Where in Scotland do you feel most at home?

Russell · Post by **Russell** » Fri Mar 10, 2006 11:36 pm

Freudian slip there.
Never, never let it be said that TalkingScot harboured fiends. Were all friends

Any psychoanalysts out there please

Russell

rdem · Post by **rdem** » Sat Mar 11, 2006 2:31 pm

Well where do I start. I have been doing gen for 30 odd years and a positive aside is that it makes you aware of geography that may not have come to you otherwise. My maternal all came from the small town rural areas of the Howe of the Mearns, Kincardineshire and Deeside in Aberdeenshire. I studied that area extensively and have visited twice and felt attached to the area. Especially, after reading Scots Quair by Lewis Grassick Gibbon, whose real name was Leslie Mitchell and was raised for a time at Bloomfield, Arbuthnott. Bloomfield is up the brae and across from Hareden where one my families held the croft. That whole maternal line can be found in 20 mile radius. So when I looked down on Laurencekirk fron the top of Cairn O Mounth. I pictured my mixture of Viking, Pictish, Gaelic and Anglian ancestors in different eras all striving to raise families and make a living. Right back to wondering if any of my ancestors were in the fabled battle of Mons Graupis against the Romans or who knows maybe onewas a Roman!

My Father's side were all famine Irish and coalminers. they landed in Dalry Ayrshire, and went into Lanarkshire, to Fife, then back west again, until my grandfather ended in Bishopbriggs near Glasgow. I hadn't visited many of the areas where the these generations lived simply because there was so many of them and some of the miner's rows would not be there any more. I have only just pierced the Irish side of my ancestry. I know some general areas from where they originated but not a specific area so it's hard to feel an attachment. However. I am sure if I went to those regions I would certainly feel an affinity to them.

I was ten years old when we left Scotland and I lived in the same house for those ten years. It was a semi detached council house facing Balornock, Springburn. However behind was parks country lanes that led all the way to the Campsies. The few times that I have been back I always get caught off guard by realizing how much those Campsies were a backdrop to me in my childhood. The area is suburban rural and offers the blessings of both ways of life. Even as child we could take a walk in the woods or jump on the bus to see the latest Disney picture in Springburn. I could see me settling there closer to the Campsies maybe right amongst them.

Post by **emanday** » Fri Jun 16, 2006 12:15 pm

Just came across this post and thought I'd add my ?weird? experience.

Five years ago I visited the island of Seil, Argyll on my annual "oor folk" visit to my siblings in Glasgow. I had never felt more at home in my life!! Six months later I owned a tiny cottage on the island and stayed there for four years, loving everything about the area, its people...

Imagine my amazement to discover that, in fact, my ancestors on my mother's side came from that area!! When I started finding records for them in the Kilbrandon/Kilchattan district of Argyll, I discovered that one of the families had lived in a slate quarriers cottage, just like mine used to be, on the same island!

Spooky

mallog · Post by **mallog** » Sat Jun 17, 2006 4:57 am

I am beginning to pay attention to these feelings when doing my research. Several times I have been drawn to a place only to find later that ancestors lived there.
I remember in my youth I visited a student friend who was livng in Gibson St Hillhead. I have loved the place ever since but even more so when I found my family living in Gibson St in the 1901 Census.
There are two favourite places I have not connected to me yet. One is Canna but I am hoping my Blue family from Argyll originated there !
The other is Whitby. Years ago I decided I needed to visit Whitby. Although I knew nothing about the place I knew I would like it. Of course now I know it's not hard to like. Every so often I feel the need to see it again. Some of my ancestors came from the Borders and I have decided that they will have originated in Sweden

(another spiritual home) landed in Whitby and made their way up to Scotland !!! My candidate is Henry Hardie born about 1801 in Earlston. I cannot get any further back with him.

Mallog

Post by **AndrewP** » Sat Jun 17, 2006 9:10 am

mallog wrote:... There are two favourite places I have not connected to me yet. One is Canna but I am hoping my Blue family from Argyll originated there ! ...

Hi Mallog,

Have you visited Canna? I was there for a week on a school trip in 1981. The island is about 6 miles by one mile with a population of 15 (our group of 10 almost doubled the population). In times gone by the island supported a couple of hundred people, but the clearances and people going away for work depopulated it. At that time the island and neighbouring Sanday (joined at low tide) were privately owned. When the landlord went to bed, he switched off the power generator and the houses all went dark. The only shop on the island was a Post Office that sold only stamps and the like. The nearest food shop was in Mallaig, over two hours away by CalMac passenger-only ferry that ran three or four times a week. I never fathomed out the phone system - all of the houses were fed by one phone number. English was the second language (used only for conversations with visitors like us), Gaelic was the first language. The church services were only once every four weeks as the priest served the Small Isles parish, and had the churches on the islands of Rhum, Eigg and Muck to go to on the other weeks. The following year, they were going to need to open up the schoolhouse as a child was going to be 5 years old, and would be taught on a one teacher to one child basis. The "local" high school would be Lochaber High School in Fort William - over two hours by ferry and about a further hour by road - too far to commute daily, the ferry times not allowing for weekends back home, meaning the high school pupils would normally be away for the whole of each term, in boarding accommodation.

