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Monumental Stories

Multiple Pasts, Living Presence

Fieldwork-based analysis of customs and traditions relating to three sets of monuments in Easter Ross

Adrian Clark

UHI

Student Ref: 09006274

December 2009

Introduction

Three disparate sets of public monuments, from different time periods, all within a fifteen mile radius in Easter Ross, have been chosen as the focus of this study, in order to investigate similarities and contrasts in the continuity of customs, traditions and beliefs that surround them. This partly extends a study conducted by the author in 1993 on fact and fantasy regarding the Vikings in Ross and Cromarty (Clark).

1) The Cambrai Cross, a unique structure outside Dingwall Station is dedicated to the Seaforth Highlanders who died at the Battle of Cambrai in France in 1917. Referred to locally as the ‘Cambria Cross’, it is one of 5 public memorials in the town (Appendix 1). 2) The Fyrish Monument is a unique stone monument on Cnoc Fyrish, commissioned in the 1780/90s by the laird of Novar Estate, which it overlooks. Two smaller monuments, with basic similarities, sit on adjacent hills. 3) The Pictish stones of Nigg, Shandwick and Hilton on the Tarbat Peninsula are excellent examples of Class 2 type carved stones, featuring symbols and images on one side, elaborate crosses and knot work on the other. They are thought to date from the eighth century. All these monuments are in a good state of repair, are generally well maintained and accessible and feature prominently in popular memory and imagination.

“Landmarks by which you live and work become like old friends - you see them and know you’re almost home” (Janis Mennie 2009)

Methodology

This investigation was carried out over a period of ten weeks, through library, museum and on-line research and, most importantly, through speaking with local people, both at random and in a targeted fashion. The majority of interviews were conducted concerning the Cambrai Cross, both with general public and ex soldiers. Walkers and school pupils were interviewed regarding the Fyrish monument. An extended interview with a local tradition bearer was the principle source regarding stories about the Pictish stones (see interview transcripts).

Investigation

The monuments are investigated in the context of the time they were built, their continuity and changes in significance and association over time, and how they are perceived today. Consideration is given to their design and construction, location and their function or purpose. In each respect the monuments differ greatly and yet each now shares certain elements in common, in particular their iconic status, their connection with the past and their relationship with the landscape. In these respects their meaning has, to an extent, changed over time and the local sense of connection may be slightly at odds with the ‘correct’ archaeological/historical interpretation. The relative modernity of two of the three sets of monuments allows us to see how changes in perception can come about fairly rapidly.

We recognise that ‘local traditions are tied as much to the present as to the past’ and that ‘they form part of today’s spatio temporal landscape as much as they were in the past and are thus exposed to the continuous gaze of people around them’ (Blake 1999 pp 230-232).‘Objects do not have intrinsic qualities – they are only understood in terms of their place in the world, their presence’ and the invention of new traditions can help to give us insights into earlier peoples (p 232). Trubshaw’s discussion of liminality is also relevant: ‘We are obsessed with boundaries. Places are divided and sub-divided in a complex web of overlapping patterns of 'ownership', 'sacredness', 'historic interest', 'outstanding natural beauty' and much else’ (1996).

Wider Connections

Each of the monuments points to the engagement of this area of the Highlands – indeed the Highlands and Islands as a whole – in world affairs; a far cry from the isolated backwater as it is often characterised. The Pictish stones illustrate the connections with at least a large swathe of Scotland and Northumbria; the stories with which they are associated point to connections with Denmark and Norway. The Fyrish Monument bears witness to Norse invasion and settlement [Fyrish from Norse ‘fura’ or ‘fyri’ = pine tree (Watson 1904)], and also to imperial connections with India. The Cambrai Cross is testimony to local involvement in the WW1 battlefields of France and to the recognition by the French people of the sacrifice made by the Seaforth Highlanders. Along with the 4 other war memorials in Dingwall (Appendix I), it points to the disproportionately high involvement of local regiments in the service of the crown in various theatres of war over the past two centuries and indeed into the present.

Documentary Evidence

Clear contemporary written evidence pertains only for the creation of the Cambrai Cross: The local newspaper covered the unveiling of the memorial in its new position outside Dingwall station on 12 March 1925:

‘the original cairn and cross was erected on ground beside the village of Fontaine Notre Dame, near Cambrai, by Lieut. Murdo Mackenzie, M.C. of the Dingwall Post Office staff, and a fatigue party, of whom one was Sgt Ross, carpenter, Strathpeffer … after the memorable fighting of those specially strenuous days. This was done expeditiously under difficulties. The cairn was built from stones and turf, the cross was cut from a silver birch tree in a shattered wood in the neighbourhood, and the panel recording the names of the officers and men of the Seaforths who fell in the fighting was made from the door of a shelled building in the village, the names being inscribed by an artist who was on the commissariat staff…. Shortly after its erection the people of Cambrai affixed tributes in token of admiration and gratitude for the heroic work of the Seaforths’ (North Star 14.3.1925).

Already within two years Haldane (1927) slightly contradicts this version in stating that:

‘on the anniversary of the battle the following year the battalion marched to Fontaine and erected a cross at the western end, on which were recorded the names of all who were known to have fallen in battle. Some of those who were reported missing were not included, because there was still reason to hope that they might yet be found among the returning prisoners of war’(p 255) [my emphasis].

