Lanark, New and Old: Scotland '21 Part 6

The Vision of David Dale & Robert Owen and the Legend of William Wallace

Sun 11-July-2021

Heading South

Scotland

After saying goodbye to Norma and Wilson, we journeyed south from Forres, pausing for a snack lunch on the Perth by-pass and a longer stop in Falkirk. Here we visited the Kelpies and the Falkirk Wheel (covered in an earlier post) before continuing to Lanark and arriving late afternoon.

Forres to Lanark

Lanark: An Introduction

Lanark

Sth Lanarkshire

The former Royal Burgh of Lanark was once the county town of Lanarkshire, a large and populous county moulded round the River Clyde, with its head in Glasgow and its toes pointing towards the Southern Uplands. Being a small country town (present pop < 10,000), Lanark lost the gig to Hamilton in 1964. In 1996 Scotland redivided its 35 historic counties into 32 Council Districts. Lanark is now in South Lanarkshire - with headquarters still in Hamilton.

I became aware of ‘Lanark’ in the early 60s when late Saturday afternoons meant the melliflously voiced Len Martin reading the football results on Grandstand. I loved the league tables and tidy lists of numbers, and also the magic of the names, particularly the Scottish names. ‘Third Lanark’ played in Scotland’s top division (they then had two large divisions rather than today’s four smaller ones). If the third team was that good, I thought, in what league does the first team play? The club folded in 1967. Only many years later did I discover they were a Glasgow team founded in 1872 by members of the 3rd Lanarkshire Rifle Volunteers.

I was never interested in horse racing, but I often endured Len reading the racing results before the main event. Lanark Race Course featured occasionally, but that closed in 1977. An equestrian centre occupies part of the site southeast of the town and we stayed at their B&B. Little remains of the racecourse infrastructure but the state of the art (as of 1928) odds and results board still stands, lonely and neglected - though older photos suggest work has recently been carried out to prevent further deterioration.

Odds and results board Lanark Racecourse

We dined at the Inn on the Loch, the only choice within walking distance of the B&B. They served decent pub food at reasonable prices in a pleasant ambience next to a loch (unsurprisingly) and a golf course. We ate early and returned when the first half of the Euro 2020 (sic) Final was still young. Everybody (who cares) knows what happens, so I’ll just say ‘nice try, England, better luck next time.’

Mon 12-July-2021

New Lanark

David Dale

In the morning we drove the short distance down into the Clyde Valley to New Lanark. We were so early we beat the crowds, almost having a car park to ourselves.

New Lanark from the path down from the car park

Born the son of a village general dealer in 1739, David Dale herded cattle before being apprenticed to a handloom weaver and by 1763 was clerk to a Glasgow silk merchant. He started his own import/export business which grew rapidly and by 1777 he was wealthy and married to the daughter of the former Chief Executive of the Royal Bank of Scotland.

By the 1780s Dale was immensely rich and, like many successful Glasgow businessmen, had acquired a house in the verdant Lanarkshire countryside. In 1784 he was visited by Richard Arkwright whose invention of the ‘water frame’ had mechanised cotton spinning and, by the by, created the world's first factories. This blog crossed his path at Rocester in Staffordshire and Bakewell in Derbyshire.

The bell tower at New Lanark that once called the workers to work

The only waterfalls on the River Clyde lie just south of Lanark. Dale and Arkwright considered the abundant water power, decided the valley below the falls was the perfect place for cotton mills, and set about building them.

Mills beside the Clyde, New Lanark

Dale’s partnership with Arkwright was short-lived. The New Lanark site was perfect and Dale, a philanthropist as well as a businessman, built high quality housing for his workers and looked after them well. His cotton spinning operation became the largest in Britain employing 2,000 workers and attracting many visitors including the Wordsworth’s and Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

The New Lanark Mill Hotel, formerly (believe it or not) a mill

As was the practice at the time he also employed children, including 300 orphans. Recruited from the workhouses of Glasgow and Edinburgh they toiled from 6 am to 7 pm six days a week in return for board and lodging. This hardly sounds philanthropic by modern standards, but unlike children in other mills they were well fed and given meal breaks during working hours. ‘They were provided with two sets of work clothes which were laundered regularly and a blue dress uniform for Sundays [..and. their...] sleeping quarters were regularly cleaned.’ (Wikipedia, God bless it). Public Health campaigner, Dr James Currie observed ‘The utmost cleanliness, health and order pervaded the whole manufactory. The children looked cheerful and happy with rosy cheeks and chubby countenances.’ (Chubby countenances were a good thing in the 18th century when starvation was the problem, not obesity.)

Dale believed in educating both the orphans and the children of his adult workers. The mill employed as many as 16 trained teachers providing daily day-school for under sixes and evening school for working children.

The entrance to the New Lanark School building

The Falls of Clyde

Having worked our way down to the river we avoided a dinosaur (they are prevalent locally due to a small rift in the space-time continuum)…

Dinosaurs, New Lanark

…and followed signs to the Falls of Clyde. In my imagination, the River Clyde is wide, polluted and lined with ship yards and industrial premises. It is, of course, and this is the same river a mere 20 miles upstream.