As the landlord was getting on a bit and he wanted Canna to be looked after in a way that preserved the island and the lifestyles of the population. A few years later he sold it to the National Trust for Scotland, for a minimal fee I believe. There is now electricity from the National Grid, so is on for 24 hours a day. There is a vehicle ferry to the Small Isles now, but you need permission to land a car on any of the islands - it is meant for the residents, they do not hve a road network that can cater for tourists' cars.

I have no family connections there that I know of - my Scots ancestors all seem to have been from the Central Belt. It was so different from home for our lot who were all city children. It was very interesting to see such a different lifestyle, only a few hours from home, and still within Scotland.

If you are looking for any OPRs for the Small Isles Parish, you are out of luck - there are none. To quote from the 1840s Statistical Account for that parish "Parochial Registers have never been regularly kept in this parish". Further on it says "There is no church on any of the islands. In Eigg we assemble in the school-house for public worship; but in the other islands we sometimes meet in the fields, when we cannot conveniently get a house to receive us".

By the time I visited there in 1981, there were two stone-built churches on Canna, or more accurately I think both were on the adjoining island of Sanday. As far as I know, only the RC church was used. I presume the other was the Church of Scotland and was unused.

All the best,

AndrewP

ASGROOMBRIDGE · Post by **ASGROOMBRIDGE** » Sat Jun 17, 2006 11:38 am

Hi Andrew,

Sound like bliss to me.

Audrey

mallog · Post by **mallog** » Sat Jun 17, 2006 4:21 pm

AndrewP wrote: If you are looking for any OPRs for the Small Isles Parish, you are out of luck - there are none. To quote from the 1840s Statistical Account for that parish "Parochial Registers have never been regularly kept in this parish". Further on it says "There is no church on any of the islands. In Eigg we assemble in the school-house for public worship; but in the other islands we sometimes meet in the fields, when we cannot conveniently get a house to receive us".

By the time I visited there in 1981, there were two stone-built churches on Canna, or more accurately I think both were on the adjoining island of Sanday. As far as I know, only the RC church was used. I presume the other was the Church of Scotland and was unused.

All the best,

AndrewP

That's great Andrew it means I can't prove they weren't from there

I was on Canna in the early 1970's and there was definitely a church on Canna itself cos I have a photo ! It was not far from the Pier if I remember correctly. I think the other was on Sanday. My friend was on a cruise to St Kilda last month and they stopped off at Canna and the church was still there. Without looking it up I'm sure it was Church of Scotland.
One of the reasons I am not best pleased with Calmac is the times and frequency of their boats to the islands never mind the cost. Even going to Arran costs you about £70 for the day.

Mallog

Post by **AndrewP** » Sat Jun 17, 2006 4:57 pm

mallog wrote:... I was on Canna in the early 1970's and there was definitely a church on Canna itself cos I have a photo ! It was not far from the Pier if I remember correctly. I think the other was on Sanday. My friend was on a cruise to St Kilda last month and they stopped off at Canna and the church was still there. Without looking it up I'm sure it was Church of Scotland. ...

You have jogged my memory - one church on Canna and one church on Sanday.

Canna Harbour photograph - June 1981
Canna, Sanday and Rhum photograph - June 1981

The Canna Harbour photo has one of the churches in the distance - I think that one was Church of Scotland (or maybe Free Church, I'm not sure). The Canna, Sanday and Rhum photo shows the church on Sanday that I think is the Roman Catholic Church.

All the best,

AndrewP

mallog · Post by **mallog** » Sat Jun 17, 2006 5:09 pm

What lovely clear photos ! Thanks for posting them.

Mallog

Thrall · Post by **Thrall** » Sun Jun 18, 2006 10:11 pm

Haven´t been to Canna for almost a year, but the rather wonderful and ornate Roman Catholic church seen as described by Andrew on the Canna Sanday and Rum photograph ( BTW the "haitch" in Rum was added by the weird Bullough to give more status to his pile and isle) has at last being renovated after some fairly severe decline and is now St. Edward´s Centre. See: http://www.hebrideantrust.org/canna.htm

The other church on Canna, near the pier is simple, in regular use and reasonable condition.

Saw sharks in the harbour last year. Know nothing about OPRs for the Small Isles I´m afraid.

Thrall