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 3rd Gt Grandfather, John Fairbairn, was working as a servant to a “Mrs Boak” when he married Mum’s 3rd Gt Grandmother, Julian Boak in 1805. Their first two children, including Mum’s 2nd 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 2nd
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.
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!
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