Day 56 - Leeds

31 May 2023

We are sitting at Leeds airport waiting for check-in to open for our flight to Dublin. Today we spent a very exciting (well, to us) morning at the Leeds University Library which is housed in an amazing round building with a circular veranda, lots of marble pillars and beautiful wooden furniture – quite unlike any university libraries that I have been to in New Zealand or Australia. A recent graduate was telling us that there are five universities in Leeds, but that four of them are private. She is struggling to get a job after graduating because so many students have graduated at the same time.

The university Special Collections houses the Pearson family papers. Catherine Pearson lived in county Cork in Ireland and is Mum’s 4^th Gt Grandmother. Catherine’s son, Dr William Davies, and his family emigrated to New Zealand in the early 1840s, where he was the Provincial Surgeon. It was so special to spend some hours poring over original family letters (some from the early 1700s), seeing family trees created in the 1800s, reading the correspondence detailing the Pearson’s family’s application for a coat of arms, and seeing the school books for more recent Pearsons in the late 1800s. One of the most interesting things for me, was reading about the sort of people our ancestors were – not just names and dates.

One family record read: “Their only surviving brother, Christopher (Christopher Pearson, Mum’s 5^th Gt Grandfather) was of a most gentle, amiable disposition, affable in his manners and upright in his character. When out riding one day, a carriage passed in which there was a young lady whose appearance so attracted him that he sought an opportunity soon afterwards of being introduced to her. She proved to be the daughter of an Englishman who had recently come to a place in the neighbourhood named Brockham, where he carried on extensive farming. His name was Johnson. Eventually the above young lady, Elizabeth Johnson, was married to Christopher Pearson. She was a most engaging clever person, of a strong mind and enterprising spirit”. Wow! Very Jane Austen!

Elizabeth Johnson was a woman ahead of her time. If she had been born a hundred years later, she would undoubtably been a qualified doctor. As it was, she was quite famous for her cure of the “King’s Evil” (scrofula, or TB of the neck), and had a clinic set up in London and in Cork where she ran consultations for over 50 years. Quite a lady!

 

Top two photos are of the Leeds University Library. Rest of from Leeds city.

The next few days in Ireland will be spent exploring the areas where our Pearson/Creagh/Davies family lived.

Day 55 - Leeds

30 May 2023

This morning we said goodbye to Patrick and Hillary, and had our last pats with Luca, their lovely black lab. After 712 miles of driving, this morning we returned our rental car at Leeds Bradford Airport and caught the bus (cost only 2 pounds!) into Leeds city where we will be until we fly out to Dublin tomorrow evening.

This meant that we had about half a day today to explore Leeds city. Neither Mum nor I had been here before and we weren’t too sure what to expect. The city centre has many roads that are pedestrian only, and those with cars have very wide footpaths, so it is actually quite a lovely city to walk around. There are not many green spaces, but there is a mix of old and new buildings plus some wonderful Victorian arcades to explore. We spent some time at the Leeds Library sussing out their parish records and found some entries for the Castle family that will need further investigating.

 

Top photos are taken in the Leeds Library - the tiling was amazing.

Views of Leeds. Top two photos and the one on the right were taken in arcades.

We have noticed a change in ‘frustration levels’ on the roads when compared with other cities that we have visited further north. More horn honking than we have heard in a while. However, people have been friendly and helpful when we have sought help.

Tomorrow we are spending time at the Leeds University Library where we can access some original Pearson family records – not something that we would have had access to from Australia. Then, in the evening, we fly over to Ireland to explore Cork and beyond. Very exciting!

Day 54 - Harrogate

29 May 2023

We have been so lucky with the weather. Today was another stunningly sunny and hot day, which was perfect for exploring the RHS Garden at Harlow Carr just on the outskirts of Harrogate. The gardens in England have so much more variety of flowering plants and trees than we seem to get in Queensland (obviously climate related), so walking around gardens here is such a pleasure and there always seems to be something else to take a photo of. Patrick and Hillary have been such wonderful hosts and have gone out of their way to make us feel welcome and have very generously shown us wonderful treasures such as these gardens. We feel very lucky to have been able to spend this time with them.

RHS Garden at Harlow Carr.

This afternoon we had some much-needed downtime where we were able to sit in the sun and chat, look through family photos and resources, wash the rental car, and reorganise suitcases. Mum even tried her hand at water divining! Not too sure about the science behind this, but the two rods did cross over and Mum is sure that she hadn’t moved her hands.

 

Mum practicing her new craft.

Tomorrow we head to Leeds for our final stop in England before we head over to Ireland. A few days ago I posted a request on a Cork genealogy FB page for assistance/advice with our Macroom ancestors, specifically looking for suggestions on where we should be visiting while in Ireland. Based on this request, we have had so many people offer us guidance and share resources with us – much of which would be very difficult for us to find ourselves. It seems that throughout this whole trip people have been going above and beyond to help us. I’m feeling very grateful and lucky.

