Glenfinart House

Glenfinart House tower
© William Craig

Glenfinart House was located in Glenfinart Forest, Ardentinny, Argyll & Bute, on the western shore of Loch Long. Following a fire in the 1960s, only the surviving part of the house is the tower, within a caravan park which occupies the grounds.

Early background

Glenfinart Hall

Glenfinart House originally lay within the estate of the Earls Dunsmore. The land passed to the Douglas family, via Archibald John Douglas and Charles Douglas, then, in 1893, to Henry Pig�-Leschallas. Henry's son, Major John Leschallas, lived there with his family until 1926, when they sold the house and moved south, having previously sold off some parts of the estate in 1922.

In 1906, Mrs Leschallas had Glenfinart Hall constructed as a memorial to her husband, and the hall still remains to the west of the former house and its grounds, where is serves as the village hall and celebrated its first centenary in 2006.

1906 Memorial plaque

The original Glenfinart Estate became fragmented as it changed hands over the years, gradually reducing in size as it was broken up into lots, and sold off. Having encompassed an area including most of the peninsular land which it lay on between Loch Fyne to the west, and Loch Long and Loch Goil to the east, its size fell to that of the present day Glenfinart Forest. The Forestry Commission purchased the remainder of the Douglas estate in 1934, when it became part of the Argyll Forest Park in 1935, the first such area to be established in Britain. The Commission bought or leased land throughout the inter-war period, when land prices were low, and so accumulated large holdings. The fields opposite Finart Bay were once a Forestry Commission nursery, and Glenfinart's Ardentinny nursery supplied seedling treess for new plantations throughout Scotland.

Unemployment camps

During the 1930s, unemployment camps were set up in the area south east of the house, toward the beach, and used to house unemployed workers from the West of Scotland. The west, with its concentration of shipbuilding and related, dependent industries, was hit hard by the Great Depression of 1929-1933, when much of the area's working population laid off. After the war the Government denied that these these camps had existed, but they are remembered by those who lived in the area at the the time.^[1]

World War II

HMS Armadillo

Memorial at information centre
� Elliott Simpson

Glenfinart House was requisitioned during World War II, and designated HMS Armadillo. Initially used as a War Office camp, it transferred to the Royal Navy in 1942, and provided training facilities for RN Beach Commandos who were not to be confused with Royal Marine Commandos. The job of the RN Beach Commandos was to go ashore in the first landing craft and set up a protected base for the Beach Commander to operate from - his job was to control the flow of incoming and outgoing landing craft.

The training school at Ardentinny accommodated between 500 and 600 men and, unusually for the time, mixed officers with ratings. Loch Long was used for amphibious landing drills, and training in reconnaissance and specialised beach skills. Further training included weapons usage, embarkation and debarkation of landing craft under battle conditions, and field survival, and exercises such as rock climbing, assault courses, and route marches.

Wartime pictures which can be seen when following the links below have not faded - uniforms were khaki battledress (officers and ratings) topped off with the appropriate naval hat.

HMS Armadillo beach memorial
� Elliott Simpson

A commemorative plaque mounted in Ardentinny Church remembers those who were trained there, and a photographic record of the RN Commandos appears on a memorial display board established at the beach.

Site Visit 2008 We visited the site in September 2008 and found two huts remaining only. The long hut was found to have a brick addition to the rear which is quite substantially built. Only 1 internal picture, taken through a wall vent is inconclusive as far as the purpose of the structure is concerned. The area above the car park is festooned with hut bases of various sizes. Some foundation remains of the wooden hut once used by the Lochgoilhead Scout Activity Centre were also found.

A concrete base near the north end of the beach was found to have a substantial concrete step below it towards the beach. This is thought to be the sole remains of the wooden jetty known to have been in that area.

At the northern extremity of the beach a manhole and a pipe support suggest that this was remains of the camp sewage system. A large watertank constructed mainly in stone was also found. It had had a brick additon at one corner and had a brick construction in the water. Since the tank is now over grown it was impossible to say whether there were any more structures in the tank or whether this was a simple overflow device to maintain the water level. The purpose of the tank is unclear as it seems to predate WWII.

Postwar period

Glenfinart House fire, 1968
Courtesy of Glenfinart website

Following the end of the war, the house returned to private ownership, and became a hotel.

By the mid-1950s, forestry was flourishing on the surrounding land, and the area once again provided accommodation for the unemployed. This time, however, accommodation was provided in the big house, albeit temporarily, while the workers own housing in the village was being completed. The new arrivals were taking advantage of a retraining programme, and being trained as forestry workers to meet the growing demands of the local industry. More than fifty workers were employed in Ardentinny, where the nursery produced several million seedling trees for national distribution. Unfortunately, changes in acceptable working practice, in other words, modern Health and Safety legislation, brought more than twenty years of successful employment in the area to an end.^[2]

The hotel was also suffering from progress, with bookings falling as the cheap package holidays of the 1960s attracted holidaymakers away from their usual destinations at home, and to warmer and sunnier locations abroad.

