Slate quarries and turbines.....Hill of Tillymorgan

Hill: Hill of Tillymorgan

Type: Sub2k

Height: 381m

I parked up on a dirt section off the interestingly named Cadgers’ Road. I always thought of a ‘cadger’ as someone who tried to get something from you without paying, 'can I cadge a fag' frequently heard in Glasgow growing up. So in this case who was the cadger?

From the dirt layby I walked down the road for a short section before turning left and heading up a dirt track.

Not a lot to say about a short climb through the trees. I had read that the track is used by Cross country motorbikes and the track was cut up in places by deep bike tyre marks. However, overall the track was mainly ok and I did not encounter any bikes. I could hear the 'whoosh whoosh' of turbine blades and then one came into view.

My track met up with the formal construction road which led up to to the turbines. Reports suggested there was a barrier of new fence and a locked gate at the first turbine. As it turned out there was a new fence and gate but the gate was open. The fence looked climbable so not an issue either way.

A large turbine was directly ahead and beyond the turbine I noticed a track heading up to the slate quarries.

Abandoned slate quarry

Followed the rough and progressively narrowing track until I reached the bowl of a derelict quarry abandoned many years ago. This also coincided with the end of anything being called a track. Crossed the rough heather which led to a barbed wire fence. Walked up a bit and found a neat section to leg over where the barbed wire had been folded under the plain wire so thankfully no ripped trousers.

This man made waste bing was not the top 

Ahead was an overgrown slate dump which was obviously not the top I was looking for. I headed for it across a strange undulating ground formation which turned out to be the covered remains of two excavation trenches. I then skirted around the side which led onto flatter grass and lo and behold I could see the trig. I hadn't researched it properly and was just expecting a small cairn so a trig was nice.

It had been a grey day and just as I reached the trig surprise, surprise the rain came on.

The mast on Hill of Foudland another hill bagged on this trip

Knock Hill pokes up seems to be seen from all hills around here

The view was nothing special under these conditions so it was a case of taking a couple of snaps, getting waterproof trousers donned and move on.

I moved quickly to get back down the track and get into the trees which sheltered me from the worst of the rain.

A sad end was coming across a dead badger at the side of the road. It looked in perfect condition, so sad. Seen quite a few roadkill badgers recently maybe youngsters who have been moved on looking for there own place.

Objective achieved, a short ramble but never mind the cadger who/what the hell was Tillymorgan? There are reports of a nearby Battle of Tillyangus, so Tilly (or Tillie as also found) does seem to represent a place rather than a person.

A short ramble but another northern Sub2k bagged.

Some historical data from Aberdeenshire Council:

The remains of slate quarries lie around the summit of Hill of Tillymorgan. A few small bothies associated with them lie close by. The quarries were established in 18th Century, and continued to operate into the late 19th Century. The slate was found in veins, inclining to north on the top, running generally from east to west, and is in the early to mid-19th Centuries there were 8 quarries in full operation on the hill. Between 2 and 10 men were employed in each quarry as quarriers, splitters, barrowmen and labourers. The best slates were found at a depth of 4.5m to 9.1m. Blue and grey slate was often to be found in the same quarry, occasionally with beds of grey slate between two of blue, although blue is the dominant colour. In the early 19th Century, the average quantity of slates quarried and sold in Tillymorgan was around 300,000, at a price of 50s per thousand (around £215 in today's money).

Ascent: 180m

Distance: 4.1km

Time: 1.05

Wildlife: Blue Tit; Goldcrest: Robin; Coal Tit;