Day 53 - Harrogate

28 May 2023

Today we felt very lucky because we were able to spend the day with Dad’s cousin Patrick and his wife Hillary at their lovely property just outside of Harrogate. After a relaxing and yummy lunch, Patrick took us for a trip into Harrogate itself, and led us on an enlightening walking tour around the town. Harrogate is well known for its spa waters, and consequently has numerous 18^th century hotels that catered for the influx of sickly visitors. I found modern day Harrogate to be a charming mix of heritage buildings and stunning gardens, with green spaces being a key feature of the town. In the Valley Gardens, there is a New Zealand Garden first created in 1953 to honour the 23 New Zealand aircrew buried at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery at Stonefall in Harrogate. The plants were gifted and grown in Wellington and shipped over to England. It was nice to see a little bit of home.

Some of the views around the Harrogate area, including the New Zealand Garden.
 

Day 52 - The Yorkshire Dales

27 May 2023

Despite it being a Bank Holiday weekend, we didn’t find traffic to be a problem during our exploring today. First thing this morning, we headed about 30 minutes north to the Catterick Cemetery to visit the Commonwealth War Grave of Mum’s great uncle, Lieutenant Errington Edward Castle. Errington died as the results of his injuries sustained in a mid-air collision over Catterick in 1917. The cemetery itself was very peaceful, and we met some older locals there who had a very wicked sense of humour and were very happy to chat to us about a wide range of topics.

Errington's gravestone. Right hand photos are taken on the Yorkshire Dales.

We wanted to visit Newby Hall in the afternoon, which is about an hour south of Catterick. Instead of using the motorway, we decided to drive some of the little country lanes over the Dales, passing through lovely little villages surrounded by beautiful scenery. There were plenty of push bike riders out, plus lots of tractors and other farm machinery on the roads, but everyone was very patient and courteous (even when stuck for a while behind a caravan).

Newby Hall was a lovely surprise. The Hall is a family home, but most rooms are as they were when designed, including with the original Chippendale furniture, and one spectacular room contains exquisite 1760s tapestries (the one room in the house not used by the family so as to preserve the tapestries). These tapestries are one of only six sets made for English patrons and is the only complete set left in the setting it was made for. The house was originally built in the 1690s by Sir Christopher Wren but was ‘modernised’ by Robert Adam about 80 years later.

Visitors are able to gain entry to the ground floor and first floor rooms of the Hall via a tour. There is a wonderful library on the ground floor that was originally the dinning room. After dinner, guests would be led by candlelight next door to a very spectacular statue gallery, which was designed by Robert Adam as two square rooms with a central rotunda, in the style of a Roman house. These rooms are very spectacular and not something that we knew to expect – took our breath away.

Another special room was The Circular Room. William Weddell married a wealthy heiress, Elizabeth Ramsden, and didn’t know what to give her as a wedding gift. He decided that ‘the woman who has everything’ needed a circular room and so arranged for one to be created on the first floor as a morning room for his new bride. Something to keep in mind if you are every stuck on what to give someone as a gift.

The grounds of Newby Hall are extensive, with many little ‘rooms’ surrounded by hedges, water features, lawn, woodland, flowers, pergolas dripping with colour, colourful flower beds, a river (which used to be the main form of transport to the house), and even a model railway. Mum and I had a wonderful afternoon exploring and highly recommend a visit. It probably helped that, once again, we had stunning weather.

 

Stunning Newby Hall.

Tomorrow we continue our journey south and are looking forward to spending a couple of days with Dad’s cousin, Patrick.

Day 51 - Whitby to Rainton

26 May 2023

We arrived early at a lovely little seaside fishing village called Robin Hood’s Bay and therefore managed to miss most of the crowds. This is another Yorkshire village where you leave your car parked at the cliff top and walk through the steep lanes on foot, down to the water’s edge. This village has a history of smuggling, and there are networks of passageways where their goods were passed through. Mum was on the lookout for smuggler’s vessels, but I think the ones we saw were all innocently fishing! The cottages in the village are so cute and picturesque, with tiny little gardens that can fit a couple of sun chairs, and many with amazing views over the ocean. Most of the cottages seemed to be accommodation, and we imagined how much fun (not!) it would be to drag suitcases and food down the tiny alleyways. It would be worth it though – but you would want to stay more than just a couple of nights. The sun was shining and when we got back up the hill to our car, it was reading 28 degrees! Wishing I hadn’t given Roger my shorts to take home.

 

Some views of Robin Hood's Bay.

We then drove over the Moors (at one stage looking across the valley to our accommodation in Aislaby) and through the North Riding Forest Park to Pickering Castle. We passed some modern buildings in the middle of nowhere, and Mum had many conspiracy theories about them. It turns out she may have been right because one of them had a RAF sign and police cars at the locked gate. The 13^th century Pickering Castle is a ruin but was intact enough to easily see the two moats, the defensive wall, the halls, the chapel, and many of the living quarters. The views from the centre tower over the Moors were stunning. Pickering itself had a lovely main street filled with old buildings, and what seemed like a hundred cafes.

In an effort to see more of the Moors, we travelled down some beautiful, and very narrow, little country lanes. As we rounded one rather tricky corner, we were treated to the surprise view of a ruined abbey – of course we had to stop. It turns out that we had stumbled onto Byland Abbey, which was once one of the greatest monasteries in England. The abbey itself and the surrounding buildings cover a huge area, and seemed to me to be on a par with the Whitby Abbey that we visited a couple of days ago. Byland Abbey was larger than Whitby Abbey, and a lot more ruins of the other buildings are still visible, though less of the abbey itself. It is looked after by English Heritage and a team of volunteers, and there is free entry and free car parking. Nestled in a valley, surrounded by bush, it is truly a remarkable sight. Travelling off the beaten track does pay off, even if some of the roads get a tad tight.

