Carnegie’s secret glen acquired by charity

CONSERVATION: Highland woodland near Dornoch was favourite spot of Fifeborn philanthropist and his family

The favourite Scottish summer picnic spot of multi-millionaire industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie has been acquired by conservation charity Woodland Trust Scotland.

The Dunfermline-born steel magnate emigrated to American with his parents when he was 12, and went on to become one of the richest Americans in history.

He bought Skibo Estate near Dornoch and its Ledmore and Migdale woods in 1897, hoping his young daughter Margaret would grow to love his homeland.

He would return with his wife Louise and Margaret, their only child, to spend summer holidays there until the outbreak of the First World War.

The Carnegies named their favourite woodland walk and picnic spot the Fairy Glen and in 1907 opened it to the public.

A carved stone marking the occasion was uncovered by Woodland Trust Scotland volunteers Jim and Saddhavati Mohahan and site manager Ross Watson just last week. It was overgrown with grass and moss.

The stone reads: FAIRY GLEN, Opened By Mr, Mrs and Miss Carnegie, 10th September 1907.

The Glen has a path through it today, but once had a more elaborate route through including nine wooden footbridges across the burn.

Woodland Trust Scotland purchased the Ledmore and Midgale woods in 1993. At nearly 700 hectares it is one of the trust’s largest sites, and its most northerly wood in the UK.

The 2.5ha Fairy Glen remained in private ownership, however, until this week’s completed purchase.

Woodland Trust Scotland site manager Ross Watson said: “This is a beautiful little glen with a charming burn tumbling through oakwoods dripping with mosses and ferns. It would be a lovely addition to Ledmore and Migdale on its woodland merits alone, but the Carnegie connection makes it all the more fitting. We are extremely grateful for the support of the Carman Family Foundation which enabled us to acquire this site.”

Andrew Carnegie’s greatgrandaughter Margaret Thomson, speaking in 2014, recalled the industrialist had built a log cabin in the glen, on a flat bit of ground, overlooking the burn – a cabin which was still there when she was a child.

She said: “We always knew the burn as the Fairy Glen.

“He (Carnegie) crossed this beautiful burn with very attractive wooden bridges, I think there were nine, that led you all the way down to the Spinningdale road and the stone bridge there.

“We did go there occasionally but not very often because the cabin had already been boarded up.

“It was getting older and they reckoned it wasn’t very safe for children.

“They finally recommended to my grandmother that she pull it down.”

“This is a beautiful little glen with a charming burn tumbling through oakwoods dripping with mosses and ferns. ROSS WATSON

The Fairy Glen was the favourite woodland walk of Andrew Carnegie and his family.

Andrew Carnegie bought Skibo Estate near Dornoch and its Ledmore and Migdale woods in 1897.