STONEHENGE has seen a rise in visitor numbers of 8.4% to more than 1.34 million visits.

Figures release by the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions (Alva) said Great War centenary commemorations, including the spectacular poppy display at the Tower of London, helped boost the number of visits to UK tourist attractions.

The new visitor centre at Stonehenge is being credited with the rise in visits to the ancient monument.

Alva said visitor numbers were also swelled last year by the staging of the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

Overall there was a 6.5% increase in visits to Alva members' properties in the UK in 2014 compared with 2013, with Scottish attractions increasing by nearly 10% and London sites having 7.11% more visits.

Alva director Bernard Donoghue said: "I am delighted that our members' figures are going from strength to strength.

"Looking forward to our 2015 figures, we are confident that they will rise again with the anticipated increase in overseas visitors this year."

The display Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red saw the moat at the Tower of London filled with 888,246 ceramic poppies - representing the number of British and Commonwealth fallen in the First World War.

An estimated five million viewed the display from outside the walls and contributed to a 6% rise, to 3,075,950, in annual visitors inside the Tower last year compared with 2013.

Visits to the Imperial War Museum in London, which hosted new First World War Galleries, rose 153% to 914,774, while there was a 50.9% rise, to 340,929, in visits to the National Trust's Dunham Massey in Cheshire which recreated its Great War role as a military hospital.

The boost given to Scottish attractions by the Commonwealth Games was reflected in the fact that Edinburgh Castle visits rose 4% to more than 1.48 million, making it the most-visited, admission-paying attraction outside London.

Glasgow's Riverside Museum had a 41.8% rise in visits, while the Scottish National Gallery in Edinburgh welcomed 39% more visitors.

The most popular attraction last year was the British Museum with nearly 6.7 million visits followed by the National Gallery in London where visits rose 6.4% to nearly 6.42 million.

Figures for London's Southbank Centre have been included for the first time in the Alva table, with the complex welcoming more than 6.25 million visitors, securing it third place in the overall list.

Museums and galleries enjoyed a 6.09% increase last year.