Scheduled Maintenance
Please be advised that this website will undergo scheduled maintenance on the following dates: •
Tuesday 3rd December 11:00-15:00
During these times, some services may be temporarily unavailable. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.
Mains Of Arisaig
Farmstead (Period Unassigned), Lade (19th Century), Saw Mill (19th Century)
Site Name Mains Of Arisaig
Classification Farmstead (Period Unassigned), Lade (19th Century), Saw Mill (19th Century)
Alternative Name(s) Airsaig Canal
Canmore ID 277550
Site Number NM68NE 51
NGR NM 66619 86249
NGR Description NM 66734 86046 to NM 66005 86145
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/277550
- Council Highland
- Parish Arisaig And Moidart
- Former Region Highland
- Former District Lochaber
- Former County Inverness-shire
Mains, 1850s An 'improved' farm complex connected to the loch by canal to facilitate transport of timber etc., the group including: a polite farmhouse, stable, bothy, cart shed, sawmill with tall chimney and stone-lined lade. Faire na Sgurr, George Jack, 1902 Virtually untouched Arts & Crafts house built for Miss Constance Astley, its English Arts & Crafts manner fused with a Scottish sturdiness, now all enveloped by lush, blowsy gardens. Tile hanging and weatherboarding are mixed with unharled walls of dark-pinned rubble and sweeping expanses of slate. The plans are said to have been overseen by an elderly Philip Webb, who allowed one of his chimneypiece designs to be used (modified) in the sitting room. Notable features include the tower-like fusion of gable and chimney and a two-storey sunroom with tiled stove designed specially for Miss Astley, who suffered from TB. Other idiosyncracies testify to her involvement with the arts, including an original dark room and a relief of St. Michael inset above a plaque inscribed with a Gaelic poem.
Taken from "Western Seaboard: An Illustrated Architectural Guide", by Mary Miers, 2008. Published by the Rutland Press http://www.rias.org.uk
Public Site Comment (8 May 2017)
A saw mill was built at Mains of Arisaig. Timber from that saw mill was transported via a stone lined and rock cut water channel or lade, which is depicted and annotated on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Inverness-shire 1876, sheet cxxi) as 'Canal'. A tender dated 20th February 1953 for the lade was issued by James Alexander, Mains of Arisaig, in the Inverness Courier for the deepening the Airsaig Water-Course.
The lade runs from Loch nan Eala (NM 66734 86046) to the sea (NM 66005 86145). At NM 66531 86240 where the channel has been widened there is perhaps a "quay" where the sawn timber was put in the water to float out to sea. At least two stone bridges cross the lade.
Information from M Briscoe to HES 8 May 2017