The Clyde, New Lanark

The Clyde was dammed above the falls and water led down to drive the mills, at first with waterwheels later with turbines. I suspect most of the infrastructure we passed as we climbed above the stream was from the 1920s hydroelectric scheme.

The main falls were worth the walk. Photographs suggest the quantity of water varies considerably and we saw a good flow - at times it is a miserable trickle.

The Falls of Clyde

We retraced our steps.

Re-entering New Lanark from the riverside walk

Robert Owen and After

In 1800 David Dale sold New Lanark to a partnership headed by his son-in-law the Welsh Socialist Utopian, Robert Owen.

Owen’s plans to further improve the lot of his workers were deemed too expensive by some partners, and he had to bring in new investors, notably the philosopher, Jeremy Bentham. He developed the educational opportunities of his workers’ children and campaigned for a national 8-hour working day which he implemented at New Lanark in 1810.

Robert Owen's House New Lanark

Despite the misgivings of more traditional/authoritarian capitalists, the mills thrived under Owen’s management, but after 25 years he decided it was time to move on to new challenges. New Lanark passed through several hands, remaining largely successful, until the 20th century when war, recession and another war made business difficult and the population started to dwindle. Through the 1960s and 70s cotton was increasing processed near where it was grown and Britain’s once huge cotton industry gradually disappeared. New Lanark submitting to the inevitable in 1968 and soon the village was empty. For a while it was left to decay and was threatened by demolition until the New Lanark Trust took over in 1979.

The Trust restored the buildings, repurposing some as museums, others became holiday cottages, a hotel, a youth hostel and a visitor centre. New Lanark gained UNESCO world heritage status in 2001. And why did we not visit any of the houses or the visitor centre? Because they all close on Mondays, a fact I failed to notice when organising this trip.

(Old) Lanark

The original Lanark is just a kilometre north of New Lanark on the rolling agricultural land above the Clyde gorge ('gorge' is a too dramatic a word, but the Clyde has dug itself in round New Lanark). The town was founded as a Royal Burgh by King David I in 1140 as one of a chain of new towns he hoped would become centres of Norman civilisation and develop trade to increase the material well-being of his people.

Having started at the beginning I shall now leap to the present day and work backwards until I re-encounter the beginning.

Modern(ish) stuff

Lanark is a small, pleasant and apparently prosperous town – meaning that the buildings are in good condition and the High Street shops all have tenants. Unfortunately, Lanark (like Nairn two days ago) is a town in need of a by-pass; The High Street has semi-permanent congestion in one direction or the other (sometimes both).

Lanark High Street looking east, with congested westbound traffic

Having driven to the west end in search of parking, we retuned east on foot, passing the Memorial Hall. Built in 1926 to commemorate the 232 local men who lost their lives in World War One, the hall is a venue for performances and events.

Lanark Memorial Hall

As we discovered in Edinburgh, a burgh needs a kirk, a tolbooth and a merkat (market) cross. We will come to the kirk, I know nothing of the merkat cross, but the tolbooth, originally a council meeting chamber, court house and jail but now a heritage and arts centre, stands on the High Street as it has done since the early 1400s. Obviously the current building is at least 300 years younger than that.

Lanark Tolbooth

Nearby, is one of Scotland’s few remaining Provost’s Lamps. The lamps were traditionally placed outside the home of the Provost (Mayor) and this one dates from the 1890s. It is no longer peripatetic, I presume the current Provost of South Lanarkshire (Ian McAllan at time of visit) provides his own illumination.

The provost's Lamp, Lanark

The parish church of St Nicholas stands at the end of the High Street. A chapel existed on this site in the 13th century, but the current building dates from the 1740s although the interior is 19th century. The church claims to have the world’s oldest bell, founded in 1110 (and recast 1659, 1740 and 1830). The clock on the tower dates from 1744 and the 2.4m high statue in the niche (by Thomas Forrest in 1817) is of William Wallace…

St Nicholas Parish Church, Lanark - we lunched beneath the umbrellas to the left

Old Stuff and William Wallace

.,,,and Wallace links the new(ish) to the older stuff.

Near the church, a plaque claims to mark the marital home of William Wallace. It also records that ‘it was in Lanark in 1297 that Wallace first drew sword to free his native land.’

William Wallace plaque, Lanark

That sword was drawn in the so-called ‘Action at Lanark.’ The only existing account was written by Thomas Grey, whose father, another Thomas Grey, had been present. He wrote (in Anglo-Norman French) that a fracas broke out at a court being held by [William] Heselrig, [Sherrif of Lanark], but Wallace was able to escape with help from a girl who may have been his wife. He then came back with some supporters and attacked Heselrig and his men, killed Heselrig, nearly killed Thomas Grey senior, and set fire to some houses. (The Douglas archives).

The action may have been an isolated incident but was probably part of a co-ordinated uprising against Edward I’s appointees being in positions of power in southern Scotland.

