Conversation with Graeme Morrison, 20th March, 2013
This conversation is courtesy of Colin Shepherd, Huntly, who interviewed the late Graeme Morrison in 2013. The Forestry Commission photo shows some of the locality that Graeme describes.
Conversation with Graeme Morrison, 20th March, 2013
Graeme kindly agreed to meet with Louise Simpson and myself in order to impart some of his wide-ranging knowledge concerning the Forestry Commission woodlands of south Aberdeenshire. This meeting took place three working days before he retired. Graeme had worked for Forestry Commission Scotland all his life and his father had worked for the Commission before that, starting his working life in Kirkhill Forest. Graeme’s information concerned many aspects of life working for Forestry Commission Scotland, both in the past and in the present. It ranged across a great variety of issues, from community life, through woodland management regimes to aspects of the history, archaeology and natural environment of the area. This is a mere glimpse of Graeme’s knowledge and, it is hoped, he will be able to impart more of these fascinating details if he gets a bit of time after he retires(!)
Community Life and Forestry Commission Scotland (FCS)
In many ways FCS appears to have stepped in to the shoes of the local former estates after purchasing their lands. This is possibly not surprising as the former estates had been amongst the largest employers in the area and that mantle was increasingly taken on by FCS. Graeme's father, as a FCS employee, rented a cottage from them and with it came a ‘croft’ of land. His father was able to take unpaid leave when the croft required extra work, e.g. at harvest times. This was common practice within the area and many small crofts within the woodlands were used in this way. He also appears to have been the FCS nurseryman and utilised the old walled garden across the burn from where he lived and where the keeper also had his store shed. Greenhouses still survived from the estate and these appear to have been heated by some form of boiler system, made apparent by the associated chimney. Graeme noted that there had also been a nursery in the corner of the wood west of Drumelzie. Just north of this point the wood contains rig and furrow that might suggest a reason for this choice of site.
The former estate centres, such as Glenfarquhar Lodge, appear to have provided the land for the local schools. Obviously, at that time, the population was more densely settled than now. Glenfarquhar was also the site of the annual ‘Poldy Fair’ - presumably taking its name from a local patron saint (Appolinaris?) and suggesting a Mediaeval origins. Amongst other things, the fair was known as a centre for horse trading.
During the war an arms ‘cache’ was stored on the ridge, south of the road through the Glen of Drumtochty opposite the church. (Parallels with those either side of the A96 at Huntly in FCS lands are interesting in this respect). The lands around the church are now so ill-drained that newly-dug graves are said to sit within the water table. Graeme stated the local saying that if you weren't dead when you went in the grave you'd soon be dead through drowning!
Graeme remembered one of his first supervisors as being rather careful with FCS supplies. Handfuls of pencils were clamped in a vice, sawn in half and the two half ends sharpened before being handed out. On the other hand, the same supervisor during times of severe winter weather would ensure the community was well-looked after by using the FCS lorry to bring supplies back from the town. Also, the lorry was used as a ‘community bus’ to take parties of locals on weekly trips to the cinema and a fish supper at ?Laurencekirk.
As an employer FCS could demand its pound of flesh. Graeme remembers that Strathfinella was planted by teams of men and women employed as day labour in about 1943. The men would carry the saplings over the hill and men and women would do the planting. Local people from settlements up to twenty miles away would make the trek each morning and only some would be chosen, the others having to go home again. Graeme remembers that the competition for work was used to ensure hard work by those chosen, with the fear of losing their place next day if the supervisors were 'unimpressed'. After Glenfarquhar was purchased around 1933, all labour became permanent and seasonal work was stopped.
Graeme noted how FCS appears to have developed from a 'militaristic' background with many of the managing personnel deriving from the armed forces. He noted how much the early FCS clothing resembled military uniforms, complete with crown crest. He also notes how, rightly or wrongly, local farmers were co-opted to help fight forest fires with the understanding that, as FCS were crown agents, to refuse would amount to a treasonable act! Fire was a constant threat in the early days owing to the more open and heather-clad nature of the landscape. Also, as Graeme pointed out, the area was alive with coachloads of people on summer Sunday afternoons - most of whom, in those days, smoked. The long, straight track cutting east-west across Strathfinella was originally a firebreak.
The wood had three sawmills at one time. One at the west end below the wood where the present access track leads towards the wood. A middle one that stood on the site of the former estate's water-driven sawmill and a third that stood on the edge of Drumelzie Wood and accessed via the track running up past Templebank. All were operated by contractors and driven by large tractor-type machines. The middle one was set up in 1933 in order to deal with the bad windblow event in the area at that time. This was driven by a Blackstone engine and had a water tank holding around 40 gallons. As the supervisor would not agree to the costs involved in buying anti-freeze, the tank had to be drained down each night and refilled in the morning. In icy weather, when the nearby tap was frozen, the water had to be hauled from the burn.
