On 19 August 1745 Charles Edward Stuart, newly landed from France, waited here until enough Highlanders had gathered, then raised his father's standard and claimed the British throne. The rising carried him to Edinburgh and deep into England before it ended at Culloden in April 1746.
The 18-metre tower was built in 1815 by Alexander Macdonald of Glenaladale, to designs by James Gillespie Graham; the statue of an anonymous kilted Highlander on top was added in 1835. The National Trust for Scotland looks after the site, with a visitor centre across the road. The view down Loch Shiel from the shore by the monument is the one on the postcards.