May 18, 2015
Yesterday was a travel day to make our way to Loch Lomond. Before leaving however we dropped in to the Dunstaffnage Castle to have a quick look inside. This stone fortress and several others we are seeing lately, are built on large rock outcroppings. It would have been a formidable obstacle to anyone attempting to gain access to the area.
We drove on to grab a glance at another estate guardian, the Kilchurn castle. This required a bit of a walk out to the ruins, but was set right at waters edge of the Loch Awe. We had the chance to see this one twice, since a glove and dropped in the parking lot and we backtracked about 45 minutes to retrieve it. As cold and wet as it is, we really wanted to find it. I simply drove extra fast to make up the time!
An interesting side trip introduced us to an 18th century site that processed metal ore. At the Bonawe Historic Iron Furnace, charcoal was used to fuel huge kilns to melt down the iron ore that was in great demand. This area was filled with forests and they trimmed off many of the branches every 16 years allowing the tree to regrow for future use. The wood was then burned to form charcoal that was hauled to the smelting area. A long canal was dug from the nearby river to power a water wheel that in turn energized the massive bellows which kept the fires hot. The raw products were poured into the top of the furnace and the processed pig iron was drained out the bottom. Very labour intensive!
It was in the town of Inveraray that we enjoyed a brief afternoon snack and realized the glove had gone missing. We then made it to our new home at the South end of Loch Lomond. We are on a small family farm raising plants for the local markets. Our home includes their 2 teenage children and sits on immaculate landscaped grounds.
Our fellow house guests were a group of three men who are traveling on a photographic adventure and were here for only one night. They were fun to talk with and share a few stories.
Today is my (Kathy) day to pursue some family history. I know that my 3rd Great-grandfather, James Monach, worked at a company called Dillichip and Milburn. He left that company in 1837 and emigrated to the United States. These were companies involved in the textile dying and stamping industry situated along the River Leven which flows out of Loch Lomond. We began our search at the Visit Scotland Visitors Center here in Balloch. The kind lady directed us to the Dumbarton Library to speak to the historian. Tim navigated a series or roundabouts skillfully and we arrived at the library...but due to a funeral at the church nearby there was no place to park! We finally found a nearby shopping center parking lot and found our way back to the library.
The historian and her assistant were very helpful in providing us books, photos and maps of the Dillichip and Milburn Companies. The textile companies were very successful during the 19th century, dying fabric and finding a process to produce a color called Turkey Red. The process included the use of a plant called Madder, sheep dung, bulls' blood and rancid olive oil. Lovely! But we had beautiful red fabric! I found out that American cowboys' bandanas were Turkey Red.
Leaving the library we made our way to the Dumbarton Castle...and yes, Mary Queen of Scots had been there also when she was a very young child. She was kept safe there before being sent to France to be raised out of the reaches of the English.
Yesterday was a travel day to make our way to Loch Lomond. Before leaving however we dropped in to the Dunstaffnage Castle to have a quick look inside. This stone fortress and several others we are seeing lately, are built on large rock outcroppings. It would have been a formidable obstacle to anyone attempting to gain access to the area.
We drove on to grab a glance at another estate guardian, the Kilchurn castle. This required a bit of a walk out to the ruins, but was set right at waters edge of the Loch Awe. We had the chance to see this one twice, since a glove and dropped in the parking lot and we backtracked about 45 minutes to retrieve it. As cold and wet as it is, we really wanted to find it. I simply drove extra fast to make up the time!
An interesting side trip introduced us to an 18th century site that processed metal ore. At the Bonawe Historic Iron Furnace, charcoal was used to fuel huge kilns to melt down the iron ore that was in great demand. This area was filled with forests and they trimmed off many of the branches every 16 years allowing the tree to regrow for future use. The wood was then burned to form charcoal that was hauled to the smelting area. A long canal was dug from the nearby river to power a water wheel that in turn energized the massive bellows which kept the fires hot. The raw products were poured into the top of the furnace and the processed pig iron was drained out the bottom. Very labour intensive!
It was in the town of Inveraray that we enjoyed a brief afternoon snack and realized the glove had gone missing. We then made it to our new home at the South end of Loch Lomond. We are on a small family farm raising plants for the local markets. Our home includes their 2 teenage children and sits on immaculate landscaped grounds.
Our fellow house guests were a group of three men who are traveling on a photographic adventure and were here for only one night. They were fun to talk with and share a few stories.
Leaving the library we made our way to the Dumbarton Castle...and yes, Mary Queen of Scots had been there also when she was a very young child. She was kept safe there before being sent to France to be raised out of the reaches of the English.
Dumbarton also has a beautiful bridge over the River Leven and the start of a path that runs along the river from Dumbarton to Balloch. We drove to Renton to begin our walk closer to the buildings that are still there from the Dillichip Works. It is a lovely walk along the river and we soon found supports for the railroad trestle that spanned the river enabling the companies to get their product to markets all over the world. We also found the buildings by sight and by smell as they are now used for the storage of Whisky.
After walking awhile we finally found a bridge over the river and began to walk back hoping to get closer to the Dillichip buildings and find a toilet! Walking by an old church, a lady asks if there is something in particular that we are looking for. I tell her my two quests: Dillichip and a toilet. She offers her house which is nearby. Her name is Jane and she is so sweet and even offers us tea! Now ready to carry on, we found the buildings, but they are behind locked gates. Tim gets what photos he can and we make our way back to the car. (We returned the next morning and press the button outside the gate and ask if we can come in to get some photos, since my great-grandfather worked there in the 1800's, but we were denied!)
For dinner we drove to the Conservation town of Luss on the west side of Loch Lomond. It is a quaint town with little stone houses and colorful flower gardens. This is a lovely end to my family research day. However I got way laid finishing last night as we had a lively conversation with our host and hostess, Maggie and Kenny. It came out that Kenny is a fire fighter and he was quite interested in talking about it once he knew our son was a fire fighter also. What was interesting is how invasive the media is over here in the UK. Part of Kenny's job is trying to keep the media away from seeing what the emergency personnel are doing. He explained that the first think they do when arriving at an incident is erect boundary tapes and barriers to keep the media away. Then they go fight the fire!
Tim and Kathy
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