 

Top left photo is taken from Pickering Castle. Top right photo taken on the Moors. Bottom photos are of the stunning Byland Abbey.

We have now arrived in Rainton, where we will stay for the next couple of nights. From here we will be able to explore the Yorkshire Dales.

Day 50 - Whitby

25 May 2023 

Today was all about exploring the historical coastal town of Whitby. Just down the road from our Aislaby accommodation, there is a Park and Ride where you can park your car for free and catch a bus into Whitby, all for the grand price of 2.60 pounds! Excellent value for money, especially considering that parking in Whitby itself is 10 pounds for the day, plus the roads in the town are ancient and therefore very narrow and difficult to navigate. The bus runs every 15 minutes, so it was a bit of a no-brainer, plus it meant we would have a very stressless day.

Whitby is similar to Staithes in that it is a harbour town surrounded by cliffs, but it’s on a much bigger scale, with a lot more people, has an abbey ruin, and a hop-on-hop-off bus. So, it was actually quite nice to experience the contrast. Highlights of Whitby for me are:

·        The stunning cliff-top abbey ruin. It was a 7^th century monastery that later became a Benedictine abbey and was pretty much destroyed by good old Henry VIII. The ruins are huge, and you can get a good idea of how the abbey would have once looked. The location on the cliff overlooking the River Esk is spectacular.

Top photo shows Whitby from upriver looking down towards the harbour entrance - the structure on the hill is the abbey. Middle left photo shows the cliffs along from the abbey. There is a walkway called the Cleveland Way that follows the top of these cliffs. The other two photos are of the abbey.

·        Next to the abbey is the Church of Saint Mary, which was founded in 1110. Coming from Australia/NZ, it is difficult to comprehend something being this old and still in use. The interior has 18^th century box pews, which made the church feel very closed in – not something that I had seen before. The Church of Saint Mary has a very old graveyard, and a local walker showed us Draculas’ gravestone - though a note in the church states “please don’t ask us where Draculas’ grave is, because it doesn’t exist”. Whitby features in Bram Stoker’s novel, Dracula, and there are many references to it around the town.

·        Exploring the narrow little cobbled streets, containing lots of lolly and jewellry shops, pubs, cafes, holiday lets, and even more pubs. Some of the homes were on crazy angles and had names such as “Crooked House”, and “Tipple Cottage”.

Some views of Whitby. Top right photo shows the cottage called "Tipple Cottage". 

·        Sitting on the pier watching the world go by. There were people swimming (crazy because it must have been freezing), school excursion groups (I was imagining the Risk Assessment paperwork that might have been involved), boat tours coming in and out of the harbour entrance, dogs playing in the water, lots of seagulls, and people on the mudflats collecting cockles. Very peaceful.

Same view, taken at different times of the day. The habour looks quite different at low tide.

·        Once again, the friendly people. All the bus drivers today were very welcoming and had us laughing, and the locals were happy to stop and chat. Our catch cry this holiday seems to be “how lucky are we”.

The plan tomorrow is to explore a bit more of the North York Moors National Park, and then to head over towards the Yorkshire Dales.

 

Day 49 - North Shields to Aislaby

24 May 2023

What a fabulous day we had today exploring the North Yorkshire coast. Once we got past Newcastle, we stayed on the motorway system to bypass some of the big industrial towns until we hit the coast at Marske By The Sea. Car parking at the beach was free (the pay and display machine was broken!), and the beach itself was very wide and sandy, with lines of wind turbines to the north. A couple of brave souls were swimming, but a local board rider told us that the water was about 10 degrees, which probably explains why the swimmers didn’t stay in for very long. A couple of local ladies stopped by and chatted to us, giving us lots of interesting local area information and telling us that we must visit Staithes when we get further down the coast.

Next stop was the lovely little coastal town of Saltburn-by-the-Sea, a Victorian seaside holiday town perched on top of a cliff with steep stairs going down to a beach level promenade lined with beach huts, cafes, and even an amusement arcade on a pier. It boasts one of the world’s oldest water-powered funiculars, ferrying people up and down the cliff. It is a very pretty town and we found it easy to walk around – with just a little bit of huffing and puffing as we climbed up the cliff stairs.

 

Top photo is of the beach at Marsk, with the wind turbines in the distance. The other photos are from Saltburn-by-the-Sea, with the funicular in the photo on the right.

Taking the advice of the locals, we next stopped at Staithes, described by one person as being just like Whitby but smaller. Parking is on the top of a hill and then there is a very steep walk down to the village itself, which is built nestled into the cliffs with a fishing harbour. About 150 people live in Staithes and very few cars are able to go into the village itself, so it was a lovely place to walk around peacefully exploring the little alleyways and the shoreline. Once again, people were extremely friendly and enjoyed sharing stories of their friends or family members that are in Australia or New Zealand. Staithes had a real community feel to it, and we were told about a 40^th birthday that is being planned for an Aussie who now lives there – the whole village is planning to attend, and it will be a BBQ on the beach. I think that by the time Mum and I left, nearly everyone in the village knew that we were there – news gets around!

