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Scotland (Counties as in 1851-1901) => Scotland => Inverness => Topic started by: farmer on Saturday 07 July 07 11:07 BST (UK)
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Back about 1946-47, I was off school, and stayed in Inverlochy for a year or so. Most days I was on my own, and wandered the whole area freely, only went home when hunger drove me there. I had the whole place to myself!
Walking up from Inverlochy towards the main Fort William road, there was a track to the left, I recall it took me onto the moors. Along this track, there was a railway, I think it was a goods only line. Further on I recall there was an old abandoned graveyard, only recognisable by the railings that once surrounded some of the graves.
No paths or roads leading to it as I recall.
Anyone know what this old graveyard was (or maybe is)?
Peter
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I've checked out images of the renovated graveyard near the ruins of Inverlochy Castle - that's not the graveyard. The old graves I saw were out on the moors, nowhere near anything.
Pete
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I have a couple buried in INVERLOCHY CEMETERY;
John McMaster May 1844 and his wife Margaret McPherson August 1857.
They had 12 children born Tomaharich Inverness-Shire, but cannot tell yet where they were buried.
How big was the site you remember? A couple of isolated graves or many?
Happy Hunting! Leona.
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Hi Leona
The graves I saw, no river or monument near them, as with Inverlochy.
There were a few graves, recognisable by the railings round them. The railings were in a really bad state of repair, rusted, broken. And out on the moors, in the middle of nowhere.
When I've time during next week, I'll phone the department at Fort William which deals with graves, etc. They were very helpful with my MacLeod/Kilmonivaig enquiry.
Brings back something a relative told me recently - my grandmother is buried at Kilmonivaig, but - she said my grandfather is buried in Glen Nevis - I wandered the Glen for many hours during my time in the Fort, but don't recall a graveyard in the Glen.
regards
Peter
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There are lots of old burial grounds around the Highlands so it is quite possible that the council department might not know them all as they will not be in use or not council maintained ones.
I would search CANMORE (http://www,rcahms.gov.uk)
You can either search a grid square or parish with category(?) set to "burial" or use CANMAPS and mark an area to see what is in there.
The Highland SMR (http://www.ambaile.org.uk/smr/index.jsp) is also online and you can search that.
Another possibility though more difficult to search is the CWGC site as nearly every burial ground has at least one war grave though unfortunately they don't give locations but it gives a name to use to search elsewhere.
The library in Fort William has an index of burials in Lochaber that lists these burial grounds - there are a lot that i was completely unaware!
Martin
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Hi Leona
The graves I saw, no river or monument near them, as with Inverlochy.
There were a few graves, recognisable by the railings round them. The railings were in a really bad state of repair, rusted, broken. And out on the moors, in the middle of nowhere.
When I've time during next week, I'll phone the department at Fort William which deals with graves, etc. They were very helpful with my MacLeod/Kilmonivaig enquiry.
Brings back something a relative told me recently - my grandmother is buried at Kilmonivaig, but - she said my grandfather is buried in Glen Nevis - I wandered the Glen for many hours during my time in the Fort, but don't recall a graveyard in the Glen.
regards
Peter
One of the current Fort William cemeteries is in Glen Nevis, on the right before you come to the caravan site.
Martin
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Hi Martin
nice to have you join in this thread. I started another thread fairly recently on this board, I think some of your photography features in it.
I tried to contact you via Steve Bulman, no luck, to ask permission to use your photo of Kilmonivaig. A friend from PA was in Spean Bridge, so he visited Kilmonivaig, got me a photo.
I got copies of my grandmother's burial details, from the Highland Council in the Fort, possibly her burial was arranged by her father, a MacLeod, in one of two lairs which he acquired in Kilmonivaig.
I'll have a good look at the links you posted, thank you.
Canmore looks very interesting.
Also thanks for the info on the Glen Nevis graveyard.
I'll have to have a trip up to Fort William soon.
Peter
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Thanks again Martin, I have been 'back in History' this morning, it was certainly another world.
Do you happen to have any reference to Inverlochy Castle.
Corran Bay is situated almost opposite Fort William across the Loch. Inverlochy Castle is one and a half miles north-east of Fort William, near River Lochy's influx to Loch Linnhe and on the east side of Loch Liunhe. aS RESEARCH SHOWS-Tomnaharich, quite close toFort William, is a village in Inverness shire, near the base of Ben Nevis, is where our forebears came.
Do you know anyhing of a West Highland Museum at Fort William?
Thank you for your help.
Leona.
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Yes been to Inverlochy Castle quite a number of times, there should be plenty of information about it and pictures on the web - try CANMORE. I think I put one or two of mine on the Wikipedia page about it. There was a guided walk around it last year during Highland Archaeology Fortnight, from what I remember it is quite rare because the whole castle is from one period and it did not any major alterations after that (apart from castellations being put on one wall so it looked "right" when Queen Victoria passed by on the railway!
By the way, you have to be careful when looking up Inverlochy Castle on the web because there is also Inverlochy Castle Hotel which is just outside Fort William, it is a much later building that was built in the 19th Century.
I don't think there is much now at Tomacharich, certainly not visible from the road, probably need to get away from the road when it sounds as if there are a few ruins.
Tomacharich
Type of Site: Head Dyke, School, Township
NMRS Number: NN17NW 28
Map reference: NN 140 783
Parish: Kilmonivaig
Council: Highland
Former District: Lochaber
Former Region: Highland
Archaeology Notes
NN17NW 28 centred on 140 783
A township, comprising nineteen roofed buildings, one of which is annotated as a school, one unroofed building, six enclosures and two lengths of head-dyke is depicted on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Inverness-shire 1874, sheet cxl). Two roofed, five unroofed buildings and three enclosures are shown on the current edition of the OS 1:10000 map (1975).
Information from RCAHMS (AKK) 17 September 1996.
I have been in the museum a few times in the past.
Martin
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I recall a similar description of a disused graveyard off the beaten track which was the last resting place of many of the 'navvies' engaged in the setting up of the smelter works in Lochaber. Many of the men had no financial resources and lived a rough lifestyle and fatalities were common. BBC archives may still have documentary short on the subject.
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I recall a similar description of a disused graveyard off the beaten track which was the last resting place of many of the 'navvies' engaged in the setting up of the smelter works in Lochaber. Many of the men had no financial resources and lived a rough lifestyle and fatalities were common. BBC archives may still have documentary short on the subject.
I have been researching the deaths on the dams and tunnels of the Lochaber Water Power Scheme, I have over seventy names. Not seen anything to suggest there is a missing graveyard. There are 36 buried in Cille Choirill, most unmarked graves. I have looked around the other graveyards in the area and not been able to spot any others. There is a memorial in Kilmallie but I have not found anyone knows anything about it. Quite a number were returned home for burial.
You could try and retrace your route on the maps. PASTMAP give very large scale modern maps and you can over markers of records on Canmore and the Highland HER
http://pastmap.org.uk/
Also you can look at the old OS maps which often show burial grounds that have disappeared.
http://maps.nls.uk/series/
The 25" map don't tend to cover outside the town but the 6" coverage is fairly complete and will show burial grounds.