Gairloch In North-West Ross-Shire Part 10

It appears, then, that Sir George not only produced articles used in warfare, but also such goods as we are accustomed to procure at the ironmonger's.

It is certain that improved processes of iron-smelting were introduced at Furnace, Letterewe, and perfected at the Red Smiddy, Poolewe, so that the results obtained at the latter place were almost on a par with those of the newest methods of the present day. The credit of these improvements must be given to Sir George Hay. In resuscitating the ancient manufacture of iron, he brought the intelligence of his cultivated mind to bear on the subject in a practical and successful way.

The "new industry" thus commenced on the sh.o.r.es of Loch Maree soon attracted the attention of the government. Reference has already been made to the act of 27th January 1609, prohibiting the making of iron with the natural woods of the Highlands. The act is printed verbatim in Appendix G. There seems little doubt, as previously remarked, that it was intended to injure Sir George Hay. It was probably pa.s.sed on the instigation of a political foe.

But Sir George must have still possessed considerable influence at court, and the importance of his new industry must have produced a strong impression, for on the 24th of December 1610, at Whitehall, the king gave him what appears to have been a monopoly of the manufacture of iron and gla.s.s throughout the whole of Scotland, for thirty-one years from that date, and this gift was ratified by Act of Parliament, dated 23d October 1612. The delay of two years in its ratification seems a little strange, and perhaps indicates that whilst Sir George continued such a favourite with his king as to receive from him so valuable a "Christmas box," he still had enemies in the Privy Council or the Parliament of Scotland. The ratification will be found in Appendix G; it recites the license. It would appear from a Scots Act pa.s.sed 16th November 1641, that several n.o.blemen and gentlemen had obtained monopolies of other manufactures,--probably about the same time. That act brought these monopolies to an end in the same year (1641) that Sir George Hay's monopoly of the manufacture of iron expired. Whether Sir George carried on ironworks elsewhere than on Loch Maree we know not, but it is most likely that they were his princ.i.p.al, if not his only, undertakings of the kind.

In 1613 a proclamation was made by the Privy Council restraining the export of iron ore out of the country, so that the enterprise of the new industry should not be hindered or disappointed (Appendix G). If the act of 1609 prohibiting the making of iron with wood had been obtained by an enemy of Sir George Hay's, the adverse influence of the foe was now at an end. Possibly Sir George had by this time returned from the Highlands, for we find that in 1616 he was appointed Clerk-Register. If so, his personal influence may have over-ridden that of his former political enemies. Under this proclamation Sir George became able to procure the clayband ironstone almost at his own price. He used it extensively both at Furnace (Letterewe) and at the Red Smiddy, as well as at Talladale.

There is another record relating to Sir George Hay's iron manufacture; it is the curious license anent selling of his iron, granted to him by a Scots Act, dated 4th August 1621, and printed in Appendix G. It purports to be a license to Sir George to carry his iron to any port or harbour of the free burghs royal, and to dispose of the same to any person notwithstanding the privileges and liberties of the burghs. This license, granted fourteen years after the commencement of the Letterewe ironworks, testifies to the vigour with which the enterprise had been pushed. It would seem that the quant.i.ty of iron produced now only required a free market. The monopoly granted to Sir George, the proclamation restraining the export of iron ore, and the special license he now obtained for selling his iron in royal burghs, were exceptional provisions, which would now-a-days be considered antagonistic to cherished political principles. To what extent Sir George profited from the advantages granted to him we cannot tell. That he became a rich man there seems no doubt, and the ironworks on Loch Maree may have added to his wealth.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE MINISTER'S STONE, ARDLAIR.]

