📌 Taynuilt, Argyll & Bute
★★★
🛠️ Site open except for museum building – reduced admission fee (checked April 2024)
In the mid 18th century, Cumbrian iron furnace companies ran short on charcoal to power their furnaces. The answer lay across the border to the north: western Scotland had vast areas of forest perfect for charcoal production. Instead of transporting heavy logs south, furnaces were instead established close to the fuel source – and close to Loch Etive to allow the arrival of iron ore and the departure of pig iron / cannonballs by sea. The ironworks at Bonawe are today the best preserved of their type in Britain; the setting on a gentle hillside surrounded by trees and hills is now an idyllic one, but it’s easy enough to imagine the noise, dust and smell which must have filled the air here until production ceased in the 1870s. Lorn Quay – where materials were shipped in and out – is a short walk or drive away, and also worth visiting.
🌍 Location
📌 Off the B845 0.5 mi northeast of Taynuilt
🧭 O.S. Grid Reference: NN 010319
🛰️ GPS coordinates: 56.437009,-5.229581
🚆 Taynuilt (0.5 mi) | 🚌 Infrequent bus to Achlonan (0.5 mi), or better service stops on A85 (1 mi)
🚗 Car park
📝 Key info
⌚ Daily, April to September
🎫 £7.50 adult / £4.50 child / free for Historic Environment Scotland members
