A wee glen on Deeside

[neloon]

Many from outside Scotland tend to think of "the Highlands" as being in the north and west of the country which is to ignore the rich history and fine landscape of the Northeast. This detailed commentary on the history of a small glen in Aberdeenshire next to Balmoral may therefore be of some interest even though it will take some time to plough through it. (You can always just flick through the pictures!) It explains a little of how Deeside came to be "Royal" yet how hard life was for the ordinary folk of the Eastern Highlands. So, forget all the "Macs" and focus on the Gordons, the Farquharsons, the Forbeses, the Stuarts, the Grants, the Andersons....
If the occasional Scots word defeats you, try https://dsl.ac.uk/
(I should mention that not all the author's Gaelic translations are correct.)
https://holeousia.com/about-me/deesi...-a-small-glen/


Alan

[neloon]

I find this commentary personally interesting because my great grandfather was born in 1812 about the middle of the time period covered. He lived in a village rather than a wee glen but many of the circumstances would have been similar. Deaths from TB, childbirth and drowning were commonplace as were murders, suicides and, of course illegitimate births sometimes leading to infanticide and suicide. You must remember that there were no forced clearances as such on Deeside - "no tenant was removed ‘but by death, or of their own accord.’" So there is little mention of emigration and, more surprisingly, of enlisting in the army. In 1812, there were no roads suitable for wheeled vehicles unless the local laird made such for his own convenience, lack of bridges made river crossing dangerous. Agricultural improvements such as use of lime to cure the very acidic soil, crop rotation and use of horses rather than oxen to plough the land were starting in the lower reaches of the Dee but not up at Balmoral. As elsewhere in the Highlands, societal changes post 1746 meant that more and more of the chiefs came to be educated in England and, indeed, to live there inviting their new English friends up to Deeside for a spot of shootin' or fishin' for a few weeks of the year. More and more of the land was sold to foreign agencies. Gaelic on Deeside withered away, finally disappearing in 1974 - what use was Gaelic in the modern world.
Modern Deeside still has the same mountains and rivers as ever but the economy is all about gamekeeping for the gentry, welcoming tourists* of many varieties and being the hinterland to the oil capital of Europe. Changed days over 4 generations!

Alan

*Of course, we don't tell the tourists all that stuff above.

We talk to them about Colonel John Farquharson (the "Black Colonel" ) and his "bed"
https://sobt.co.uk/walk-colonels-bed/

Or about Càrn-na-Cuimhne
https://clanfarquharsonaus.weebly.co...lan-cairn.html

Or about the Earl o' Mar's Punchbowl where the Jacobites in 1715 drank to success
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-HwTA4Vth0
(Quoich: "cuach" (Gaelic) = quaich or cup)

Or about the Canadian lumberjacks who helped us out in WW2
https://www.bhe.scot/2018/07/01/canadian-loggers/

and so on!