Human settlement in Scotland
Glensanda
(Old Norse, the glen of the sandy river) was a
Viking
settlement at the mouth of Glen Sanda
[1]
on the
Morvern peninsula
within south west
Lochaber
, overlooking the island of
Lismore
and
Loch Linnhe
in the western
Highlands of Scotland
.
Glensanda Castle (
Caisteal Na Gruagaich (Maiden's Castle)
;
[1]
overlooks the mouth of the Glensanda River which tumbles down 400 metres along its 5-mile (8-kilometre) course from 'Caol Bheinn' into Loch Linnhe. The castle was the main base of the
Macleans
of Kingairloch (Kingerloch) since the 15th century, but the population fell from 500 to zero after 1812 when they emigrated to
Pictou
,
Nova Scotia
.
[2]
[3]
[4]
The remoteness of the Glensanda settlement is such that there are no road, rail, or marked footway links across the
granite
mountain, moor, heather and
peat bog
of the private Glensanda estate. The only practical access is by boat from the shores of Loch Linnhe.
Since 1982 the 2,400-hectare (5,900-acre) Glensanda Estate has been the home of the Glensanda Superquarry created by
Foster Yeoman
, since acquired by the
Aggregate Industries
group, which mines the Meall na h-Easaiche mountain,
[5]
shipping up to 6,000,000 tons of granite aggregates all over the world annually, and with reserves for up to 100 years. To minimise visual impact from the coast the quarry is sited 1 mi (2 km) inland, and cut down into the mountain 1,600 ft (500 m) above sea level. Granite is extracted via a "Glory Hole" and conveyor belt, a pioneering development in alternative quarrying technology.
[2]
History
[
edit
]
Little is known of the glen before the Viking age when it was part of
Dal Riata
, a
Gaelic
over-kingdom of the western seaboard of Scotland, in the late 6th and early 7th century.
[6]
According to Professor
William J. Watson
the
Morvern
district was formerly known as Kinelvadon, from the Cenel Baetain, a subdivision of the Cenel Loairn.
[7]
Glensanda was a
Viking
settlement at the mouth of Glen Sanda
[1]
The Vikings are thought to have led their first raids on what is now modern Scotland by the early 8th century AD. Their first known attack was on the holy island of
Iona
in 794, 40 mi (60 km) west. The end of the
Viking Age
proper in Scotland is generally considered to be in 1266.
Glensanda Castle is variously known as
Caisteal Na Gruagaich (Maiden's castle),
[1]
Castle Na'gair
,
[1]
Castle-en-Coer
,
[1]
Castle Mearnaig
[1]
. It was built in the late 15th century by
Ewen MacLean
, 5th of Kingairloch, who was born circa 1450.
[1]
Glensanda, a part of
Ardgour
, has formed part of the territory of the Clan MacLean ever since the Clan MacMaster was removed from the territory in the 15th century. The castle was the main base of the
Clan Maclean
of Kingairloch (Kingerloch), and supported a thriving community of circa 500 people until around 1780 when they seem to have moved 5 mi (8 km) north to
Connach
(Kingairloch), at the head of
Loch a' Choire
(Loch Corry).
In the late 17th century the massacre of the MacDonald clansmen marked the point when the fortunes of the MacLean clan began to wane, and by 1691 the Campbells had gained possession of most of the MacLean estates. Clan Maclean participated in the
Jacobite risings of 1745 to 1746
, supporting the
House of Stuart
and the Jacobite cause. Many members of the clan were killed fighting at the
Battle of Culloden
.
[8]
Many MacLeans dispersed to other countries such as Canada, the United States, Australia and New Zealand.
In 1812
Sir Hector Maclean
(the
7th Baronet of Morvern
and 23rd Chief of the
Clan Maclean
) emigrated with almost the entire population of 500 to
Pictou
,
Nova Scotia
, Canada.
[2]
[3]
[4]
Thus, the Macleans appear not to have been involved in
Highland Clearances
.
[9]
Sir Hector is buried in the cemetery at Pictou.
