From the top of the hill, looking down over Benmore House and the valley, in 1980
Until the 1800s, the estate now known as Benmore was the hunting grounds of the Dukes of Argyll, and belonged to the Campbell clan of Ballochyle. Back then, Benmore would have been known as Innasraugh, meaning "the sheltered valley". The land runs down towards the banks of Loch Eck and the River Eachaig, several miles north-west of the town of Dunoon.
Even back then, Benmore was associated with forestry, in particular with the planting of exotic and imported tree species. The trees planted here in the 1820s by Ross Wilson were the first coniferous species in the Cowal region. Their success was at least in part down to the area’s heavy rainfall, which can be as high as 80 to 90 inches a year.
Peter Baxter, a curator of the Botanic Gardens now occupying much of the Benmore estate, described the conditions to The Scotsman: "When people think of rainforest, they tend to think Amazon and the tropics, but you get temperate rainforests as well. The benchmark for rainforest status is three metres of rainfall per annum. At Benmore, our ten-year average rainfall is just a fraction under that."
Benmore House in 1946.
EARLY HISTORY, EXOTIC TREES
The manor house and the estate itself went through the hands of a few owners before the completion of Benmore House in 1851. By 1862, it had passed into the possession of an American owner, James Piers Patrick. He planted the famous Redwood Avenue of Giant Sequoias, and oversaw the construction of the first walled gardens. He added features like waterfalls and ponds, a fernery, and the first formal trails up into the hills which overlook Holy Loch.
Benmore’s rich, exotic gardens weren’t the first of their kind in Scotland - Edinburgh’s Botanic Gardens (nowadays also responsible for the gardens at Benmore) was set up in 1670, while Glasgow’s Botanic Gardens were first set up in 1817. Nonetheless, Benmore was unique in the Argyll region, and continued to be a place where experimental planting was the guiding principle.
Henry Younger stands next to a Giant Sequoia in 1925.
THE ESTATE EVOLVES
Subsequent owners continued to add to the diverse forest ecology of Benmore, and the manor house itself became a listed building in 1862. In the 1870s, James Duncan, a noted philanthropist who had made a fortune in the sugar industry, bought Benmore Estate and expanded it. He incorporated the estates at Kilmun and Bernice, and planted over six million trees. He also carved out the impressive, winding paths through the spectacular ravine known as Puck's Glen, considered one of Scotland’s most beautiful and enchanting forest trails.
Henry Younger was the man behind Edinburgh brewing powerhouse Younger's. He bought the estate in 1889, and he and his son Harry George Younger further refined the estate’s exotic ecology, bringing shrubs and trees to the gardens from all corners of the globe. It was in 1924 that Harry George Younger decided to donate the entire estate to the nation. He passed ownership and care for the estate, Benmore House, and the woodlands surrounding it, to the Forestry Commission.
Some of the first foresters to study at Benmore, pictured in 1930
Map of Benmore Forest, 1931
BENMORE FOREST SCHOOL 1929-1965
In 1929, Benmore House opened as Scotland’s first School of Forestry. The map (below, left) shows the grounds as they would have appeared in 1931. A document detailing the history of all of the Forestry Commission’s schools quotes a prospectus, published in the 1930s:
The schools are open to young men who in the opinion of the Forestry Commissioners are suitable for training as working foresters. Selected applicants must be able and willing to perform the full duties of a woodman…
The course of training which extends over 3 years is given free. No charge is made for tools, books and stationery used by the apprentices.
In the 1930s the Forestry Commission established a new arboretum at Kilmun. The valley’s natural ‘rainforest’ conditions provided the perfect humid environment for experimentation with non-native species. Kilmun remains an important site for seed production and test plantings to this day.
Benmore students at a hockey match, 1959.
A NEW GENERATION OF FORESTERS
Over the course of its time as a training school, Benmore House welcomed more than 500 future foresters, in class sizes of 15.
After graduation they would complete apprenticeships and work placements before they were considered fully qualified.
Learning the trade took approximately 6 years in total, but while at Benmore they could enjoy recreational activities - the school had hockey and football teams, and a healthy rivalry with England’s biggest forestry school at the Forest of Dean.
