Argyll Forest Park Leaflet 1938
The leaflet is courtesy of Glenbranter Forest office staff with particular thanks to Ian Adams who has stored these old files for many years.
This original leaflet printed in 1938 with a foreword by Sir Roy Lister Robinson, then Chairman of the Forestry Commission, is the first result of a National Forest Parks committee which was set up in 1935 under the chairmanship of Sir John Stirling-Maxwell. The committee was set up to report on the possibilities of providing recreational facilities on the Forestry Commission’s unplanted land and the Forests of Ardgartan, Glenfinart, Benmore and Glenbranter were their first subject.
The whole area under review included the adjoining Ardgoil Estate under the ownership of Glasgow Corporation, who were willing to participate in the scheme, was to encourage use of the area for hiking and walking and its use by ‘responsible organisations and especially those connected with the Youth movement’.
The Park now extending to almost 100 square miles had its first beginnings in a small way in the summer of 1936 with partners including the Jubilee Trust which purchased Ardgartan House and the Carnegie Trust. Two maps at the rear of the leaflet show the extent and location of the original Forest Park.
Contributors to the leaflet include: J D Mackie (professor of History Glasgow University), J G C Anderson (University of Glasgow), J Walton (Regius Professor of Botany Glasgow University), J M Murray (Assistant Commissioner, Scotland) and E Hindle (Regius Professor of Zoology Glasgow University). There is a list of camping grounds, car parks and charges as well as addresses of youth and recreation organisations.
This was a land mark policy by the Forestry Commission in 1935 and would be a major influence on future formation of National Parks in Scotland and critically the encouraging of access by the public to the Forestry Commission estate for recreation.
Groups: Maps of Forest and Woodland Areas, Recreation Activities and Art in the Forest