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Colonel's Cave

Inverey, Creag a' Chait, Aberdeenshire.

Rock Shelter, with man-made stone dyke built around entrance.

"The Colonel's Cave is more an overhang than a cave, but there is room to lie down reasonably sheltered with a bit of a wall built around the bottom. Around 1689, the Jacobite fugitive, The "Black Colonel" Farquharson, would have watched his home being burned nearby at Inverey by the troops of William of Orange, likely without the adjacent forestry plot of a more recent age blocking the view. Further up Glen Ey is of course the more often visited Colonel's Bed in a gorge on the river." [Moab:in]

"Colonel William Farquharson of Inverey took part in the campaigns of Montrose in 1645,... His son, John, perhaps better known as the 'Black Colonel', took part in Dundee's insurrection in 1689. He was probably not present at the Battle of Killiecrankie, but prior to that a party of Farquharsons led by him burned down Braemar Castle to prevent its use by Government troops. He in turn had his own castle in Inverey burned down after the rebellion failed, but escaped capture by hiding in the gorge of Glen Ey at the spot now known as the Colonel's Bed. High up on Creag a Chait, on the Ordnance Survey Pathfinder series, you will find the words Colonel's Cave. A detailed search of the crags in this area failed to find any trace of a cave, but there may have been one in past times. It is said that from this spot the Black Colonel watched while his castle burned."

Alternative Names: Romans' Cave

Notes: Whilst the Cairngorm Club excerpt implies the site is lost, the more recent Moab.in blog indicates that it is present as a (difficult to find) shelter.

The name of "Romans' Cave" enigmatically appears in literature as a site in the Braemar-Crathie area (Morgan, 2013). Owing to the Black Colonel being a Roman Catholic Priest (see excerpt below), it is likely that the Romans' Cave and Colonel's Cave are synonymous;

"John Farquharson was born in the valley of Braemar as the son of the chief of Clan Farquharson and laird of Inverey and Auchindryne. After studying at the Scots College, Douai and being ordained as a Roman Catholic priest, Farquharson returned to Scotland and began studying and successfully learned his Scottish Gaelic heritage language. He lived in a cave with two fellow Jesuits as outlawed "heather priests" and underground missionaries to Clan Chisholm and Clan Fraser of Lovat in and around Strathglass during the era of the Penal Laws." [Wikipedia] (The Strathglass site mentioned here is almost certainly Braes of Craskie Cave [Registry site #1954]).

Original coordinates not very accurate. Revised 8 fig. position from 10 K map.