Glenfinnan ( gd, Gleann Fhionnain ) is a hamlet in

Lochaber Lochaber ( ; gd, Loch Abar) is a name applied to a part of the Scottish Highlands. Historically, it was a provincial lordship consisting of the parishes of Kilmallie and Kilmonivaig, as they were before being reduced in extent by the creatio ...

area of the

Highlands Highland is a broad term for areas of higher elevation, such as a mountain range or mountainous plateau. Highland, Highlands, or The Highlands, may also refer to: Places Albania * Dukagjin Highlands Armenia * Armenian Highlands Australia *Sou ...

of Scotland. In 1745 the

Jacobite rising , war = , image = Prince James Francis Edward Stuart by Louis Gabriel Blanchet.jpg , image_size = 150px , caption = James Francis Edward Stuart, Jacobite claimant between 1701 and 1766 , active ...

began here when Prince Charles Edward Stuart ("Bonnie Prince Charlie") raised his

standard Standard may refer to: Symbols * Colours, standards and guidons, kinds of military signs * Standard (emblem), a type of a large symbol or emblem used for identification Norms, conventions or requirements * Standard (metrology), an object th ...

on the shores of

Loch Shiel :''See Glen Shiel for the much smaller Loch Shiel in Lochalsh.'' Loch Shiel ( gd, Loch Seile) is a freshwater loch situated west of Fort William in the Highland council area of Scotland. At long it is the 4th longest loch in Scotland, and ...

. Seventy years later, the 18 m (60 ft) Glenfinnan Monument, at the head of the loch, was erected to commemorate the historic event.

Jacobite rising

Prince Charles landed from France on

Eriskay Eriskay ( gd, Èirisgeigh), from the Old Norse for "Eric's Isle", is an island and community council area of the Outer Hebrides in northern Scotland with a population of 143, as of the 2011 census. It lies between South Uist and Barra and is ...

in the

Western Isles The Outer Hebrides () or Western Isles ( gd, Na h-Eileanan Siar or or ("islands of the strangers"); sco, Waster Isles), sometimes known as the Long Isle/Long Island ( gd, An t-Eilean Fada, links=no), is an island chain off the west coast ...

, travelling to the mainland in a small rowing boat, coming ashore at

Loch nan Uamh The Sound of Arisaig Lochaber, Scotland, separates the Arisaig peninsula to the north from the Moidart peninsula to the south. At the eastern, landward end, the sound is divided by Ardnish into two sea lochs. Loch nan Uamh lies to the north of Ard ...

just west of Glenfinnan. On arrival on the Scottish mainland, he was met by a small number of MacDonalds. Stuart waited at Glenfinnan as more MacDonalds, Camerons, Macfies, and MacDonnells arrived. On 19 August 1745, after Prince Charles judged he had enough military support, he climbed the hill near Glenfinnan as MacMaster of Glenaladale raised his royal

. The Young Pretender announced to all the mustered clans he claimed the

British throne The monarchy of the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as the British monarchy, is the constitutional form of government by which a hereditary sovereign reigns as the head of state of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies (the Baili ...

in the name of his father James Stuart ('the Old Pretender'). A MacPhee (Macfie) was one of two pipers with Bonnie Prince Charlie as he raised his banner above Glenfinnan. After claiming the throne, brandy was distributed to the assembled highlanders to celebrate the occasion. Eight months later, the Jacobite claim to the throne ended in failure at the Battle of Culloden on 16 April 1746. Many Macfies from Glenfinnan followed

Donald Cameron of Lochiel Donald Cameron of Lochiel (c. 1695 – 1748), popularly known as the Gentle Lochiel, was a Scottish Jacobite and hereditary chief of Clan Cameron, traditionally loyal to the exiled House of Stuart. His father John was permanently exiled afte ...

on the right flank of the Jacobite Army at the battle. Charles Stuart returned to the area after Culloden during his flight to evade the Government troopers of Prince William, Duke of Cumberland. After taking refuge with loyal supporters, he boarded a French frigate on the shores of Loch nan Uamh close to where he landed and raised his standard the previous year. The Young Pretender died in Rome in 1788 without setting foot on Scottish soil again. The

Prince's Cairn The Prince's Cairn marks the traditional spot from where Prince Charles Edward Stuart embarked for France from Scotland on 20 September 1746 following the failure of the Jacobite rising of 1745. The cairn is located on the shores of Loch nan U ...

marks the spot from where he departed into exile.

