Glenfinnan Monument
| Glenfinnan Monument | |
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| Grid reference: | NM905805 |
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| Website: | Glenfinnan Monument |
Glenfinnan Monument is a memorial tower in Inverness-shire, raised in 1815 to mark the raising of the standard of the Old Pretender at Glenfinnan at the opening of the 1754 Jacobite rising. The monument is owned by the National Trust for Scotland.
Alexander Macdonald of Glenaladale built the monument In 1815, sixty years after the rising when the Jacobite cause was long dead and implied no political threat. It is a tower surmounted by a statue of an anonymous Highlander in a kilt. The tower was designed by the Scottish architect James Gillespie Graham.
Hundreds of Jacobite enthusiasts gather there each year on 19 August.
It was only possible to erect the monument here because in 1812 Thomas Telford had constructed the new road from Fort William to Arisaig, which passed through Glenfinnan.
Since 1938, the Glenfinnan Monument has been in the care of the National Trust for Scotland. The Trust has also built a visitor centre, which provides tickets, information and exhibitions, and a shop, café, and facilities. The tower has also become a monument to Alexander Macdonald, who died before its completion.
