The Colonel's Bed - Braemar

Photograph of a rocky gorge consisting of tall, vertical rock faces through which flows the Clunie River at the bottom right. On the left in the foreground, a man lies on a rock ledge with his head supported by his right hand.

Located near to the Falls of Corrymulzie, the 'Colonel's Bed' derives its name from Colonel John Farquharson who, loyal to the Jacobite cause, hid from Government troops in the gorge following the Battle of Killiecrankie in July 1689. Wilson took many variations of this scene, some with and without a figure. A version without a figure in the foreground was reproduced in Photographs of English and Scottish Scenery by Wilson, published in 1866. This photograph is a later carbon copy of the original albumen photograph. Carbon was a process that was less susceptible to fading, unlike an albumen print that is prone to discolouration over time.