 

The beautiful little village and harbour of Staithes. The tide seems to be out wherever we go.

Tonight we are staying just outside of Whitby, in a tiny little village called Aislaby in the North York Moors National Park. The village itself has some beautiful old stone properties, and the scenery looking across a valley is spectacular. Lots of rolling green hills dotted with little villages, and all the gardens seem to be full of very colourful flowers. Definitely a very pretty part of the country.

 

Stunning scenery around Aislaby.

Day 48 - Newcastle and North Shields

23 May 2023

We spent a lovely day in Newcastle today. Our plan was to visit some archives, but we had a bit of spare time before they opened so decided to explore a bit of the city centre. The highlight was visiting the Grainger Market, opened in 1835, which was once the largest covered vegetable and butcher market in the country. We were too early for most of the stalls to be open, but the butchers were already well into their day’s work and were very chatty. We learnt about the very important Newcastle United Football Club game that was played last night, and how ‘our’ team drew and so got the all important one point. We were called “Sheila”, given some Wor Cumberland Sausage to try (wor meaning ‘our’ in Geordie, which apparently then lets them use the trademarked Cumberland Sausage name), and we thoroughly enjoyed our walk around the market. It must be buzzing when everything is open – it reminded me a bit of the Grand Bazaar but without the crowds.

 

Some views of Newcastle. Clockwise from top left: the Charles Earl Gray (as in the tea) monument; inside the Grainger Market; a view from outside the market looking towards the monument; football pictures on the escalators down to the Metro train; part of the old city wall.

After our market exploring, we visited the Newcastle Library, the Durham and Northumberland Family History Society, and the Tyne and Wear Archives located in the Discovery Museum. After lots of note taking and photographing, Mum and I have plenty to keep us busy putting it all together once we get back home.

This evening we returned to North Shields and took our final walk along the cliff top, past Dockwray Square, and then down to the fish quay to the local’s favourite pub for dinner. It is called the Low Lights tavern and has been operating out of the same building since the 1600s, and is still privately owned by ‘two lads’, unlike many English corner pubs that are now owned by corporations. Great atmosphere, friendly people and yummy homemade food.

 

Some photographs of North Shield. Clockwise from top left: we now know that this was the exact location of Cuthbert Clark's home and shop in Dockwray Square; the large garden in the centre of Dockwray Square; colourful flowers everywhere; looking across the Tyne River to South Shield, Mum at the top of the cliff opposite Dockwray Square.

Mum and I have found Newcastle to be a vibrant city, with mixed architecture as many older buildings have been retained, lovely wide thoroughfares, and very friendly people. It is a city obviously proud of its history and heritage (and its football team!). Tomorrow we head further south to Yorkshire, trying to avoid toll roads!

Day 47 - North Shields and Newcastle

22 May 2023

First thing this morning, we spent time in the North Shields library researching the local history. Someone has gone to a lot of trouble to create files containing records, photos and newspaper clippings, both on specific streets and also on specific surnames. We were able to find further details on Dockwray Square and the Clark family, plus Mum found lots of interesting information in the directories, including some addresses that we weren’t previously aware of. Yay!

It was then a short walk to the Metro and then a quick 20-minute train ride into the centre of Newcastle – so much easier than driving a car in and trying to find parking. We decided to spend today in Newcastle visiting the ‘family sites’, such as churches, graveyards and street addresses, and to save the Newcastle records for tomorrow. Our first stop was the stunning St Andrew’s Church, where many of our Hogg family had married in the 1700s. Mum’s 3^rd Gt Grandparents, Cuthbert Clark and the mysterious Christiana Gray, married here in 1834. The church was built in the 13^th and 14^th century, and amazingly it was open so we could go inside to see the wonderful stained-glass windows, and the font with a font cover that dated from the 15^th century. It is amazing to think that we had family who were baptised nearly two hundred years ago in this same font. It was very special to have the opportunity to spend some quiet time in this church.

Something that I have been looking forward to was visiting Side, the street where John Nichol had his confectionery business in the mid-1800s. Mum previously had found an old photo showing the street with John’s business sign above his shop, so it was very exciting to finally be standing in the same street. We had thought that now it might be a bit of a run-down area of Newcastle, however it instead was a vibrant street running down towards the river with lots of high-end looking hotels and restaurants. So pleased that we got to visit it.

 

The two top photos are of the beautiful St Andrews Church. The middle photo and the bottom left photo are of Side, one looking up the street and the other looking down. The bottom right photo was taken after we walked across the river to Gateshead, looking back towards Newcastle, with the spire of All Saints Church clearly visible. 

Of course we also visited a few graveyards, and very excitedly found the grave of Cuthbert Clark and Christiana Gray in the Preston Cemetery in North Shields, plus the grave of Cuthbert’s grandparents, Cuthbert Hogg and Dinah Ash in the All Saints graveyard in Newcastle. Again, I feel very lucky to have the opportunity to pay our respects to these ancestors, and it is quite humbling to be visiting their final resting places. The stone in Preston Cemetery is really starting to weather, and I'm not sure for how much longer it will be legible. 