The site of Wallace’s marital home, if such it was, looks somewhat banal today. Traditionally his wife was called Marion Braidfute (renamed Murron MacClannough in the film Braveheart) but her name comes from The Wallace an epic poem written by a minstrel known as ‘Blind Harry’ around 1477 and not noted for historical accuracy. According to Blind Harry, Wallace’s attacked Heselrig in revenge for Heselrig killing Marion Braidfute. There is no record of a Braidfute family in the area, nor of William Wallace’s marriage.

The prosaic site of the William Wallace plaque, Lanark

Although Wallace was a member of the minor nobility nothing is known of his youth - even his father’s name is disputed - but he became a leader of the subsequent uprising. It started well with a victory over King Edward's forces at Stirling Bridge in November 1297, followed by some knightly fun, raiding in northern England. Edward regrouped and in July 1298 won a decisive victory at Falkirk. Wallace decamped to the continent for a few years, returned, was captured and executed in 1305 by being hanged, drawn and quartered, a barbarous punishment, but in keeping with the medieval, if not the modern, view of justice.

Edward died in 1307, his forays into Scotland having little long-term effect. When his son Edward II, took up where dad left off, the result was a catastrophic defeat at Bannockburn (1314).

William Wallace was far more important in legend than he had ever been in life. His effect is still current through the film Braveheart which won many awards, none of them for historical accuracy. Daubing Mel Gibson with woad (1,000 years too late) and dressing him in a tartan kilt (500 years too early) are among the least of its calumnies.

When in Lanark, Wallace would have worshipped at the Church of St Kentigern. Tradition says the church was founded by the saint himself in 603, though it first appears in the historical record in 1150. It is now a ruin standing at a corner of Lanark’s exceptional large graveyard. It is an elegant ruin; the pointed Gothic arches being 12th century at the earliest.

St Kentigern's Church, Lanark

The Romans built a fortification on high ground on the east bank of the Clyde. Several centuries later King David I used the same strategic point to build the castle around which his new Royal Burgh would grow.

Lanark Castle - eagle-eyed readers will spot that it is not there, but it used to be

Having just re-encountered the beginning, I shall, as promised, stop. But first...

Dinner at the Inn on the Loch

After a hard day’s touristing, dinner without a couple of beers or a bottle of wine is unthinkable. To avoid drinking and driving, the only choice was to return to the Inn on the Loch, which was no great hardship.

The Inn on the Loch, Lanark

With no football that required watching we arrived later and lingered longer. Our final day in Scotland ended with a small glass (or two) of malt – Speyburn, since you asked – and the feeling that we should return, sooner rather than later.

Scotland 2021

Part 1 Edinburgh (1): The Castle and National Museum
Part 2 Edinburgh (2): The Royal Yacht and the Royal Mile
Part 3 Moray (1) Forres
Part 4 Moray (2) Elgin and Craigellachie
Part 5 Fort George and Brodie Castle
Part 6 Lanark, New and Old

Fort George and Brodie Castle: Scotland '21 Part 5

An 18th Century Fort that Remains a Fort and a 16th Century Castle that Became a Country House

09-Jul-2021

Forming a Plan

Scotland

Moray

Last night, over an excellent dinner with free-flowing wine, we discussed our plan for today with our hosts, Norma and Wilson. We thought we might re-visit the Culloden Battlefield (we had not been there this century), just this side of Inverness and perhaps drop in on Brodie Castle (National Trust for Scotland) on the way back. Wilson asked if we had ever been to Fort George. We have been to Fort William (again, not this century) and were vaguely aware of Fort Augustus, but I had never heard of Fort George, so that settled it.

Fort George is on the Moray Firth on the western edge of the map, Brodie Castle is near Forres

10-Jul-2021

Into the Highlands

Highland

Half way between Forres and Nairn we reached the Highlands. As we were still on the coastal plain and Fort George is beside the sea, this was high land in name only. Highland is an enormous district, ten times bigger than Moray and the largest and most sparsely populated local government area in the United Kingdom. Everywhere north and west of Nairn is Highland, and there is a fair chunk south and west, too.

Highways originally connected towns, even after tarmac and motor vehicles arrived people drove from town to town, and if your destination was beyond the nearest town you had to drive through it, and the next and as many as required to complete your journey. As cars became commonplace towns became congested. From the late 1950s new highways were designed to pass near towns, not through them, leaving town centres to local traffic. But the A96 is an old-fashioned sort of road, ploughing straight through the centre of Nairn (and Elgin, though it skips round Forres). Nairn is not large, but you must set aside 15 minutes or more to make the short drive from one end to another.

Fort George

Fort George sits at the tip of a small peninsula on the sort of linksland where the more peaceably inclined might build a golf course. There is not much to see as you walk up from the car park, a low wall, a turret or two and just a hint there may be something hidden in the folds of the landscape.

Approaching Fort George

Walking a little further reveals a sizeable dry moat lurking within that fold.

Outer Moat, Fort George

The ‘Welcome’ sign by the bridge, clashes a little with the original intention of the entrance.

