Forestry Memories

Sawmill site at Kirkney Bridge, Clashindarroch

Sawmill site at Kirkney Bridge, Clashindarroch

Date Added: 22 June 2007 Contributor: Norman Davidson Year of Photo: 1960 Picture No: 219

Picture courtesy of family of Davy Anderson former Chief Forester. View from the Tillyminate to Mytice road looking over past Kirkney bridge and up onto the then unplanted Mulduan Hill. Judging by the size of the Grandis trees along the Kirkney water side and the small clearfell this is likely to be about 1960. The sawmill is almost certainly one of Riddochs semi mobile outfits and in the enlarged version you can make out one man pointing stakes I think and another stacking possibly posts. The mill looks as though it is powered by a tractor PTO and again not sure of tractor type. I recognise one A35 van face on but not the car next to the delux caravan. Any information and other observations very welcome.

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Groups: Forestry Areas, Forestry in Action, Northeast Scotland

2 Comments

The tractor looks like an old Fordson Major, the original type with the oval fuel tank, possibly petrol / paraffin ? .Most of these were blue but some were green, Jimmy McIntosh from Rhynie had a green one . I cannot remember but Bob Farquhar maybe had one at his sawmill in Rhynie ( bottom of the village ) . At the time of the photo A.G.& W.J.Riddoch had pretty much all the work .Cant ( Aberlour ?) had some work as well . Big change now with tree harvesters, snedding with axes, turning with cant hooks and stowing by hand was the order of the day ! . Comment left on 12 September 2007 at 19:49 by Ian Murray
Yes most likely to have been a Ridddoch’s Sawmill, the A35 Austin Van was standard issue to Ridddoch’s Foremen in the 1960’s the other car is an Austin A40 Somerset, just the sort of car a hard working Sawmiller would have had.

Ridddoch’s seemed to have dozens of those old type Fordson Majors, usually they had a Perkins Diesel Engine.
We used to say in jest that they had shares in Elgin Central Engineers who supplied and serviced them.
The Tractors were difficult to start in the Winter time so the sawmillers mindfull of their piece work earnings used to leave them running for days at a time.

Bob Farquhar did have them too but He was mainly a Field Marshall Man.

I didn’t have any contact with Cant but I used to see His Advertisements for Snedders and I have always thought that He was a Felling contractor rather than a Timber Merchant but I could be wrong. Comment left on 28 June 2011 at 17:15 by Jimmy Thain
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