Moortown? Where was/is it?

[PrueM]

Hello all,
Have just received a copy of a baptism registration dated 1710, from Inverness parish, for Andrew MACKAY, son of William MACKAY and Jannet FRASER. 

William is shown as a fisher (presumably "fisherman") from "Moortown".

I can't find Moortown on a modern map, but a search on oldmaps.co.uk shows an area in the south-west of Inverness town called "Muirtown".  The map is dated 1874.  Could "Muirtown" be "Moortown", or was there another area by that name?

Any help gratefully received 

Thank you
Prue

[old rowley]

Hi Pru,

firstly you would be right in thinking that "fisher" stands for fisherman my copy of the Britannica World Language edition of the Oxford Dictionary (1962)  states it as,

Fisher= one who catches fish- a fisherman.

I have looked at a modern gazetteer for the uk and can only find the following;
4 Moortown's -all in England none in Scotland,
but
3 Muirtowns- all in Scotland,
one in Tayside, one is an area west of Forres in the Grampian region and the third is an area to the north west of Inverness at the entrance to the Caledonian Canal

It maybe that it was mistranscribed when recorded if the person who noted it in the first instance did not know the area.

oh and by the way I cannot make head nor tail of the wording on your other post in regards to the baptism record for Andrew Mackay...........have tried honest

old rowley

[PrueM]

oh and by the way I cannot make head nor tail of the wording on your other post in regards to the baptism record for Andrew Mackay...........have tried honest

old rowley

you mean the handwriting, or my message??? 

Thanks for the help re. Moortown.  I hadn't seen the area you mentioned near the caledonian canal - that would make sense if he was a fisherman I suppose.  I'll check it out.

Thank you! 

Prue

[old rowley]

sorry Prue I should have said that I meant the handwritting on the entry.


old rowley
who has now got a three year old dancing around the room like your wee robot.

[PrueM]

Well as long as the three year old isn't talking like the robot, that's OK (Bender the robot has a "potty mouth"!)

Cheers
Prue

[JAP]

My understanding is that 'muir' is Scots for what in English is 'moor' and that the two are often interchanged.  I have a few instances of a particular farm near Dunfermline in Fife which is variously referred to in the records as either Muircockhall or Moorcockhall.

JAP

[Little Nell]

Prue,

I've done some delving into the various Scottish maps and even back in the 18th century, they record this area (near Clachnaharry village) as part of the Muirtown estate owned by H.R.Duff.  There was a large house there called Muirtown - it no longer seems to exist.  There are some wonderful maps to view at the National Library of Scotland site:

http://www.nls.uk/maps

The inset in the right hand corner of the map shown here:

http://www.nls.uk/digitallibrary/map/early/towns.cfm?id=359

includes Muirtown.  Muir is the Scots equivalent of moor.

Nell

[PrueM]

Thankyou, JAP and Nell! 
I had a feeling that "Muir" and "Moor" were related somehow.  I will go and check out the maps you found for me, Nell. Much appreciated!
 
Prue