View source for Corrour Bothy

{{Short description|Stone building in Aberdeenshire, Scotland}}
{{distinguish|text=[[Corrour Lodge]], which is elsewhere in Scotland}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
[[File:Corrour Bothy - geograph.org.uk - 1546559.jpg |thumb|right|200px| Corrour Bothy in October 2009]]
'''Corrour Bothy''' is a simple stone building on [[Mar Lodge Estate]], [[Aberdeenshire]], [[Scotland]].

It is located below Coire Odhar between [[The Devil's Point]] and [[Cairn Toul]] on the western side of the [[River Dee, Aberdeenshire|River Dee]] in the [[Lairig Ghru]].

The [[bothy]] is a single room with a fireplace and chimney in its northern [[gable]]. Its dimensions are 19.6&nbsp;ft (6[[Metre|m]]) by 11.8&nbsp;ft (3.6m).{{sfnp|Tait|2006}} There is a toilet in the wooden extension to the building. It is used as a mountain refuge and as a starting point for ascents of [[Munro]]s including The Devil's Point, Cairn Toul, and [[Braeriach]].

==Name==
The name ''Corrour'' is used as a name for the locality as well as specifically as a name for the bothy itself, the name being derived from Coire Odhar according to [[Adam Watson]]:
{{blockquote|... was named after the wide Coire Odhar or dun corrie, which stretches behind the bothy from The Devils Point round to Cairn Toul|{{harvp|Watson|1975|p=145}}}}

Watson gave the local pronunciation as ''Corower'', but without explanation. However, [[Seton Gordon]], appears to suggest the final-vowels of ''Coire'' (and corrie) are dropped to give ''kor'', and that the ''dh'' in ''Odhar'' are silent because they follow a vowel—giving what sounds like ''kor-Oar'', or like the ''cor-ower'' suggested by Watson.{{sfnp|Gordon|1948|loc=
Hints on Gaelic pronunciation}}

In spite of Watson's earlier work and his understanding of Gaelic—and its local dialect— Dixon and Green suggested an alternative origin for the place name as a shelter for the {{lang|sco|currour}}, or forester's assistant.{{sfnp|Dixon|Green|1995}}

==History==
In 1975 Watson wrote that the people of Mar used Coirie Odhar as a summer shieling for their cattle in the early part of the nineteenth century, but in the later part "the area was kept clear for deer".{{sfnp|Watson|1975}}

===Deer watchers===
The original bothy was built in 1877 to house a deer watcher during the summer, and it housed several including Charles Robertson,<ref>{{cite web | url=http://theuplandofmar.squarespace.com/charles-robertson-biography | title=Charles Robertson : a potted biography by Joe Dorward | access-date=2011-06-18 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110618234316/http://theuplandofmar.squarespace.com/charles-robertson-biography/ | archive-date=2011-06-18 | url-status=dead }}</ref> John Macintosh, and Frank Scott before the estate stopped using the bothy in the 1920s. In 1948 Gordon gave some detail about its occupation by deer watchers:
{{blockquote|The bothy on the opposite side of the Dee to the Tailors' Stone is known as the Corrour Bothy, receiving its name from the corrie behind it. In the lifetime of the Duke of Fife, a deer-stalker or deer-watcher lived in the bothy from July to October. When I first knew the Cairngorms an old watcher named Charles Robertson, a great character, inhabited the bothy, and was succeeded by John Macintosh|{{harvp|Gordon|1948|p=316}}}}
An even earlier mention, from 1901, gives an account of passing Corrour Bothy:
{{blockquote|At mid-day we were abreast of Glen Geusachan, and Charlie Robertson saluted us from the door of his hut (Corrour) as we passed on the opposite side of the Dee. We thereafter made tracks across the glen, and, fording the Dee, prepared for the ascent of Cairn Toul|{{harvp|Skea|1901|p=272}}}}

===Open bothy===
In 1975 Watson wrote that the last watcher at Corrour Bothy was Frank Scott who left in 1920. After then it then became a 'famous open bothy' with a visitor book being left there in 1928 by the Rucksack Club of University College, Dundee.{{sfnp|Watson|1975}}<ref>{{cite web |title=Dundee University Rucksack Club |url=https://www.facebook.com/DundeeUniRucksackClub/ |website=Facebook |access-date=3 September 2024}}</ref>

