Furnace, Argyll and Bute
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Furnace (Inverleacainn) is a village in Argyll, on the west coast of Scotland, on the shores of Loch Fyne, the longest sea loch in the UK.
It is unusual for a West Highland village in having an industrial past in addition to the usual focus on agriculture and fishing.
Its industrial activity was led by three main businesses: the Iron Furnace, the Powdermills and the Quarry.
The Iron Furnace
This was the first to arrive, built in 1755 by the Duddon Company of Cumbria, drawn by the abundant local woods capable of supplying the charcoal needed in smelting iron. The village, then called Inverleacainn (the mouth of the River Leacainn) gradually took on the shorthand name of ‘the furnace’ and finally, simply ‘Furnace’. The furnace itself shut down in 1813, made redundant by the coal-fired steam engine.
The Loch Fyne Powderworks
The same charcoal resource that fed the furnace supported the development of the next industry to arrive - the manufacture of ‘the black powder’ – gunpowder – using charcoal, sulphur and saltpetre. The Loch Fyne Powderworks, one of four in Argyll, was built in 1841 and criticised for its safety standards after the 1875 Explosives Act. The company had sited an 80-ton storage magazine 80 metres from the village school. 1883 saw the end of ‘The Powdermills’ when it literally blew itself up with a stove-house explosion. The only casualty was the manager, William Robinson, who was not even on site at the time but at home for lunch 230 metres away and killed by flying rocks. The explosion was the subject of a Government Enquiry at the time, with concerns, never substantiated, about industrial sabotage by rival firms.
The Quarry
The third industry was the Quarry, opening in 1841 during the term of the Powdermills and still in operation today. It supplied cobbles for the streets of Glasgow and was the biggest employer in the area. Over 200 men then cut the grey granite by hand. Unsurprisingly, with the power to ‘hire and fire’ the Quarry Manager, with the Factors of the local estates, was a person of real note. Today’s quarry is fully mechanised, producing only crushed stone and concrete – in volume - and employing 3-4 men.
Furnace and the Camanachd Cup
In the national sport of Shinty, Furnace holds a record that cannot be beaten and may never be equalled. In 1923, the Furnace team won the premier national competition, the Camanachd Cup, beating Newtonmore 2-0 at Inverness – and without having dropped a single goal from the start of the competition to their ultimate victory.
Notable residents
Former residents of Furnace include the late Duncan Williamson, a celebrated traditional storyteller and author of The Horsieman; and the Tower of London’s first woman Beefeater, Moira Cameron, appointed in 2007.
More historical figures include Evan McColl the Gaelic poet born at Kenmore - a township on the northern fringe of Furnace, on Loch Fyne, in 1808. The author of the "The Mountain Minstrel" (Gaelic "Clarsach nam Beann), he died at the end of the 19th century. A stone cairn was erected in his memory at Kenmore, on the rocks above the loch and was unveiled in 1930 by the Duke of Argyll.
Furnace in 2008
Furnace and its population today are very different from what they were in its industrial heyday. From a village with 200 working stone-cutters alone, Furnace in 2008 has a total population of little over 200, with a bias towards the retired or semi-retired. The village Primary School whose roll was 40 in pre-World War II days now has around 15 pupils. What was once a tally of seven shops is now one but the village now has its own Inn. Fish farming is today’s ‘new kid on the block’ but its processes require fewer employees than were hoped for when it first appeared. It is not the new ‘big employer’.
21st century Furnace is not, however, a village in decline. It is small but remarkably well resourced. It has a shop and Post Office, a Primary School, a Health Centre with a visiting Dentist and a pub – The Furnace Inn, a Village Hall, a full size sports pitch and a children’s play park. It also has The Leacainn Walk, a 6-mile circular walk from the village following some of the old drover’s roads along the River Leacainn and touring many well-known local landmarks. The villagers created this as a millennium project.
