Online appeal aims to bring forgotten history back to life

Published on Saturday 24 January 2009 18:46

THEY are forgotten remnants of Scotland's past that lay hidden within forests around the country.

Crofting townships, illicit whisky stills, industrial sites and wartime defences have all been abandoned over time and their history obscured by the trees that grew around them.

But they are now being brought back to life by asking the descendants of Scots who lived and worked there to share their memories of the lost communities.

The Forest Heritage Project is an online appeal to descendants to delve into their family backgrounds and post photographs or snippets of family lore on a specially created website.

A permanent memorial – a Wall of Memories – is also to be created in the heart of the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park.

The initiative is part of the contribution being made to the Year of Homecoming Celebrations by the Forestry Commission Scotland and the Royal Commission for Ancient and Historical Monuments Scotland.

They have come up with a Top 10 of abandoned sites that are concealed deep in the forests but deserve their place in the heritage in the nation.

Project co-ordinator Fiona Murray said: "These are mostly places that were once living, breathing communities but later, for a variety of reasons, had trees planted around them. It is quite eerie to visit some of them as the stories behind them are quite poignant. But what we want to do is get people's memories of them and also encourage them to make a visit with their families."

Some of the sites, however, have been included for their historical significance, such as the anti-tank cubes, pill boxes and gun batteries built in Lossie Forest, on the Moray Firth, to repel a German invasion during the Second World War.

Around 50 sites will eventually feature on the site. One of the most atmospheric is the village of Aoineadh Mor, on the remote Morvern peninsula north-west of Oban.

Aoineadh Mor was a thriving community of about 15, mainly Cameron, families but they were cleared off the land to make way for sheep in 1821, when a new owner from Edinburgh, Miss Christina Stewart, bought an estate from the Duke of Argyll.

Now all that remains are the ruins of their houses and other buildings. Paul Hibberd, the project's interpretation officer, said: "The area was planted in the 1950s and the township disappeared from sight. It's now a great place to visit and a very moving experience if you know the story behind it."

Other sites include Polmaddy Fermtoun, a well-preserved lowland farming village abandoned in the 18th century, now in the Galloway Forest Park, the old festival ground on Mull, the Dog Falls Illicit Whisky Still and the site of a Second World War bomber crash in Glen Affric, Rogie township in Easter Ross and the Wilsontown Ironworks near Forth in South Lanarkshire.

The website, www.forestheritagescotland.com, will go live on February 2. The Minister for the Environment, Michael Russell, said: "The Forest Heritage Scotland project will bring to light many of the locations across the country where we can still see the lasting reminders of those communities that nurtured the emigrants who went on to forge new lives and new communities overseas.

"This is a remarkable opportunity for us to uncover new and unsung stories."