Help with place name please

[Anne in OZ]

Hello. I have a baptism in Banchory Ternan in 1685. His fathers residence is listed as "in Moortonne".  I have searched for this place but can't find it. Any clues or tips?
Thank you
Anne

[Forfarian]

I Have had a look at the Ordnance Survey Name books for anything vaguely similar - Morton, Mortown, Moorton, Moortown, Muirton, Muirtown etc but there's nothing likely.

So wherever it was, it didn't come to the attention of the OS when they were surveying for the first edition of the six-inch map in the mi-1800s.

It could have been abandoned and just disappeared, or its name could have been changed.

I had a look at some of the older maps at https://maps.nls.uk/counties/ but though there's a Moorside and a Moorend near Banchory, I have yet to find a Moorton or similar.

[Anne in OZ]

Thank you Forfarain.

[bleckie]

Hi all

I had a look on NLS and found this one
https://maps.nls.uk/view/91553649
At the Junction of grid lines 68 08 which is approx 10miles due north from Banchory as the crow flies.
There is a Muirtown and a muirtowncroft.
I can't see parish boundaries.

Yours Aye
BruceL

[Forfarian]

Indeed there are - but they're in the parish of Midmar, not the parish of Banchory-Ternan.

You can see the parish name MIDMAR on the map, about a mile south of Muirtowncroft, between Tulloch and Tillybirloch. The parish boundary seems to have got lost on the Hill of Fare, somewhere between Tornamean and Greymore.

There are Muirto(w)ns in at least 13 parishes in Aberdeenshire: Belhelvie, Bourtie, Chapel of Garioch, Cluny, Coull, Daviot, Forgue, Glenmuick etc, King Edward, Midmar, Newhills, Rathen and Tarland, and three in Kincardineshire: Benholm, Kinneff and Catterline, and Marykirk.

[Anne in OZ]

Hello and thank you for all the help.
I have gone a bit deeper with this ancestor, his name is John Forbes, and I found a marriage in Banchory Ternan which would fit with his age between John Forbes and Elspet Mortoun. Could there be a place or a family house with the name Mortoun?
Mourtoun & Moortonne, could they be the same name?
Opinions please.
Thanks Anne

[Forfarian]

Hello and thank you for all the help.
I have gone a bit deeper with this ancestor, his name is John Forbes, and I found a marriage in Banchory Ternan which would fit with his age between John Forbes and Elspet Mortoun. Could there be a place or a family house with the name Mortoun?
Mourtoun & Moortonne, could they be the same name?

Yes. Any place name in the form M*r*t*n* could be, and if in the same parish probably is, the same place. Though a myre is not quite the same thing as a moor!

According to G F Black's The Surnames of Scotland the surname Morton is of territorial origin, either from a place of that name in Dumfries-shire, or a place also known as Myretoun in Fife.

However I would not assume that there is any connection between a place mentioned in a baptism record and the surname of a possible later wife. That is far more likely to be a coincidence.

[Anne in OZ]

Thank you. It's nice to have someone with Scottish knowledge to bounce my questions off. I am thinking this might just have to remain a mystery
Anne