Gairloch in North-West Ross-Shire: Its Records, Traditions, Inhabitants, and Natural History, with a Guide to Gairloch and Loch Maree, and a Map and IllustrationsDixon, John H. (John Henry)
History
Gairloch in North-West Ross-Shire: Its Records, Traditions, Inhabitants, and Natural History, with a Guide to Gairloch and Loch Maree, and a Map and Illustrations
Dixon, John H. (John Henry)
Gairloch (Scotland) -- Guidebooks; Gairloch (Scotland) -- History; Ross and Cromarty (Scotland) -- History
The Garavaig furnace stood in a slight hollow in the east corner of what
is now the easternmost field of the Slatadale farm, close to where the
Garavaig burn (on which are the Victoria Falls) runs into Loch Maree.
They say the water-power of the burn was anciently increased by
artificial means. When I first examined the field where the furnace
stood it was newly ploughed, and part of it was stained black with
fragments of charcoal, indicating extensive burnings. The farmer stated
that he had buried immense quantities of slag in the drains and soil of
this recently reclaimed field. There are still numerous fragments of No.
1 slag on the surface, so that the furnace belonged to the ancient
class. The farmer said that he had noticed indications of there having
been a furnace in the slight hollow already mentioned, and the fragments
of slag are thickest there. The agricultural operations have reduced the
place almost to a dead level. No kind of iron ore is found, but the
locality is just the place where one would have expected "pans" of bog
iron might have occurred.
6. RED SMIDDY, NEAR POOLEWE.
The remains of the iron furnace on the river Ewe are still called A
Cheardach Ruadh, or "the Red Smiddy." They are more perfect, and
therefore to some extent more attractive to one studying the subject,
than any of the others. Unquestionably they are also more recent. That
the Red Smiddy was part of Sir George Hay's undertaking appears certain;
but it was very likely under his manager or factor that it was
established, and probably a number of years later than the Letterewe
furnace. The slags are exclusively of class No. 2, and closely resemble
those formed in blast-furnaces at the present day, thus demonstrating
the progress Sir George made in the art of the manufacture of iron after
his commencement at Letterewe. Mr Macadam finds that this light slag is
completely soluble in acids, and that it contains 16 per cent. of oxide
of calcium, and only 23 per cent. of metallic iron. The ore found on the
bank above the Red Smiddy and elsewhere near its remains are of the No.
3 class. Many of the fragments of ore have been roasted. This process
does not seem to have been adopted at any of the other furnaces. It is
another indication of the more recent date of the Red Smiddy, and of the
improvements in the methods pursued there. The Letterewe and Talladale
furnaces appear to have been originally established solely for the
smelting of bog iron (No. 1). Gradually the paucity of that ore, the
advantage of mixing imported ores with it, and their superior quality,
led to the introduction of the latter; and then the convenience of
having a furnace near the place where these imported ores were landed,
led to the establishment of the Red Smiddy. No doubt timber for charcoal
burning was at first obtainable in every direction, and afterwards, if
there were not a sufficient quantity standing near the Red Smiddy, it
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