Memorial plaque to Sir John Stirling Maxwell at Corrour
The images were kindly provided by John Sutherland, Corrour, and passed on by James Ogilvie, Lothian, and below is a text from the Forestry Commission ‘Slasher’ newsletter written in October 1967.
‘A SIMPLE but moving ceremony took place at Corrour in Inverness-shire last month when Mrs. MAXWELL MACDONALD, only child of SIR JOHN STIRLING MAXWELL, unveiled a bronze plaque set in a large rock to commemorate the forestry work undertaken by her father from the end of the 19th century until he died in 1954. All the woodlands and a major part of the Corrour estate now belong to the Commission. Sir John was Chairman of the Commission from 1929 to 1932
The ceremony took place on the occasion of the visit to Corrour of the Society of Foresters of Great Britain, of which Captain MAXWELL MACDONALD is Past President. Some 100 members of the Society were present from universities, research, private forestry, the timber trade and the Commission. As the plaque was unveiled Capt. Maxwell Macdonald, in the distance, played a lament on the pipes. Before inviting Mrs. Maxwell Macdonald to perform the ceremony SIR HENRY BERESFORD-PEIRSE, our Director General, said Sir John was one of a band of far-sighted foresters who, even before the turn of the century, were planning for a great expansion of forestry in the Highlands. In 1910 or thereabouts surveys were carried out and planting followed, with the result that the woods now spread from end to end of the Great Glen.
At the time Sir John’s task must have been thought by some to be an impossible one – establishing largely spruce plantations in the almost tree-less deer forest at Corrour. Planting was, in fact, begun at about 1,300 ft. above sea level, a height at which, in those days, most foresters would have ended their planting. Sir John tried out new techniques, with largely untried species, undertaking in effect field scale research projects and using, for instance, the novel Belgian method of planting in turves, fertilisers and turf nurseries’
More details of Corrour Estate and Sir John’s forestry work can be found in his booklet ‘Loch Ossian Plantations’ shown in Image No 3356.
The PDF below is of the memorial plaque set in a substantial rock on Corrour Estate near Loch Ossian.
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Groups: Forestry Areas