Concept design to be created for new Glenfinnan visitor centre

Architects are to create a concept design for a new visitor centre at the site where hundreds of Highlanders gathered to pledge their allegiance to Bonnie Prince Charlie.

National Trust for Scotland's (NTS) current facilities were built in the 1960s when Glenfinnan had about 100,000 visitors-a-year.

Last year, the area had 660,000 visitors and NTS has appointed LDN Architects to work with landscape designers Ironside Farrar on a replacement.

In August 1745, Charles Edward Stuart - also known as Bonnie Prince Charlie - along with 1,200 supporters gathered in Glenfinnan in a campaign to restore the Stuarts to the British throne. The attempt ended in defeat at Culloden in 1746.

NTS has been working on plans to improve the visitor facilities for a number of years.

Clea Warner, regional director for the Highlands and Islands, said: "After many years working with the Glenfinnan community on visitor management, and after undertaking a consultation exercise with the people who live here and the tourists who come here, we are now moving forward with a project to redevelop our charity's Glenfinnan visitor facilities.

"This isn't about attracting more visitors but better serving the visitors we already welcome."

Warner added: "Our often-crowded facilities can result in challenging conditions for our visitors, our staff, and our community.

"We want to change that and become a place that thrives rather than copes and inspires rather than processes its visitors."

The Glenfinnan community is also working on a potential off-site mobility hub, designed to better accommodate visitor parking demand and encourage active and sustainable travel, such as walking and cycling.

NTS said the two projects would progress in tandem to help ensure plans to improve visitor management in the village were "integrated and complementary".

Ingrid Henderson, chair of Glenfinnan Community Facilities SCIO, said: "This is an important step forward in cohesive efforts to improve the visitor and resident experience in Glenfinnan.

"We will continue to work closely with the trust to ensure that their visitor centre redevelopment, and our project to create a park-and-ride and active travel facility, deliver a great step forward for tourists while also reducing the impact popularity has on the daily lives of local people."

The visitor centre is near a monument built in 1815 to mark the prince's arrival in Glenfinnan.