Bridge over the moat, Fort George

Beyond is another dry moat and a drawbridge, confirming that the ‘welcome’ is (or rather was) conditional.

Second moat and drawbridge, Fort George

For purposes of orientation, an aerial photo is helpful, so I have borrowed one from Wikipedia. The photograph is by Stephen Branley and is reproduced under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 license. It is a typical 18th century fort with many bastions – angular structures projecting from the curtain wall to give multiple lines of fire – fitted to the geography of the tip of Ardesier peninsula’.

Fort George

The reason this example of 18th century state-of-the-art military architecture sits on a windswept little peninsula in the Moray Firth go back some way, so I will now explain 150 years of Anglo-Scottish history in a few short paragraphs. My apologies for omitting some of the nuance.

Tudors, Stuarts, Hanoverians

James the VI and I

When Elizabeth I died childless in 1603 the English monarchy had run out of heirs. Henry VIII’s sister had married James IV of Scotland and her great-grandson was now King James VI and as the closest available relative he was invited to become King James I of England (and, co-incidentally, Ireland) as well. For the first time England and Scotland shared a monarch, though remaining separate countries with their own parliaments and legal systems.

Queen Anne

James Charles Stuart, to give him his full name, was the first of six Stuart monarchs. Some did well enough, others encountered difficulties. The attachment of Charles I (Stuart No. 2) to absolute monarchy led to civil war, his execution and an 11-year interregnum. No.4, James VII and II insisted on becoming a catholic so was ousted in favour of his protestant daughter Mary and her husband William of Orange. They were succeeded by Mary’s sister Anne in 1702. In 1706 the parliaments of England and Scotland voted to merge creating a new country to be called Great Britain.

Despite Queen Anne enduring 17 or more pregnancies, she died in 1714 without an heir. Her closest living protestant relative, George of Hanover was invited to become George I of Great Britain.

The ’17

George I
National Portrait Gallery

James II’s eldest surviving son, also called James, was born six months before his father was deposed. He spent his early life in France and was brought up a Catholic. After his father’s death in 1701, he believed himself the rightful king but there was little opposition to his half-sister Anne or support for a catholic monarch.

George I, German and more closely related to his own wife than to Queen Anne, was not an easy sell to those harbouring Catholic sympathies. In October 1717, pre-emptive arrests of James’ supporters (Jacobites) prevented a rising in southern England while an insurrection in northern England ended at the Battle of Preston a month later. The Earl of Marr had more success in Scotland.

James Stuart
National Portrait Gallery

Despite Scotland declaring itself Protestant in 1560, there were still many Catholics, particularly in the Highlands and Islands, far from the centre of government. James arrived in northern Scotland in December, and joined the Earl of Marr and a Jacobite army of 5,000 in Perth. Discovering that supporters of King George under the Duke of Argyll were marching north with a much larger and better equipped force, he left Perth for Montrose and sailed back to France.

The ’17, as it became known was easily suppressed, but action was taken to ensure it never happened again. Three forts were built along the line of the Great Glen, the geological fault separating the highlands from the rest of Scotland.

Fort William, at the foot of Ben Nevis has become the second biggest town in the Highlands, but there is little left of the fort. Remnants of Fort Augustus exist in a village of that name at the south west tip of Loch Ness and Fort George was built in Inverness. It was not this Fort George, building here started in 1748 after a second insurrection which we will come to shortly.

The Great Glen (in yellow) and the position of Fort William and Augustus and the two Forts George

Inside Fort George

The ditches and walls on the landward side of the fort are serious defensive obstacles, but once past the crunchy exterior the soft centre came as a surprise. We are familiar with the interiors of medieval castles, but 18th century forts are rare in this country.

It looked strangely like a housing estate – and the houses, or rather, barracks are still in use. Since 2007 Fort George has been the home of the Black Watch, dubbed the ‘Ladies from Hell’ in the First World War, though these days kilts are ceremonial wear only. There were few squaddies around, though a small detachment invaded the café on a mission to secure tea and sandwiches.

Inside Fort George

From the outside there is little special about the Lieutenant Governors’ House, but the sizeable interior is now home to the regimental museum of the Queen's Own Highlanders and Lovat Scouts. We wandered round the exhibits which include uniforms, weapons, medals, First World War memorial plaques known as "death pennies", photographs, paintings, memorabilia and regimental regalia. (That is Wikipedia’s list.) It is worth half an hour of anybody’s time, but either they did not permit photographs, or I forgot to take any.

From the museum we climbed onto the ramparts and walked to the seaward end of the fort. The visitors guide vastly improved my previously sketchy knowledge of military architecture. The ramparts are substantial earthworks with a line of casemates at the base. A casemate is a small room in the wall of a fortress, with openings from which guns or missiles can be fired. (OED) Several of these seemed to be just storerooms. At the points of the bastions are bartizans, battlemented parapets or overhanging corner turrets. (OED, again). From these defenders had wide angle of fire. This new knowledge should be illustrated with photographs, but I had a bad day, sorry. Wikipedia has pictures (link above).

