To
1829, Gualin was part of the 800 sq mile area known as
'Lord Reay's Country' - an area which included all of the parish
of Durness and which was bordered by the parish of Tongue in
the east and Eddrachillis in the south-west. The Duke of Westminster's
estate, which boarders Gualin's western marches, is still known
as Reay Forest today. In 1829, Lord Reay sold the estate
to George Leveson-Gower, Marquess of Stafford and the future
1st Duke of Sutherland - and man of great good intentions that
did not always translate into happy outcomes (the Highland Clearances,
focus of much nationalist hatred in Scotland, were based on his
highly progressive ideas for dealing with poverty in the Highlands
but were implemented by corrupt and ruthless agents.) In 1833
the Lodge was built by the Duke as an inn. At the time, there
was no road, just sort of track, so shelter and steadings for
the horses were essential.
In the 1840's another well-intentioned scheme saw the
netting rights of all the rivers from the Kyle of Tongue to Cape
Wrath leased to an Aberdeen firm. Thousands of Salmon a year
were trawled from the river systems to the point where natural
stocks became almost extinct. Happily, the scheme didn't last
long and this disastrous foray into the world of commercial fishing
was replaced by a series of private tenancies on the Sutherland
rivers intead, including the Rev. Meggernie (for the magnificent
sum of £45 per annum), a Mr. Trevelyan who gave his name
to Trevelyan's Burn (also known as the Gualin Burn) and to Trevelyan's
Bay on Loch Dionard and the family Austen-Leigh. |
In
1976, she offered the middle section of the river (from
Rhigolter Bridge to the roadside gauge) for sale and this was
bought by a syndicate who retain it to this day. Next, she offered
the lower part of the river, opposite the Keoldale fishings for
sale, and this was bought by Messrs. Higgs and and Grieve, who
also retain their portion to this day. Finally, in 1978,
she gave the remainder of the estate and river to her son Edmund.
Within two months, he had died in a car crash and the estate
fell into decline. in 1981, for the first time in year,
Marjorie Fergusson failed to visit the estate and her grand-children
put it on the market. It was bought by four families, now reduced
to three, who are the Bladons, Allinghams and Nall-Cains.
When the current owners took over, there were agricultural implements
stored in what is now the drawing room and there were floorboards
missing upstairs - including one at the entrance to Mrs Ferguson's
bedroom which, we were assured, she had been carefully stepping
over for years on here way to and from her bedroom.
Since then, the period of neglect has been decidedly turned around.
Improvements have included the creation of the flat, the extension
of the keeper's house, the introduction of a new water system
(including an ultra-violet purification system), the building
of a deer larder, the diversion of the main road from the front
to the back of the lodge, the building of the track and numerous
bridges and the replacement of the various huts along the river
bank. |
