It was a bloody battle that heralded the end of the Jacobite risings.

And almost three centuries after it was fired at Culloden, archaeologists have discovered an unexploded mortar shell in the battlefield.

It is thought to have been fired from one of six Coehorn mortars used by government Redcoat troops against those fighting for Bonnie Prince Charlie.

It is the first unexploded ordnance found on the moor, near Inverness, and experts think its fuse fizzled out when it landed in the boggy ground. 

Found on a dig last year and made safe, the shell has been revealed ahead of the 280th anniversary of the battle which is believed to have lasted under an hour on April 16, 1746.

The Battle of Culloden ended with catastrophic losses to the Jacobite army of Charles Edward Stuart, or Bonnie Prince Charlie as he’s known, with around 1,600 men killed.

Meanwhile, the government side reported just 50 deaths and fewer than 300 casualties.

Historians have described the conflict as the last pitched battle to be fought on British soil and a large area of the battlefield is now managed by the National Trust for Scotland.

Last year’s dig also unearthed more than 100 other projectiles, such as lead musket balls and cannon shot, the latter of which included what is believed to be a three-pound cannonball fired by the Jacobite artillery.

Head of archaeology Derek Alexander said of the newly unveiled ordnance: ‘This is a remarkable – dare I say, explosive – find of the kind archaeologists dream of, but never expect to encounter.’

Professor Tony Pollard, of the University of Glasgow, which was involved in the dig, told the BBC mortars were among the artillery deployed at Culloden.

The Coehorn mortar, named after its Dutch inventor Menno van Coohorn, was a lightweight, short-barrelled gun generally employed in sieges.