Wildlife – Absent and Present

The end of the fort is the tip of the Ardesier Peninsula. With better alignment the peninsula and Chanonry Point on the far side could close off the Moray Firth, but Chanonry does its pointing in the wrong direction so the channel just narrows to around 1,500m, a taxing swim for a human (cold water, unknown currents) but a playground for dolphins. Several different people had told us this, but the expanse of grey water between the fort and the Black Isle (fake news, it is not an island at all!) was unruffled by wind, boats or dolphins. After staring across at Rosemarkie for some time, we decided no one was coming out to play today.

A good view of Rosemarkie unobscured by dolphins

The shore was not crowded with waders, either, but turning inland we found the chapel roof was popular with sea gulls while a couple of posing oystercatchers offered a photo opportunity.

Oystercatcher, Fort George

The Chapel

The (now) interdenominational chapel was added in the 1760s. Although described by Scottish Churches.org as a basic, squat box I think it is a handsome little building and fitting for the surprisingly handsome fort.

Chapel, Fort George

The interior raises the perennial problem of military churches. If every army has God on its side (and most claim they do) does God a) make difficult choices b) play no part in human conflicts or c) not exist anyway. Blessed are the peacemakers as a beardy man in sandals once said.

Chapel interior, Fort George

The Barracks

Historic Scotland have furnished several barrack rooms as they might have been in the 18/19th centuries.

Fort George barracks as they might have been

Some NCOs were accompanied by wives and children. Privacy may have been in short supply, but dry and relatively clean accommodation was luxury for an ordinary 18th century family, though there was always the danger of being sent off to war.

The ‘45

There was a story teller outside the barracks and when we joined him he was deep in the story of the ’45.

The 1717 Jacobite rebellion had failed but they had another go in 1745. It seemed a good moment, the War of the Austrian succession was keeping the British army occupied on the continent, George II, who had succeeded his father, left government to parliament, which did not please all, and Scotland was feeling neglected.

Charles Edward Stuart
Scot Nat Portrait Gallery

The would-be James III was now 57 so he sent his son, Charles Edward Stuart, known as ‘Bonnie Prince Charlie’, to do the rebelling. Charles raised his standard at Glenfinnan in the Highlands in August 1745, gathered an army and marched south. By October he was in Edinburgh and had control of most of Scotland, though he had not taken neither Edinburgh nor Stirling castles.

Had he settled for Scotland, he might have succeeded, but Charles was convinced he was the rightful king (once his father died) of all of Great Britain. He persuaded his allies that English Jacobites would flock to his banner and the French would stage a helpful invasion in southern England.

They marched south and reached Derby, 280 miles from Edinburgh and only 130 from London, on the 4th of December. Few English Jacobites had joined them, there was no sign of the French and the further south they went the more his Scottish allies worried about being cut off.

To keep his army together he turned back. After an orderly retreat he laid siege to Stirling Castle in January and beat off a relieving force. Although victorious he was weakened, gave up the siege and retreated further north to Inverness.

The showdown at Culloden on the 16th of April was a crushing defeat that finished the Jacobites as a political force. The lead up to Culloden had destroyed Bonnie Prince Charlie’s reputation as a leader, but his subsequent escape established him as a folk hero of sorts.

I had always thought of Culloden as English against Scots, but the story teller disagreed.  Scots fought on both sides and he saw it as a victory for New Scotland over Old Scotland.

The New Fort George

The old Fort George built in Inverness after the ’17 was taken by the Jacobites in 1745 and later blown up to deny its use to government forces. The forts and other measures taken to ensure there would never be another rising played their part in provoking that rising. To prove they had learned nothing, a new Fort George was built to really, really ensure there would never, ever be another rising. The sophisticated defences of the new Fort George have remained untested, Culloden had destroyed the threat.

Brodie

Back to Moray

By the time we left Fort George it was too late to visit both Culloden and Brodie Castle; we chose the castle because we had never been there before. Returning to the A96, we turned east and fought our way back through Nairn to the village of Brodie, 6 Km from Forres.

Norma and Wilson had suggested Brodie Country Fare as a possible lunch stop. It was a far bigger enterprise than we had expected and finding a parking place required some touring. By having many sections divided by woodland, they cunningly disguised a large car park as a small one.

The size of the shop could not be disguised and we followed the crowd through the rambling emporium towards the restaurant. That was big, too, and busy. It was, we realised, Saturday, and unwillingness to venture out during Covid had, apparently, been suspended for the day. We joined the end of a long queue. It moved swiftly but as we reached the front, we found they were handing our buzzers and promising to buzz in ‘45 minutes, maybe an hour, and do go and look round the shop’ - fine, if handicrafts, country clothing and decorative knick-knacks are your thing. We were already later than intended so decided to cut our loses and settle for a National Trust Sandwich and a cup of tea at Brodie Castle.

Brodie Castle

The earliest part of the castle, a couple of minutes’ drive off the main road, dates from 1567, but the site has been the seat of Clan Brodie since the 12th century.