The provision of free accommodation, equipment and training made Benmore Forest School an attractive prospect for a young man fresh from school. Anyone aged 19 to 25 could apply if they had gained some experience working on the estate first. It certainly helped to have a contact in the Commission, and back then, only men were allowed to become foresters. Women didn’t start to take on many roles in the industry until after World War Two, following the incredible contribution of the ‘Lumberjills’ towards the war effort.
In the same document, a Scottish instructor based at Benmore opens his remarks with a short poem:
“Far away north of the Tweed
You find England’s upper storey,
Where we good foresters breed
For the land of hope and glory.”
He goes on to describe the estate in the 1930s:
“The house is overshadowed by beautiful trees of many species which were the pride and joy of the previous owners of the estate… lovers of nature shall revel in these grounds from generation to generation… To the observant trainee profound knowledge is in easy reach. Arboretums, pinetums, shrubberies and gardens are there, and with reference books as keys, the door is opened so the store may be replenished at will.”
In the years after WW2, the Forestry Commission struggled to get the staff to manage the forest properly, as this historical record from 1951 shows, providing evidence of the continuing need for a school dedicated to training the next generation of foresters:
“A hostel opened at Kilmun in 1947, but it has seldom carried its full quota of men and these, being largely recruited from the city, have not the skill or the hardiness of the rural worker... A sizeable amount of the work at Benmore is undertaken by the apprentices attending Benmore Forest School.”
Benmore House continued to be used for training until 1965. One of the members of the final graduating class was Norman Davidson, curator of the archive from which many of the images on this site are taken.
Benmore students in the field, 1959.
When he arrived in the early 1960s, Norman had spent two years working as a forest labourer, and the strict routine and rules of Benmore House were a shock to him and his new classmates:
“To say that we were a bit feral would possibly be an understatement and to come up against the strict routine and regimentation of an army style organisation at the School was a bit of a shock to the system.”
The training was rigorous, covering all aspects of forestry from planning to harvesting:
“We were in a class room about two days per week and out on work sites or undertaking outside training such as surveying or plant recognition the other three days per week. The forester instructors showed us exactly how every job should be done and then expected us to carry it out time and time again to the required standard with a student ganger appointed weekly to manage the job, fill in the time sheets and do the costings.
As we progressed we were given tasks; such as being shown a piece of open hill ground and told to provide a work plan, tree species and fence layout plans as well as provide fire protection proposals. Gradually the skills were honed, and we were tested, and tested…”
Students were given a weekly allowance of £2 and 12 shillings a week, which they spend the majority of in the local pub, according to Norman, who relays several hilarious but unrepeatable drinking stories. Apart from the pub, there were dances, and the opportunity to earn a little money on the side:
At weekends, if not on duty, we worked doing odd jobs very often helping people with their large gardens which were a handful in the wet climate. Occasionally there was timber harvesting work where a contractor was looking for some people to sned out trees with the axe when he had felled them with his new chainsaw.
We cycled everywhere and walked quite a bit if we missed the late bus after a dance, which was not infrequent!
After graduating, Norman worked for a time as a forester in Ghana, before returning to Scotland to spend several years working at Leanachan Forest, near Fort William. After his eventual retirement, he became the curator of the archival Forestry Memories project.
Benmore House shut as a school in 1965, and was eventually taken over by an education authority. In the years since its closure as a forestry school, it has been an activity centre, a youth hostel, and an outdoor learning centre.
Puck’s Glen as it appears today.
THE PRESENT DAY: BOTANIC GARDENS
The gardens have been looked after by the same organisation who take care of Edinburgh Botanic Gardens since the 1980s, and the range of exotic species on show has continued to expand and evolve. The gardens are now home to 300 different species of rare rhododendrons, and contain examples of more than a third of the world’s living conifer species.
Nearby Kilmun Arboretum is still looked after by Forestry and Land Scotland, and continues the tradition of experimental planting and crop development; while the breath-taking ravine at Puck’s Glen has become one of the most visited destinations in Argyll Forest Park.
Former students at a Benmore House reunion, 2012.
Scotland’s unique ‘rainforest’ valley is a hidden gem, nestled in a stunning part of the Cowal Peninsula.
Just a short train and ferry ride away from Glasgow or Edinburgh, it’s a stunning day trip you won’t forget, and a fitting tribute to the legacy of 100 years of forestry in Scotland.