The land of the mountain and the flood

FEW now dispute the ecological value of the native pinewoods of Glen Affric. The importance of the Caledonian pine forest in terms of history and practical forestry, however, should not be underestimated. This was the message communicated to British foresters by Professor Henry M Steven of Aberdeen University when he visited the glen in 1959.

Hamish McCann’s stirring music, ‘The Land of the Mountain and the Flood’, was one of the most memorable features of the 1970s television series Sutherland’s Law. Actor Iain Cuthbertson’s portrayal of the fictitious Procurator Fiscal John Sutherland was, of course, superb, but the strains of the haunting classical melody came to characterise the essence of Scotland for a whole generation of viewers.

As he was composing his music in the Victorian era, few should be surprised McCann failed to include the word ‘forest’ in the title of his best-known work. By this time, Scotland had lost all but a tiny proportion of its woodland cover. Early colonisers had cleared many of the trees in areas suitable for the growing of arable crops. Huge expanses of upland forest were already showing the detrimental effects of the widespread sheep farming introduced after the Highland Clearances. Sporting interests, too, were doing nothing to help protect the Scottish wildwood.

Before Procurator Fiscal John Sutherland would have decided there was a case to answer, however, he would have given witnesses the opportunity to declare that Scotsmen had been amongst the great pioneers of forestry; David Douglas and the ‘planting’ Dukes of Atholl, for example. He may also have admitted the argument that many of Scotland’s native forests that have managed to survive do so not because they were forgotten and ignored, but because their timber was used commercially.

Producing clean energy from the waters of Glen Affric and Glen Cannich: the North of Scotland Hydro Board’s Aigas power station. The Affric–Beauly system, as it is known, is not a huge power producer, but it can supply all the local needs and export a surplus to the south.

Such is the case with Glen Affric. Some will say that nowhere north of the border is the soul of Scotland’s landscape better appreciated than in this magnificent setting. As far as climate is concerned, both visitors and resident Highlanders may well agree that this is the land of the mountain and the flood. The Eastern Glens reach far into the mountains and when, eventually, the rough cattle-droving tracks at their heads weave between the high Bens, the sea lochs of the western coast are often only a few miles distant.

Rain falling on the western flank of Beinn Fhada and on the Five Sisters of Kintail tumbles quickly down to mix with the salt waters of Loch Duich. Precipitation on the eastern flanks of the watershed has a longer passage to the Scottish Firths and the North Sea – a journey that sees it leave the bare mountainside and work its course through some of Scotland’s most impressive native pinewoods before entering the River Glass, the River Beauly, and the Beauly Firth itself.

On its way, the naturally occurring element is put to good use, powering the turbines of the ‘Hydro Board’ dams producing renewable energy for those who live and work in the north of Scotland. If, over the centuries, the downpours have been pretty reliable, that other sustainable resource, the pine wood, has become only a shadow of its former self. It is only down to chance that it has survived at all, and in few places has it the form it has retained in the former stronghold of the Chisholm clan – Glen Affric.

A Forestry Commission vehicle on maintenance duty crosses the River Affric above Dog Falls. The FC acquired these pinewoods in 1960. Many of the features of the landscape, such as the falls and natural Loch Affric to the west, had been preserved by the sensitive design of the hydro-electric scheme.

The ancestors of the Chisholms arrived in Britain with the Normans. After settling in the Scottish Borders, certain members of the family tried their luck further north. It may have been by chance, but the route the Chisholms took led them to the head of the Beauly Firth and the gentle lands of Strathglass.

The glens of the tributaries of the River Glass – Glen Affric, Glen Cannich and Glen Strathfarrar – reach deep into the North West Highlands, and as long as the Chisholms could come to a settlement with their neighbours to the north (a branch of the Fraser clan) it seems the land they possessed could provide a comparatively comfortable living.

The first Jacobite Rising of 1715 saw the clan chief, Roderick Chisholm, who had supported the Stuarts, deprived of his estates in both Strathglass and the Forest of Affric. His younger son, also Roderick, with a number of clansmen, died at Culloden supporting the Stuart cause in 1746. Complex transactions with friendly clan chiefs, notably Mackenzie of Allangrange, were required to ensure the lands remained under the Chisholm banner.

