Lecht Mine, Glenlivet

Lecht Mine from the Car Park

Across the Glenlivet Estate there is a range of historic sites and buildings waiting to be explored.  The Crown Estate Glenlivet
featured the Lecht mine in their Winter newsletter reprinted here. The mine is easily reached by a pleasant short walk from the car park on the Lecht road.

The Lecht mine

• Iron ore was first mined at the Lecht in 1730 by York Buildings Company of London. The mine was abandoned in 1737 due to substantial losses.

• The mined ore was transported on horseback across the Avon at the Fordmouth-Lynachork ford, and then over the Dorback Hills to Nethy Bridge. Wood from the Abernethy Forest was used to smelt it down into “Strathdoun (Strathavon) pigs”.

• The mine was re-opened in 1841 by the Duke of Richmond as a manganese mine, local stories tell that the Minister of Corgarff had to lend his bull to help drag the new heavy rollers over the Lecht Pass. However following the importation of manganese ore from Russia, the price fell from £8 per ton to an uneconomical £3 per ton, and the mine was closed for a final time in 1846.

• At the peak of activity over 60 men and boys worked at the mine and it was, and still is, the largest manganese mine ever worked in Scotland.

Lecht Mine building still standing - last used 1846

• In 1863 there was nearly a reprieve for the old mine when samples of iron ore were sent to James Morrison, Manager of the Ferryhill Iron Works, Co Durham, for assessment. He would gladly have taken 50,000 tons per annum, and all that was needed to secure viability for the re-opening of the mine was a railway link to Tomintoul, but in that time of economic retrenchment no-one could be found to back the proposed iron ore railway.

• The foundations of some other buildings can still be seen, but only the mine building has survived as it was very solidly built to carry the water wheel and heavy machinery.

• The mine building was restored and reroofed and interpretation about the mine workings installed in a joint project between The Crown Estate and Moray Council.

Glenlivet and Moray

Glenlivet & Moray Slideshow: Elizabeth’s trip from Bluefolds Highland Holiday Cottages (near Glenlivet, Aberdeenshire, United Kingdom) to 10 cities Grantown-on-Spey, Brodie Castle (near Forres, Moray), Dufftown, Lossiemouth, Craigellachie, Findhorn, Aberlour, Portsoy, Cullen and Huntly was created by TripAdvisor. See another United Kingdom slideshow. Create your own stunning slideshow with our free photo slideshow maker.

Spring in Glenlivet and area

It seemed like the winter would never end! I even escaped to Texas for 3 weeks in March expecting on my return in early April that the daffodils would be in bloom and a real feeling of spring would be in the air. It was around 20 April before it seemed like spring was finally coming the area. However by the time of the Whisky Festival at the end of April everything was starting to look green and this has continued slowly through May. We have had lots of sunshine, but bitter cold winds for much of the time. However it is now beautifully warm and sunny which means that the grass needs to be cut regularly again! During the Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival, I took the opportunity with various friends to go out and about in Glenlivet and Speyside and had a lot of fun taking photos. The Stramash, lots of people with fiddles and accordians making great music was a great night of entertainment. The Whisky Fair in Dufftown was popular as ever and this year had the added bonus of pipers, piping people into the hall at the start of the day. The Dufftown Pipe Band played in the square in the afternoon again drawing a crowd. There were tastes and talks galore in the Memorial Hall, at distilleries, on the train, at restaurants. Everywhere you looked there were people from all over the world enjoying themselves.

There were walks as well and I participated in a walk up Glen Avon (A'an) on Sunday morning to the Ailnack gorge in the snow!! The lovely warming and tasty lunch in the Clockhouse restaurant was welcome. The afternoon was spent visiting the River Spey at Grantown on Spey, the Farmer's market there and watching the Cavalcade of mountain bikers and horses being led by the Badenoch and Strathspey Pipe Band through the town. Made some time for some culture and history as well attending Whisky Kisses the new musical play which premiered at Glenfiddich and visiting both Ballindalloch and Brodie castles.

Smugglers Walk in Glenlivet

The Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival lasted 10 fun filled days this year with many distilleries not usually open to the public throwing there doors wide. As well as lots of whisky tasting in Dufftown, Elgin, Keith and many places in between. There was also a Whisky Fair in the Memorial Hall in Dufftown which was incredibly busy this year. There were ceilidhs and stramashes, Robin Laing and the Final Music Event was in the Alice Littler Park in Aberlour. This was a spectacular evening of music ending with a wonderful firework display sponsored by Walkers of Aberlour. It was a fitting finale. On Sunday we went out to enjoy the fresh air and beautiful scenery of Glenlivet following the Smugglers Walk guided by David Newland. It was a beautiful day and everywhere looked really green and fresh. It was great to learn about the edible plants that we see on walks without realising how important they used to be to people living in a remote area like this. Visiting Drumin Castle and sampling a dram of Benromach where the barley for the whisky was grown locally was good for the whisky lovers. I love to walk beside the River Livet and it was great to share the chance to see little dippers, ducks and other birds as we walked along. We saw a little dipper feeding her 2 chicks. We walked to the Packhorse bridge and met up with a photographer from Homecoming Scotland who wanted to record our walk. It was interesting watching him work and I got the opportunity to take some interesting photos as well. Steve gave a nosing and tasting here with The Glenlivet Nadurra which everyone enjoyed. We then walked by the Falls of Glenlivet (small, but beautifully formed) along to the Glenlivet Hall and then on a small side road round to the Croft Inn for a delicious lunch of homemade soup and delicious sandwiches. It was a wonderful walk. After lunch, I went with my Swedish friends, Paul and Kerstin to Tombae to see the primroses, dog violets and lots of other wild flowers.

Easter in Glenlivet

Although, it is bit windy today - great for drying the washing, it is lovely weather for getting out and exploring Speyside and Moray. I have found a great site that offers various lengths of walk across the whole area. See www.morayways.org.uk