In 2022, photographer and history researcher Estelle Slegers Helsen wandered around Lochaber in the footsteps of W.S. Thomson MBE (1906-1967). Estelle took her photographic remakes roughly 70 years after Thomson originally captured the landscape and talked to local people along her journey. After a break over the summer, Estelle will now continue her series, every fortnight, taking our readers to various places in Lochaber. This week, she focuses on the Corran Narrows from Nether Lochaber.
The Scottish photographer W.S. Thomson took a handful of images – mainly black and white – looking across the fast-flowing Corran Narrows; always standing on the Nether Lochaber shore.
The only photograph I have managed to remake so far is entitled The Loch Fyne passing through the Corran Narrows, and was published in the booklet, Let’s See Fort William and Lochaber.
On the left, the MV Lochfyne (the MV Loch Fyne is a CalMac 1991 car ferry) is
heading for Fort William. She was a MacBrayne mail steamer built in 1931 by
William Denny and Brothers of Dumbarton for the West Highland service in
summer and the Ardrishaig mail service in winter.
The steamer was the first diesel-electric passenger ship. She made her last run on the MacBrayne Royal Route on September 30, 1969.
The Scottish and Newcastle Breweries attempted to convert her into a restaurant but ultimately the vessel was scrapped in April 1974.
Just seconds after I had found the place where Thomson stood at the end of the 1940s, a boat sped towards me.
From the shore of Loch Linnhe, I could make out the name “Kiera Fiona”, an Inverlussa support vessel for the local fish farms, assisting with fish treatment and general site work activities.
Both vessels are nearly touching the Corran Point Lighthouse, an active lighthouse built in 1860 by David (1815-1886) and Thomas (1818-1887) Stevenson, two brothers of a dynasty of lighthouse engineers founded by their father Robert Stevenson (1772-1850).
David is the father of Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1984), the novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer.
All looks like it did 75 years ago: a stumpy masonry tower with a gallery, the keeper’s house, a long stone wall, all painted white, and further to the right, a storehouse with unpainted crowstepped brickwork.
According to the directions, fixed white, red or green lights guide boats and ships through the treacherous narrows.
The lighthouse was one of the first in Britain to be automated in 1898, approximately 10 years before other lighthouses on the British Isles.
Davie Ferguson, one of the Northern Lighthouse Board’s retained keepers, visits the lighthouse monthly for maintenance. The keeper’s lodge is now a self-catering property.
On the elevated flat ground at the back of the lighthouse, the Ardgour War Memorial was constructed on one of the mountings of the guns of the First World War Royal Marine gun battery.
This coastal battery was established in 1917 to protect American ships unloading mines at Corpach for onward transport by lighter vessels through the Caledonian Canal to the US Naval Base at Inverness.
The Ardgour Hills towering over what looks like a serene scene define the skyline.
On the right, the west slipway lies in front of the Ardgour Inn and Hotel, the Ferry Cottage and Ferry House.
In the remake I took in early June 2022, the MV Corran, a car ferry, is docked briefly to unload and load vehicles and passengers.
This 550-yard, five-minute crossing lifeline, linking the local communities, has become a hot topic because the MV Corran has been out of action since early April 2023.
The ongoing saga is making Ardgour and the other four West Highland Peninsulas – Moidart, Sunart, Ardnamurchan and Morvern – more difficult to reach, causing significant and relentless suffering for local people and businesses.
On this drove road to Central Scotland, a ferry has plied to and fro across the Corran Narrows since the 15th century, from just a tiny rowing boat to today’s ferries.
A.R.B. Haldane writes in The Drove Roads of Scotland: “From Strontian, a drove road led through Glen Tarbert to Corran where cattle were ferried or, if the weather and tide were favourable, possibly swam across the ‘current of Lochaber’ as it was then called.”
A vehicle ferry, the North Argyll, a turntable ferry for one car, was introduced in 1934/1935, cutting the time-consuming journey round Loch Linnhe and Loch Eil.
In three recordings available on the Am Baile – Highland History and Culture
website, Anne, daughter of Jimmy Mackintosh, the first Corran car ferry
operator, talks to Bill Sinclair about her recollections.
In the interview recorded 40-50 years ago, she concludes: “There is frequently talk about putting a bridge across, but I don’t think I will see it in my time anyway.”
- Travel in Time – Lochaber Series is supported by the West Highland Museum
and the Year of Stories 2022 Community Fund. Estelle has published a 64-page
book with 30 side-by-side then-and-now pictures, which you can find in local
shops or buy online. More information is available at www.travelintime.uk