Cairnbaan 1930s
Canal with lock and road curving through glen with wooded hills on either side. Ruined cottage in foreground at foot of steep scrubby hillside. Two groups of large huts connected by a road on far hillside with fields around.
The camp was also known as the Ministry of Labour Instructional Training Centre and later as the Forestry Commission Camp.
The Crinan Canal, connecting Loch Fyne and Sound of Jura, was surveyed by James Watt (1736-1819) and built to John Rennie's plans between 1793 and 1801. It is 9 miles long with 15 locks.
Groups: Forestry Areas
Group: Forestry Areas - 3222 pictures
13 Comments
I lived at no 6 Cairnbaan camp from 1964 to approx 1971 when the houses were demolished. My dad worked in the road squad. I am now an AO at West Argyll
Comment left on 22 May 2008 at 15:43 by Angela Cumming
My father was in the Gordon Highlanders and was stationed at Cairnbaan when it was a POW camp. He is still alive and at 91 still has a good memory of the places and people round about the area at the time of the Second World War. He is a Yorkshire man and still lives in Leeds.
Comment left on 07 December 2008 at 15:52 by GRAHAM WILMAN
I remember Cairnbaan from the early 1950's when I lived in Achnamara from 1952 to 1954 and worked in the Forestry Commission.At one time I worked in the camp for two weeks attending the fuel pumps for the forestry lorries and I remember helping to plant trees on the hillsides forward of the camp leading to Achnamara.For a while a squad of us used to be transported to the Crinan Canal Basin where we boarded a motor boat which took us a few miles down the Sound of Jura? where we landed and worked all day cutting bracken before we were picked up again in the evening and taken back to the Canal Basin and back home to Achnamara. A few of us would trail fishing lines behind the boat, using spinners to catch mackerel( it made a nice change from eating rabbits which were sold to the ladies of the village by a local trapper who charged 1/= a pair).Happy days !
Comment left on 02 April 2009 at 20:04 by Donald Ferguson
I was born in Cairnbaan Camp near the joiner's workshop in 1950 and then lived in No 5 Cairnbaan Camp from 1951 to 1971. I then got married, and as I worked in the District office at Cairnbaan Camp, I was allocated the tenancy of No 13 Cairnbaan Camp from 1971 to 1973 when the houses were then demolished. My father worked in the road squad. I presently work as an AO at West Argyll.
Comment left on 03 April 2009 at 09:11 by Diana Logan
has anyone got a picture of the camp in 1950s We were born here.
Comment left on 07 November 2009 at 04:45 by Audrey Cooper, nee Peat.
Any history ?
Comment left on 01 June 2014 at 17:57 by James Mcdougall 24 03 1941
This is so interesting as my house is sitting on this site. Yet I had no idea at all. Lived here about 15 years since the house was newly built. More old stories please☺
Comment left on 29 October 2014 at 15:43 by C Nixon
Nice picture. My grandmother grew up in Cairnbaan. I love it there. She used to tell me stories of when she was a little girl and how she would get in trouble with the guards at the camp because they used to go and play tricks on the prisoners.
My family used to run the little shop at Loch 8 unfortunately now its rented out as a flat. I try to make it there whenever I'm in Scotland. Comment left on 29 April 2016 at 05:23 by Simon
My family used to run the little shop at Loch 8 unfortunately now its rented out as a flat. I try to make it there whenever I'm in Scotland. Comment left on 29 April 2016 at 05:23 by Simon
I worked for the Forestry Commission as a trainee surveyor in 1968. I remember lodging with a Mrs Quarton, and her mother Mrs Dunlop who lived on the camp. I remember it was very cold in the winter. The name Ian Turnbull rings a bell. He was an engineer there.
I never appreciated the area when I was there, but have grown very fond of it in subsequent years. If anyone has any pictures of the camp at that time, please get in touch. Comment left on 28 January 2017 at 20:47 by Dave Parsonage
I never appreciated the area when I was there, but have grown very fond of it in subsequent years. If anyone has any pictures of the camp at that time, please get in touch. Comment left on 28 January 2017 at 20:47 by Dave Parsonage
Hey GRAHAM WILMAN,
My grandad was also stationed at the POW camp at Cairnbaan, he was in the Argyle's. He died in the mid 80's. My mum once told us about a time when the Italian prisoners escaped from the camp but returned as there was nowhere to go and the landscape was so harsh ????????????. Comment left on 31 August 2019 at 10:24 by Gav Young
My grandad was also stationed at the POW camp at Cairnbaan, he was in the Argyle's. He died in the mid 80's. My mum once told us about a time when the Italian prisoners escaped from the camp but returned as there was nowhere to go and the landscape was so harsh ????????????. Comment left on 31 August 2019 at 10:24 by Gav Young
Hi Gav Young
My grandpa also told the same tale. The Italians escaped but they decided not to put a great effort to find them as sure enough they all came back suffering with the midges! They’d killed a sheep and lived off it for a few days. Comment left on 12 December 2020 at 21:33 by Matthew Wilman
My grandpa also told the same tale. The Italians escaped but they decided not to put a great effort to find them as sure enough they all came back suffering with the midges! They’d killed a sheep and lived off it for a few days. Comment left on 12 December 2020 at 21:33 by Matthew Wilman
Training Centre Opening at Cairnbaan as per report in The Scotsman in Sept 1936 courtesy of information from Martin Briscoe.
"The new Ministry of Labour training centre at Cairnbaan, near Lochgilphead, Argyll, is now nearing completion. It is to accommodate about 200, and will be one of the finest in the West of Scotland.
Once in full working order it will be a miniature town. Amidst the hills a special reservoir is being made, which, it is expected, will store water for the camp for about 26 weeks. The comforts of those who will have to live in the camp have not been overlooked. A recreation hall is being built so that special entertainments can be given in the winter at a time when trainees might think it would be better to be in the heart of a great city. A special shelter is also being built for the accommodation of the men when it rains.
Modern heating arrangements have been made, and special boilers are fitted with a view to preventing loss of heat in distribution. The latest ideas are incorporated in the feeding arrangements. Perhaps the most interesting parts of the scheme are the water and sewage arrangements."
Comment left on 05 June 2023 at 08:05 by Norman Davidson
"The new Ministry of Labour training centre at Cairnbaan, near Lochgilphead, Argyll, is now nearing completion. It is to accommodate about 200, and will be one of the finest in the West of Scotland.
Once in full working order it will be a miniature town. Amidst the hills a special reservoir is being made, which, it is expected, will store water for the camp for about 26 weeks. The comforts of those who will have to live in the camp have not been overlooked. A recreation hall is being built so that special entertainments can be given in the winter at a time when trainees might think it would be better to be in the heart of a great city. A special shelter is also being built for the accommodation of the men when it rains.
Modern heating arrangements have been made, and special boilers are fitted with a view to preventing loss of heat in distribution. The latest ideas are incorporated in the feeding arrangements. Perhaps the most interesting parts of the scheme are the water and sewage arrangements."
Comment left on 05 June 2023 at 08:05 by Norman Davidson
My father, born in Ardrishaig, became a doctor in London. He evacuated my mother and myself to my grandmother in Ardrishaig for the war. I remember the camp and seeing the Italians on our excursions to Crinan. I have lived in Italy for 65 years and while visiting Scotland and staying at Cairnbaan Hotel with my family and grandchildren found younger people often never even knew the Camp had existed. But indeed it did. Thank you for the photograph.
Comment left on 29 May 2026 at 17:25 by morag durie mohrhoff
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