Top left is Mum with Cuthbert Hogg and Dinah Ash's gravestone at All Saints Church. Top right and bottom left photos are of Cuthbert Clark and Christiana Gray's gravestone at Preston Cemetery. We discovered the little bookshop in North Shields - a three-bedroom house with every available space containing floor to ceiling bookshelves filled with books. 

Today has been a big day of walking (nearly 20,000 steps), and we did find ourselves in an ‘interesting’ part of Newcastle as we were trying to find our way to a Metro station. However, once again we have found the locals to be friendly and helpful, and very interested in where we are from and what we are here for.

Day 46 - Blyth to North Shields

21 May 2023

This morning started with a real surprise. Mum and I decided to visit the Blyth South Beach, only to discover that this weekend is when they hold their annual Blyth Battery re-enactment celebration, so we were greeting with hundreds of people in costumes from WWI and WWII, plus vehicles, weapons, camp set ups, and lots of music and fun. We do seem to be very lucky with stumbling upon interesting events. The beach itself is a lovely golden sand beach that stretches all the way south to Seaton Sluice and has pretty multi-coloured beach huts that can be hired.

It was such a sunny and warm day, so Mum and I decided to visit the heritage listed Seaton Delaval Hall, a large family home built in the late 1700s which is nestled in formal and informal gardens and woodland. Much of the home was lost in a fire 200 years ago, but what remains was well worth visiting, with some parts being quite eccentric (including an upside down room) in a nod to the Delavals family love of theatre and surprises. The hall was designed and built by Sir John Vanbrugh, who also built Blenheim Palace. The gardens were spectacularly colourful and we found ourselves enjoying them in a hedged garden, on these wonderful canvas deck chairs eating ice-cream. It was extremely relaxing.

Top right is of South Blyth Beach, the other photos were taken at Seaton Delaval Hall.

This afternoon we arrived at North Shields, where we will be staying for the next few nights. We were expecting the area to be industrial but instead have so far found it to be very charming, with new developments done in keeping with its heritage, and wonderful restaurants and pubs making the most of being beside the River Tyne. After a wonderful English Sunday roast dinner, we walked back up the hill, away from the river, and came to Christ Church. In this church Mum’s 2^nd Gt Grandparents, John William Nichol and Annie Clark, were married plus many of the Clark children were baptised here. The Clark family were from the North Shields area, and this afternoon we were able to find the streets that they lived in (Linskill St, and the very stylish Dockwray Square), plus where Cuthbert Clark has his painting business set up in Rudyerd St.

 

Clockwise from top left: Christ Church in North Shields; the entrance to the River Tyne; Mum with the view looking up the River Tyne towards Newcastle; the garden and view over the river from Dockwray Square.

Tomorrow we are planning to firstly visit the North Shields library to search for local history, and then to catch the metro into Newcastle to explore the places where the Nichol family lived and worked. I can’t believe how much we are managing to fit into our action-packed days!

Day 45 - Hawick to Blyth

20 May 2023

The weather Gods definitely smiled on us today – it has been hot and sunny all day, and perfect conditions for our drive into England. Mum’s 3^rd Gt Grandmother is a very mysterious lady called Christiana Gray. According to the family bible she was born on 18 Jan 1812, and based on the 1851 census, in Coldstream, Scotland. To date we have been unable to identify who her parents might be, or identify her baptism, so she has become a bit of a ‘brick wall’. Today Mum and I decided to visit Coldstream before we left Scotland, just to get an idea of the area where Christiana might have come from. Coldstream is a delightful village perched on the edge of the River Tweed. As we stood in the gardens on the bank of the river, we were looking across to England (at this point the border is in the middle of the river), and over to where the Battle of Flodden was fought. Such a lovely spot, and we met very friendly people, both locals and visitors. The Coldstream Guards who are responsible for the protection of the monarchy were founded here, and Mum and I had a bit of fun playing dress ups in the museum. We even found some ‘Grays’ listed on an old map in the museum, so there is yet more research to do.

We crossed the border and had a typical English lunch of scones with clotted cream in a very busy town called Warkworth, complete with its own castle of course. From Warkworth on, there seemed to be a steady stream of traffic, with everyone out enjoying the lovely weather. This suited me because I am quite happy to sit in behind other cars and not feel rushed. As we continued south we took a bit of a detour to check out the coast at Druridge Bay – a sweeping, sandy beach with sand dunes covered in marram grass, that reminded Mum very much of Waitarere Beach in New Zealand.

 

Bottom photos are of Druridge Bay. Top right is at Coldstream looking across the river to England.

Mid afternoon we arrived in Blyth, where Mum’s Gt Grandfather, John William Nichol, was born in 1865. John’s parents moved the family to New Zealand in 1880, though no one is really sure why because they seemed to have been prospering and very well thought of in Blyth. Yet another family mystery! We had a wander around Blyth and saw both Bridge St and Waterloo St where the Nichol family had lived, then headed down to the harbour. The river is very wide here and it was easy to imagine the collier brigs loading at the wharves. There is a new housing development down at the wharves and they had an open home, so Mum and I went ‘information gathering’. The home was 3 bedrooms, 2.5 bath, water views, three stories high with the master bedroom and a balcony on the top floor. The finishing was of an excellent standard, and it felt very spacious. Cost is 255,000 pounds, which seemed very reasonable when compared with Brisbane prices, though I’m not sure what the wages are like here.

