Knocknagael Boar Stone

PricingFreeFree for all visitors

Free entry for everyone

Entry

Free for everyone

Pricing details

Free entry for everyone; no membership card is needed.

ParkingParking not known

The Trust's page does not say how parking is charged.

Parking details

Historic Scotland names no parking. The Highland Council says its main car park at the headquarters is not open to the public during working hours, Monday to Friday 8am to 4pm, and that there are a few visitor spaces and Blue Badge bays at the front of the building. No charge or free statement is published, so the status is recorded as unknown. The Highland Pictish Trail names Eden Court's paid car park as the nearest during the working day.

Driving pin: the Highland Council Headquarters on Glenurquhart Road (the A82), where the stone is displayed. Historic Scotland's own map pin is the stone's former site at Knocknagael Farm, 3.4 km south, where only a plaque remains. Historic Scotland gives journey planners only.

About

In the foyer of the Highland Council's headquarters on Glenurquhart Road in Inverness stands one of only four Pictish stones known to show a boar. It is a large slab carved between about AD 400 and 600 with a wild boar, its shoulders and haunches picked out in scrolls and spiky bristles along its back, and a mirror-case symbol above. The carving is skilled, its curved lines making the muscles look real. The stone stood at Knocknagael Farm, just south of the city, beside the Essich road, where a plaque now marks the spot; it was moved indoors for protection in March 1991, and its original position is unknown. You can go inside to see it during council hours, Monday to Friday 08:00 to 17:00, and at other times it can be seen through the window, with an interpretation board outside. The council's main car park is closed to the public on weekdays, but there are a few visitor spaces at the front.

Check today’s timesSee all times

Knocknagael Boar Stone08:00 – 17:00inside the Highland Council Headquarters; seen through the window when the building is closed

Opening times may change at short notice.

Historic Scotland: 'The stone is free to view and can be accessed during the Highland Council's opening hours (8am to 5pm, Monday to Friday). When the building is closed the stone can be viewed through the window.' At weekends and in the evening it is seen through the glass from outside, beside an interpretation board.

The stone stands in a glazed foyer of the council headquarters, not in a museum, and visitors report the carving is worn and hard to make out without the board. A visitor in May 2026 found the display room under construction and the stone crated; check with the Highland Council before a special trip. No toilets for visitors are advertised.

Photo: The Knocknagael Boar Stone, a large pale slab incised with a boar and a mirror-case symbol, standing on a brick floor in the foyer of the Highland Council Headquarters. valenta, CC BY-SA 2.0. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Knocknagael_Boarstone_(geograph_4942628).jpg. Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0. Resized and cropped for display; derivatives retain the source licence.