A Fife couple who run a well known UK company have visited a remote and beautiful part of Scotland’s west coast to explore some of their own industrial history and craftsmanship.
Edwin and Tio White, of Auchtermuchty’s John White & Son (Weighing Machines) Ltd, travelled to Inverie on the Knoydart Estate to see a weighbridge made by the company more than a century ago.
Incredibly, the machine originally used for weighing cart-loads of coal brought by boat from Mallaig might now be the world’s oldest working weighbridge.
These days, its industrial use has long gone but it has found a novel and amusing new lease of life weighing groups of walkers exploring Knoydart.
In an amazing coincidence, the fascinating story of the weighbridge was rekindled when one of the couple’s own former employees from Auchtermuchty came across it while on holiday.
The story is taken up by Edwin, who said that Inverie can only be reached by sea or a walk of many miles over difficult terrain.
“The two-wheel cart weighbridge was sold to the estate in the late-1890s or early-1900s, so that everyone living there, depending on their role and status, could be given the correct amount of coal.
“The coal came in by boat. Amazingly, this all came about a few years ago when ex-employee Bob Kennedy was walking on the estate and spotted the weighbridge.
“He scraped away the grass and, on closer examination, was astonished to discover that was made by John White & Son. It wasn’t in use but he told the locals what it was and where it came from and they contacted us.”