National Trust Scotland accepts English National Trust cards (and vice versa) and the café provided the required snack. The grounds are famous for their daffodils, they have over 100 – or 400 – varieties (NTS claims both figures on their web site), but that is of little interest in August. They also claim their Playful Garden has an amazing menagerie of characters inspired by the castle’s quirky and colourful history, including Scotland’s biggest bunny sculpture – perhaps not age appropriate as we had not brought any grandchildren with us.

Clutching our timed ticket for the castle tour we marched up the drive. The tower on the left is a survivor from the original building, burnt down in 1645 by Lewis Gordon of Clan Gordon, an unfriendly act that also destroyed the Clan Brodie archives. Around it cluster several 18th century rooms, but most of the existing building is 19th century.

Brodie Castle, Moray

The guided tour showed only a small part of the interior – this may have been a Covid related curtailment of what Wilson remembered as a more comprehensive tour. The castle’s treasures include furniture, ceramics, paintings and a 6,000-volume library, but photographs were not permitted and without them I can recall little of what we saw. That makes it a disappointment for me and a pathetic piece of blogging. Sorry.

Dinner and Thanks

Back in Forres, Norma had been working hard in the kitchen. Dinner tonight was Mexican themed and again excellent. The wine flowed freely, but we left enough capacity to enjoy a small glass or two of the local product. With over fifty malt whisky distilleries, Moray is a paradise for the discerning tippler and we enjoyed Aberlour, and Benromach - as local as they come. 

We met Norma and Wilson in North Korea in 2013 and have kept in touch ever since, but this is the first time we have met on home soil. They looked after us royally and their advice about what to see was invaluable. We owe them a big ‘thank you’ and I hope we will be able to return the compliment in the near future.

11-Jul-2021

Lynne with Norma and Wilson, Forres

We took our leave in the morning and headed south for the last chapter of our Scottish sojourn in Lanark (coming soon).

Scotland 2021

Part 1 Edinburgh (1): The Castle and National Museum
Part 2 Edinburgh (2): The Royal Yacht and the Royal Mile
Part 3 Moray (1) Forres
Part 4 Moray (2) Elgin and Craigellachie
Part 5 Fort George and Brodie Castle
Part 6 Lanark, New and Old

Elgin and Craigellachie: Scotland '21 Part 4

An Ancient Cathedral, a Dearth of Dolphins and One of Scotland's Few Remaining Cooperages

The 'City' of Elgin

Scotland

Moray

We left Forres for Elgin, a 20-minute drive away.

With 25,000 citizens, Elgin is Moray’s administrative capital and largest population centre, indeed Moray was known as Elginshire until 1918. As a testament to its importance Elgin has spawned namesakes in New Zealand and South Africa, seven more in Canada (including 2 Port Elgins) and no less than 22 in the United States (2 in South Carolina!).

I have, thus far, avoided referring to Elgin as a town or a city. Elgin was a Royal Burgh and until the late 19th century the word ‘city’ was used informally in Scotland. As new rules were applied, Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow quickly obtained city status, others, including Elgin. assumed they were cities, because that was how they thought of themselves - the local football club has been 'Elgin City FC' since its foundation in 1893. In 1972 Elgin and Perth were assumed to be on an official list of Scottish cities, then discovered they were not. Stirling 'jumped the queue' when it became a city for the Queen's Golden Jubilee (2002) and Elgin lost out to Perth at the Diamond Jubilee in 2012, so Elgin is a town, just like Brechin - despite the existence of Brechin City FC. (Fingers crossed for the 2022 Platinum Jubilee?) [Update May 2022: Lost out to Dunfermline - so unfair.]

Moray (My thanks and apologies to the copyright holders of these maps!)

Elgin Cathedral

Reaching Elgin we turned off the A96 and followed signs to the Cathedral.

Had Elgin been in England the existence of a cathedral would have further muddied Elgin’s city status. Fortunately, it is not. Prior to the Reformations (1534 in England, 1560 in Scotland) both countries had their compliment of Catholic Cathedrals. Those in England seamlessly(ish) became Church of England and their locations ‘cities’. Scotland became Presbyterian and the Presbyterian Church has no bishops and hence no need of cathedrals. Some former cathedrals, like St Giles in Edinburgh and Dunblane Cathedral are still called Cathedrals, but as a courtesy title. Elgin is slightly different, as it is clearly a ruin.

Elgin Cathedral

We had not thought it necessary to acquire tickets in advance, but a group of ticketless elderly ladies who arrived just before us were not allowed in. The cathedral’s ‘open plan’ design meant we could see there was ample space, but apparently the man on the gate could not take money, only check tickets.

We were about to follow them away when we realised we did not have to, Lynne pulled out her phone, bought two tickets for 10.00 (it was then 9.55) and in we went. It was a shame, though, they could not find a solution for the earlier group and that Historic Environment Scotland's Covid regulations had made no allowance for those to whom ‘on line’ remains a closed world.

