Glen Lui

Before the Plantation was created the wartime occupation was evident on the ground with concrete blocks on the surface, partially rotted logs 'nailed' together with ½" spikes.

Near the small beach on the south side of the Canadian Campsite a log-bridge crossed the River Dee and there are still spiked-logs on the north bank and spikes in the rock on the south-bank to show its exact position.

In the Lui Water slightly upriver from the bridge are the remains of 'sluices and concrete banks' created by the Canadians in their occupation of the area – Watson (1975).

Crossing Black Bridge – turn left (roughly NNW) following the four-wheel drive road up Glen Lui and towards The Derry.

This part of Glen Lui is a broad glaciated valley dotted with moraines – the remains of the ancient glacial past.

For example, – in Gordon (1925) the author gives name to the two moraines of Glen Lui just upriver from Black Bridge – Da Shithean – Two Fairy Mounds.

A little more than half-a-mile above Black Bridge – just before the burn named Allt a' Mhadaidh on the Ordnance Survey 1:25 000 maps – a footpath leads up the hillside, and through the narrow valley named Clais Fhearniag – The Hollow of the Alder – the track leads through Clais Fhearniag to Glen Quoich.

Before the Jacobite rising of 1715 Glen Lui supported many people and the valley floor was dotted with farms and townships.

In Gordon (1948) the author quotes from a letter dated 15 September 1726 from Lord Grange to James Farquharson of Balmoral who was Factor and Forester of the estate at the time, referring to Glen Lui and instructing him to eject those people after their harvest is over.

Similarly to the north Dixon and Green (1995) shows : Wester Auchavrie, Easter Auchavrie, Croislish, Allt a' Mhadaidh-allaidh, and Ruigh an t-Sidhein, and to the south : Dail Rosaigh, Dail Gainimh, and Cnoc na Teididh.

In Gordon (1948) the author suggest the township named Aldvattigally by Roy (1747–1755), and Allt a' Mhadaidh-allaidh by Dixon and Green (1995) should be Allt a' Mhadaidh Allaidh – Burn of the Wild Dog (Wolf), and the township named Achavadie by Roy (1747–1755), and the Wester and Easter Auchavrie by Dixon and Green (1995) should be Ach' a' Mhaidaidh – Field of the Dog.

In the Derry Wood is the old Hunting Lodge named Derry Lodge – in spite of the speculation by Dixon and Green (1995) that it was possibly the Head Keeper's house ... A building of one storey and attic, it was suitable for the person second in rank on the estate to the factor – local knowledge and existing records (Census records for example) indicate that Ronald McDonald the Head Keeper at the end of the 19th and the start of the 20th centuries lived at Claybokie – and that Derry Lodge was probably intended as temporary accommodation for hunting parties.

In Gordon (1925) the author reports that [some] Mackenzie of Dalmore buried his treasure from a raid in Lochaber beside this tree for a while, before moving it to Cairn Geldie – where it remains to this day.