Glenfinnan Monument

Moving tribute to those who died fighting the Jacobite cause, framed by dramatic Highland scenery On 19 August 1745, Prince Charles Edward Stuart rowed up Loch Shiel towards the tiny hamlet of Glenfinnan with a small band of his most loyal supporters. He had called on clan chiefs to muster their men and join him here for a daring quest to restore the Stuarts to the British throne.

When he arrived at Glenfinnan there was barely a soul to be seen, but in late afternoon, the song of the pipes coming over the hill signalled the arrival of the first of 1,200 clansmen who pledged their allegiance to Bonnie Prince Charlie that day, before setting off to start their campaign.

While the ’45 ended in defeat at Culloden in 1746 and the Highlands suffered punishment and reprisals for years to come, the gathering of clans and raising of the royal standard (or flag) at Glenfinnan that summer was a moment of hope and enthusiasm for many.

Glenfinnan

Glenfinnan Monument, at the head of Loch Shiel, was erected, in 1815, in tribute to the Jacobite clansmen who fought and died in the cause of Prince Charles Edward Stuart.

It was designed by the eminent Scottish architect James Gillespie Graham. The raising of the Prince's Standard took place at the head of the loch on 19 August, 1745, in the last attempt to reinstate the exiled Stuarts on the throne of Great Britain and Ireland.