Forestry Memories

Family life in mobile sawmill camps – Balnagowan, Aboyne

The image is courtesy of Amanda McKenzie, Kinellar, and features her her father named Albert Philpot

Amanda comments on the stories her late father used to tell her. He is shown here with his little sister Mary. Not certain if it is the family hut behind but the child gate across the door would point to it being their home. The wooden sides were by no means air tight and, as described by Charlie and Gordon Smith in their time in the sawmill camps, the insides of the huts were lined with stiff sheets of paper taken off a roll. The sheets were overlapped and tacked on to stop the worst of the wind blowing through but did little to keep the cold and frost at bay. Cooking and heating was done on little wood fuelled stoves and washing must have been difficult with only a stream or well water supplies. The women and mothers would certainly have worked as hard as their men folk trying to keep a supply of food on the table and everything washed and clean. Toilets ..... simple, basic and air conditioned would be a generous description!

Amanda says

“ .... my dad said the houses came with them. They loved living in the sawmill camps. My dad did say they had huge Clydesdale horses too and they were all very happy. They travelled and built sawmills stayed for a year or two then moved on. At the new site my dad said grandad would build the sawmill and the house for the family. The single men or those with no accompanying families lived in the bothy

My dad, Albert Philpott (same name as Grandad) stayed in Bothies in Rothes, he said it was great fun. They had a big pot in the middle of the floor and they all ate out of it. I am sure there are photos of Rothes in his loft so I can keep looking.

It is hard to believe how they lived in the bothies. It looked really rough but then again that is what they had to do for work. Dad always said “nowadays, they wouldn’t be allowed to do that, they would moan and walk off site”. He said it was like a big family in the bothies.

His fondest memories and those of my grandad was their time at Tochieneal just outside Cullen. They lived there at the time of the war and loved it.”

Any more stories of the mobile sawmills are always welcome. Just add to comments section below.

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Groups: Buildings in Forests, Forestry Areas, Northeast Scotland , Sawmills, pulp mills, chipboard mills

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