Local Background
The visitor is drawn to the area around Glenelg, on the shores of Kyle Rhea Narrows opposite the Isle of Skye, perhaps to become familiar with the landscapes associated with Gavin Maxwell, author of a clutch of titles including the famous ‘Ring of Bright Water’. The location described as Camusfearna by Maxwell and better known locally as Sandaig is accessible by footpath around six miles south of Glenelg, though there is little evidence today of the house that once stood by the shore after the disastrous fire that gutted the building in 1968. Within Glenelg itself a notable feature is the War Memorial, facing westwards across the waters to the shoreline of Skye. It is an impressive feature with prominence given to Major Valentine Fleming, killed in the early days of the Great War. This is the father of the noted Ian Fleming, operative within MI5 during World War II and who would achieve fame later as the author of the James Bond novels and who also had a hand in thinking up ‘Operation Mincemeat’ to divert Axis forces from the planned invasion of Sicily. There was also active engagement to plan the protection of Gibralter should Spain lose its neutrality.
The Fleming family was a respected banking family. Investments had been successfully developed by Robert Fleming and who had in particularly invested wisely in the expanding American economy and became a respected international financier. At the time of the death of Fleming’s father, the family held an impressive estate house at Dalness Lodge in remote Glen Etive and a second habitation had been completed in 1916 at Arnisdale, some ten miles south of Glenelg. The lodge is itself close to the hamlet of Corran which effectively marks the end of the road along Loch Hourn and where for good reason curious visitors are advised not to cross the bridge by car due to lack of proper adopted roads in the village. It is a badge of honour to seek refreshments in Sheena’s ‘tea hut’ in Corran during the summer months. Red deer can often be seen grazing in the Arnisdale locality.
The new lodge in Arnisdale was sold together with the estate by the Fleming family in 1919. Details of the estate are summarised in the sale prospectus. Charges against the estate are listed as county rates, district rates, parish rates, land tax and minister’s stipend which are listed as not exceeding £73.00 for 1918 to 1919 though, as stated in the records, this figure had been reduced since the estate had not been let for the indicated assessment period. The hamlet of Arnisdale is described as having a post office and telegraph office, a pier and ample boat anchorages. A weekly mail boat from Mallaig to Arnisdale would have been a convenient means to transport a wide range of goods via the national railway network. The was also a rail connection at Kyle of Lochalsh.
In terms of income from the estate, the potential income from the deer forest of some 8200 acres, fishing and the lodge itself was significantly greater than that from rents from estate tenants where around 15 properties were indicated with a value of around £60.00 per year. The river Arnisdale provided salmon, sea trout and brown trout as part of the estate resources though the river is of modest size though no doubt hosts some attractive pools. The estate supported some 2000 acres of farmland, mainly grazing and with a range of farm buildings including stables, byre, barn and hay shed. The Lodge itself comprised four reception rooms on the ground floor and nine bed and dressing rooms and four bathrooms which were mainly on the first floor. Adequate servant quarters were located in a wing on the ground floor. At the time of the sale of the estate in 1919, a vegetable garden of a half acre had been established though no other garden had been laid out due to wartime limitations.
It is possible that these grand Highland lodges – the Dalness Lodge and the lodge at Arnisdale once in the Fleming household, sowed the seeds of the plot of the Bond film Skyfall released subsequently in 2012. A stretch of the road over to the Dalness Lodge in Glen Etive is reputed to have been filmed in the Bond movie Skyfall.
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