"Glenmoriston of the Past"

Up to the middle of the last century most salmon fishing in Loch Ness or the Moriston estuary was with net and cobble or other means now forbidden by law. The Glenmoriston who died in 1868 employed a man to catch both salmon and "black fish", in other words trout, for his table. Presumably the sportsmen who started coming up for the shooting also made enquiries as to the availability of salmon angling in the river, as a result of this the trustees naturally considered this potential source of income. From expert opinion it appeared that the salmon run on the river could be considerably improved by the construction of a ladder to ease the ascent of the Invermoriston Falls. In the year 1872 a detailed survey of the river bed was made with this object in view. Apart from the technical problems involved with the tremendous fluctuations in the volume of flow there was a legal problem in that Lord Lovat owned the south bank of the river from its mouth to the Inverwick march, at the Alt Ghadaiche (see note). Unfortunately the survey had indicated that the proposed ladder would be better placed on his Lordship's side, but in any case it was deemed prudent to sound Lovat before interfering at all with the river bed. He applied to this approach by stating that he was not aware that Glenmoriston had any fishing rights on the river and certainly not "ex adverso" his own lands. This was not very helpful but perhaps correct to some extent as there is no mention of salmon fishings in the Glenmoriston title deeds. Lovat in his reply had suggested putting the matter to the Crown but the Glenmoriston Law Agents thought it safer to base their claim, if challenged, to a prescriptive right which could probably be substantiated by past evidence.             After some further sparring it was mutually agreed that Glenmoriaton could construct a ladder at his own expense up his own side of the river, Lovat reserving the right to do the same on his own bank if he so wished or in other words if Glenmoriston's ladder did not prove of any benefit to his Lordship. Later on the two parties made a joint approach to the Commission of His Majesty's Woods and Forests, the appropriate authority in those days, who granted a disposition confirming their salmon rights in the river Moriston and Loch Ness. The ladder was consequently erected by Glenmoriston and on the 29 th of September 1880 came the first recorded report of a salmon being taken by rod and line at Dundreggan, above the Invermoriston Falls.

Other steps taken to improve the river salmon run, by the construction of a hatchery at Bhlairaidh, where the empty pond is still evident. The ova for this hatchery was brought down from Caithness but from what we now know about mortality rate it seems that the quantity involved could not have had any appreciative effect on the salmon stock. Attempts were also made to transfer adult salmon from the Findhorn to the Moriston but with the transport facilities of those days this idea was soon given up. The ladder itself did not produce the desired results and required frequent repair largely due to the heavy ice flow in the Spring. The outcome was that in 1902 when the south bank came back into Glenmoriston's hands, a much more costly "pass" was cut through on that side but the salmon run showed little if any improvement despite this work. The pass upstream entry was closed by the Hydro Electric Board who acquired the river solum in the 1950s and as a result of their works reduced the flow to a considerable extent but in one respect this was case of an "ill wind that blows no good". So long as their turbines at Dundreggan station are in operation the flow from the tail race is more like the river Spey and continues well beyond the river mouth. One fishery expert of the past maintained that it was the sluggish conditions at the river mouth, not the Falls’ ascent that was responsible for the poor salmon run. He advocated the erection of a Dam from which the water could be syphoned into Loch Ness. The salmon catches since the Hydro Board's Lower Moriston work has come into operation certainly justifies his theory though the Estate would probably have ended up in the bankruptcy court if they had put it into practice.

Notes:

I have always been told by the family that my great-aunt Harriet Morrison "brought back" the Port Clair lands, which one of our lairds has lost to Lovat in a wager. From what I can make out from records it was the lands of Dalcattaig that had gone to Lovat and that Port Clair had never been part of the Glenmoriston Estate until Aunt Harriet's purchase on our behalf in the year 1902. I think that I am right in this point for several reasons.

Firstly in the description of the lands covered by the Royal Charter of 1509, there is nothing to indicate the inclusion of Port Clair, an area of some four thousand acres, whereas "Over Inver" and "Nether Inver" are detailed, one of which could well have been Dalcattaig which is geographically a part of Glenmoriston. Furthermore Dalcattaig is listed with -the other lands forfeited by the Laird of Glenmoriston after the 1715 uprising. A feu charter granted by Lovat to the Macleod family covering Rudha Bhan states in the usual description of the extent of the east boundary is "the old Glenmoriston march" which runs up the stream by the pier. Our old Estate map of 1849 shows a march line at this very point up to the shoulder of Strom-a-muic and from there running west along the top to Inverwick. In the year 1753, the surveyor working on the proposed linen station at Invermoriston reported that James Grant, brother of the Laird, farmed several hundred acres at the foot of the Glen on the south side" this farm being part of Lord

Lovat's estate, is now annexed to the Crown." It looks to me therefore that it was some time around the middle of the eighteenth century that Glenmoriston lost his wager and consequently the lands of Dalcattaig, as delineated on the 1849 map.