John Roy Mackenzie was the prudent, business-like, and hospitable laird of Gairloch during the residence at Letterewe of Sir George Hay, who appears to have had a furnace at Talladale on John Roy's Gairloch estate. Doubtless some intercourse took place between them, but as John Roy had been previously engaged in warfare, and could not, so far as we can judge from the story of his youth, have been a man of much culture, it is unlikely that he and Sir George became very intimate. But Sir George, the learned lawyer and man of science, had a thoroughly congenial friend in the great Latin scholar the Rev. Farquhar MacRae, vicar of Gairloch, whose house at Ardlair was but a three miles' walk or row from Letterewe House. The account given in Appendix A proves that the friends.h.i.+p of this accomplished and genial clergyman was much appreciated by Sir George, who endeavoured to induce Mr MacRae to accompany him when he himself returned to the south. A remarkable rock or stone at Ardlair, called "The minister's stone" (_see ill.u.s.tration_), is still pointed out as the place where Mr MacRae used to preach in English and Gaelic. No doubt he also preached at Letterewe; and we are told that he "did not only please the country people, but also the strangers, especially George Hay." The interesting memoir of Mr MacRae, in Appendix A, is well worth perusal; he married in 1611, and brought his bride to the parsonage at Ardlair, where several of his children were born. Unquestionably the refined life of the vicar and his family at their beautiful and retired home, would be more enjoyable to Sir George than the rougher habits of the natives of the country, nay, even than the society of the fighting laird of Gairloch himself.

The date when Sir George left Letterewe is not certain; the reason of his departure is plain,--he had superior calls on his presence in the south. After he left his Highland retreat his career was one of unbroken success and distinction. In 1616 he was appointed Clerk-Register, and on 16th July 1622 he was const.i.tuted High Chancellor of Scotland. He was raised to the Peerage by the t.i.tle of Viscount Duplin and Lord Hay of Kinfauns in 1627, and was created Earl of Kinnoull by patent dated at York 25th May 1633. As chancellor he won "the approbation of the whole kingdom, and the applause of all good men, for his justice, integrity, sound judgment, and eminent sufficiency." He died in London in 1634, aged sixty-two. Some account of the statue of his lords.h.i.+p, of the epitaph on his monument, and of the portraits of him still extant (_see ill.u.s.trations_), will be found in Appendix G. If we may trust the expressions contained in the epitaph, it would almost appear that the iron-founder of Loch Maree became, under his king, the ruler of fair Scotland, for he is termed "the great and grave dictator of our clime."

But the departure of Sir George from Letterewe did not stop the progress of his ironworks on Loch Maree. The concession or monopoly granted by the crown had still many years to run, and the works were unquestionably continued for a long further period under a manager or factor. The last manager is said to have been called John Hay, a name which obviously suggests that he was a relative of Sir George.

In the Gairloch churchyard is a picturesque tombstone, evidently of considerable age. It has a well carved skull and cross bones, and underneath them a s.h.i.+eld (originally faced with a bra.s.s), with a design below it resembling an inverted fleur-de-lis. At either side of the s.h.i.+eld are the letters I and H, of large size. The inscription round the border of the stone is only partly legible. It runs as follows:--

* * R ? LYIS ? IOHNE ? HAY ? SON * * HAY ? OF ? KIRKLAND ? WHO ?

DIED ? AT ? LOCH * * * * * *

It is said that this stone was sent to the port or wharf at Port na Heile, in Gairloch (the present Gairloch pier), some years after the death of John Hay, to be placed over his grave; that he was the last manager of the Letterewe ironworks; that he died, and was probably buried, at or near Letterewe; that the stone lay at the port for many years; and that, ultimately, when the situation of John Hay's grave had been forgotten, Sir Alexander Mackenzie, the second baronet and ninth laird of Gairloch (who succeeded 1703, came of age 1721, and died 1766), authorised one William Fraser to place the stone in the burial-place of his (Fraser's) family, where it now lies. It is added that "Sir Alexander received a stone from William Fraser for it."

[Ill.u.s.tration: McLAGAN & c.u.mMING, LITH, EDINR

SIR GEORGE HAY, 1ST EARL OF KINNOULL, HIGH CHANCELLOR OF SCOTLAND, THE IRONFOUNDER OF LOCH MAREE, FROM A PORTRAIT IN DUPPLIN CASTLE, ATTRIBUTED TO GEORGE JAMESONE, THE SCOTTISH VANDYCK.]

These statements about the Hay tombstone are from the mouth of James Mackenzie, who says that William Fraser and his own grandfather were first cousins, and that the facts about the gravestone were told him on their authority when he was young. He is corroborated by other old Gairloch men.