We finished off the afternoon with an ice cream in the sunshine in a large park with lots of children and dogs playing. Bliss!

Clockwise from top left: looking across Blyth harbour; the Blyth Library which possibly was the building that housed the Mechanics Institute (of which John William Nichol was the chairman); Bridge St; Ridley Park in Blyth.

We are staying tonight in a very welcoming pub in Blyth, and then will head down to Newcastle tomorrow. 

Day 44 - Hawick

19 May 2023

Today was our last full day in Scotland and we spent it exploring more of Hawick. In the town hall there is apparently a portrait of a distant Nichol cousin who was mayor here in the 1870s, however the person who might know about it was not in so that will remain a mystery until next time. We spent a lovely couple of hours learning about local history in the Hawick Library and were amazed at the quality and quantity of information put together by the Hawick Archaeological Society, both on locations around Hawick and the people of Hawick. We also discovered that the Cavers church that we visited yesterday was the ‘new church’, built in the 1820s, and that there is an ‘old church’ further up the road, with the gravestones in someone’s back yard.

On our way to the Hawick Museum, we stopped into Lovat Mill where we learnt about the origin of the word Tweed. In contradiction to what we were told in Gala, today it was explained that in 1826 a London merchant’s clerk made a mistake by misreading a delivery note for “Tweels” from Hawick, and instead assumed the word was “Tweed”. This name caught the imagination of the local weavers and it stuck. At Gala, there is a university that specialises in textiles, and the lady who spoke to us at the mill had a Masters in Textiles and Design – she was very knowledgeable and even showed us how they make the tassels at the ends of scarves.

Mum and I spend the late afternoon exploring the Wellogate Cemetery (yes, another graveyard!), hunting for clues on our Nichol family. Once again, it was so peaceful and surrounded by multicoloured trees, plus it had lovely views over Hawick. 

Top left photo shows how scarves come off the loom and then is cut through the tassels. The other photos show the scenery around Hawick - a beautiful town. Lots of things are painted blue and gold in celebration of The Common Riding (even the fountain).

We are feeling a bit mixed. Happy to continue to follow in our Nichol family footsteps down to Blyth and Newcastle but feeling very sad to be leaving Scotland. The stunning scenery, amazing history, and the warm, friendly people have won us over.

Day 43 - Galashiels and Cavers

18 May 2023

This morning we drove about 30 minutes north to Galashiels (known as Gala to locals) to visit the Borders Family History Society to look through some of their records. Once again, the volunteers went over and above with helping us to find relevant records. I found a book in there detailing some interesting customs from the early 1700s in the Borders – one being that “before the christening in church, a piece of cheese and current loaf were wrapped in paper and put inside the christening robe to be given to the first person, of the opposite sex to the child, met on the way to church”.

While we were there, we had a little explore around Gala because this was where Mum’s 5^th Gt Grandparents, John Fairbairn and Lucy Eadster, lived in the late 1700s. Gala is traditionally a mill town, using the water from the Tweed River as a power source for weaving. Hence why tweed is called tweed. Much like Hawick, it is situated in a valley on the bank of a river, surrounded by rolling hills of pasture and woodland.

After lunch we took a different route back to Hawick, taking a detour through Cavers. Cavers is located on a hill overlooking Hawick and is where Mum’s Nichol family lived in the early 1700s. We are very lucky that one of Mum’s Nichol ancestors was interested in genealogy back in the early 1800s and left us a treasure of family notes enabling us the unique opportunity of tracing the family back into the 1700s where records are scarce. Our Nichol family are found mainly in the Parish of Hawick, the Parish of Wilton, and the Parish of Cavers. Standing in the Cavers churchyard today, overlooking the valley, it struck me just how closely situated these three parishes are – no wonder the family moved between them.

 

Top left is the Tweed River, top right photo is of the cemetery in Gala. Bottom left is the impressive church in Cavers, with bottom right being the view from this church over to Hawick. Centre photo is a statue of a man and dog at Cavers (unfortunately, no information was given but he had very good teeth!).

Last night we ate at a lovely Italian restaurant just down from our accommodation in Hawick and loved it so much that we ate there again tonight. Can you guess where we have booked for tomorrow night?

 

Day 42 - Hawick

17 May 2023

Scotland is full of surprises. Tonight, after a really yummy dinner at an Italian restaurant, we were walking back to our accommodation and saw members of a pipe band standing outside the Town Hall. Traffic happily stopped to allow us to take photos, and then we got talking to a couple of very friendly pipers. It turns out that the 38^th Annual Hawick Sings Concert, in celebration of the 1514 Club (as in the year 1514), was being held this evening in the Town Hall. A lady came out of the hall and had a chat with us, as the lovely locals seem to do, and offered us her ticket and even took us inside to show us the seats. Amazing!

So, quite unexpectedly, Mum and I were treated to a two-hour concert of traditional Scottish music and poetry by the talented school students, local singers, the Pipe Band, and a local Saxhorn Band. It was magical. There is so much tradition behind this concert and the hall was filled with people of all ages, and during some of the songs everyone (except us) was joining in the singing.

