Help with a placename location/translation

[carrumba]

Hello there all.

Need help with a place name I have not been able to find on any maps but know it existed!

It was part of the Bonhard estate in Perthshire (past Scone and close to Murrayshall).  I am tracking a Blair family and have an Alexander Blair appearing in the Horse Tax rolls of 1797-98 (just listed as Bonhard).  Bonhard covered Bonhard House and a few different farms as well as a mill so was trying to narrow down the location a bit.  On the list of Perthshire Voters for 1832 and 1837 I have found the Blair residence listed as "Finduie of Bonhard".  Cannot find this building anywhere so was trying to find the meaning of Finduie but to no avail!  The closest I have found is the Geordie word Findie basically meaning "claimed".  There is a Finduie Wood near Abernethy but any translation is evading me at the moment.

Any ideas you clever lot? :-)

[GR2]

The fin- part is quite likely from fionn, meaning white or fair. It is common in placenames. If you go to the National Library of Scotland maps site, you will get free access to maps of Scotland going back several centuries and detailed Ordnance Survey ones from the 19th century. Roy's military map of 1747-1755 is also available there.

Graham.

[carrumba]

Thanks for that GR2 - yup.. I have trawled many of the Perthshire maps from third edition OS back to maps from the 1680's.. no joy!  Will keep looking.

Interesting idea on fin being from fionn....hmmm....will look into that possibility further.

[MonicaL]

Just some ideas...

Have you considered checking Alexander's Will? From Scotlands People:

Alexander Blair, Farmer at Bonhard in the Parish of Scone, 1 Aug. 1851 - Perth Sheriff Court, 11 pages.

Also, original census images which include before and after address can sometimes help to pin pointing specific addresses and locations if you can get a better indication of the the enumerator's walk.

FreeCen www.freecen.org.uk, for example, have:

New Balboughty
Scone Dairy
Moor Of Scone
Bonhard - with Alexander Blair and family
Newlands Of Borthard
Bonhard Cottages
...then back to Bonhard....maybe this won't help in this case! Perhaps 1851 is worth also checking this way.

Monica

[flst]

Here's a link to sasines. This may help you pinpoint the property. I note in the 1851 census that Alexander farmed 118 acres. I don't know if he owned the farm or was a tenant.

http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,26232.0.html
Regards,
flst

[flst]

Scotlandsplaces have a copy of a map of the Bonhard estate;

www.rootschat.com/links/0jos/

Added: Link shortened to fit page.

[Forfarian]

Department of unhelpful information tells me that there is a cup-marked stone at Finduire near Aberfeldy. http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/site/7423/finduie_wood.html

-duie or -dowie in a place name might be from Gaelic dubh meaning dark. If so you have, potentially, an interesting name, 'black white' or 'dark light'. However I recommend the Scottish Place Names Society http://www.spns.org.uk/ who will probably have researched it properly. There are a lot of very spurious place name interpretations out there, resulting from exactly the process I used to get to 'dark light'. So don't trust me on this 

As for where it is, does it occur in the 1841 census, or are your Blairs just listed under Bonhard again?

[sancti]

1841 just says Bonhard occupation farmer

[MonicaL]

FreeCen www.freecen.org.uk, for example, have:

New Balboughty
Scone Dairy
Moor Of Scone
Bonhard - with Alexander Blair and family
Newlands Of Borthard
Bonhard Cottages
...then back to Bonhard....maybe this won't help in this case! Perhaps 1851 is worth also checking this way.

Monica

The above list is from the 1841 census. Don't think this area has been transcribed yet by FreeCen for the 1851 census so original image would help here.

Monica