Although this John Hay, whose father appears from the tombstone to have been Mr Hay of Kirkland, was probably a relation of Sir George Hay, it is impossible to fix the degree of relations.h.i.+p. Sir George Hay's father had three sons, Patrick, George, and Peter. This Peter was designated as of Kirkland of Megginch. He had a son called Francis, whose great-grandson Thomas succeeded to the earldom of Kinnoull, on the direct line of Sir George Hay, the first earl, becoming extinct in the person of William, the fifth earl, in 1709. Possibly Peter Hay had a son known as James Hay of Kirkland, or else some collateral relation of the family bore that designation, for we gather from a short account of the parish of St Martins, Perths.h.i.+re, contained in a footnote to the account of that parish in the Old Statistical Account, that a James Hay acquired Kirkland by an exchange with Mr John Strachan, minister of St Martins.

The son, Thomas, of this minister, "after his return from his travels, when he had waited on the earl of Kinnowel his son as his governour for the s.p.a.ce of three years, became conjunct with his father, and died minister there in the year 1671." Kirkland was a "good manor house;" it was built of old by the abbot of Halyrood-house, and was afterwards the minister's manse. It is possible that this Kirkland may not have been the same as Kirkland of Megginch. In all probability, however, John Hay, the last manager of the Loch Maree ironworks, was a son of James Hay, and the latter was a relative of the great Sir George. It was indeed natural that Sir George should prefer to entrust his ironworks to a relative rather than to a stranger.

After the death of the Earl of Kinnoull, his ironworks appear to have fallen into a languis.h.i.+ng condition, possibly from the timber being exhausted. In Knox's Tour it is stated that Mr Alexander Mackenzie of Lochend, in 1786, told the author (Mr Knox) that cannon were still made at Poolewe in 1668. Mr Mackenzie said his grandfather had "lent ten thousand marks to the person or persons who carried on the works, for which he got in return the back of an old grate and some hammers." It is curious that these relics are the only remains known to have existed (except the breech of a cannon and some small pigs of iron) of the productions of the Loch Maree ironworks. The "back of an old grate" was no doubt the same as that which Mr Dounie told Pennant of, and the hammers, or at least one of them, must have been the same as existed in living memory. (See Part I., chap. xx.)

So far as we can judge, the ironworks were discontinued soon after the date of the loan mentioned by Mr Mackenzie of Lochend. Thus the undertaking was carried on for a period of at least sixty years. Local tradition affirms that the industry was prolonged into the eighteenth century, but there is nothing to confirm the tradition except the story of the Gille Buidhe (Part I., chap. xiv.); it speaks of men living in 1746 as being sons of one of the last of the Letterewe ironworkers.

The artisans employed by Sir George Hay are said by some to have been from Fife, by others to have been Welsh, and by all to have been "English." But this last term only means that the ironworkers spoke English, for as truly remarked by the Rev. Donald MacRae, minister of Poolewe (Appendix E), "Highlanders look upon all who do not speak the Gaelic language as Sasganaich [_Sasunnach_] or Englishmen."

The names Cross, Bethune or Beaton, and Kemp, are still known in Gairloch parish as belonging to descendants of the ironworkers. Cross is a common Lancas.h.i.+re name. Mr D. William Kemp, of Trinity, who has read a valuable paper on old ironworks in Sutherlands.h.i.+re to the Scottish Society of Arts, says that the name Kemp is very uncommon in Wales, but is a north of England name, and was common in c.u.mberland after the fourteenth century, artisans of that surname having settled in that county in the reign of Edward III.

It is probable that Sir George Hay's artisans were mostly from Fife; they were very likely some of the men who had been taken by the "Fife Adventurers" to the Lews, with the object (frustrated as we have seen) of establis.h.i.+ng a colony there. To these Fifes.h.i.+re men were no doubt added a few (including a Cross and a Kemp) who had come with iron ore from Lancas.h.i.+re or c.u.mberland. Of course all of them were ignorant of Gaelic.

These ironworkers remained in Gairloch for several generations; some of them became permanently settled in the parish. It is said that at one time an epidemic of smallpox carried off a number of them. Narrators of Gairloch traditions differ as to where the ironworkers buried their dead. Some believe it was at the burial-place on flat ground near the head of Loch Maree, which is accordingly called to this day Cladh nan Sasunnach, or "the Englishman's churchyard," but others say, with more probability, that the beautiful burial-ground on Isle Maree was their place of sepulture. This last view is in accord with the information obtained by Dr Arthur Mitch.e.l.l (Part II., chap. xi.), and appears to be the better opinion.

