prince Charlie
Oct 9, 2009
After the failure of the Jacobite Rising of 1745 and the defeat of Bonnie Prince Charlie and the Jacobite Army at the Battle of Culloden, the Prince spent months on the run in the Highlands and Islands before escaping to France.
One of those who came to his aid was Flora MacDonald, then a young woman in her early twenties. Her role in his rescue is commemorated by a handsome monument over her last resting place in Kilmuir graveyard in the north of the Isle of Skye in Scotland's Inner Hebrides.
Location of Flora MacDonald's Grave on the Isle of Skye
Flora MacDonald's grave and monument are in Kilmuir graveyard on the west coast of the Isle of Skye's Trotternish peninsula. Kilmuir can be reached by road from Portree, the capital of the Isle of Skye.
One route goes up and round the top of Trotternish on the A855. This is scenically stunning with fantastic views towards the Scottish mainland although the road is very narrow in places. The distance is 28 miles and the British Automobile Association advise that the journey without stops will probably take one hour.
A shorter route on – mostly – wider roads follows the A87 from Portree to Uig and then on to Kilmuir. This distance is 20 miles and the AA estimate just over 30 minutes for the journey.
There is a very small car park at Kilmuir graveyard, which lies behind the Skye Museum of Island Life.
Description of Flora MacDonald's Grave
Flora MacDonald's grave is surmounted by a stone sarcophagus around which is inscribed her place and date of birth – Milton in South Uist in the Outer Hebrides in 1722 – and her place and date of death – Kingsburgh on Skye (approximately 10 miles down the coast from Kilmuir) in 1790. A tall and slender white stone Celtic cross rises from the top of her grave.
When visitors stand on this windswept and beautiful spot they are looking out over the Minch in the direction of the archipelago of the Western isles. It was from there that Flora and Bonnie Prince Charlie were brought over the sea to Skye on a stormy Saturday night at the end of June 1746.
Kilmuir Graveyard is also just up the coast from Monkstadt, where Flora MacDonald and Bonnie Prince Charlie landed in Skye.
Flora MacDonald's Epitaph
The myth-making since her time is one of the aspects of this story which makes Flora MacDonald a figure around whom some controversy revolves. However, the great Dr Johnson spoke appreciatively of her, pronouncing her most eloquent epitaph.
Johnson and James Boswell visited her and her husband, Allan MacDonald of Kingsburgh in 1773 when the lexicographer and his faithful amanuensis made their famous tour to the Hebrides.
What Johnson said about Flora MacDonald is now inscribed on the shaft of the Celtic cross which marks her grave.
"Her name will be mentioned in history and if courage and fidelity be virtues mentioned with honour."
Read more about Flora MacDonald's role in the escape of Bonnie Prince Charlie, the Battle of Culloden and the Scottish Royal Stuarts.
Find out more about the Isle of Skye.
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