The area of the present main car park was also the site of a FCS hostel. The present toilets appear to have been built on its site, though not before the hostel had become the forest offices in the interim (check this). This housed approximately 15 people and a cook was employed. The lodgers supplied money to the cook to buy supplies. The site overlooking the burn was converted by the lodgers into a garden area.
The Historic Landscape
The distillery at Auchenblae received its water from the Fairy Well on the edge of Drumelzie Wood. (The 'Temple' names adjoining the woodland and the chapel site at the foot of the hill suggest a former religious importance for the well). Graeme believes that the name Galloquhine marks the site of a former gallows.
The lade running down the side of the Dhulin (mill?) Burn fed the water-driven sawmill. Associated with this were workshops with lathes. This complex appears to have gone out of use after the dam (further up the burn and still there) burst. This led to local flooding. When FCS took over the site, the original stone and lime buildings of the sawmill complex were used for a while as site offices. Presumably before being relocated to the hostel site after it went out of use.
Graeme also pointed out several tracks believed to be of significant antiquity. Running south¬west from the chapel site is an old track leading to Cowiefield, Upper and Mid Coullie and Cairnbeg. From here it continues west to follow the southern boundary of the recently acquired fields on FCS land. Thereafter the track disappears into a modern field layout. Were its course along the contours to be maintained, it would have reached the site of Green Castle - a Mediaeval earthwork. This would not seem to be an unreasonable destination. (West of here across the burn lies the extensive royal deer park, possibly accessed in the vicinity of the modern ‘Gateside’ place-name).
Many of the tracks appear to have been related to peat cutting on the hill. Graeme said that the people of Auchenblae had rights to cut the peat on Goyle Hill. The access route appears to have been from Auchenblae past the remains of Glenfarquhar Castle to enter the wood at the west end of Boy's Hill. Hollow-ways mark this route here. From here the route appears to have followed roughly the line of the present forest track westwards to Goyle Hill. This also roughly marked the boundary between Drumtochty and Glenfarquhar, though it is believed that the small burn at the west end of Boy's Hill was the historic boundary at this point. This track appears to follow quite closely one shown on the 1st Ed OS though no peat heads are shown as in use at that time.
Graeme noted that the name 'Buckle's Leys' was shared by a farm al Drumlithie - also known as Buckie's Leys. As the Drumtochty one is high in the woods it does beg the question whether there was a shieling-like connection between the two at one time.
Graeme noted that he knew of three aircrash sites in the woodlands: one at the end of a small road spur at Round Holes in Bogton Wood; one on Goyle Hill and another above Finglenny.
An intriguing feature was discussed that seems to lie below the road in an area of broadleaves just to the east of the East Burn of Builge. It is in the area where two parallel burns run into the larger burn and this aspect is itself not without interest. Are they both natural? The described feature is a drystane-built ‘culvert’ that appeared to have been built to carry a track about a cart's width in breadth. However, it does not appear to have been built over either of the burns and sits there, ‘just like a folly.’
Lades feature quite widely in the landscape and Graeme pointed out one at West Bogton running from Benty Grains. This may have fed the Bogton farmstead in the wood noted on the 1st Ed OS. It is still used as a water supply for local cattle troughs and Graeme has kept it clear throughout his working life.
Though not in Drumtochty, he also noted the existence of a long-distance lade on the east side of Fetteresso Forest running from below Bawd Moss to feed the null at Mergie, Tillybrack or both. In the same forest, the remains on the north side of the road at Hobseat mark the site of a 'shooters' shed and Graeme remembers it bedecked with antlers and other hunting trophies. After FCS took over it became a shelter where gangs could repair equipment.
The Natural Landscape
Graeme made many pertinent observations concerning woodland management. Amongst these he noted how the problems of windblow are exacerbated by poor drainage. The feeder roots do not have to bury so far down searching for water and the crop, thereby, becomes more susceptible to wind damage. He remembers how a patch of woodland was used by ? Aberdeen University to study the effects of wind stresses on tree and root systems. The trees eventually became of felling age. Graeme had sawn through one and could not work out why it wouldn’t fall. Eventually, he noticed an old wire left over from the experiment attached to the top of the tree and around which the tree had grown. Hence, all his endeavours were in vain!
Graeme drew attention to the fact that a former owner of Glen Farquhar estate had been a keen collector of plants and trees and would have been responsible for the aged sitka still growing by the public road. Other trees survive in the forest that reflect those early periods of collecting, such as examples of White and Siberian Spruce. It is hoped that Graeme will help in relocating these trees so that they may be added to the appropriate GPS layer.
At Friars Well the clay is of a bluey-grey colour and this type can be found throughout the wood. It is locally believed that there is a seam that runs through the forest towards the sea near the mouth of the Cowie.
It was a pleasure and a privilege to have been afforded the opportunity to hear Graeme's recollections and I remain in his debt.
Colin Shepherd, March, 2013.
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