[9]
[4]
English landowner, James Forbes (1753?1829),
[10]
of Hutton Hall,
Essex
,
[11]
[12]
bought the estate from Sir Hector Maclean in 1812 and subsequently had the existing house at Connach extended to become the first Kingairloch House. James Forbes daughter Charlotte married Major-General Sir Charles Bruce,
KCB
to become Lady Bruce, and was the mother of
Charlotte
(1836?1906) the wife of
Henry Campbell-Bannerman
, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
[13]
In 1888 (or 1881
[14]
) the estate was purchased by John Bell Sherriff, Esquire of Carronvale, a distiller and industrialist from
Glasgow
and
Falkirk
for £30,140.}
[14]
[15]
In 1902
George Herbert Strutt
(1854?1928), a 5th generation cotton tycoon from
Belper
,
Derbyshire
, and descendant of
Jedediah Strutt
, bought the Glensanda and Kingairloch estates.
[16]
In 1930 Arthur Strutt (1908?1977) married Patricia Kebbell (20 October 1911 ? July 2000),
[17]
daughter of a New Zealand sheep farmer, and granddaughter of John Cameron a Scottish cattle drover from Corrychoillie,
Spean Bridge
having been introduced by his sisters who were attending the same Swiss
finishing school
.
[16]
[17]
Arthur Strutt died on the estate in 1977 although his body was not found for five years. Mrs Strutt was a renowned
stag
hunter, having shot circa 2,000 between 1930 and her death, more than any other woman in Great Britain.
[16]
[17]
The final solitary resident of Glensanda died around the 1950s.
[2]
By the 1980s Glensanda comprised the ruined tower of the 15th-century castle, a couple of derelict cottages, and a wrecked cattle shed. It was known as "the
Larder
of
Lorne
" to poachers of
red deer
and
salmon
.
[2]
John Yeoman and his wife Angela of
Foster Yeoman
bought the Glensanda estate from Mrs Strutt in 1982, and the Kingairloch estate in 1989, but she retained the hunting rights of both estates.
[16]
In 2006 Foster Yeoman was wholly acquired by the
Holcim
Group and is now part of its
Aggregate Industries
subsidiary and is no longer family owned.
[18]
Glensanda Super Quarry
[
edit
]
In 1976 the UK Government commissioned
Sir Ralph Verney
to analyse the shortage of aggregates for building. The resulting "Verney report" led John Yeoman, Chairman of Foster Yeoman, to the idea of a super-quarry situated in a remote location from which stone could be exported by sea. To this end in 1982 he bought the 2,400-hectare (5,900-acre) Glensanda estate in Argyll
[19]
from Mrs Patricia Strutt who also owned the Kingairloch estate which she also sold to Foster Yeoman in 1989.
[20]
Glensanda went into operation in 1986 when the first shipload of granite left for
Houston
,
Texas
, USA. In June 1989, extractions began using the "
glory hole
" and conveyor belt method.
[2]
[21]
To minimise visual impact from the coast the quarry is sited 1 mi (1.6 km) inland, and cut down into the mountain 1,600 ft (500 m) above sea level. Each explosive blast dislodges about 70,000 tons of granite, which is transported by dump truck to the primary crusher, which reduces it to lumps no bigger than nine inches in diameter.
[2]
It is then transferred by conveyor belt to a heap that covers the "glory hole", a 1,000 ft (300 m) vertical shaft 10 ft (3 m) in diameter, which is permanently full of rocks. At the base of the glory hole, deep inside the mountain, rocks are transferred to a horizontal conveyor and moved through a 1-mile-long (1.6 km) tunnel to the second crusher on the shore, where oceangoing ships are loaded in the deep-water docks at the rate of 6,000 tons per hour.
[2]
In 1998 there were approximately 160 employees either living on site or commuting by boat from
Barcaldine
, near
Oban
. Exports at that point were going to
Amsterdam
,
Hamburg
,
Rostock
and
?winouj?cie
, in
Poland
, as well as the
Isle of Grain
in the
Thames Estuary
.
[2]
Reserves of granite are estimated to last at least until the year 2100, when the excavation will have created a new
corrie
1
+
1
⁄
2
mi (2.4 km) square and 400 ft (120 m) deep.
