Forestry Commissioner’s Tour Northeast Scotl
This tour guide was located in files annotated as Speymouth Forest Historical documents and is courtesy of Moray and Aberdeenshire Forest District.
The Commissioner’s Tour was obviously set up to allow senior Forestry Commission staff and the appointed Commissioners to view the aftermath of the Jan 1953 Gale and the progress with plans to harvest the blown volume of timber which is noted as almost 42 million cu feet in the Northeast of Scotland, Fife, Kinross and Perth. The table on page 14 shows the volumes by county divided into Private and state Woodlands and the totals extracted as at end of March 1954.
The table on page 16 lists 51 Private Estates and Forestry Commission in the order that they were passed on the tour. The interesting numbers are the individual volumes estimated as blown and extracted as at March 1954. The areas named are: Banchory Devenick, Blairs, Kingcausie, Binghill, Altries, Drum, Durris House, Durris, Park, Crathes, Tilquillie, Blackhall, Cairnton, Woodend, Sluie, Kincardine, Ballogie, Balfour, Dess, Birse, Glentanar, Coull, Kinord and Aboyne, Glen Muick, Balmoral, Alltcailleach, Abergeldie, Invercauld, Blelack, Tillypronie, Tornashean, Candacraig, Edinglassie, Glenbuchat, Culquoich, Glenkindie, Kildrummy, Clova, Ardhuncart, Littlewood, Whitehaugh, Castle Forbes, Pitfichie, Cluny, Monymusk, Linton, Castle Fraser, Dunecht, Countesswells and Hazelhead.
The list of people on the tour included:
Lord Radnor
Sir Richard Cotterall
Major Stirling
Lloyd Owen
Lord Cawdor
A H Gosling
Messrs. Longhurst, Vaughan, Bannerman, Hamilton, McNaughton and G Brown
Messrs. Ryle, Turner, and Martin
Sir Henry Beresford-Peirse
Messrs. Sangar and Ross
General Hutson
J MacDonald
The tour took time to call in past:
Darnaway Estate met by the factor Mr Munro
Speymouth Forest – R J G Horne, R G Cathie, R A Allison, J F Clark, C O McIntosh, J I Ross & T PThorpe
Ballogie Estate
Alltcailleach Forest – P F McIntyre, D Marnoch
Blelack Estate
Pitfichie Forest – W F French, C McDowall
Drumtochty Forest – G A Dey, W McDonald
Fetteresso Forest – G A Dey, D Anderson
The PDF shows the complete tour guide and maps. Perhaps someone may remember this event?
Groups: Forestry Records, Booklets and Reports, Gale 1953, Maps of Forest and Woodland Areas, Northeast Scotland