Jacksonville

Just had a reply sent to me about a hut near the gorge in Glencoe known as the Squirrel's Drey. I knew it was used by climbers but I was told that it appears to have been used / built by people (Home Guard?) manning the nearby gun positions.

The message sent included this which I thought might be of interest here.

Glasgow climbers still have a hut in the Coe, Jacksonville, up towards The Kingshouse. I believe it was based on a shelter abandoned by the Commandos training there during the war.

JMB wrote:Just had a reply sent to me about a hut near the gorge in Glencoe known as the Squirrel's Drey. I knew it was used by climbers but I was told that it appears to have been used / built by people (Home Guard?) manning the nearby gun positions.

The message sent included this which I thought might be of interest here.

Glasgow climbers still have a hut in the Coe, Jacksonville, up towards The Kingshouse. I believe it was based on a shelter abandoned by the Commandos training there during the war.

As far as I'm aware, 'The Drey', on the approach to A'Chaileach in Glencoe, was built by the Edinburgh Squirrels Climbing Club, and the 'Jacksonville' is the old Creagh Dhu Mountaineering Club hut at the foot of Buachaille Etive Mhor.

Nick

Will see if any other comments or memories.

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 12/06/2025 12:07:03

Martin,
IIRC Jacksonville was not built by the Creag Dhu Mountaineering Club until c.1950 according to Hamish MacInnes (see below) and was based on an old sheep fank. This was originally roofed very primitively with a tarpaulin, but was gradually extended and improved into the current structure.

Location is OS Grid Ref NN 2347 5527.

It's possible WW2 commandos also made use of the same sheep pen in a similar way, but I've not found any evidence of this.

Mark

Thanks, all sounds quite plausible.

Some more on the history of the Jacksonville hut, this time from the very entertaining Mountain Days and Bothy Nights (1987) by Dave Brown and Ian Mitchell.

I found this great drone footage overflying the hut:
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=476247972927938

The original drystane walls of the sheepfold are well seen.

There is a structure shown on the OS Six Inch map published in 1900 - see Map extract below. Its centre is not hatched, so I think this is a walled enclosure, not a building. The house and barn at nearby Altnafeadh are shown hatched while its associated animal pens etc are not.

The map extract is reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland under the terms of licence CC-BY (NLS). The map is here:
https://maps.nls.uk/view/75482324#zoom=6.2&lat=4473&lon=7419&layers=BT

Apologies in advance if the attached files are presented out of sequence - I haven't mastered that yet!

Mark

Yes there is a convention on the old OS maps to distinguish between roofed and unroofed structures.

I was trying to find the key to the symbols but not found it.

But I suppose Commandos, other military or anyone else in the hills are going to get to know places where they can shelter from the wind and rain!

Good drone footage of the Squirrel's Drey hut from the same series produced by the Glencoe Heritage Trust:
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=908592365847342

I've not been close to this spot for a good thirty years and it seems the hut is no longer maintained, but is still weathertight.

So far I've not found anything about the origins and construction of the hut, beyond its association with the Edinburgh Squirrels Mountaineering Club. This was a splinter club from Edinburgh's Junior Mountaineering Club of Scotland (JMCS) that broke off in the mid-sixties.

With that date in mind and the proximity of the other stone 'compound' and WW2 gun emplacements nearby, I agree with you that the Squirrels may well have made use of an existing structure related to the WW2 'stop line' in the glen.

These are more likely to be Home Guard than commando, but we do know there was definitely commando training happening in The Lost Valley - see this topic: https://forum.commandoveterans.org/cdoForum/posts/list/4901.page#top

The enormous boulder discussed there is 2km from the Squirrel's Drey as the crow flies.

I enjoyed your excellent flickr photostream of all those structures. I assume you also posted material on Canmore, but I haven't yet adjusted to the new arrangements and located where the Canmore data can now be found. I'm still getting to grips with Trove!

Keep up the good work!

Mark

MBrockway wrote:Good drone footage of the Squirrel's Drey hut from the same series produced by the Glencoe Heritage Trust:
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=908592365847342

I enjoyed your excellent flickr photostream of all those structures. I assume you also posted material on Canmore, but I haven't yet adjusted to the new arrangements and located where the Canmore data can now be found. I'm still getting to grips with Trove!

Keep up the good work!

Mark

Thanks, not done much with CANMORE recently, I think I still have some War Memorial ones to add.

Have you ever seen the gun positions just North of Crerran Bridge, along the line of the old railway. Very like the ones in Glencoe.

JMB wrote:Yes there is a convention on the old OS maps to distinguish between roofed and unroofed structures.

I was trying to find the key to the symbols but not found it.

Not fully comprehensive by modern standards, but try this:
https://maps.nls.uk/view/128076894

Cheers,
Mark

Be aware Canmore is shutting down imminently

See here: https://www.historicenvironment.scot/about-us/news/retiral-of-hes-web-services/

Theoretically on 24th June and HES are claiming old Canmore links will be redirected to their Trove equivalents, but there will no doubt be teething troubles!

JMB wrote:

Have you ever seen the gun positions just North of Crerran Bridge, along the line of the old railway. Very like the ones in Glencoe.

Just had a look at your flickr album of these - I had never noticed them ... and I first went along that road around 1967 when it still went under the railway bridge and E to the head of the loch! And like me, you probably still remember the Ballachulish Ferry

.

Easy to miss though when you're focussed on all those bends though.

Another logic pinch point for any enemy trying to pass along the coast road

Thanks for the heads-up

Mark

MBrockway wrote:

Just had a look at your flickr album of these - I had never noticed them ... and I first went along that road around 1967 when it still went under the railway bridge and E to the head of the loch! And like me, you probably still remember the Ballachulish Ferry .

Easy to miss though when you're focussed on all those bends though.

Another logic pinch point for any enemy trying to pass along the coast road

Thanks for the heads-up

Mark

Or any traffic on the railway line.

I imagined a Captain Mainwaring type character getting his men to build them!