Apparently, the horses we saw last night were also part of the 1514 tradition, and they were getting ready for “The Common-Riding”. The Riding celebrates both the capture of an English Flag in 1514 by the youth of Hawick, and the ancient custom of riding the marches or boundaries of the common land. It was very sobering to think that our Nichol family in the 1700s and 1800s would have been celebrating 1514 in much the same way and would know many of the same songs that we heard tonight. It has been a very special evening.

We spent most of the day exploring the records at The History Hub, which very conveniently is just a couple of doors away from our accommodation. After so much sitting, we had a lovely walk across the Teviot River to Wilton where the Nichols were in the 1700s. Again, the colour of the trees was so striking.

Some views around the Winton side of Hawick. Centre bottom picture is of the Town Hall. Top right is the Hawick Scout Pipe Band.

Tomorrow we are going to explore the Galashiels area.

 

Day 41 - Carberry to Hawick

16 May 2023

After a blissful night sleep at the castle, plus a breakfast suitable for royalty, Mum and I hit the road to continue our journey south. The landscape is green, rolling hills, with lots of trees of many different colours, with the occasional field of bright yellow canola plants. The colours really are stunning. We initially headed east and followed the coast along to Dunbar where Mum’s Duff and Hastie families lived in the mid-1700s through to the mid-1800s. Dunbar is quite a large town with a bustling main street and a very large parish church that overlooks the ocean. Once again, the locals were very helpful and even showed us where Johnstone’s Close used to be (Robert Duff, shoemaker, lived there in 1841). For the first time in my trip, I am really noticing the wind and it was particularly strong and cold at Dunbar, though the locals strongly disagreed with us.

From Dunbar we drove south down some very narrow country lanes to the grand metropolis of Abbey St Bathans. With such a grand name, Mum and I were both expecting an established village with pub, café, accommodation and houses. Instead it was tiny, with a beautiful little church, a phone box, a post box, and a wonderful hand written ‘you are here’ map. It was so charming and perfectly situated in a wooded valley alongside the Whiteadder Water. Just across the other side of the river we found Shannobank Farmhouse. In 1797 it was known as Channabank and was where Mum’s 3^rd Gt Grandfather, John Fairbairn, was born while his father was the steward there. There is so much history here for our Fairbairn family, and it was such a privilege to have the opportunity to spend some time in such a pretty setting, just taking it all in.

Clockwise from top left; colourful buildings of Dunbar, Shannobank farmhouse, the 'centre' of Abbey St Bathans, selfie in front of the Abbey St Bathans church, hand drawn map of Abbey St Bathans.

After even more little narrow country lanes through fields of green and yellow, we arrived at a tiny place called Makerstoun, which consisted of a manor house and a church with graveyard. Mum’s 4 Gt Grandfather, another John Fairbairn, was born here. Excitingly (well, to us!) there were some Fairbairn graves at the church, so now we need to do some more homework to see how they might fit into the family.

Top left is the main street of Hawick, top right is looking over the buildings to the fields surrounding Hawick. Middle top and the bottom photo are of the area around Makerstoun.

We are spending the next four nights in Hawick in a lovely old building that used to be the town’s bank. We are up on the top floor and just had the amazing surprise of watching about 60 people riding horses through the main street in some sort of parade. If it wasn’t for the cars parked on the side of the road, you would have thought that we had stepped back in time.

 

Day 40 - Dunfermline to Carberry

15 May 2023

This morning was spent exploring the area south of Edinburgh where some of our Boak and Fairbairn ancestors had lived in the early to mid-1800s. We started at the quaint village of Mid Calder, where members of our Boak family were farmers nearby and were buried at in the kirkyard. We were unable to find their graves (turned out to be a bit of a trend today), but did have a lovely wander around the village which seemed to have almost complete streets of very old buildings. Next stop was up the hill to a farm called Black Raw Farm, where Mum’s 3^rd Gt Grandfather, John Fairbairn, was working as a servant to a “Mrs Boak” when he married Mum’s 3^rd Gt Grandmother, Julian Boak in 1805. Their first two children, including Mum’s 2^nd Gt Grandfather, were also born while John was working at Black Raw Farm. On the farm we found an older home plus a more recently built one, with lots of farm buildings. It currently had cattle on it, and had sweeping views over farmland, though we could imagine that it would be very exposed and cold if there were strong winds.

The next village we visited was Kirknewton, which was where the parish church was that the Boak’s and Fairbairn’s frequented while living at Black Raw. There was quite a distance between the current church (built 1750) and the grave yard which was located where the original church was. Kirknewton was a lot smaller than we expected – a playground, corner shop, and combined pharmacy/post office.

Our final village visit was to Ratho, where Mum’s 2^nd Gt Grandfather, Peter Duff, was baptised in 1826. His parents, Hastie Duff and Elizabeth Buchanan, were also married there. The Union Canal  runs through Ratho and we stopped in a pub by the canal for lunch and then stretched our legs with a walk along the canal. The canal boats were painted in bright colours, but the canal itself seemed quite dirty and we even saw a sad looking canal boat that was half submerged. The weather was glorious, and the swans were enjoying the day.

 

Clockwise: Top left is Mid Calder church, next photo the older house at Black Raw Farm, next photo is the grave yard at Kirknewton, then church at Ratho, canal boats at Ratho.