The Lovat of the Forty-five was executed on Tower hill and his family estates forfeited at least for a time. On the death of Lovat in 1887, the steamer sailing time from Fort Augustus was put forward by fifteen minutes and the Highland railway train departure from Inverness to Beauly was held back all for the convenience of the many mourners. The family by then owned the whole of Stratherrick back to Badenoch, Abertarff and Guisachan quite apart from their extensive possessions further north. Family fortunes certainly do fluctuate. From the nineteenth century correspondence it would seem that the relationship between Lovat and Glenmoriston was strained although on the surface quite friendly. The Lovat of the day was a guest at my grandfather's wedding reception at Prestwick in the year 1658. Perhaps the Lovats would have resented the aquisition by Glenmoriston of the lands of Foyers, Foyer Beg and Knockie which had been in the hands of the Frasers for centuries. On the other side there is little doubt that out family felt bitter about losing a portion of their Glen as a result of the wager with Lovat as mentioned above. While at the top level any animosity may have been glossed over it was quite apparent lower down the ladder. Lovat's factors seem to have been overbearing and uncompromising in their dealings with their opposite numbers and there seems to have been a wide spread dislike and distrust by Glenmoriston folk of his Lordship's regime. The Free Church had gained a strong foothold in Glenmoriston and no doubt religion was to some extent responsible for the i11 feeling. Perhaps it should be added that some of our family such as my Great-Aunt Harriet, donor of our Prebyterain Church at Invermoriston were also rabid anti-Catholic. She bequeathed money to the Protestant Truth Association for Wickliffe Preachers, otherwise known as the "Kensitites", who were in the habit of disrupting church services where they suspected a leaning towards Papistry. No doubt Harriet would have had an additional incentive in recovering the lost land in Glenmoriston from the Fraser Catholics. God rest her soul.

The woods of Glenmoriston have been a source of income to the family for a long time back and the timber operations have provided considerable local employment. Records show that timber from Glenmoriston was used in the construction of Fortrose Cathedral and some of the castles on the Black Isle in the seventeenth century. Between 1758 and 1763 Glenmoriston derived some £2,000 from his woods. In 1765 three local men made an offer to ''float down or transport 12000 logs or trees from the bank or sides of Loch Ness to the shore of Inverness and deliver them to Mr. Munro, Agent for the Darlington Co. Presumably this timber was required for the iron-smelting. In 1768, Patrick Grant gave a very wide ranging concession to the Carron

Co. "for the space of nine crops and nine years." A newspaper cutting records that a thousand logs were, during the flood in 1820, swept down the river from above Torgoyle, taking the bridge there with them. In 1650 a great gale from the North-West blew the thatch off most of the dwellings and blew down some 5000 trees. Much the same thing happened in 1953 in a hurricane from the same direction but fortunately it missed Glenmoriston.

In the old days a continuous supply of timber must have come from natural regeneration and it seems that the first plantings were made around the 1820s. The consultant who was employed in 1868 stated that the Estate could never go wrong by planting oak but like all experts he could not always be right. The writer had some difficulty in finding a buyer for the standing oak in the Bhlairaidh plantations which, sad to say, had to be clear felled to make way for the present Woodland Dedication Scheme. Oak does not in fact do well in our shallow soil in which it is prone to the defect known as "shakes".

Oak bark for the tanning trade was in demand for many years but was replaced by birch bark which fetched 13/-a ton delivered to the Lochside. The Scots pine was no doubt the most valuable timber, the best of it coming from the Inverwick area - which produced logs of large diameter up to 60 feet yielding some 280 cubic feet of timber. While the pine went to the building trade, the mines and tile railways, for sleepers, the oak was used for the construction of goods carriages and other such work. The more recent felling of oak mentioned above, was converted into floating blocks. Larch was planted quite extensively, on Loch Ness side and at Inverwick, selected trees going to the boat building yards on the East Coast, while the bulk was used for fencing stubs; for which purpose it gave reasonable service without the use of preservatives, later in the 19 th century a keen demand arose for birch, partly due to the fact that with the opening of the Caledonian Canal shipment could be made from Glasgow or Dundee. Bobbin mills were erected up the Glen by the river side, at the point now known as the Bobbin Pool and also in the vicinity of the Pier for the needs of the cotton trade and jute mills. In 1877 it was estimated that up to 10,000 tons per annum at 18/- per ton were delivered to the Invermoriston Pier, from where it was lifted every fortnight. Birch logs were also loaded on the Knockie side of the Loch which must have presented some difficulties. In 1870 the ferry lifted 35 tons – the present day load of a timber lorry.

The extraction of timber on the South side of the river must have involved considerable dragging with the horses for which no satisfactory substitute was found until quite recently. However all these operations did provide considerable employment. In 1881, the Estate Forester suggested that money might be available for a replanting programme but the Trustees said that the money was not available. No doubt they were more concerned in paying off the mortgage but it does seem a pity that more could not have been done as regards afforestation. Such of our sporting tenants as Frank Morrison took strong exception to any timber operations which might disturb the deer and in view of the big rents coming from this source it is not surprising that such interests were given preference. It should also be born in mind that the home grower whether of timber or farm produce was given very little encouragement by the governments of the last century who were very much interested in producing cheap food and raw materials for the industrial areas. They had, of course, no "balance of payments" problems.

When the Forestry Commission commenced these operations, they employed our crofting community to a large extent for the planting, weeding and general maintenance but now that their woodlands are reaching maturity, most of the felling and extraction is in the hands of outside contractors. This is largely due to the lack of able-bodied men on the districts. Our Estate commenced an 800-acre Dedication scheme in 1959 and had to depend to a large extent on labour from Morayshire for fencing, planting and other establishment works.

Chapter 12