Document: Ballachulish
Date: 2002
Author: JPR
Publisher: Greyarts
Ballachulish
Ballachulish is a slightly confusing place. Almost as confusing as its name is difficult to spell correctly, or even consistently incorrectly.
It's not unusual to find places that come in two halves. Ballachulish comes in two halves plus another, larger, settlement two miles along the road to Glencoe.
The main village of Ballachulish lies on the south side of Loch Leven, a mile or so west of the village of Glencoe. It made its name and its living from slate quarrying for over 250 years until 1955, when the quarries closed. It seems to have made a lasting impression on Queen Victoria, whose diary reflects not just the slate quarrying but the lengths the residents went to in order to decorate the village for her visit.
Today it is still possible to see the disused quarries at the eastern end of Ballachulish. There's no mistaking what they are, but in the half century since they closed, nature has made a start at reclaiming what was once taken from it.
Two miles to the west of the main part of Ballachulish, Loch Leven narrows dramatically, and it was here that North and South Ballachulish came into being, around the slipways from which the ferry crossed the Loch. As the name comes from the Gaelic for "Village of the Narrows", it seems a reasonable guess to suggest the original owner of the name was located where North and South Ballachulish are today.
The ferry disappeared in 1975 when the bridge opened, and with it the choice facing drivers of the sometimes long queues at busy periods or the fifteen mile detour via Kinlochleven. But the slipways that served the ferry remain: though they are by no means opposite one another. Also remaining are the hotels on either side that warmed cold passengers waiting for the ferry.
The steel truss bridge that opened here in 1975 is painted dark green and fits nicely into its environment. Indeed, it comes as something of a surprise to find it is such a relatively recent addition to this part of the Western Highlands.
South Ballachulish largely comprises the slipway and the hotel. Close to the steps leading down from the bridge to the Oban road near the hotel is a memorial to James Stewart, hanged here in 1752 for "the Appin Murder". This was the killing of Colin Campbell, an event used as the basis for Robert Lewis Stevenson's novel "Kidnapped". Stewart's guilt remains in doubt, 250 years after his execution.
North Ballachulish is a little more developed, and is home to a confectionary factory; an interesting variation on the options normally available for a day out when the weather or your inclination rules out the hills.
Anyone visiting the western side of the Highlands will probably pass through (or over, in the case of the bridge) Ballachulish as some point. And like many such wayside villages it repays exploration. And if nothing else you should stop in North Ballachulish simply to admire the bridge against the stunning backdrop of the mountains on the south side of Loch Leven.
Extracted from information on the Web.
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