The Old Ways to Inverewe
Pauline Butler, volunteer archivist and historian at Inverewe House and Gardens, talks to us about the ‘Old Ways to Inverewe’…
Amongst the ‘very abomination of desolation’ of the hills, a reporter from The Times on a Highland journey of exploration in 1883 discovered ‘the most enchanting spot’ at Inverewe.
The estate was only twenty years old by then, having been created from three separate purchases of land in the early 1860s. The buyer was the Dowager Lady Mary of Gairloch, on behalf of her only son, Osgood Hanbury Mackenzie. The land bordered the shores of Loch Ewe and stretched inland to the Fionn Loch and Beinn Airidh Charr, where Osgood could indulge his great passions – the outdoor pursuits of fishing and stalking.
Beinn Airidh Charr from Inverewe
Here, a mile from the village of Poolewe, Osgood built a mansion house, in the shelter of a “big lump” of Torridonian sandstone, and began to grow trees to give further protection from the storms which so often blasted this north-west coast, exposed to the Atlantic. It was the sea which made Inverewe accessible, even though the roads through Wester Ross had been much improved in the late 1840s. In those years of the potato famine, the landowners had used grants from the Destitution Fund of the Central Relief Board to employ their tenants to construct highways and bridges, earning money for their labour so they could both pay their rents and buy food. Osgood’s father, Francis, the laird of Gairloch, had died when he was but a baby, so it was a very proud eight year old boy who had cut the first turf on the extension of the road from Kinlochewe, alongside Loch Maree, through the mountains of Torridon.
At the time home was Flowerdale House, in Gairloch, with the two half-brothers from his father’s first marriage. The Dowager Lady had persuaded the officials who arrived on the government steamers to invest in the opening up of the country. An engineer was employed, sappers came from Woolwich to line out the route, and, at last, a road “capable of bearing wheels” passed through Gairloch, cutting across the peninsulas or closely edging the coast, on to Poolewe, Aultbea, Laide, along the foot of An Teallach at Dundonnell and up and over the Feitheann, to link again with the Ullapool-Inverness road at Braemore, the route which is today such a stunning part of the NC500.
Inverewe Mansion c.1885
As he settled in, Osgood appreciated that a wife was the order of the day and, in 1877, he married Minna Edwards-Moss, from a wealthy Liverpool family. Taking pony and trap, he introduced her to the neighbours, journeying north to the Braemore estate of John Fowler, whose engineering credits included both the London Underground and the Forth Railway Bridge. Unfortunately, the return trip was less than pleasant. The day proved so ‘very wild’, that they had to call a halt at Gruinard House as the River was impassable (there being no bridge at that time) and, even after they crossed the next day, had to progress on foot for some of the way. Their social life also embraced attending the Northern Meeting in Inverness … the high point of the season in the Highlands when activities were organised for the “Pleasure and Innocent Amusement” of the members. For many years though, Osgood would generally prefer to take a rowing boat the length of Loch Maree to reach home from Kinlochewe, rather than the longer and slower road round, via Gairloch.
Keeping a sporting estate was an expensive business so Osgood needed to lease out his house and land to fishing and hunting tenants to increase his income. Though were many disputes as to the extent and productivity of the catch and chase, there was little argument about the other, more unusual attraction of the estate – its garden. From the beginning there had been a most productive, walled ‘kitchen garden’, where apples, pears and plums of many varieties were a source of great pride.
Osgood Mackenzie In The Garden
Then, once his shelterbelt had demonstrated its worth, by the late 1880s, Osgood challenged himself to introduce “exotics” into the policies (or grounds). His garden became renowned for its unusual and tender trees, shrubs and flowers. By the time he died, just short of his 80th birthday, in April 1922, the height of the eucalyptii, the girth of the magnolias, the brilliance of agapanthus growing outdoors all year round, and the better-than-Kew flowering of the Himalayan lily had helped to prove that plants did not simply survive at 58˚ north, on the same latitude as Labrador and St Petersburg, they flourished.
The Walled Garden, 100 Years Ago
By the early 20th century, Osgood was no longer depending on the rowing boat and the pony and trap to travel around. He was taking advantage of the motor car. He wrote in 1921, when he was 79, about a journey he was planning through Sutherland, with a young friend at the wheel. Osgood’s only daughter, Mairi, who had taken on the estate responsibilities and her father’s horticultural challenge in 1915, also loved motoring in the north of Scotland. Her first husband, Robert Hanbury, wrote in his diary in May 1927 – ninety years ago – of their own, mini ‘North Coast’ journey:
We asked a friend to come for a trip in the motor north, we left at 10 and had lunch at Lechmelm and went on to tea at Inverpolly and took the coast road from there which was lovely but very bad & slept at Lochinver, a lovely day but cold. We left the next morning and went by Kyle Sku to Scourie. We had to wait 3 hours for the tide. We got over alright. We stayed Sunday at Scourie and went on Monday a lovely drive and good roads to Durness, Tongue and Bettyhill – a very nice Hotel. Stayed there and returned home next day, 135 miles via Strathmore, Lairg, Strath Oykell, Ullapool. We had a glorious day but rather cold wind.
As all dedicated NC500ers recognise, it’s a travel experience to enjoy time and again. We know that Robert and Mairi made it as far as John O’Groats in 1934, went to the East Coast in 1935 and, in wartime, returned to Scourie, Laxford and Loch Stack on a fishing trip in June 1944.
Inverewe invites 21st century travellers on this west coast of the NC500 to stop by to see just how much of the legacy of Osgood and Mairi has been sustained, in garden, wider estate and recently converted House and Art Gallery. For more information on all Inverewe events and exhibitions visit National Trust for Scotland.
