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Kinlochleven
Kinlochleven maps
Historic maps of Kinlochleven and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Kinlochleven maps
Kinlochleven photos
We have no photos of Kinlochleven, although we do have photos of these nearby places:
Kinlochleven area books
Displaying 1 of 2 books about Kinlochleven and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Kinlochleven
Displaying a selection of personal
memories of Kinlochleven.
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Charles Westland, my Missing Great Grandfather
Charles Westland with his wife, Isabella McTavish of Boleskine, Foyers, returned to Scotland from exile in Liverpool with his four young kids where he had been looking for work. He got work at the smelter in Kinlochleven - maybe sometime between 1907-1912. One night he went out and was never seen again. It broke the heart of my Great Grandmother from which she never ever recovered. Some years later a couple of skeletons were found in the hills near a path that went over the hills to a place where it was well known you could get a drink. Amongst the bones were some gold sovereigns - it seems they went out on pay day but never got their drink - they probably perished in a storm. My grandmother always thought one of these skeletons was the remains of her father.
Does anybody know of this story from the Kinlochleven/Ballachuillish area? Does anybody know how I would find out more?
Morgan... Read more
Argyll memories
Bonawe Ferry Crossing
I lived in Bonawe from 1947-1956. My dad worked in Bonawe Quarries. We left in 1956 to live in Glasgow. I have lived in Yorkshire for over 30 years now but I love to go back to Bonawe. My last visit was 2007, it has changed but I still have my memories. I think the chap who ran the ferry was called "deucher". I am sorry if I have got that wrong. I remember the village store putting a working train set in the shop window at Christmas. I can still see the school, Ardchattan Primary, one classroom and one teacher for all the pupils. We used to cross Loch Etive from Bonawe to Taynuilt by rowing boat for a treat to maybe continue on to Oban for a day out. Happy memories all because of a photograph. Thank-you
Post Office Radio Station
The Maritime Radio service of the Post Office had medium wave radio stations at Wick (Caithness) and Port Patrick (Dumfries & Galloway). As the Minches were a very busy area for fishermen from Fleetwood and Milford Haven, it was decided to put a medium wave station in between and the initial site chosen was the airfield at North Connel. The first station was situated in a caravan. The staff were drafted from other stations around the UK Coast and a 24 hour watch was kept to enhance the safety of life at sea in the northwestern approaches. The staff were Donald Morrison (a Lewisman), Angus Stark, Andrew Brown, Sam Kennedy, Stan Hardman (the token Englishman), Bill Moffat and Bob Mason came later. As time went by the station was moved into more permanent quarters; a Nissan hut left by the RAF. Later, four houses were built for the staff in Connel. This meant that the staff who lived in these houses had to finish their watch at 10 p.m. -... Read more
Cnocaruan
The photograph shows our house in the foreground, originally built in 1890 and has a self-catering extension added on to make the most of the spectacular Falls of Lora. The photos I am looking for are of Connel Bridge under construction. If you do or know of a web page please email cnocaruan@aol.com
Ghost Stories.
As children,we attended Sunday school which was at the base in one of the nissan huts, as we got older it was the church service. After church we would walk to the Castle in pitch darkness, with Tommy and Bet Stewart, telling ghost stories. The castle was a ruin then with walls crumbled, broken doors, which I am sure was vandalism, you could enter into the Castle, not that we did as it was too creepy. It was always an attraction when we were younger. The villagers would gather wood nearby. Folklore had it that the cave on the back beach had a tunnel into the castle, I still don't know if that is true. It was our playground, as we were too young to understand the history. It stands very proud and I know the history now, and am proud to have been born in Dunstaffnage.
A Winter Walk in The Snow From Taynuilt
Not long after we moved to be near my new job in Glasgow, I took a few days off work so that Elizabeth and I could go sightseeing towards Oban. We took the train from Glasgow, Queen Street to Taynuilt for nostalgic reasons as Elizabeth had spent many childhoold holidays there in the 1950's. It was early December 1975 and my Glasgow colleagues tried to talk me out of making the trip as they were experienced hikers and didn't believe the two of us soft English folks could survive a winter hike! We got off the cosy warm train in the midday crisp winter air and set off on foot to the south. We walked for miles and scarcely a car passed us as we aimed towards Kilchrenan and Loch Avich. In December the sun sets early and we had no accommodation booked so we knocked at a cottage and asked advice. The woman phoned a friend and then directed us further along the road to stay with her neighbour -... Read more
Dunstaffnage The War Years 1942-45
In 1942 aged 5 due to my father being a shipwright in the Portsmouth Dockyard he was transferred to a satellite dockyard at Dunstaffnage where we stayed as a family until the war finished and we then moved back to Pompey. Workers in the Dockyard came from Chatham, Devonport and Rosyth. The dockyard had AFD 19 which was a floating dock to repair damaged North Atlantic and Artic convoy ships. My sister reminded me of H.M.S Bluebell, repaired, next convoy Artic, sunk, one survivor only. The village was made up of about 240 prefabs (I have photos) to house the families. We lived at 13b Hervey Road and moved to 10a when my younger sister was born in 1944. The "houses" were put together by the Royal Marines which had a camp there. What a life we had, playing in the wood below the Co-op, in the bay in the summer, on the hill on the other side of the Oban-Connel Road which only had ferns then, no fir trees like nowdays.... Read more
