Glenfinnan Monument

The Glenfinnan Monument is a fitting and poignant reminder of clansmen who lost their life fighting for the Jacobite Cause in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Framed by mountains at the head of Loch Shiel, The Monument is a symbolic location that marks both the hopeful beginnings and crushing defeat of the Jacobite uprising in 1745-1746.

By the end of the 17th century Britain was facing a constitutional crisis. In 1688 King James VII of Scotland / II of England was deposed from the throne in favour of Dutch William of Orange his wife Queen Mary because parliament was suspicious that James was starting a Catholic dynasty.

After the death of King Jame in 1701 his son James Frances Stuart (aka The Old Pretender) claimed the English, Scottish and Irish crown with the support of his cousin Louis XIV of France. Over 14 years he solicited support from European nations and those in the Uk sympathetic to his cause. In 1715 he unsuccessfully attempted to gain the throne of Britain during the first Jacobite Uprising.

Following his death in 1766, his elder son, Charles Edward Stuart, continued to claim the British crown through Stuart Succession.

Charles Edward Stuart (aka Bonnie Prince Charlie, The Young Pretender) arrived at Loch Shiel on 23 July 1745. 1,200 Highlanders gathered in Glenfinnan to pledge their allegiance to Prince Charles. After symbolically raising the Stuart royal flag and sharing a brandy, they set off on a fateful campaign to regain the British throne. After turning around at Derby to regather in the seemingly safe Scottish highlands, his campaign came to a end at The Battle of Culloden in 1746. Charles was never to be seen again, escaping along The Great Glen before being escorted back to continental Europe onboard a French navy frigate.

As a gesture of unity and recognition of the great losses sustained in the western highlands as a result of the Jacobite movement the 18m-high Glenfinnan monument was built in 1815.

Visitors who have a head for heights can climb to the top of the tower and stand beside the lone Highlander who has a stunning highland panorama.