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Garbhaig
Iron Works (17th Century)
Site Name Garbhaig
Classification Iron Works (17th Century)
Alternative Name(s) Garavaig
Canmore ID 11965
Site Number NG87SE 3
NGR NG 894 713
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/11965
- Council Highland
- Parish Gairloch
- Former Region Highland
- Former District Ross And Cromarty
- Former County Ross And Cromarty
NG87SE 3 894 713.
The Garavaig bloomeries were probably among the earliest of the ancient Gairloch ironworks. No date can be assigned to them but the author suggests that they may even be Iron Age.
'The Garavaig furnace stood in a slight hollow in the east corner of what is now the eastermost field of the Slatadale farm, close to where the Garavaig burn runs into Loch Maree. They say the water-power of the burn was anciently increased by artificial means. When first ex- amined, the field where the furnace stood was newly plough- ed, and part of it was stained black with fragments of charcoal, indicating extensive burning. 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 author earlier describes 'No. 1 slag' as a dark black slag, compact and heavy, in some cases slightly porous; the percentage of iron is high, in some cases more than half, and classifies as 'ancient' all the ironworks that existed in the area before the early 17th century). 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 operat- ions 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 "plans" of bog iron might have occurred'.
J H Dixon 1886.
The water power of the burn that supplied the Slatadale ironworks was increased by a cut which 'far up the hillside abstracted some of the water from Loch-na-h-Oidhche (the loch of night), otherwise flowing
down the other side of the water-shed.'
J H Dixon.
'Meall na Meine' (Name Book 1875) ('Hill of the ore or mine') at NG 881 697 may be connected with these ironworks.
Information from OS office recorder D Travis, 14 March 1961; Name Book 1875.
Area centred NG 8945 7135. No trace of any iron-workings were seen in area indicated, nor was the location of the furnace found.
Visited by OS (W D J) 30 September 1964.
Project (August 1996 - November 1996)
NH 011 654 Between August and November 1996 a programme of assessment, survey and excavation was undertaken around Loch Maree, Wester Ross, and specifically on the early 17th-century ironworks at Fasagh. The work focused on the assessment of previously identified ironworking sites, topographic survey, geophysical survey, excavations, and test-pits in support of the geophysics.
In August 1996 an assessment of the Loch Maree area was undertaken as the initial step in the fieldwork programme. In the case of the previously identified bloomery sites no evidence of iron production was noted. The blast furnaces on the other hand remain as impressive monuments. No new bloomery localities were located on the burns traversed. Additional information was recovered for the sites of Fasagh, Letterewe and Red Smiddy, including at Letterewe the presence of haematite ore, and at Red Smiddy and Fasagh the location of settlement possibly related to them and also further structural components of these ironworks.
NG 894 713 Site of Gharbaig, canalised burn, narrow curvilinear channel 15 x 0.2m.
An interim report on this work will be lodged with the NMRS.
Sponsors: Historic Scotland, Letterewe Estate.
J A Atkinson, M Donnelly, J Duncan, O Lelong and E Photos-Jones 1997
Unspecified Geophysical Survey Technique (August 1996 - November 1996)
NH 011 654 Between August and November 1996 a programme of assessment, survey and excavation was undertaken around Loch Maree, Wester Ross, and specifically on the early 17th-century ironworks at Fasagh.
Geophysical survey.
Sponsors: Historic Scotland, Letterewe Estate.
J A Atkinson, M Donnelly, J Duncan, O Lelong and E Photos-Jones 1997