Monument

By 1815, the Jacobite cause was no longer a political threat to the Hanoverian monarchy. Alexander Macdonald of Glenaladale, a minor branch of the Clan Donald, built a memorial tower at Glenfinnan to commemorate the raising of the standard of the Young Pretender. The tower, which is 18 metres in height, was designed by the Scottish architect

James Gillespie Graham James Gillespie Graham (11 June 1776 – 11 March 1855) was a Scottish architect, prominent in the early 19th century. Life Graham was born in Dunblane on 11 June 1776. He was the son of Malcolm Gillespie, a solicitor. He was christened as J ...

. The statue of an anonymous highlander, referred to at the point of commission as Charles Edward Stewart, by

John Greenshields John Greenshields (28 September 1795 – 24 April 1835) was a talented but short-lived Scottish sculptor. His most notable works are probably the statue of Sir Walter Scott in Parliament House, Edinburgh, The Scott Monument in Glasgow and the ...

, was added in 1835.

Railway

Station

is about halfway between Fort William and

Mallaig Mallaig (; gd, Malaig derived from Old Norse , meaning sand dune bay) is a port in Lochaber, on the west coast of the Highlands of Scotland. The local railway station, Mallaig, is the terminus of the West Highland railway line (Fort Willi ...

on the picturesque

West Highland Railway The West Highland Railway was a railway company that constructed a railway line from Craigendoran (on the River Clyde west of Glasgow, Scotland) to Fort William and Mallaig. The line was built through remote and difficult terrain in two stages ...

. Along with a regular rail service by ScotRail, the line is used by the '' Jacobite'' steam train. A private railway museum operates at the station, using the former booking-office, the disused signalbox, and some stored coaches.

Viaduct

Sir Robert McAlpine Sir Robert McAlpine Limited is a family-owned building and civil engineering company based in Hemel Hempstead, England. It carries out engineering and construction in the infrastructure, heritage, commercial, arena and stadium, healthcare, educa ...

constructed the

Glenfinnan Viaduct The Glenfinnan Viaduct is a railway viaduct on the West Highland Line in Glenfinnan, Inverness-shire, Scotland, built from 1897 to 1901. Located at the top of Loch Shiel in the West Scottish Highlands, the viaduct overlooks the Glenfinnan Monu ...

between 1897 and 1898. The structure, which is built entirely out of

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most wid ...

, has 21 arches with spans of and reaches a height of above the valley. To commemorate the viaduct's centenary in 1997, a plaque was unveiled at the base of one of its arches. The landscape in which the viaduct is located has made it popular with film producers. In 1969, it was used in ''

Ring of Bright Water ''Ring of Bright Water'' is a book by Gavin Maxwell about his life in a remote house in coastal Scotland where he kept several wild otters as pets. First published in 1960, it became a best seller and is considered a literary masterpiece, event ...

'', starring

Bill Travers William Inglis Lindon Travers (3 January 1922 – 29 March 1994) was a British actor, screenwriter, director and animal rights activist. Prior to his show business career, he served in the British army with Gurkha and special forces units. E ...

and

Virginia McKenna Dame Virginia Anne McKenna, (born 7 June 1931) is a British stage and screen actress, author and wildlife campaigner. She is best known for the films ''A Town Like Alice'' (1956), '' Carve Her Name with Pride'' (1958), ''Born Free'' (1966), and ...

. It has since come to prominence in the cinematic releases of the '' Harry Potter'' series. The

Hogwarts Express Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry () is a fictional Scottish boarding school of magic for students aged eleven to eighteen, and is the primary setting for the first six books in J. K. Rowling's '' Harry Potter'' series and serves as a m ...

, is filmed crossing the viaduct in several of the films beginning with ''

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets ''Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets'' is a fantasy novel written by British author J. K. Rowling and the second novel in the ''Harry Potter'' series. The plot follows Harry's second year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, d ...

'' in 2002. The train filmed is the Jacobite Steam-Locomotive Train, a tourist train.

In popular culture

In the '' Highlander'' universe, Connor and Duncan MacLeod are both Scots born in Glenfinnan in 1518 and 1592, respectively.

Eilean Donan Eilean Donan ( gd, Eilean Donnain) is a small tidal island situated at the confluence of three sea lochs ( Loch Duich, Loch Long and Loch Alsh) in the western Highlands of Scotland, about from the village of Dornie. It is connected to the ma ...

castle is used as a stand-in for Glenfinnan in the franchise.

References

External links

Welcome to Glenfinnan29 large image slide show of Glenfinnan for phones to 60 inch TVsPhotographs and Information from Strolling GuidesGlenfinnan Community Council
{{Lochaber Populated places in Lochaber