Baddachash/Badashash - Rayne

[themonkeymonkey]

My 6th great-grandfather and his siblings were born in Rayne but I am having difficulty finding the place named.  Sometimes it is Baddachash and at other times Badashash.  This was around 1710.  Does anyone know if this place still exists?  Thanks.

[Forfarian]

I think it's probably Badefash shown on this map https://maps.nls.uk/view/74400157  from 1826, and it's actually just in the parish of Fyvie.

In the First Edition of the six-inch map it's shown as Baldyfash https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=16.2&lat=57.39121&lon=-2.49515&layers=257&b=1&o=100

On modern maps it's Baldyquash https://www.geograph.org.uk/gridref/NJ7033.

John Milne's Celtic Place Names of Aberdeenshire says it's Baldyfash, from Gaelic Baile a' Chais, town of the brae. (Town in the sense of a single farm, not a large urban settlement).

[GR2]

The Spalding Club's 'Place-names of Aberdeenshire' gives the following spellings from various documents:

1362 - Badcass
1376 - Badochayse
1493 - Badycaiss
1593 - Badaquhasche
1737 - Badiechash

It says "the oldest form would be bad cas, winding or steep wood. The changes from that to the present Baldyfash are all more or less normal to Aberdeenshire speech. Baldy-, pronounced Bady-, may represent badan, diminutive of bad, wood, clump of trees."

[Forfarian]

Ah, that makes a lot more sense than Milne's version.

The main thing is that it is the place that themonkeymonkey is looking for.

[themonkeymonkey]

Thank you so much, I was looking only at Rayne but should have spread the area.   Baldyquash sounds very much like it so will investigate that area more, thank you.

[Forfarian]

It sometimes happens that people who live close to a parish boundary will choose to join the nearest church, even though it's in a different parish. This may be what has happened here, as it's only a couple of miles to the Kirk of Rayne, and a bit further to Fyvie.