Did you know? Glen Affric and Strathfarrar are amongst the finest native pinewoods in the north? Lord Lovat was the first Chairman of the Forestry Commission in 1919? The Forestry Commission forest is Glen Affric
comprising of 69,740 acres (27,896 ha.) of which 14,355 acres are actually tree covered.

The first trees to arrive in Scotland were the aspen and the birch, followed by pine, oak, alder, ash, elm, lime, hazel, juniper, holly and bird-cherry.

The Bronze age people used timber for a greater variety of purposes than their predecessors. They built forts and crannogs and used timber for lacing the stonework of their forts.

In medieval times, the King granted lands to many religious houses for the support of the monks. These communities established themselves within, or on the verge of, extensive areas of natural woodlands. The location of these houses gives some indication of those areas where primeval deciduous forests survived on fertile land work reclaiming for agriculture. The only one in this district was the Valliscaulian Priory at Beauly.

The natural woods in the valleys of Farrar, Cannich and Affric owe their existence today to their inaccessibility in the past, and it is only recently (1959) that the woods in Glen Affric have been penetrated by a road.

The smelting of iron did more to destroy the native woodlands of Scotland than any other industry. The ore, being heavy and compact, was more easily transported to the woods than the timber to the ore. The smelters preferred broad-leaved trees, such as birch and beech, which have high heat producing qualities, but, where there was a shortage of these, they had no hesitation in using pine.

Iron smelting took place at the head of Strathglass. There is a bloomery (a forge for iron) at Farley and also at Loch non Eun.

The building of the citadel in Inverness by Cromwell’s forces was done with oak from England and fir from the woods of Hugh Fraser at Struy.

The risings of 1715 and 1745 virtually stopped all estate improvements and forestry development, while the subsequent activities of the Board of Commissioners of the Forfeited Estates had a disturbing effect on many Highland estates. Vast quantities of trees were cut annually on the estates of Lovat, Chisholm and Struy by the Commissioners. In 1765, there was a large sawmill at Beauly, supplied by logs which were floated down the rivers.

 Glen Affric was made famous by J. McWhirter MA, and other landscape painters. McWhirter is said to have expressed the opinion that the view from Beinn-nan-Sparra (1,462 feet) at the foot of Glen Affric was one of the three finest in Europe, the other two being the Bay of Naples and the Golden Horn at Constantinople.

In the second half of the 18th century, there was extensive planting, especially on the Lovat lands. European Larch and common spruce were then introduced. In the first half of the nineteenth centry, other species of trees were introduced including Douglas Fir, Sitka Spruce and Japanese Larch.

The period 1850 to 1904 was disastrous for British forestry due to the imports of cheap timber and planting subsequently decreased. Increasing taxation after 1914 also made it impossible to continue a programme of planting equal to the excessive felling of trees during the first half of this century.

Felling started on the Lovat estates about 1904, but most timber was cut during the two world wars. For example, about 1,100 acres of Farley Wood which had a total area of 1 ,346 acres, were felled during the First World War, mainly mature Scots pine and European larch. The trees were milled on the lower slopes of Farley Hill and conveyed for about a mile to a specially built siding near Beauly Station by an overhead wire cable constructed by Lord Lovat in 1907. Timber only took ten minutes by the cableway compared to two hours by cart.

In the Second World War felling was again extensive. Another 240 acres were felled in Farley Wood. A company of Newfoundland civilian foresters was posted to the area and set up headquarters in Beauly. Later, Canadian foresters under military control, with headquarters at Belladrum House, operated a large sawmill at Allarburn and workshops at Beauly Station. The road in Beauly known as Maple Vale marks the site of the workshops, and the flagpole in the Square was erected by the Canadians to commemorate their residence in the area. Quite a number of young women from the parish crossed the Atlantic as brides of these war-time visitors. (Including the great aunt of Kilmorack Heritage Group’s Treasurer).

Someone said about the fellings which took place "When the war ended, everyone was so excited they forgot to tell the Canadians to stop felling the trees in Farley Wood". The school children of the Parish planted the forest many years before.

In the first statistical account of Kilmorack published in the 1700s, there is mention of three sawmills on the Island of Aigash. Timber was the only form of manufacturing and ships were built in Beauly. In the next statistical account published in the 1800s, the woodlands were managed with great attention and thinned annually. The fir trees felled were used for railway sleepers, and the birch was manufactured into staves for barrels.