Tent Pegs from the Past

Unearthing Relics of the 1746 Campfire

In the rolling fields around modern Falkirk, the past is slowly surfacing. What was once the site of a fierce Jacobite victory in 1746 is now a place of archaeological focus and public fascination. Local history groups, amateur archaeologists, and professional teams are increasingly drawn to the terrain of the Second Battle of Falkirk, unearthing not just artifacts but stories long forgotten. The humble tent peg—wooden, iron-shod, weathered by centuries—has become one of the most telling symbols of this effort to understand the true face of the Jacobite uprising.

These tent stakes, once dismissed as battlefield debris, are now viewed as tangible links to the panic and pressure of that rainy January day. As the Hanoverian army hastily torched their encampment in retreat, poles were broken off at ground level, some charred, others snapped and discarded. In the mud and rush of retreat, these pegs became the silent witnesses of a failed command and a routed force.