It is thought that Glen Affric had supplied considerable quantities of timber – both for shipbuilding and iron smelting – for many centuries before the political unrest welled up in the Highlands. The importance of timber exploitation in the local economy is highlighted, however, by one of the few written records available at the time. In 1750 (only a few years after the final Jacobite defeat) a sawmill was built in the glen itself to process the timber of the forest.

Glen Affric’s pines reflected in the calm waters of Loch Beinn a’ Mheadhoin. Water – one of the Highlands’ most plentiful natural resources – is fed through a series of tunnels to this reservoir and onward to Fasnakyle power station.

The constructor of the facility is noted, hardly surprisingly, as one Roderick Chisholm. It is not stated whether this was the ageing dispossessed laird or one of his younger clansmen. It is far from certain, either, that the installation of the sawmill in Glen Affric posed any threat to the forest’s survival, as some commentators have suggested. After all, the woodlands in the territory of the Chisholms and the Frasers – Glen Affric and Glen Strathfarrar respectively – include some of the largest intact remnants of Caledonian pinewood.

Fictitious Procurator Fiscal John Sutherland’s duty was to tussle with complex legal issues in order to bring criminal cases before the Scottish courts. Two and a half centuries before he graced the nation’s TV screens, a real-life namesake had held power in the territory north of the Chisholms’ and Frasers’ lands. At the time of the Jacobite rising, John, sixteenth Earl of Sutherland, was Lord Lieutenant for the North of Scotland and All the Islands.

In 1715, the Earl of Sutherland called his men out for George I and defended the garrison at Inverness against the Jacobites. His son remained loyal to the redcoats, too, and – contrary to Scottish law – a judgment in London later awarded the huge estate and title to his granddaughter. Elizabeth, Countess of Sutherland, married the English aristocrat Lord Stafford and together they set about ‘improving and reforming’ the land between the Moray Firth and Cape Wrath.

Although the progressive thinking was backed up with new industrial projects on the coast, the clearance of tenants from the land was carried out ruthlessly. In 1807, the first year of the clearances, one report states that 90 families were forced to leave their crops to rot in the ground. They were obliged to transport their “cattle, furniture and timbers” to the coast and live in the open until they had built themselves new dwellings.

A lone sentinel near the Viewpoint Walk. It is unlikely that woodcutting by the Chisholms, or the Frasers who later owned parts of the glen, was the major cause of the degeneration of the pinewood. Even Glen Affric suffered from the Victorian vogue of maintaining huge deer herds for sporting purposes.

Within little more than 30 years the Highlanders had been driven out – their place taken by flocks of sheep and herds of deer. The Englishman could now rejoice in the title of the First Duke of Sutherland, but the native pinewoods that covered the southern part of the county were well on their way to extinction. Few relict populations now remain in Sutherland and every effort is being made to ensure their survival.

For the native pinewoods of the so-called Strathglass Complex, the future looks brighter. Where the public road ends in Glen Affric the eye is drawn to the west. The peaks of Mullach Fraoch-choire, to the left, and Sgurr nan Ceathreamhnan, to the right, tower above the tumbling and twisting course cut by the lively waters of the young River Affric. Beyond the flat-topped veteran pines that fringe the dark waters of the lochs, stretching away up the glen, rises the distant bulk of Beinn Fhada.

For many centuries, highland drovers led cattle, bought from the western crofters, under the shadow of the Five Sisters of Kintail and over the southern flank of Beinn Fhada into the mottled glen. If the weather had been clement, some of the beasts would still bear traces of salt from the short sea crossings upon their hides. As they entered the shade – or shelter – of the birches and pines the hardy traders would often have encountered other folk earning a living in an honourable way: the Chisholms and their allies cutting timber in the woods.

If the weather obscures the view from the end of the public road in Glen Affric and the bellowing of the rutting stags echoes through the Highland mist, the visitor will still be able to read the words of Professor Steven engraved on a memorial stone at the end of the public highway. The quotation dates from his visit in 1959, the same year he and his co-author Alexander Carlisle presented to forestry experts the authoritative publication The Native Pinewoods of Scotland.

“My plea is that because these woodlands are a unique heritage, they should be managed to ensure they will be perpetuated and developed alike for their historical, ecological and practical forestry importance.”

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