Inside Elgin Cathedral

The Bishops of Moray led a somewhat peripatetic existence until 1224 when Alexander II granted land near the River Lossie and Bishop Andreas de Moravia (AKA Andrew of Moray) set about building a cathedral.

Rebuilding after a damaging fire in 1270 saw the choir double in length, the construction of outer aisles to the northern and southern walls…

The post 1270 outer aisles, Elgin Cathedral

…and the addition of a Chapter House. The Chapter House was extensively repaired and reroofed between 1976 and 1988.

Chapter House vaulting: old design, modern workmanship

The cathedral was damaged again by fire twice more, in 1390 during an attack by Alexander Stuart, the ‘Wolf of Badenoch’ and again in 1402 by supporters of Donald, Lord of the Isles.

We encountered a story teller near the back wall who told us much about the Wolf of Badenoch, a man with the sense of entitlement of an Old Etonian Prime Minister and the cruelty and rapacity of a psychopath. I doubt that the Lord of the Isles was much nicer. At that time the king, Robert III (the Wolf’s older brother) was acknowledged by all, but in large parts of Scotland the local ‘nobility’ had free reign and were often little more than war lords. The rich farmland of Moray was equally attractive to the Lord of Isles and the Wolf of Badenoch and what they wanted, they took – or fought each other for.

For a time, life became less dramatic. The South Tower has a display of 15th century vaulting bosses, probably modelled on local people.

15th century carved vault bosses

An engraving found in Elgin Past and Present by Herbert B. Mackintosh (1914), now in the public domain, suggests all was peaceful in 1538…

… but the Reformation was only decades away. In 1560 the Scottish parliament declared that the Scottish church would be Protestant, and the Catholic mass illegal. Cathedrals were to become parish churches, but as Elgin already had a parish church the cathedral was abandoned. In 1567 parliament authorised the Privy Council to remove the lead from the roof and sell it for the upkeep of the army. Unfortunately the overladen ship transporting the lead to Holland capsized in Aberdeen harbour.

By 1615 the steeples and walls were still standing, but the roof had gone and the window, marble monuments and many tombs had been broken and defaced. The central spire collapsed during a storm in 1711.

The Cathedral precinct became Elgin’s burial ground. There are some excellent gravestones, some depicting the life of the interred….

Gravestone, Elgin cathedral

…and several leaving no doubt as to our common future (and the sands of time are dwindling away).

Our common future, a reminder from Elgin cathedral

Ownership passed to the crown and in the early years on the 19th century the growth of tourism and interest in the past led to the first attempts at stabilization and then restoration. The ruin is now managed by Historic Environment Scotland, a safe pare of hands even if their ticketing policy could do with a rethink.

Baxter’s Foods, Fochabers

Leaving the cathedral, we found our way back to the A69 and set off toward Fochabers. some 15 mins to the east.

Just before crossing the River Spey we passed Baxter’s Foods factory.

Four generations after 25-year-old George Baxter borrowed 11 guineas to open a grocery shop in Fochabers, Baxter’s soups, preserves and condiments can be found on the shelves of every supermarket.

Baxter's original

One of George’s most successful lines was the jam made by his wife Margaret using local fruits.

In time, George’s son William took over the business. His wife Ethel was another indefatigable jam maker and in 1916 they built a jam factory beside the River Spey. The jams were marketed all over Scotland.

Classic Baxters

In 1923 they acquired a canning machine and Ethel moved on to soups. The range included their Royal Game Soup with local venison. By the end of the decade Baxter’s soups, with their reputation for quality had spread beyond Scotland and were stocked by Harrods and Fortnum & Mason.

George’s son Gordon married Ena Robertson in 1952. Together they created their ‘Best of Scotland’ range of soups and Ena Baxter became what we would now call a ‘TV Chef’.

In the 21st century the company has expanded by acquiring other producers and their products are widely available throughout the UK. The expansion has been profitable but it inevitably lost them their reputation for high quality. Recent changes in the boardroom, with the next generation of Baxters retaking the helm, may herald a change.

To the Mouth of the Spey

Crossing the river and turning left between Baxter’s and Fochabers we followed the minor road up to the mouth of the Spay and parked near the Scottish Dolphin Centre. This, we had been told, was a good place to see dolphins.

A shingle spit protects the mouth of the river and behind it is a small lagoon.

Lagoon at the mouth of the Spey

Osprey

As we crunched our way towards the sea, we learned that this is also a good place to see Ospreys. ‘He came up from over there,’ we were told, ‘picked his dinner from out the river and flew off upstream to eat it.’ ‘When was this?’ ‘Five minutes, ago.’

Some see ospreys

Dolphins

So, we had just missed the Osprey, but out on the spit we looked optimistically out to sea waiting for a pod of dolphins to swim by.

There is a limit to how long you can stand on an exposed beach scanning the featureless grey sea waiting for something to happen. On a cold blustery day that had us reaching for the calendar to check it was still August, that limit was soon reached.

