Ballachulish slate quarry

The Scottish settlement now usually called Ballachulish is a substantial village based around the former slate quarries in East and West Laroch (the Laroch being the name of the river that runs through the village). The principal industry is now tourism, although most visitors pass swiftly by the village itself. Shinty is a popular local sport.

The name Ballachulish in the Gaelic would be written Baile a' chaolais and means "settlement on the narrows". The narrows in question are the Peter Strait, at the mouth of Loch Leven, now crossed by the Ballachulish Bridge and formerly the site of a famous ferry. The ferry closed in December 1975 when the bridge finally opened. The Ballachulish Hotel, and Ballachulish House are located near the narrows rather than in modern Ballachulish village - some three miles away.

Overlooking the narrows is the monument to James of the Glen, "hanged on this spot for a crime of which he was not guilty". Robert Louis Stevenson based his novel Kidnapped around the story of the Appin Murder. Whoever did kill the Red Fox is still not known, but the story is a reminder - as if we needed reminding - that a people subject to unjust occupation and persecution, as the Jacobite Highlanders were, will sometimes resort to violent resistance.

The main A82 road leading to the bridge has obliterated the site of the former railway station of Ballachulish Ferry, the penultimate stop on the line before the Laroch quarries. Traces of the line, which closed with the quarries in 1966, remain between here and Connel.

Slate from the quarries was used to cover many of the roofs of Victorian Glasgow. It is of good quality but one weakness is the presence of Iron Pyrite in the rock. These crystals quickly rust away when exposed to the weather, leaving clean square holes and a brown rusty streak. Over 95% of the rock cut from the quarries was unusable as roof covering for this and other reasons.