Furnace () (formerly Inverleacainn ()) is a village in

Argyll and Bute Argyll and Bute (; , ) is one of 32 unitary authority, unitary council areas of Scotland, council areas in Scotland and a lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area. The current lord-lieutenant for Argyll and Bute is Jane Margaret MacLeod ...

, on the west coast of

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, on the north shore of

Loch Fyne Loch Fyne (, ; meaning "Loch of the Vine/Wine"), is a sea loch off the Firth of Clyde and forms part of the coast of the Cowal, Cowal Peninsula. Located on the west coast of Argyll and Bute, west of Scotland. It extends inland from the Sound o ...

, the longest sea loch in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. Furnace is around eight miles southwest of Inveraray on the

A83 road The A83 is a major road in the south of Argyll and Bute, Scotland, running from Tarbet, on the western shore of Loch Lomond, where it splits from the A82, to Campbeltown at the southern end of the Kintyre peninsula. The road is best known fo ...

. It is unusual for a West Highland village in having an industrial past in addition to the usual focus on agriculture and fishing. Industrial activity was led by three main businesses: the iron furnace, the powdermills and the quarry. 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, many retired or semi-retired.

History

Ironworks

The ironworks were founded in 1755 by the Duddon Company of

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders the Scottish council areas of Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders to the north, Northumberland and County Durham to the east, North Yorkshire to the south-east, Lancash ...

, drawn by the local forest 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 1812, upon the expiry of a 57-year lease from the Duke of Argyll. The Duddon Company was bought by Harrison Ainslie in 1828. The site is a

scheduled monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage, visu ...

Loch Fyne Powderworks

The same charcoal resource that fed the furnace supported the development of the next industry to arrive - the manufacture of

gunpowder Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, charcoal (which is mostly carbon), and potassium nitrate, potassium ni ...

using charcoal, sulphur and saltpetre. The Loch Fyne Powderworks, one of four in Argyll, was built in 1841 and was criticised for its safety standards after the Explosives Act 1875. The company had sited an 80-ton storage magazine 80 metres from the village school. 1883 saw the end of ‘The Powdermills’ when it blew 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, with concerns (which were never substantiated) about industrial sabotage by rival firms.

Quarry

The

quarry A quarry is a type of open-pit mining, open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock (geology), rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some juri ...

, opened in 1841 during the term of the Powdermills and still in operation today. It supplied cobbles for the streets of

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

and was the biggest employer in the area. Over 200 men then cut the pink granite by hand. The quarry, which now produces crushed stone and concrete in volume, is now fully mechanised, and employs 3-4 men.

Economy

A significant source of work is

fish farming Fish farming or pisciculture involves commercial breeding of fish, most often for food, in fish tanks or artificial enclosures such as fish ponds. It is a particular type of aquaculture, which is the controlled cultivation and harvesting of ...

, which employs eight people at the Furnace Hatchery. Of seven local shops a single one remains, along with The Furnace Inn and a

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

. To the north of Furnace and south of Eredine is the Eredine Wind energy farm development.

Education

There is a

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

in the village. The school had a roll of 40 in the 1930s, now has 24 pupils.

Community

The village has a health centre and a visiting dentist, a sports pitch, and a children's play park. The Leacainn Walk, a 6-mile circular walk from the village following some of the old drover’s roads, crosses the River Leacainn and passes many local landmarks. The villagers created the walk as a millennium project.

Furnace and the Camanachd Cup

In the national sport of

shinty Shinty () is a team sport played with sticks and a ball. It is played mainly in the Scottish Highlands and among Highland migrants to the major cities of Scotland. The sport was formerly more widespread in Scotland and even played in Northern ...

, Furnace holds a record that cannot be beaten and was not equalled until 2013. 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.Shinty history in the making - Herald Scotland , Sport , SPL , Aberdeen
/ref> Newtonmore equalled this feat in 2013 when they won the Camanachd Cup without conceding a goal.

Notable residents

The Gaelic poet Evan MacColl was born in 1808 at Kenmore, a township on the northern fringe of Furnace. McColl, who wrote "The Mountain Minstrel" (Gaelic "Clarsach nam Beann), died at the end of the 19th century. A stone

cairn A cairn is a human-made pile (or stack) of stones raised for a purpose, usually as a marker or as a burial mound. The word ''cairn'' comes from the (plural ). Cairns have been and are used for a broad variety of purposes. In prehistory, t ...

was erected in his memory at Kenmore, on the rocks above the loch and was unveiled in 1930 by the Duke of Argyll. The

Tower of London The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic citadel and castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamle ...

’s first female Beefeater, Moira Cameron, appointed in 2007, is from Furnace, living above the village at Goatfield.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Furnace, Argyll And Bute Villages in Argyll and Bute