Finlaggan Islay

The Centre of the Lordship of the Isles

Finlaggan in 2019

Finlaggan in 2019

By Leave a Comment

The Finlaggan Visitor Centre will open on Saturday 30 March. We look forward to seeing again those who have visited us before and welcoming new visitors to the site.

The season promises to be an exciting one for the Trust. In addition to a number of major repairs to the access road, the Visitor Centre and Eilean Mor, we will also be showcasing our virtual reality reconstruction of the site during its height in the fifteenth century.

Working in collaboration with the University of St. Andrews this exciting project will provide visitors with some sense of Finlaggan at the zenith of the Lordship’s power. We will also be exhibiting a number of photogrammetrical reconstructions of some of the artefacts found at the site and around the island, in addition to some drone footage from Islay and Jura.

A Finlaggan app will also be available in the coming year, bringing yet another dimension to the visitor experience and help bring Finlaggan to the attention of a wider public. Updates will follow. Watch this space.

The bridge of the Lords leading from Eilean na Comhairle to the Lords’ private quarters and the Great Hall

2013 Venison Supper

By Leave a Comment

A very successful Venison Supper was held on Saturday 23 February, when some 60 friends and supporters sat down to a sumptuous 4-course meal, followed by entertainment and dancing. Once again, our grateful thanks to all the organisations and individuals who provided ingredients, dishes and help, and of course to all the entertainers and our Fear-an-Taighe for the evening, Andy McCowan.

Finlaggan’s Record Breaking Year

By Leave a Comment

It was with a sense of excited anticipation that Gina McAuslan opened the Finlaggan Information Centre on the second last day of the 2011 season. Half an hour later she was welcoming Jack Baldwin from Glasgow with the news that he was the Centre’s 5,000 th visitor of the year. She presented a surprised and delighted Mr Baldwin with a Finlaggan engraved whisky glass to mark the first time visitor numbers to the Centre had topped 5,000 in any one year.

Gina said, “Since we opened the extension to the building in 2009, numbers have risen year on year and when on Tuesday we closed at 4,997 we knew we were in sight of the 5,000 target. When Mr Baldwin’s party arrived I counted them in and he was number 3”.

The final figure when the Centre closed for the winter on Sunday 30 October was 5012. In addition the Finlaggan Trust welcomed 100 people between the launch of the Turner project and the talk by Thomas Ardill of Tate Britain and, at a conservative estimate from donations left, at least 600 people visited the island outside of the Centre opening times.