The last time that Derbyshire was invaded by a foreign army was exactly 260 years ago on December 4th 1745. On that day a six and a half thousand strong force of Jacobites led by the `Young Pretender’, Charles Edward Stuart, known to history as `Bonnie Prince Charlie’ marched from Ashbourne into Derby on their way south to claim the English throne. Two days later the Bonnie Prince and his band of followers had turned tail and were retracing their steps northward, pursued at a distance by English troops.
Two and a half centuries later in December 1995, a bronze statue of Bonnie Prince Charlie on horseback by sculptor Anthony Stones was unveiled on Cathedral Green in Derby to mark the 250th Anniversary of the Prince’s advance to the city – and each December, the Charles Edward Stuart Society hold a colourful pageant and re-enact a battle in the city centre which culminates in the laying of a wreath at the foot of the statue.
