Ben Lawers

Seen Ben Lawers from Beinn Ghlas

3D map of Ben Lawers

Ben Lawers ( Gaelic: Beinn Labhair ) is one of the highest elevations in the southern part of the Scottish Highlands. It lies on the north side of Loch Tay, and is the highest point of a long ridge that includes seven Munros. By Ben Lawers was long thought it would be 4000 feet high; accurate measurements in the 1870s showed, however, that he is about 5 feet smaller. 1878 a group of 20 men spent a day with the construction of a large stone hill, hoping to bring the summit to a height of 4000 feet. The cairn no longer exists; in any case ignored the Landesvermessungsamt the hill as an artificial structure that was not really part of the mountain.

History

There is much evidence of former settlements and other human activities on the southern slopes of Ben Lawers. The discovery of boulders with cups and ring marks " suggest that it was a very significant landscape in prehistory. " The ruins of huts are each surrounded by a small group of trees and the fluted pastures are signs of early cultivation. Overgrown tracks climb up the mountain from the valley to the Torfbetten on a slope. The limestone and shale in these southern slopes are cultivated since very early times and there are many Bronze Age remains.

Before the fourteenth century the mountain was on the land of Clan MacMillan. Chalmers Lawers submitted mid-14th century the country by force under the reign of David II. According to Thomas Chalmers participation in the murder of James I. the land of Chalmer 1473 family of James III was. confiscated and handed over to Sir Colin Campbell of Glenorchy. The countries were ( with some exceptions) still owned by the Campbells of Glenorchy and Breadalbane. Many of the farms were sold in the late 1940s.

National Trust for Scotland

Most of the south side of Ben Lawers belongs since 1950 to the National Trust for Scotland and was purchased through the generosity of Percy Unna. The area under the management of the National Trust was extended in 1996 by buying the neighboring Tarmachan Range. The Trust has a tourist center at the western end of the range, which hosted an exhibition on the geological formation of the mountain, but this was demolished in 2010.

Flora and Fauna

Ben Lawers is due to the abundance of rare alpine plants National Nature Reserve. Botanists it is due to the slate rocks of the mountain, which lie at the correct height for the plants, considered one of the richest in the alpine flora areas in the United Kingdom. The mountains provide a sufficient amount of calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium and iron for the plants and store due to its clayey soil moisture. To those found on Lawers plants include alpine forget-me - not, Rhodiola, Netzblättrige pasture and most saxifrage. The mountain is also of interest to zoologists. Some of the bird species including ravens, ring thrushes, grouse, ptarmigan and curlew. Rare species are viviparous lizard and wildcat.

Bildergalarie

Lochan Nan Cat from the summit of Ben Lawers

Ben Lawers and Meall Garbh