Inhabitants of Maidencraig late 1800s

[Debbie Scott]

Hi there.  My grandmother, who was born in 1903 into a family of 11 children with a surname of Paul, told me that she grew up on Maidencraig 'farm' which was then outside Aberdeen town.  The suburb of Maidencraig, Den of Maidencraig and Maidencraig Woods can be seen on google earth.  Would you be able to help me to find where in Maidencraig this farm was.

[spendlove]

Hi,

If your Grandmother was born 1903 she will be on the 1911 Census.  If any of her siblings
were born prior to 1901 they again will be on Census.

You need to find her on 1911 Census to see where she was.

1901 Census same applies, by clicking through the pages you should be able to identify
as church/pub etc.  Page 1 gives description of where the enumerator walked.

Sorry do not have access to Scotland Census

Spendlove

[MonicaL]

There is this entry showing in 1901:

Robert Ellis 39 farmer, wife Jessie and 3 children. A house servant and a farm servant
Address: Maidencraig Farm, Newhills Aberdeenshire

Not your family I know but does name it as you are expecting. Likely not too much acreage given there is only one farm servant in 1901?

In order to view this page and the surrounding name places as suggested by spendlove, you would need to view this as an actual census page image. Would be better to look for your family in 1911 on www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk For 1911 in Scotland, this is the only source and it is pay to view. Also to view the original image for any census and therefore surrounding place names.

Might be good to have this post moved to Aberdeenshire to see whether people with local knowledge might point to further sources for you.

Monica 

[bevj]

Take a look at www.scotlandsplaces.gov.uk.
They have various entries for Maidencraig and this one looks promising:

Site type
FARMSTEAD
Parish
NEWHILLS
Council
ABERDEENSHIRE
Latitude, longitude
57.148795N, 2.192506W

There are also links to Ordnance Survey maps of the area.

Bev

[Debbie Scott]

Thanks Spend love,  Monica and Bev. Great information 😊 I'm sure it will be pinpointed soon.

[MonicaL]

From the farmstead reference from bevj, this is a map for location http://canmore.rcahms.gov.uk/en/site/191089/textcontribution/maidencraig/ - click on the pin/map for more detailed map info.

I think this might be an 1867 map of the area, page 4 of 7. Farmstead building maybe above the Mill?
http://cameronarchaeology.com/doc/CA116_Lang_Stracht_WSI.pdf

Monica 

[Forfarian]

Be a bit cautious about the places listed on RCAHMS. This set of initials stands for Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland, and the term 'farmstead' is generally used to indicate the presence of a prehistoric farm rather than one still in existence.

The best maps to look at for this are the Ordnance Survey maps from the mid 19th century, available on the National Library of Scotland web site www.nls.uk - I usually go for the First Edition Six-inch series, which were published between 1843 and 1882. For example
http://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=16&lat=57.14657&lon=-2.1934&layers=5
which shows Mill of Maidencraig.

(There is a slider (labelled <>) at the bottom of the menu panel on the left that you can use to switch from the old map to a satellite view.)

If you then select the Second Edition you will see that what used to be Mill of Maidencraig is now labelled simply Maidencraig, as it is on all the later maps. There is no other collection of buildings labelled Maidencraig so I reckon this is your Maidencraig Farm.

(Maidencraig cannot be called a 'suburb' because it is still open land, not a built-up area.)

The map used by Cameron Archaeology is from the Ordnance Survey 25-inch map
http://maps.nls.uk/view/74480493

See also http://www.geograph.org.uk/gridref/nj8806

[Flattybasher9]

Maidencraig is situated between the Lang Stracht and the B944. It is just West of the Old Reformatory at Woodend, and before the "Switchback"

http://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=14&lat=57.14662&lon=-2.18083&layers=1

Regards

Malky