Glenfinnan Monument

The Glenfinnan Monument stands beside Loch Shiel in the Scottish Highlands. A tall stone tower, built in 1814, marks the spot where Prince Charles Edward Stuart raised his Jacobite standard in 1745. The monument honours the Highlanders who fought for the Stuart cause during the last Jacobite rising. Alexander Macdonald of Clanranald ordered its construction to remember those who joined the rebellion. The tower was designed by architect James Gillespie Graham and rises 18 metres above the lochside. A statue of a Highland soldier, carved by John Greenshields, was added in 1835. The monument’s setting owes much to the road built by Thomas Telford between Fort William and Arisaig. The road, opened in 1812, made the remote glen accessible and allowed the tower to be built. Macdonald’s family wealth, partly from Jamaican plantations, helped fund the project. In 1938 the National Trust for Scotland took over its care. The Trust later added a visitor centre with displays that explain the monument’s links to slavery. Visitors today walk from the car park along a short path to the tower. The lochside views stretch across calm water to rolling hills. A small exhibition inside the visitor centre examines the Highlanders’ role in the rising. The statue of the unknown Highlander stands at the base of the tower. The surrounding glen remains quiet, with only the wind and water breaking the silence.