I do not think the Cladh nan Sasunnach was used for interment so recently as the time of Sir George Hay's undertaking. I examined this strange place on 12th May 1884. There are indications of twenty-four graves, all with the feet pointed towards the east, and all covered more or less with large unwrought stones. There are head and foot stones more or less distinct to all the graves, which, from their dimensions, might well be called the graves of giants. I opened two of the graves in different parts of the group to the depth of four or five feet, in fact as far as the ground was workable with ordinary pick and spade. In the first grave opened, a cavity, filled with water, eighteen inches deep and much wider than the grave, was reached at a depth of between two and three feet, and below that the stratum was nearly as hard as concrete.

There were no indications whatever of organic remains. In the case of the second grave opened, which was the largest and most marked of the group, no water was reached and no remains were found. To the depth of about four feet the gravel was comparatively loose, as if it had been wrought at some time. Below that it was so hard that evidently it had never been moved by man. Now, had there been interments here in the seventeenth century, there must surely have been some traces of them. My own opinion is, that these graves date back some centuries earlier than the ironworks, in fact to the period when tradition says it was usual to bury the dead in shallow graves sc.r.a.ped out of hard gravel, and then to cover the graves with large stones, the hardness of the gravel and the weight of the superinc.u.mbent stones being intended to hinder wolves from exhuming the bodies.

We should like to know more about the ironworks, and particularly about the men who were employed at the furnaces, and their families and circ.u.mstances. The struggles that had engaged the MacBeaths, Macdonalds, M'Leods, and Mackenzies for two centuries, and had rendered Gairloch a veritable battlefield, were at an end in Sir George Hay's time. With the exception of occasional raids on Gairloch by Lochaber and other cattle-lifters, there was now peace throughout the parish. The Scots Act of 27th January 1609 (Appendix G) speaks of the "present generall obedience" of the Highlands, as contrasted with the previous "savagness of the inhabitantis." Letterewe was then, as now, a peculiarly retired spot; there is still no access to it for wheeled vehicles; Sir George Hay's choice of it as a retreat from political troubles confirms the view that it was safe and secluded; the mountains behind Letterewe had long been a favourite hunting-ground of the lords of Kintail (Part I., chap. iv.); and we may well believe that Sir George and his men were able not only to carry on their business without interruption, but also to enjoy in peace the sport afforded by the district. At the same time, it must be remembered that the natives were still in a half savage condition, miserably fed, clothed, and housed, and entirely dest.i.tute of education. Very loose notions of morality were prevalent; and to a great extent the old principle that "might is right" still ruled the daily life of the people. They say that some of the ironworkers, severed from home ties, and finding themselves far away from the executive of the law, became reprobates. One of the latest of the ironworkers, or a son of one of them, was known as the Sasunnach Mor, or "Big Englishman"; he is said to have been a wild character. A crofter and carter now living at Londubh is a great-grandson of the Sasunnach Mor; the last Mackenzie of Kernsary testified, in the presence of persons now living, to the descent of this Londubh crofter from the Sasunnach Mor. But whatever were the idiosyncrasies, either of the early or of the latest ironworkers, there can be no doubt that they all led rough and almost lawless lives in their wild Highland homes.

Chapter XIX.

THE IRON ORES USED IN GAIRLOCH.

The first question that most people ask, when they hear of the ironworks in the parish of Gairloch, is,--Where did the iron that was smelted come from? The answer can only be supplied by an examination of the remains of the ironworks now to be met with, and of their neighbourhood. Of records bearing on the subject there are none. There are but two incidental notices that help to throw light on the question; both are comparatively modern.

The Bennetsfield MS. speaks of "the woods of Letterewe, where there was an iron mine which they wrought by English miners."

The New Statistical Account (Appendix E), in the account of Gairloch written by the Rev. Donald MacRae in 1836, says, "Sir James Kay [Sir George Hay] sent several people to work at veins of iron ore on the estate of Letterewe."

