Sunart Forest – Glencripesdale Forest - Strontian Forest District
The map was recovered from shed at Newton that acted as a storage area for Forest Research who used the maps to locate forest and tree experiments in the field.
The story of Glencripesdale Estate continued on in 1952 when 2700ha was sold by the Epps family to the Forestry Commission. Preceding the sale half recalled stories of shooting parties coming in by helicopter and even of hunting red deer on the hill by helicopter were talked off by locals. The mansion house was destroyed after the army were called in and expertly demolished it with explosives. The slabs of beach stone gravel formed concrete walls lying for many years to this day in careless abandon where they fell. No signs of damp course placement or much in the way of reinforcing material. Water dams and turbine generation systems stripped and abandoned. This was but one of three large mansion houses blown up by the services in the Sunart Forest area. However the Forestry Commission was able to acquire with their purchase a substantial dwelling house and steading that they and their workers used for many years.
Planting and managing this forest from its inception was a significant challenge. There was very poor road vehicle access with only a pony track over the hill from Laudale and even in later years when a forestry road was pushed through along the shore this was very rough indeed and involved a plus 50 mile return journey to the office and workers homes. The initial solution was to purchase a sea going launch and the ‘Gannet’ joined the fleet of worker transport facilities and secured a place in local folklore. A pier was constructed in the more sheltered bay below Glencripesdale house by the Royal Engineers. The open launch had several modifications in time such as a cabin and new gearbox but engine noise and fumes in the cabin ensured most preferred the open part even if rain and wave soaked. Alan More (Big Allan Cameron of Dunira, Kentra) was the official boatman which was generally berthed within Salen Bay but in the summer period sometimes at a small cove close to Camas Ines, just below the end of the Camastorsa plantation, thus cutting the sea journey time quite considerably. In those early days Alasdair Ferguson was the Ranger or Keeper and stayed in Glencripesdale House (later he was Head Ranger in Fiunary Forest). After Alasdair and Sheila left Tom and Edie Stevenson occupied the house from circa early 1970s. Tom initially did some deer control work but generally went on to carry out planting, draining and other forestry work. They had an arrangement with the local people across Loch Sunart at Camas Ines that a burning fire on the shore was a help call. Material was stored there and was actually used once when Tom fell seriously ill.
The annual reports for the Forestry Commission in 1953 indicate a new forest unit of Glen Cripesdale with total area of 6650 acres or which 2168 acres were considered as plantable. In the 1955 report there is mention that 134 acres was planted in that year - first year of planting. By 1960 the annual planted area was given as 105 acres but by then a total of 593 acres had been achieved since the start of operations. The forest at that date had a total land holding of 7290 acres. It would appear that Glencripesdale Forest was considered as a separate forest unit for accounting purposes from 1953 to 1960 after which it was formally incorporated into Sunart Forest. The names of the foresters who managed Sunart as well as Glencripesdale from its early days in the 1950s are not recorded but it is likely that J C Watson was one of the first. In 1957 J MacKenzie followed on as the Head Forester assisted by Assistant Foresters Frank Cameron and A MacInnes but they were replaced in 1959 by J MacLeod at Forester Grade. It seems that J MacKenzie may have also been in charge of Glenhurich, Sunart and Glencripesdale in one of the enlarged administrative areas set in place at this time around the country but a structure that did not really work out that well. By 1961 J MacKenzie was in charge of Glenhurich and J (John) MacLeod took over Sunart and Glencripesale Forests assisted by Davy Coutts (Assistant Forester).
The autumn and spring periods were critical times for planting the trees and certainly not the most settled time of year for weather. On some days travel to the Glencripesdale worksites would have been impossible due to rough sea conditions and alternative work required to be planned near Salen. There were stories of winds increasing while the men were on site in Glencripesdale and some anxious return journeys to Salen Bay. On one occasion at least the boat journey back was abandoned and the men opted to walk the long way out over the hill to Laudale where they were picked up by their forestry lorry transport. No radios, no telephones but some emergency arrangements must have been agreed. Anyway they got back very late much to the relief of the families waiting at their homes.
Frank Thom who was a forester based at Sunart for a period from 1964/65 recalls that the road into Glencripedale House was constructed by that time but that it was very rough and narrow. He was there when the Territorial Army Royal Engineers constructed the boat landing pier in the little bay below Glencripesdale House. The army truck drivers drove in on the forestry road with one wheel in the topside ditch and there were several changeovers of Army personnel before the project was completed that summer. Frank also recalls that on one occasion before the pier was built that while working up in the sheltered glen he and the squad were unaware that the wind had risen quite considerably. The ‘Gannet’ was moored off shore and the means of embarking was by small dinghy. Alan More (Alan Cameron) was assisted by Alan MacNeill(Purdey) in all boat work and as they launched the dinghy into the rough waves it filled up. At least twice again it filled up before they again emptied out the water and eventually were able to get going and transfer all the workers to the large boat. Frank also recalls that a forestry van was left at Glencripesdale to transport the workers out in the event that they could not use the boat.
Attached to the house was a separate room or rooms possibly for a single person or former estate workers to stay but was used as a wet weather shelter by the forestry squads and also as a bothy by the road squads when they were constructing the roads into and up through the Glen. Ploughmen also were located for periods while they carried out a ploughing programme certainly from the later 1950s onwards. On the right hand side as you progress inland up the glen there were notable sloping shelves of ground which ended in contour following sharp drops of perhaps up to ten or more feet. The writer recalls Tommy Cameron who was the foreman mechanic at the Torlundy Forestry Commission Workshop, Fort William, saying that in his early days as a ploughman when he was ploughing these shelves and coming down the slope towards one of the drops the ground broke away from its rock base. A very large slab of ground several feet thick with the tractor and driver in the middle slid down right to the ledge. Tractor and driver survived intact but much relieved.
On the map the earliest forestry planting is shown as 1955 and continued on until 1970 within the first fenced enclosure. A separate area was acquired from Laudale Estate in 1958 of approx 250ha and features in Compartments 351-353. In 1981 to 1986 following the fencing of a higher elevation area a series of Compartments were planted (Compartments 318- 321) up close to the spectacularly layered slopes of Beinn Iadain.
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Groups: Maps of Forest and Woodland Areas, Sunart Ardgour and Morven