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 Isle of Lismore and Loch Linnhe in the western Highlands of Scotland.
| Glensanda | |
|---|---|
| • Edinburgh | 190 miles (road) 149 miles (via Corran ferry) |
| • London | 567 miles (road) 526 miles (via Corran ferry) |
| Civil parish | |
| Council area | |
| Lieutenancy area | |
| Country | Scotland |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Dialling code | 01967 |
| Police | Scotland |
| Fire | Scottish |
| Ambulance | Scottish |
| UK Parliament | |
| Scottish Parliament | |
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 journey 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 Glensanda has been the home of the Glensanda Superquarry operated by the Foster Yeoman group, which mines the Meall na 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.
History
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 eighth century AD. Their first known attack was on the holy island of Iona in 794, just 40 miles 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 1400s by Ewen MacLean, 5th of Kingairloch, who was born circa 1450.[1] It 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 miles north to Connach (Kingairloch), at the head of Loch a' Choire (Loch Corry).[5][6]
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.[3][2][4] Thus the Macleans appear not to have been involved in Highland Clearances.[7] Sir Hector is buried in the cemetry at Pictou.[4]
After emigrating in 1812 Sir Hector Maclean sold the Kingairloch estate to English landowner, James Forbes, who had the existing house at Connach extended to become the first Kingairloch House.[5]
In 1888 (or 1881[8]) the estate was purchased by John Bell Sherriff, Esquire of Carronvale, a distiller and industrialist from Glasgow and Falkirk for £30,140.[5][9][8]
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.[5][10] In 1930 Arthur Strutt (1908–1977) married Patricia Kebbell, daughter of a New Zealand sheep farmer, and granddaughter of John Cameron a Scottish cattle drover from Corrychoillie, Spean Bridge.[10] 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 in 1999.[10]
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.[10]
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.[11]
Glensanda Super Quarry
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 Glensanda estate in Argyll[12] from Mrs Patricia Strutt who also owned the Kingairloch estate which she also sold to Foster Yeoman in 1989.[13] Glensanda went into operation in 1986 when the first shipload of granite left for Houston, Texas, USA. Granite is extracted by the "Glory Hole" and conveyor belt method, a pioneering development in alternative quarrying technology.[2]
To minimise visual impact from the coast the quarry is sited a mile inland, and cut down into the mountain 1,600 feet 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 vertical shaft 10ft 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 mile long tunnel to the second crusher on the shore where ocean going ships are loaded in the deep-water docks at the rate of 6,000 tons per hour.[2]
Approximately 160 employees either live on site or commute by boat from Barcaldine, near Oban. Exports go to Amsterdam, Hamburg, Rostock and Swinoujscie, 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 a mile and a half square and 400 feet deep.[2]
Closest islands, cities, towns and villages
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland
- ^ a b c d e f g h i The Independent, 7 November 1998, County and Garden, Duff Hart-Davis, Saturday, Secrets of a mountain of wealth
- ^ a b Cambridge University, Manuscripts - MacLean Sinclair 1899: p282
- ^ a b c [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=GZDRnxhDmUkC&pg=PA154&lpg=PA154&dq=kingerloch&source=bl&ots=vqQblULlS9&sig=S89r64BtX5KQxQVd5svyaKmHtlQ&hl=en&ei=YPabSsHhG9qhjAfQvuzbDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6#v=snippet&q=1812&f=false 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, p263]
- ^ a b c d e Undiscovered Scotland
- ^ Loch a' Choire at Anglo-Saxon Wiki!
- ^ Clan Maclean, The Clearances, Why MacLeans Live on Six Continents Instead of One Island, Mary McLean Hoff
- ^ a b University of Edinburgh, Gazetteer for Scotland, Kingairloch
- ^ Falkirk Local History Society, Carronvale House
- ^ a b c d The Independent, 5 July 2000, The killer lady of Kingairloch
- ^ The Times: "Foster Yeoman founding family agrees £300m Swiss takeover"
- ^ Hub-4, News, New Ship Loader Cabin for Foster Yeoman at Glensanda
- ^ Kingairloch History, A brief recent history of Kingairloch Estate