Let us discuss the questions of the ores used at the ancient bloomeries and at the historic ironworks under separate heads.

I.--AT THE ANCIENT BLOOMERIES.

It has been already stated (Part I., chap. xvii.) that bog iron was the source whence the ancient ironworkers of Gairloch obtained their metal, so that the terms "iron mine" and "veins of iron ore" quoted above must be considered as referring--unwittingly perhaps--to it. The ingredients of ancient Gairloch iron slags, as ascertained by Professor Ivison Macadam, shew that they have unquestionably resulted from the smelting of bog iron. His a.n.a.lyses and conclusions will in due time be made public; they will prove that the iron ore used at the ancient ironworks in the parish of Gairloch was undoubtedly bog iron.

Mention has been made of ferruginous rocks, shales, and earths existing in the vicinity of the old ironworks. Local tradition affirms that these were the sources of the iron used in the old days. It appears certain that bog iron was found in the vicinity of these ferruginous strata,--probably derived from them,--but they cannot have been the subjects of the ancient iron-smelting. Mr Macadam finds that the richest samples of them do not yield more than 8 per cent. of metallic iron, and that the sulphur they contain does not occur in the slags produced at the furnaces, as would have been the case had they been used.

The most abundant and apparent of these rocks is the large band of ferruginous stone that runs from Letterewe, in a south-easterly direction, along the sh.o.r.es of Loch Maree to the further end of the base of Slioch. It is so extensive, and so rusty in colour, that it can be easily discerned from the county road on the opposite side of the loch.

Similar ferruginous rock appears in several other places, as far at least as to the head of Glen Dochartie, but not so abundantly, and therefore not so conspicuously. It also occurs in other parts of Gairloch parish. Gairloch people point out several places where they say this ferruginous rock was quarried, viz.: (1) on the south side of the Furnace burn at Letterewe, nearly a quarter of a mile above the site of the iron furnace; (2) on the face of the ridge immediately behind and above the cultivated land at Innis Ghlas; (3) at Coppachy; and (4) in a gully, called Clais na Leac, at the north-west end of the cultivated land at Smiorsair. At each of these places there are exposed scaurs or escarpments of the ferruginous rock, which are said to have been the results of quarrying, but which are much more like natural fractures. We may therefore dismiss the tradition that iron ore was obtained directly from these supposed quarries as not only unreliable but impossible.

The absence of bog iron in the neighbourhoods of the Gairloch iron furnaces or bloomeries is quite intelligible; it was no doubt all consumed by the ironworkers. Considerable quant.i.ties of bog iron are still to be seen in other parts of Gairloch, and their frequent occurrence throughout the parish confirms the contention that this description of ore formerly existed near the bloomeries, and was used at them. Most bog iron is rich in the useful metal. Mr Macadam has a.n.a.lysed a sample from Golspie, submitted by Dr Joa.s.s, and has found it to contain 54 per cent. of metallic iron. Some Gairloch samples are nearly as rich, as will be seen from the results of Mr Macadam's a.n.a.lyses stated below.

The deposits of bog iron are locally called by the descriptive name of "pans." The following is a list of places where these deposits occur within the parish of Gairloch, as so far noticed by Mr Macadam and myself:--

1. In the churchyard at Sand of Udrigil.

2. At the highest point on the road between Aultbea and Laide.

3. In the village of Cove; ma.s.ses of bog iron are built into fence walls.

4. Near Meallan na Ghamhna.

5. Near the Inverasdale Board School, where there are three "pans."

6. In the towns.h.i.+p of Strath of Gairloch; the "pans" have been broken up; they say there were several of them.

7. At the north-west end of the towns.h.i.+p of Lonmor; here too the "pans" have been broken up, and lumps of bog iron are to be seen in walls or d.y.k.es. Mr Macadam has found 51 per cent. of metallic iron in a heavy sample from this place.

8. Among the sand hills at the easternmost corner of the farm of Little Sand; one "pan" is entire; another is partly broken up. Mr Macadam's a.n.a.lysis shews 51 per cent. of metallic iron in a sample from this place.

9. At North Erradale; "pans" broken up. Mr Macadam states that a heavy sample of bog iron from this place yields 49 per cent., and a sandy portion 38 per cent. of metallic iron.