There was great excitement this afternoon as we arrived at our accommodation for the evening – a ‘castle’ called Carberry Tower Mansion House, to the east of Edinburgh. The property is linked to the Bowes-Lyon family and Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret used to stay here and play in the gardens. The grounds are stunning, with an amazing variety of trees, formal gardens, pastures, animals (horses, squirrels, foxes, rabbits and dogs were sighted), and a ceilidh hall used for weddings. The locals are incredibly friendly and helped us find our way around the grounds, though one mentioned that we were “rubbish at following instructions” – he did have a twinkle in his eye, and we were possibly struggling with the accent! We feel so special staying here – what a treat!

 

Our 'castle' - how lucky are we!

Day 39 - Leith

14 May 2003

Happy Mother’s Day! Public transport in this area is very easy to use. This morning we drove to Inverkeithing train station and caught the train into Edinburgh, only a 30-minute journey over the Firth of Forth bridge. We firstly walked down to Dean Village, via a café in the lovely Rose Street. Rog and I had visited Dean Village earlier in the trip, but it was lovely to be able to show mum around. Mum found it very quaint and very olde-worldy English. We must have been there at a good time because there were much less people around than when Rog and I visited. Mum and I then decided to walk the 5km down to Leith itself, partly following the Water of Leith (we have almost done 21,000 steps today!). We took a slightly longer route so we could walk down Constitution Steet where our Gilfillan family lived and worked in the mid-1800s. The South Leith Parish Church is also on the same street and we managed to find the impressive headstone for Mum’s 4^th Gt Uncle, Robert Gilfillan, who was a Scottish songwriter and poet. The stone has an image of Robert, and it was lovely to see what he would have looked like.

After stopping in a café two doors down from where the Gilfillans had lived, we walked over to the mouth of the Leith where we found the old Custom House (not quite as grand as the one in Greenock) and many old original buildings that would have served the busy port in days gone by. It is such a pretty setting with the river flowing through, there were lots of birds and, as well as a cruise ship, a couple of large boats that have been converted into ‘luxury hotel accommodation’. It seemed to be to us a place that embraced its history. After we had finished wandering, it was very easy to catch a bus that dropped us off directly outside the train station and then we hopped straight on a train back to Inverkeithing. Easy peasy.

Top photo is Dean Village, middle left photo is the grave yard and church at South Leith, Robert Gilfillan in the centre photo, right photo is view of Firth of Forth from train. Bottom photo is Leith.

Tomorrow we leave Dunfermline and start heading south – this time next week we will be in Newcastle. Tonight we had one final walk through the lovely Pittencrieff Park and to our favourite Dunfermline eating house, the historic Guildhall.

 

Day 38 - Dunfermline

13 May 2023

Dunfermline has been a real treat to explore today. We were able to park the car for free all day in the centre of the city at Pittencrieff Park, which was given to the people of Dunfermline by Andrew Carnegie in 1902. The park is 76 acres of lawn, gardens, woodland (lots of stunning colours with all of the deciduous trees), and squirrels. There are signs warning of the wild free-roaming peacocks, but we didn’t see any. After a very scrummy breakfast at the beautifully renovated Guildhall, we spent most of the rest of the morning exploring the historic Dunfermline Abbey and its grounds. Dunfermline was the ancient capital of Scotland, and there many Scottish kings and queens buried here, including Robert the Bruce, St Margaret of Scotland, and David I of Scotland. We searched the outside burial ground for any evidence of our Gilfillan or Law families but had no luck. Next door was The Carnegie Library which holds records for the area, but we didn’t find out anything new regarding our ancestors.

Clockwise from top left: Robert the Bruce's grave in Dunfermline Abbey, Dunfermline main street still with coronation bunting, blossoms in the park, Dunfermline Abbey, the pretty garden where we had lunch.

Lunch was in the brilliant sunshine sitting outside in the garden at the café of the 15^th century Abbot House. Spectacular! We then drove about 15 minutes down the road to Torryburn, on the banks of the Firth of Forth. Torryburn was where our Gilfillan family were in the late 1700s, and we were able to find the parish church, which looked like it was being renovated into a private dwelling, and the accompanying churchyard. Torryburn itself was made up of only a few streets but there were some obviously very old houses that were still surviving. We walked along the very tidal Firth of Forth and up through bushland to Rosyth/Crombie Churchyard, as recommended by some locals. The church was a ruin but the setting was stunning, being surrounded by bush and rolling fields, and of course it was interesting to explore the gravestones. These were probably people who our Gilfillans would have known.

Top left is Torryburn Parish Church and graveyard, top right is the 'beach' at Torryburn, bottom left is the old church ruin at Rosyth/Crombie, bottom right shows some of the trees in Pittencrieff Park. Middle is an inquisitive squirrel in the park.

It doesn’t get dark here until about 9:30pm at the moment, so we still had plenty of daylight left to head back to Pittencrieff Park to do some more exploring. We had a drink in the oldest pub in Dunfermline, dating back to the 1600s, where the locals were very vocal in their opinions of the ref during a football game. There was much cheering and jumping around when the right team scored.

It has been a very interesting day, especially because neither Mum nor I really knew what to expect from Dunfermline. We are both very grateful that we have had the chance to spend time exploring here.