17 April 2023
Today was spent exploring the area east of Inverness, where Roger’s Craib/Garvie family originated from. The east has very different landscape than the west of Inverness – more fishing villages and rolling pasture land.
We first visited a little town called Fordyce, where Roger’s 4th Gt Grandparents, George Scott and Margaret Leisk married in 1776. The old church was still there (now a ruin), surrounded by a very interesting and ancient kirkyard. There had been Christian worship on this site for over a thousand years, until a new church on the other side of the village was built in 1804. So much history! The route then took up toward the coast and to a little fishing village called Portsoy. The old harbour of Portsoy dates from the 17th century and is the oldest on the Firth. Tiny little roads getting down to the harbour, but it was worth the nail biting! Roger got to spend some time learning about the old salmon boats being restored.
We then drove through Banff and over to Macduff, both coastal towns separated from each other by a river mouth. Roger’s Great Grandmother, Elizabeth Garvie (or Garvick or Garrick – depending which records you are looking at!) was born, along with her siblings, in Macduff. Elizabeth’s mother’s family, the Clubbs and the Scotts were all from the Macduff area. We managed to find the street where the Clubbs and Garvies lived as recorded in the 1861 census, but the original single story housing had been demolished in the 1930s to make way for two story units. Still, it was nice to see the area where they came from.
From Macduff we headed inland, through rolling pastureland, to a village called Turriff. This is where Roger’s Great Grandfather, George Taylor Craib was born in 1844, where his parents had married, and where the family were recorded in the 1851 census. Interestingly, their address in 1851 is recorded as “School Ho Slap” but none of the locals we chatted to knew what this could mean – again, more research needed! On the way to Turriff, we had passed through a tiny settlement called King Edward. This was where George’s mum is recorded as having been born. I think it really struck us just how close all of these little villages were. We visited the local library in Turriff, and once again everyone was incredibly helpful. There were lots of local records in the library, but we weren’t able to stay long. Next time???
Taking lots of little country lanes, we then passed through another settlement, called Grange, which is where Roger’s 4th Gt Grandparents, Alexander Gordon and Jannet Riddoch married in 1774, and their children were born. The church and cemetery were in the country on a hill – it was so quiet and peaceful. The church didn’t look original, but the cemetery contained many stones from the Gordon and Riddoch families.
We were in the middle of Speyside whisky county, so of course needed to do some detours to explore some of the distilleries. They are very strict in Scotland regarding drinking and driving (0% alcohol permitted), so Rog wasn’t able to do any tasting, but it was fun exploring. We visited the Glenfiddich distillery first – it was so fancy, even the female bathroom had a massive fireplace and sitting area. A trip down some very narrow country lanes took us to The Glenlivet distillery. It was closed on Mondays, but we were still able to explore the outside and look in the large windows to see the copper stills. It was in the most idyllic setting.
Tomorrow we leave Inverness and head to Argyll. The Scottish Highlands
have been a real treat to visit, with stunning scenery and very friendly
people. We have been rugged up and experiencing temperatures as low as 3
degrees, through to today we were in short sleeved shirts in 18 degrees. I’m a
bit sad to be leaving, but also looking forward to the next part of our
adventure.
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