Some will stand on the spit and photograph others not seeing dolphins

Back in the car we mused philosophically. It was a good place for seeing dolphins but we lacked the determination to wait long enough, and however long you wait, wild animals offer no guarantees. We have at least seen ospreys and dolphins in the past (and would see dolphins again in only a matter of weeks) but our four lengthy attempts to see tigers (here in Rajasthan and here in Karnataka) have all drawn blanks.

Buckie

Less than half way back to Fochabers we found a minor road to take us back to the coast to join the A990 which we followed through Portgordon with its small harbour and on to Buckie. With some 9,000 citizens Buckie was the largest town in the small county of Banffshire before it was absorbed into Moray.

Lunchtime was upon us, but Buckie is a working town, not a holiday resort and the long seafront offered no possibilities. Fishing and shipbuilding are in decline, but shellfish and fish processing still thrive and it was easier find a smokehouse than a coffee shop. Just before the harbour we turned right towards the town centre.

Parking on the corner of High Street and Cluny Square we set off on foot up the High Street. Norma had informed us she was cooking Italian that evening and we wanted to do it justice, but something small would be welcome now. The High Street had little to offer and we were almost back at the car before finding a shop that would provide a takeaway sandwich and coffee.

Taking a virtual walk later, I discovered that had we eschewed the High Street and tried Cluny Square (actually a street, not a square) instead, we would have been spoilt for choice. Oh well.

To Craigellachie

Plan A had involved driving along the coast through Findochty to Cullen, but we were well behind schedule. We had a timed ticket for the Speyside Cooperage in Craigallechie and once we had dealt with our sandwich and coffee we needed to immediately head south.

Our thirty-minute journey took us via Braes of Enzie, Auchlunkart and Maggieknockater. None are big, two of them scarcely count as hamlets, but they are part of Scotland's wealth of great place names. They are not pretty, but they are names that could tell stories, and I appreciate that while knowing anything about them.

Craigellachie

Craigellachie

The Macallan

Although described (by Wikipedia) as a small village, Craigellachie sprawls over a substantial area between the Rivers Spey and Fiddich and has more facilities than most villages of its size.

Situated were Strathspey meets Glen Fiddich it lies in the heart of whisky country and has two distilleries. East of the Spey lies The Macallan, one of the largest selling single malts, and a bit of a favourite of mine. In the heart of the village is the eponymous Craigellachie, owned by Dewars. It is occasionally bottled as a single malt, but its main function is to provide the touch of class in Dewars blended whiskies.

Dewars Craigellachie Distillery

But whisky could not exist if there were no barrels, even the humblest blend must spend three years maturing in wood. There was a time when all sorts of produce from apples to zebras (no, not really) was transported in barrels and coopers were everywhere, now just wine and whisky (and some beer and cider) require wooden barrels. As far as I can ascertain, there are only two cooperages left in Scotland, one in Glasgow, one in Craigellachie.

Speyside Cooperage, Craigellachie

At the Speyside Cooperage 14 coopers are busy shaping, shaving and charring oak casks that will be used for as long as 60 years – though they must occasionally return here for inspection and repair.

The flavour of whisky depends on the water, the barley, the distillation and the cask. The fresh distillate is colourless, the colour as in most brown spirits comes from the barrel and charring is an important part of that.

Dealing with 15 to 30 casks a day, they work fast (they are paid per cask), running or dancing round the barrels. Sometimes it looks as though the workshop has been choreographed.

Speyside Cooperage, Craigellachie

All this information and more came from our cheerful guide as we watched from the viewing gallery. I had never seen coopers at work before, but it was well worth the trip – thanks to Norma for recommending this visit.

Craigellachie to Forres

We took the cross-country route but contrived to miss Thomas Telford’s Bridge over the Spey at Craigellachie. The road then led past the Cardhu distillery to Upper Knockando, just north of Knockando and the Knockando and Tamdhu distilleries.

Dallas and Dallas Dhu

Further on we encountered Dallas which, like Elgin, has spawned a worldwide crowd of namesakes. There are not quite as many, perhaps because Dallas is much smaller, with only 150 inhabitants, but the largest Dallas has a (much) bigger population than all the Elgins combined.

We were almost back in Forres before we passed Dallas Dhu distillery. Norma's grandfather was once a maltman there, but it is no longer one of Moray's 50+ functioning distillers of Speyside malt whisky. Built in 1898 it had a chequered history with several owners who revived it after closures caused by the First World War and the depression of the 1930s. It closed for good in 1983 and is now a visitor attraction (owned by Historic Environment Scotland) showing the distillery as it was at the start of the 20th century.

A few bottles of Dallas Dhu survive, you can pick up the 21-year-old for a modest £800, or splash out on the 50-year-old, which retails at £6,700.

A Pleasant Evening

Back in Forres, our evening with Norma and Wilson involved an excellent Italian dinner and plenty of good wine and conversation

Scotland 2021

Part 1 Edinburgh (1): The Castle and National Museum
Part 2 Edinburgh (2): The Royal Yacht and the Royal Mile
Part 3 Moray (1) Forres
Part 4 Moray (2) Elgin and Craigellachie
Part 5 Fort George and Brodie Castle
Part 6 Lanark, New and Old