Rothiemurchus Forest is a remnant of the

Caledonian Forest The Caledonian Forest is the ancient (old-growth) temperate forest of Scotland. The forest today is a reduced-extent version of the pre-human-settlement forest, existing in several dozen remnant areas. The Scots pines of the Caledonian Forest ...

at near

Aviemore Aviemore (; ) is a town and tourist resort, situated within the Cairngorms National Park in the Highlands of Scotland. It is in the Badenoch and Strathspey committee area, within the Highland council area. The town is popular for skiing and ...

Inverness-shire Inverness-shire () or the County of Inverness, is a Counties of Scotland, historic county in Scotland. It is named after Inverness, its largest settlement, which was also the county town. Covering much of the Scottish Highlands, Highlands and s ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. It is in the

Highland region Highland (, ; ) is a council area in the Scottish Highlands and is the largest local government area in both Scotland and the United Kingdom. It was the 7th most populous council area in Scotland at the 2011 census. It has land borders with t ...

. The forest is popular for recreation and contains important independent wildlife, including the

osprey The osprey (; ''Pandion haliaetus''), historically known as sea hawk, river hawk, and fish hawk, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey with a cosmopolitan range. It is a large raptor, reaching more than in length and a wingspan of . It ...

Scottish crossbill The Scottish crossbill (''Loxia scotica'') is a small passerine bird in the finch family Fringillidae. It is endemic to the Caledonian Forests of Scotland, and is the only terrestrial vertebrate species endemic to the United Kingdom. The Scottish ...

capercaillie ''Tetrao'' is a genus of birds in the grouse subfamily known as capercaillies. They are some of the largest living grouse. Feathers from the bird were used to create the characteristic hat of the bersaglieri, an Italian ace infantry formation. ...

, crested tit and

European wildcat The European wildcat (''Felis silvestris'') is a small wildcat species native to continental Europe, Great Britain, Turkey and the Caucasus. Its fur is brownish to grey with stripes on the forehead and on the sides and has a bushy tail with a bl ...

. Stretching from the

River Spey The River Spey () is a river in the northeast of Scotland. At it is the ninth longest river in the United Kingdom and the third longest and fastest-flowing river in Scotland. It is an important location for the traditions of salmon fishing an ...

to the high mountain plateau, Rothiemurchus sits within the

Cairngorms National Park Cairngorms National Park () is a national park in northeast Scotland, established in 2003. It was the second of National parks of Scotland, two national parks established by the Scottish Parliament, after Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National ...

Ownership and management

Much of the forest is within the Rothiemurchus Estate, in the ownership of the Grant family since the 1540s. The estate is now owned and managed by Johnnie Grant, 13th Earl of Dysart and 17th Laird of Rothiemurchus, along with his family. The land was also managed by Philippa Grant, Countess of Dysart till September 2022, when she was killed in a road traffic collision. In 2014, Rothiemurchus Upper Forest - covering - was sold to Forestry Commission Scotland (now

Forestry and Land Scotland Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) () is an executive agency responsible for managing and promoting Scotland's national forest estate: land, predominantly covered in forest, owned by the Scottish Government on behalf of the nation. It was formed o ...

) for £7.4 million.

History

During the

Napoleonic Wars {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...

, the high demand for timber led to substantial tree felling on the Rothiemuchus estate, the travel writer Sarah Murray estimating in 1803 that 'perhaps £1,500 worth of timber' was being cut down annually. Damage to salmon traps caused by logs being floated down the Spey led to tensions between Sir John Peter Grant and

Alexander Gordon, 4th Duke of Gordon Alexander Gordon, 4th Duke of Gordon, (18 June 1743 – 17 June 1827), styled Marquess of Huntly until 1752, was a Scottish peer who was described by Lord Kames as the "greatest subject in Britain". He was also known as the "Cock o' the North", ...

. By the 1820s, timber was generating an income of £4,000 to £5,000 per annum, though the upkeep of dams, locks, sluices, dykes, channels, and heavy horses to haul the logs to the river was costly. In 1839, John Grigor reported that the old pine forest of Rothiemurchus was 'much exhausted'. In 1853, twelve poor families from Rothiemurchus emigrated to

Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...

on the ''Sir Allan McNab''. Rothiemurchus was converted into a

deer forest The deer forest ( Gaelic: frìth) is a sporting estate which is kept and managed largely or solely for the purposes of maintaining a resident population of red deer for sporting ( deer stalking) purposes. It is an institution and phenomenon pecu ...

in 1859.Taylor, David (2022), ''The People Are Not There: The Transformation of Badenoch 1800 - 1863'', John Donald, Edinburgh, pp. 38 - 40, 75, 109, 145 & 186,

References

External links

* {{coord, 57.1591, N, 3.7872, W, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Badenoch and Strathspey Forests and woodlands of Scotland Highland Estates

Ownership and management

History

References

Further reading

External links