Bonawe

(Bunawe, Bun Atha)

A historical perspective, drawn from the Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland: A Survey of Scottish Topography, Statistical, Biographical and Historical, edited by Francis H. Groome and originally published in parts by Thomas C. Jack, Grange Publishing Works, Edinburgh between 1882 and 1885.

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Bunawe, a village on the western verge of Glenorchy parish, Argyllshire, on the left bank of the river Awe, immediately above its entrance into Loch Etive, 1½ mile NE of Taynuilt station, and 14½ miles E by N of Oban. It has a ferry across Loch Etive; and is a starting-point for ascending Ben Cruachan and exploring Glen Etive. An extensive iron-work, the Lorn Furnace, near the village, was established in 1753 by a Lancashire company, who leased the adjoining woods for £430 a year till 1864, when the rent was raised to £2300. The iron ore hæmatite was imported from Furness, here to be smelted with charcoal; but within the last few years the works have come to an almost entire stoppage, the furnace being out of blast in both 1878 and 1879. Extensive granite quarries are also in the neighbourhood, employing some 60 workmen, chiefly Welshmen and Aberdonians. They were the scene, in 1871, of a ` monster blast. ' A tunnel, 4 feet high, 2½ wide, and 50 long, with two terminal branches, 13 and 15 feet long, each rounded at the head into a large chamber, had been cut into an overhanging mountain during the previous two years; a charge of 4 tons of gunpowder was deposited in these two chambers; the entrance was closed with stones and Roman cement; a train was fired by a powerful galvanic battery; and, immediately, with smothered subterranean roar, the mountain side seemed to heave slightly upwards, and then subsided into the quarries to the extent of many thousand tons.

An accompanying 19th C. Ordnance Survey map is available, or use the map tab to the right of this page.

Note: This text has been made available using a process of scanning and optical character recognition. Despite manual checking, some typographical errors may remain. Please remember this description dates from the 1880s; names may have changed, administrative divisions will certainly be different and there are known to be occasional errors of fact in the original text, which we have not corrected because we wish to maintain its integrity. This information is provided subject to our standard disclaimer

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