Gairloch in North-West Ross-Shire / Its Records, Traditions, Inhabitants, and Natural History, with a Guide to Gairloch and Loch Maree, and a Map and Illustrations

by John H. Dixon

Remains of Ironworks in the Parish of Gairloch.

The following descriptions will include all the remains of ironworks so far noticed within the parish of Gairloch, whether belonging to what we have called the ancient class, or to the more modern historic set.

The slags found in and about the various remains are broadly divided by Mr Macadam into two classes, which he describes as follows:—

(1.) A dark black slag, compact and heavy, in some cases slightly porous; the percentage of iron in this slag is high; in many samples more than half is iron.

(2.) A gray light porous mass, resembling the slags formed in blast furnaces at the present day; this slag contains a large proportion of lime, and a comparatively small proportion of iron.

The descriptions of iron ores found at the different places are indicated by numbers referring to the list of ores at the end of the last chapter.

It appears certain that there were ironworks in the following different places in Gairloch parish,—

1. Glen Dochartie; three places.
2. Fasagh.
3. Furnace, Letterewe.
4. Talladale.
5. Garavaig, on Slatadale farm.
6. Red Smiddy, near Poolewe.

1. Glen Dochartie.

The traveller proceeding from Loch Maree to Achnasheen may notice, to the right of the road, about four hundred yards before the head of Glen Dochartie is gained, and on the seven hundred feet contour line of the ordnance survey, a scattered heap of small pieces of the slag No. 1. The burn runs past not many yards below. No site of a furnace can be identified. On the other side of the road, about three hundred yards up the hill, on the thousand feet contour, are more extensive similar remains, with the same kind of slag. Mr Macadam finds that this slag contains 66 per cent. of metallic iron, and no lime as silicate. There is red earth in the neighbourhood resembling what is found with "pans" of bog iron. The burn runs past, but is now in a deep gully. At the foot of the glen, more than a mile nearer Kenlochewe, and a little to the west of the bridge over the burn, are fragments of similar slag, and traces of charcoal burnings. The place is on the ancient beach, about twenty feet above the level of the road. No doubt all these remains are of considerable antiquity; they may perhaps have been parts of the same undertaking.