Durness Parish Register - Part 2

[djct59]

Wilros: The name Christy MacKay is, as you've noted, not rare, so it's difficult on the basis of the limited information in the parish records to conclude that this is the daughter of the Lieutenant and the Minister's daughter. I tend to agree she probably would not marry a shepherd.

No idea about Eodavabhinn - would need to see it written down as it has ther feel of a transcription error.

That leaves you with a couple and several children in the parish in the early 1840s/1850s, but never seen again. My guess is that they all sailed on the notorious Ticondereoga to Australia in 1852. Whether they got there I do not know - https://nepeanhistoricalsociety.asn.au/history/quarantine-station/the-ticonderoga-1852/. There were definitely Durness families on board - John Mather died at the Quarantine Station but his widow Dolina and their children settled in Victoria, so that would be my best guess

[wilros]

No idea about Eodavabhinn - would need to see it written down as it has ther feel of a transcription error.

That leaves you with a couple and several children in the parish in the early 1840s/1850s, but never seen again. My guess is that they all sailed on the notorious Ticondereoga to Australia in 1852. Whether they got there I do not know - https://nepeanhistoricalsociety.asn.au/history/quarantine-station/the-ticonderoga-1852/. There were definitely Durness families on board - John Mather died at the Quarantine Station but his widow Dolina and their children settled in Victoria, so that would be my best guess

djct59,

thanks, that is very helpful!

attached is a cropped screen shot of the handwritten baptism record for barbara mcleod. the digital image of that page is identified as "(Old Parish Registers Births 048/ 20 17 Durness) Page 17 of 37"

the date of the entries on this page is the years 1840-1841, and it looks like rev. findlater's writing, though this page is not signed.

i started looking for dolina (dingwall) mather among the australia immigration documents at scotlandspeople, but have not found her yet.

[wr]

[Forfarian]

[ aside, where is Eodavabhinn? ]

In the 1841 census the family is at Balachedrabhin (FindMyPast transcription). Have you looked at the original census?

Unfortunately FreeCEN hasn't done Durness in 1841 yet, so I can't 'walk' the ED to try to see where it is.

The last bit looks the same - from abhainn, meaning a river. Balach could be from bealach, meaning a pass and edr might be from eadar, which means between. If the v is a mistranscription of r, the name in the parish register might be eadar + abhainn, while the name in the census could be bealach + eadar + abhainn.

But I can't find an obvious contender in the OS Name Book.

[djct59]

Forfarian: I read the name as Eadanabhinn, which fits exactly with your hypothesis. Can't find it on the 1;50,000 OS Map or on the Canmore larger scale one, though.

Best guess is it was a small cottage on the Capeside, but I don't have a copy of that page of the Census to verify what was nearby.

[Forfarian]

wilros has sent me the originals of the 1841 and 1851 census.

In 1841 I read the places named as Balachedrabhin, Charbreak, Regutter, Grudy and Sartgrum.
In 1851 there are only Balach and Grudy.

The Macleod family is in Balachedrabhin in 1841 and Balach in 1851.

Grudie is at the head of the Kyle of Durness - see https://www.geograph.org.uk/gridref/NC3663 and Sarsgrum is a mile or so futher north, beside the road - see https://www.geograph.org.uk/gridref/NC3764.  Carbreck is a few miles further south, also beside the road - see https://www.geograph.org.uk/gridref/NC3359.

So I am pretty sure that the Macleods' home is not far from here.

Grudie actually lies on a headland between two rivers - Abhainn na Buaile Duibhe or Grudie River on the west, and River Dionard on the east.

North-north-west of Carbreck is a feature named on the maps as Am Bealach - The Pass. See https://www.geograph.org.uk/gridref/NC3260 - and look to the north and there's a ruin named Balloch. https://www.geograph.org.uk/gridref/NC3261.

So there you are - a cottage on a pass between two rivers.

You can also see Balloch on the first edition Ordnance Survey six-inch map https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=15&lat=58.50880&lon=-4.88173&layers=6&b=1 - you may need to zoom in to see it.

Am I allowed to say QED?

[djct59]

Rhigolter and Carbreck are still working farms. Carbreck (formerly Cathirbreac) is on the downward slope of Gualin Hill, and Rhigolter is in the valley a half a mile to the south-east. Grudie is a remote house accessible only by quad bike, but s also used as the name of my uncle's bothy when he was a shepherd on the Capeside, and Sarsgrum was a small township, but is now a single house.These are all within a few miles and indeed are quite close to Aultcorriefraisgill   

There is indeed a single house in the bealach that led from the west of Glashbhein to the Kyle via the River Grudie marked on the OS map as "Balloch". A look on the satellite image shows the existence of a long house and an enclosed area. Between there and the ferry landing there is nowhere inhabited on the Parph.
 
I therefore agree with your conclusion - there is no better fit with the evidence

[wilros]

Forfarian,

The UK Geograph photo of the old derelict building of Balloch on Ghlas-bheinn is amazing. Seems fairly large. Is the consensus that the Balloch Ruin in the Geograph photo is possibly the residence of Alex and Christy McLeod that was enumerated in the 1841 and 1851 census?

[wr]

[Forfarian]

The UK Geograph photo of the old derelict building of Balloch on Ghlas-bheinn is amazing. Seems fairly large. Is the consensus that the Balloch Ruin in the Geograph photo is possibly the residence of Alex and Christy McLeod that was enumerated in the 1841 and 1851 census?

I am pretty certain that that is where they lived.

I am less sure that these walls were the actual walls that stood there in the 1840s. I have a notion that the house may have been rebuilt sometime in the second half of the 19th century, but I could be wrong. It just looks too solid and substantial to have lasted that long. Also it has a proper chimney and decent-sized windows.

[djct59]

Well, I'm not sure either way. Certainly by the 1840s there already existed stone crofthouses with window frames, stone door and window lintels and even some chimneys - I think the teacher's quarters at Loch Croispol had a chimney.

Certainly, even if the chimney was added later, the basic design of the door and window frames accords witth that of a number of crofthouses known to be occupied before 1840, when crofters were being forced out of the remoter townships into ones closer to the coast and the harbours that gave access to the south. There are buildings still partially standing in the parish whose construction can be dated back to pre-1840.