[2]
Closest islands, cities, towns and villages
[
edit
]
Destinations from Glensanda
|
---|
Ardery
,
Ardnamurchan
,
Eigg
,
Rum
,
South Uist
|
Achnalea
,
Glenfinnan
,
Mallaig
,
Isle of Skye
|
Ardgour
,
Clovullin
,
Corran Ferry
,
Fort William
,
Inverness
|
|
|
|
Acharn
,
Ardtornish
,
Bonnavoulin
,
Tobermory
,
Isle of Mull
,
Tiree
|
Glensanda
|
Shuna Island
,
Loch Linnhe
,
Appin
,
Beinn Sgulaird
,
Rannoch Moor
,
Loch Rannoch
,
Pitlochry
,
|
|
|
|
Craignure
,
Duart Castle
,
Isle of Mull
,
Iona
|
Lismore
,
Oban
,
Lochgilphead
,
Tarbert
,
Mull of Kintyre
|
Coeffin
,
Lismore
,
Barcaldine
,
Castle Stalker
,
Oban
,
Glasgow
|
|
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Glensanda
Archived
29 March 2012 at the
Wayback Machine
Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
"Secrets of a mountain of wealth"
Archived
7 August 2017 at the
Wayback Machine
The Independent
, 7 November 1998, County and Garden, Duff Hart-Davis
- ^
a
b
Manuscripts - MacLean Sinclair 1899: p282
Cambridge University
- ^
a
b
c
A History of the Clan Maclean from its first settlement at Duard Castle, in the Isle of Mull, to the present period including a genealogical account of some of the principal Families together with their Heraldry, Legends, Superstitions etc.
by
J. P. MacLean
, 1889, p. 263.
- ^
"Scotlands Places, Meall na h-Easaiche and Glensanda Quarry"
.
Archived
from the original on 4 March 2016
. Retrieved
6 March
2013
.
- ^
Oxford Companion to Scottish History
p. 161 162, edited by Michael Lynch, Oxford University Press.
ISBN
978-0-19-923482-0
- ^
Watson,
Celtic Place-names of Scotland
, p. 122.
- ^
James Noel MacKenzie MacLean
(1971).
The Macleans of Sweden
. The Ampersand.
ISBN
0-900161-00-0
.
- ^
a
b
"Why MacLeans Live on Six Continents Instead of One Island"
Archived
15 May 2010 at the
Wayback Machine
Clan Maclean, The Clearances,, Mary McLean Hoff
- ^
Seax
Archived
24 July 2011 at the
Wayback Machine
Essex Archives Online
- ^
Kingairloch House
Archived
29 March 2012 at the
Wayback Machine
Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland
- ^
"Western Seaboard: An Illustrated Architectural Guide"
Archived
1 July 2022 at the
Wayback Machine
, by Mary Miers, 2008. Published by the Rutland Press
- ^
Kingairloch House
Archived
20 October 2012 at the
Wayback Machine
University of Edinburgh, Gazetteer for Scotland
- ^
a
b
Kingairloch
Archived
26 December 2005 at the
Wayback Machine
University of Edinburgh, Gazetteer for Scotland
- ^
Carronvale House
Archived
19 July 2011 at the
Wayback Machine
Falkirk Local History Society
- ^
a
b
c
d
"The killer lady of Kingairloch"
The Independent
, 5 July 2000
- ^
a
b
c
Patricia Strutt
Archived
17 July 2017 at the
Wayback Machine
Daily Telegraph
, Obituaries, 6 July 2000
- ^
"Foster Yeoman founding family agrees £300m Swiss takeover"
Archived
12 June 2011 at the
Wayback Machine
The Times
- ^
"New Ship Loader Cabin for Foster Yeoman at Glensanda"
Archived
22 September 2009 at the
Wayback Machine
Hub-4, News,
- ^
"Kingairloch History, A brief recent history of Kingairloch Estate"
.
Archived
from the original on 31 August 2009
. Retrieved
28 August
2009
.
- ^
McCallum, Andrew (6 October 1989).
"Glensanda disappearing down the glory hole"
.
The Glasgow Herald
. p. 15
. Retrieved
20 April
2019
.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to
Glensanda
.
External links
[
edit
]