Glenfinart tower and portico
� Willie Mair

In 1968, Glenfinart House was destroyed by fire, leaving on its site only by the remains of its entrance portico and tower, which stand within a caravan site which now occupies the grounds.

Famous residents

Although there do not appear to be any accounts of guests of special note residing in the house, the village of Ardentinny does have some famous residents.

Born in Glasgow, actress Phyllida Law has a family home there, and admits that while her career in England has been successful, it has meant not being truly resident in Scotland. Phyllida's husband was Eric Thompson (November 9, 1929 - December 1, 1982) an English actor, producer, and television presenter, probably best known for his script and narration of the children's television series The Magic Roundabout, transmitted between October 1965, and January 1977. The scripts, which replaced the original French material, were written while the couple were living at Ardentinny, and this influenced a number of aspects in the scripts, for example, the naming of Dougal, the dog - pparently this upset the French, who mistook the pronunciation as de Gaulle. Thompson had a dislike of the original French scripts, describing them as being loud and noisy, and created his own stories, more in keeping with the quiet and relaxed style of life in a village.

The couple's children are also well-known, being the actresses Emma Thompson and Sophie Thompson.

Footnotes

The bowling green at Ardentinny lies to the north of a burn, and had several huts, some wooden, some concrete, and was probably the site of the camps referred to above. The Lochgoilhead Scout Centre had the use of one hut for a while - the hut had previously been used as the village youth club, and came with a piano and three sets of wallbars, but little else.

We're grateful for the following local information received regarding the past of Glenfinart House:

After the war it reverted to private hands and became a hotel. By the 1960s trade was dropping off and most of the building was destroyed in fire in 1968. The entrance portico and tower with the carving of the Leschallas family motto De Tout Mon Coeur survived, as did several wartime concrete huts to the rear. The literal translation of the motto is Of All My Heart, perhaps With All My Heart, being closer to its actual meaning.

One of the huts was occupied by a squatter, and when the site was abandoned he created the largest book in the world (featured in the Guinness Book of Records) and set up a son et lumi�re accompaniment to the reading of the story. The story depicted was The Little Red Elf. The pages of the book were made out of 8 ft x 4 ft sheets of hardboard. When he was evicted he took it to a cave on Loch Eckside. No one seems to know what happened to it after that.

Many years later a Lady told me that her parents were friendly with the hotel owners in the 1960s and they had visited the House one day. When they left she turned round and saw smoke rising from the building but her parents told her to keep walking!

Douglas peerage

The following members of the Douglas family have been identified from peerage records.

Unfortunately, there seems to be some conflict, as General Sir John Douglas, G.C.B. appears to be interred in two separate locations.

Lt.-Gen. Sir Neil Douglas of Glenfinart: Invested as a Knight Commander, Order of the Bath (K.C.B.). Father of General Sir John Douglas of Glenfinart. Source
General Sir John Douglas of Glenfinart: Father: Son of Lt.-Gen. Sir Neil Douglas of Glenfinart. He married Lady Elizabeth Cathcart (d. 27 February 1896), daughter of General Sir Charles Murray Cathcart, 2nd Earl Cathcart and Henrietta Mather, on 1 June 1843. General Sir John Douglas of Glenfinart was Commander of the Forces in Scotland, gained the rank of Colonel in the service of the 79th Foot, and was invested as a Knight Grand Cross, Order of the Bath (G.C.B.). Source
Major-General John Douglas: Was born before 1827. He married Rosa Maria Paget, daughter of Rt. Hon. Sir Arthur Paget and Lady Augusta Fane, on 10 March 1842. 1 He died on 10 May 1871, without issue. Invested as a Companion, Order of the Bath (C.B.). He gained the rank of Major-General in the service of the 11th Hussars. He lived in Glenfinart, Argyllshire, Scotland. Source
General Sir John Douglas, G.C.B.: 1817 - 1888. Of the 79th Cameron Highlanders (sometime between 1873 - 1886). The sources make no reference to his home. Source 1 Tomb Source 2 History Source 3 History
General Sir John Douglas, G.C.B.: At Kilmun (St Munn's) Parish Church, against the north wall of the tower can be seen a mort-safe. Within a red sandstone vault lies General Sir John Douglas, G.C.B. Source
Sir John Douglas: Was born before 1848. He lived in Glenfinart, Argyllshire, Scotland. Invested as a Knight Grand Cross, Order of the Bath (G.C.B.). Father of Charles John Cathcart Douglas (b. b 1864, d. 25 Apr 1926). Source
Charles John Cathcart Douglas: Was born before 1864. The son of Sir John Douglas. He married Helen Tolmie Dick Bayly, daughter of General John Bayly and Jane Crum-Ewing, on 17 November 1880. He died on 25 April 1926. Charles John Cathcart Douglas held the office of Deputy Lieutenant (D.L.). Source

References

1 ⇑ Ardentinny Community Profile

2 ⇑ Ardentinny Community Profile

Photographs

Picture gallery, 2008

External links

Geograph pics nearby

Geocaches nearby

GENUKI info within 5 miles

Aerial views

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Map

Categories: World War II | Training Area | Building

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