Ballachulish
The village of
Ballachulish ( from the
Gaelic Baile Chaolais ) in
Lochaber,
Highland,
Scotland, is centred around the former
slate quarries. The name Ballachulish (pronounced Bah - lah - hoolish) was more correctly applied to the area now called
North Ballachulish, to the north of
Loch Leven, but was usurped for the quarry villages at
East Laroch and
West Laroch, either side of the
River Laroch, which were actually within
Glencoe and
South Ballachulish respectively.
The principal industry is now
tourism, although most visitors pass swiftly by the village itself.
Shinty is a popular local sport and the village is the traditional boundary of the North/South divide in
shinty, with teams north of the village playing in the North district's competitions and those South playing in their respective competitions. However, Ballachulish is still considerably far North in relation to most of Scotland.
The name Ballachulish (in
Gaelic,
Baile a' chaolais) means "settlement on the strait". The
strait in question is
Caolas Mhic Phadraig - Peter or Patrick's narrows, at the mouth of Loch Leven.
As there was no road to the head of Loch Leven, until it was built in 1927, the Ballachulish ferry, established in 1733, and that at Caolas na Con were essential. The Ballachulish ferry closed in December 1975 when the
Ballachulish Bridge finally opened.
The Ballachulish Hotel (Tigh Craig), and Ballachulish House (now a country house hotel) are located near the narrows at (south) Ballachulish Ferry rather than in the 'modern' village some three miles east. Ballachulish House was reputed to be haunted, and the drive leading to it was ridden by a headless horseman.
The hamlet of
Glenachulish (pronounced Glen - ah - hoolish) lies in Gleann a'Chaolais, the glen that runs down to the narrows. This is the subject of the beautiful
Gaelic Song,
Gleann Bhaile Chaoil. Gleann a'Chaolais is ringed by
Beinn a'Bheithir (pronounced Ben Vair), a massif which contains two
munros -
Sgorr Dhearg and
Sgorr Domhnuill. Glenachulish originally consisted of a row of
forestry houses, with the head forester's house some hundred yards up the road. In recent years a number of new houses have been built locally along with holiday chalets and an
art gallery. In recent years the fields of Gleann a'Chaolias have been turned into a 9-hole
golf course.
Overlooking the narrows is the monument to
James of the Glen, "hanged on this spot for a crime of which he was not guilty".
Robert Louis Stevenson based his novel
Kidnapped around the story of the
Appin Murder. Whoever did kill the
Red Fox (Campbell of Glenure) is still not known, but the story is a reminder that a people subject to unjust occupation and persecution, as the
Jacobite Highlanders were, will sometimes resort to
violence and
terrorism.
In 1903 an extension to the
Oban and
Callander branch of the
Caledonian Railway, from
Connel Ferry, was opened to Ballachulish. The site of the former railway halt of Ballachulish Ferry, the penultimate stop on the line before the Laroch quarries, was next to Ballachulish House some 1/2 mile inland from the ferry. Traces of the line, which closed with the quarries in 1966, remain between here and Connel Ferry. The old terminus station at Laroch (Ballachulish) is now an award winning Doctor's Surgery. The halt, and Stationmaster's House, at
Keil, Duror, is now a private house and the halt at
Creagan, some 20 miles south, has been refurbished in its old tradition Caledonian brown. The halt in Kentallen (5 miles south of Ballachulish) included a pier. This halt has now been turned into The Holly Tree Hotel.
Slate from the quarries, established just 2 years after the infamous
Glencoe Massacre of 1692, was used to cover many of the roofs of
Victorian Glasgow. It is of good quality but one weakness is the presence of
Iron Pyrite in the rock. These crystals quickly rust away when exposed to the weather, leaving clean square holes and a brown rusty streak. Over 75% of the slate cut from the quarries was unusable as roof covering for this and other reasons.
The graveyard of St John's
Episcopal church has some fine gravestones which, unlike many others, look as if they were engraved 'yesterday' having been made from Ballachulish slate.
