Helmsdale and Staffordshire & Bual

[Beckenham1]

There is a connection between Helmsdale and Staffordshire on account of all the Helmsdale north-south street names being names after Staffordshire Estates.
I wonder what the history of that connection is, between a Small Sutherland settlement an Staffordshire?

I have an ancestor who lived in a croft known as Bual it is situated down near the township of West Helmdale near the bridge. There were a number of crofts in the Bual district.
What does Bual mean as a word and why is the area named such?

Does anyone know?

[AndrewP]

Hi Beckenham1,

My suggestion for the origin of the name Bual, is that it could originate from buaile - a Gaelic term for a cattle fold (according to my Gaelic - English dictionary - I cannot claim to understand Gaelic).

All the best,

AndrewP

[Currie]

Hello Beckenham,

This book suggests that a Bual was wild and horned http://books.google.com.au/books?id=SLs ... 22&f=false

Probably like the Duke of Sutherland who was also the Marquess of Stafford.

Here’s a preview from “Scotland” by Richenda Miers, 2006.
http://books.google.com.au/books?id=crx ... 22&f=false

“The castle [Helmsdale] was rebuilt in the early 19th century by the Duke of Sutherland who, having evicted the crofters from his lands, tried to make amends by resettling them. Helmsdale was devised as a Fishing/Farming community, the streets laid out in neat geometric parallels, named after the Duke’s estates.”

And a couple of lines from “McKie's Gazetteer: a local history of Britain” by David McKie, 2008. http://books.google.com.au/books?id=m44 ... CDIQ6AEwAQ

“………… it has to be said that this autocrat and his agents and minions had done their work well. It's a good-looking place, with grid-pattern streets named, as so often with this family, after their various properties scattered about the kingdom: Sutherland Street, Stafford Street, Stittenham Street (his place in Yorkshire), Trentham and Lilleshall, his great estates in Staffordshire; Strathnaver Street, after the scene of some of his family's crueller clearances. That a street by the water was allowed to call itself Shore Street seems like a kind of concession.”

There’s some interesting Helmsdale info here http://www.helmsdale.org/history.html

All the best,
Alan

[Adam Brown]

The conncetion is the Levenson-Gower family who owned land in Staffordshire and Sutherland and other places in the UK. Large amounts of money was spent by the Marquis of Stafford, later 1st Duke of Sutherland on his wife's estate in Sutherland.

The 1st Duke was known as the richest man who ever died. Here are his titles. Duke of Sutherland, Marquis of Stafford, Earl Gower, Viscount Trentham, Baron Gower, of Stittenham.

That suggest that rather than the street names coming from estates the family owned, I think they are actually named after the family and the titles they had.

e.g. There is a Gower Street in Brora and the village Portgower named after Earl Gower, although the name is pronouced gore and the places gow-er.

Stafford Street in Helmsdale, Stafford Terrace in Bora and Stafford Road in Dornoch are likely to be after the Marquis of Stafford rather than the English town.

Likewise Sutherland Road, Cromartie Road and Elizabeth Crescent in Dornoch are likely to be named after the 1st Duke and his wife the Countess.

Strathnaver is a place but also a title. Lord Strathnaver is the eldest son of the Earl or Countess of Sutherland.

Trentham will be after the title Viscount Trentham, and there is a street in Helmsdale and a Hotel at Poles near Dornoch. Pronounced Trantam in Dornoch.

Helmsdale has a Sutherland Street and Golspie has a Millicent Avenue.

I'm sure there will be others.

However Lilleshall doesn't seem to have a title attached to it so that may well be after the estate in Shropshire.

Thanks

Adam

[Beckenham1]

Thanks for all the information. Great.

This query started because in Bual, William Ross died aft 1901 and his wife Mary Polson died 1919 lived at the croft known as Bual; they were the parents of the Edinburgh Chief Constable Roderick Ross). It's thought that the croft was situated down near the township of West Helmdale, near the bridge.

Interestingly Roderick was born in West Helmsdale 1865 probably in Bual.

By the 1881 census - Age 16 West Helmsdale – he was an Apprentice Tailor. At some point he is a tailor in the firm of Sir Andrew McDonald, South Bridge, Edinburgh. Then he started his police career in Linlithgow Constabulary, transferring first to Bacup Borough Police then Canterbury. By 1900 he is the Chief Constable of Edinburgh.

The great wonder was, was there a connection between Bacup (being so close to Staffordshire) and Helmsdale that triggered this path through his life or as it seems now merely a co-incidence.

Meanwhile here is a very interesting web link about Bual and the Napier Commission:

http://napier-sutherland.blogspot.com/2 ... _4360.html

Best regards

Jim

[mdrew]

Hi

I have lots of information about the Ross family. Roderick Ross was my great grandfathers brother.

[StewL]

Hello mdrew

I am sure the original posters will receive notification of your post on the topic and reply soon.