In 1949 the bothy was reconstructed by members of the [[Cairngorm Club]], with help from a wide range of individuals and other mountaineering clubs.{{sfnp|Taylor|1950}}{{sfnp|Watson|1975}}{{sfnp|Tait|2006}}

Archaeologically, the site is complicated: close to the bothy there are stones in the ground that appear to have formed part of some earlier construction, perhaps the remains of the summer shieling-huts. Dixon and Green considered that they found "the remains of a hut with stone-footings, which is set into the grassy slope a short distance south-east of the present hut".{{sfnp|Dixon|Green|1995}}

==Present==
Tait, in 2006, described the bothy's origin, its reconstruction in 1949 by the Cairngorm Club, and the fact that it is maintained by the [[Mountain Bothies Association]] when reporting on the acquisition of full [[planning permission]] by the Mountain Bothies Association to add an extension to the bothy to house toilet facilities.{{sfnp|Tait|2006}}<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.compostloos.org.uk| title=Compost Loos – the Corrour Bothy Toilet| access-date=2007-06-22| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140603143853/http://compostloos.org.uk/?q=node%2F1| archive-date=3 June 2014| url-status=dead}}</ref> A composting toilet has been installed in the extension at the south gable end of the bothy.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Allan|first1=Geoff|title=The Scottish Bothy Bible|date=1 February 2017|pages=174–177|publisher=Wild Things Publishing|isbn=978-1910636107}}</ref>

Visitors' books started being kept in 1928 and many are preserved, being archived mostly by the Rucksack Club at the Dundee University Archives. Ralph Storer has published extensive extracts from the books, making the observation that, over the years, their literary merit has lagged behind the increase in visitors.{{sfnp|Storer|2020|p=31–35}}

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Image:corrourbothy_from_lairigghru.jpg | Corrour Bothy
Image:corrour_bridge.jpg | Bridge over Dee at Corrour Bothy
Image:corrour_general 01.jpg | The Dee near Corrour Bothy
Image:corrourbothy_03.jpg | Corrour Bothy
</gallery>

==See also==
* [[List of Mountain Bothies Association bothies]]
* [[Places, place names, and structures on Mar Lodge Estate]]

==References==
<references/>

==Sources==
* {{cite book
  | title=Mar Lodge Estate Grampian : An Archaeological Survey
  | first1=P.J. | last1=Dixon
  | first2=S.T. | last2=Green
  | publisher=Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland, Edinburgh
  | year=1995
  | url=https://i.rcahms.gov.uk/canmore-pdf/WP00003909.pdf
}}
* {{Cite book
  | title=Highways and Byways in the Central Highlands
  | first=Seton | last=Gordon | author-link=Seton Gordon
  | publisher=MacMillan & Co. Ltd, London, England.
  | year=1948}}
* {{cite journal
  | first=William | last=Skea
  | year = 1901
  | journal=[[Cairngorm Club#Cairngorm Club Journal|Cairngorm Club Journal]]
  | issue=17
  | publisher=Cairngorm Club
  | location=Aberdeen
  | title=Article title unknown
  }}
*{{cite book |last1=Storer |first1=Ralph |title=Corrour Bothy: a refuge in the wilderness |date=2020 |publisher=Luath Press |location=Edinburgh |isbn=978-1-913025-56-4}}
* {{cite web
  | title=Report On Called-In Planning
  | first=Andrew | last=Tait
  | publisher=Cairngorms National Park Authority
  | year=2006 
  | url=https://www.cairngorms.co.uk/resource/docs/boardpapers/11082006/CNPA.Paper.1532.Planning%20Committee.Planning.Paper..pdf
  }}
* {{cite journal
  | first=G.A | last=Taylor
  | title=The Reconstruction of Corrour Bothy
  | journal=Cairngorm Club Journal
  | volume=XVI | issue=87 | year=1950
  }} 
* {{cite book
  | title=The Cairngorms
  | first=Adam | last=Watson | author-link= Adam Watson
  | publisher=The Scottish Mountaineering Trust	
  | location=Edinburgh
  | year=1975
  }}

==External links==
{{commons category|Corrour Bothy}}
* A [https://web.archive.org/web/20110831020807/http://theuplandofmar.squarespace.com/buildings/corrour-bothy/ gallery of photographs] by Joe Dorward

{{coord| 57|02|27|N|3|40|45|W|display=title}}

[[Category:Places and place names on Mar Lodge Estate]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures on Mar Lodge Estate]]
[[Category:Cairngorms]]