For the Fyrish monument the earliest available written reference appears in 1810 when Sir George Mackenzie of Coull wrote that the improved estate had been ‘much spoiled by innumerable rows of gate pillars, besides a number of fantastic statues and buildings stuck on every eminence. The imitation of a village has been erected on the top of an almost inaccessible hill, and it has been painted white, in order to contrast it with the sombre firs which surround it’ (Mackenzie G, p 109). The poet Robert Southey, when touring the Highlands in 1819, remarked ‘some odd edifices on the summits which he (Sir Hector Munro) is said to have designed as imitations of the hillforts in India. One of them appeared like a huge sort of Stonehenge’ (1829, p 120). Already this is hearsay; the statement is significant, however, as it does not fit the oft quoted tradition of the main monument being a replica of the gates of Negapatnam (variously spelt), the fortress coastal city captured from the Dutch by General Munro in 1781. It has been suggested that the original plan was to have all three monuments linked by a wall (VisitScotland 2009) but the evidence is lacking.

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Fig. 1 The Fyrish Monument

‘You need this kind of history to keep the place alive’ Margaret MacDonald (2009)

The Pictish stones of Tarbat peninsula, and indeed elsewhere, lack contemporary written records, thus allowing scholars and general public alike a huge range of interpretation and imagination over the subsequent centuries. The minister of the nearby parish of Edderton writes of their Pictish stone in the New Statistical Account of 1845 ‘These hieroglyphs …perhaps allude to the cist of the chief who is interred underneath the stone, being one of the Vikingr, or sea-kings of the middle ages…’.

This ‘practice of ascribing outstanding monuments, … to real or imaginary events in the past, and particularly in the case of Scotland and Ireland, to struggles against “the Danes”, the generic term used to describe all Scandinavian invaders’, suggests Sellar ‘belong to a well-documented antiquarian tradition which passed rapidly into folk-lore’ (1993).

In addition, the stones themselves attest to older traditions. At the top of the Nigg stone a carving portrays a Christian miracle, with ‘the first monks, Paul and Anthony, receiving bread in the desert from a raven sent by God: and David, King and Psalmist, saving a sheep from a lion, his harp (modelled on a contemporary Pictish instrument) beside his shoulder. The treatment of these themes speaks clearly of the spiritual and pastoral concerns of the early monastery on the Nigg headland site’ (Nigg Old Trust). We may wonder whether the raven in this story may link in any way to customs and beliefs among the Pictish people; it is likely that they were aware of the Norse tradition of Odin’s ravens of knowledge Huginn and Munin, and also of their significance in Celtic tradition.

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Fig. 2 The Nigg Pictish Stone

Hugh Miller (1834) has his own take on this scene; he refers to a dove rather than a raven and suggests that: ‘A pictorial record cannot be other than a doubtful one; and it is difficult to decide whether the hieroglyphic of this department denotes the ghostly influence of the priest in delivering the soul from the evils of an intermediate state’ (p 41) (See Appendix 9)

The Picts have left none of their own literature, other than lists of kings and place-names; however we may assume that some at least were literate, and had a good understanding at least of this story as told in Vita Pauli by St Jerome, completed by 380 AD. The later monuments in our study show that even in a literate society records are not always kept, or can go missing, thereby allowing varied future interpretations and traditions to emerge.

Monumental Purpose

The original purpose of each set of monuments is quite disparate; only in the case of the Cambrai Cross is it entirely clear: A memorial to the fallen soldiers of the 4th Seaforth Battalion, erected near the battlefield using basic materials, by fellow soldiers; enhanced by wooden plaques affixed by the local inhabitants (Appendix 2).

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Fig 3 The Cambrai Cross (2009)

These French people had earlier warmly welcomed the troops.

One man wrote: “Our reception in the village was a very cordial one. Men, women and children came out of the houses, and recognizing us, they made a great fuss. They called us ‘Scotchia’, and many of the men were kissed by the womenfolk. The men were well treated, receiving beer, wine, coffee and various kinds of foods. The people could not do enough for us.”(Haldane p.243)

The Fyrish Monument is generally said to have been commissioned by the laird, General Sir Hector Munro of Novar (1726 – 1805), to provide relief work for unemployed local people at a time of hardship/famine (Mackenzie A 1848). They were reputedly paid ‘a penny a day’ (Margaret MacDonald 2009). It is not so commonly known that the same laird ‘was smitten with a mania for the introduction of sheep’ (Mackenzie A) and was the prime mover of the action, at the head of the Black Watch, against those who sought to drive out the invading cheviot sheep from their lands a few years later in the Bliadhna nan Caorach/Year of the Sheep of 1792 (Ash 1991).

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Fig. 4 Novar House with Fyrish behind

The prevailing idea of the building of the Fyrish monument, and two associated smaller monuments, being an act of paternalistic benevolence tends to obscure the likely primary function of the monuments, which is to draw one’s gaze up the newly forested slopes of Cnoc Fyrish to the hilltop and sky beyond (Ash p.96) – a celebration of the improved estate and of the laird’s imperial ventures and his victorious return. ‘Fyrish is also a monument’ , suggests Ash, ‘to a conception of land ownership that still owed something to old clan feelings of responsibility for the kindred’ (p.96). Even though times have changed there still prevails an element of this conception in local people’s views of Novar and other local estates.

‘People in Evanton had close associations with the estate – it was a livelihood for a lot of people – picking tatties and the like’ (Margaret MacDonald 2009).

Pupils at Kiltearn Primary (2009) made their own suggestions as to the purpose for the monument:

‘so that the whole of Evanton could see it’

‘so that people would see it and wonder if they could go up there’

‘because he thought that maybe Evanton needed some sort of landmark to attract other people to come and stay in Evanton’

‘so that when you go up you can look down and see the whole of Evanton’

‘because if you’re down you can see it from miles away’

‘it makes you think … that he’s like a king … quite well known

‘it probably makes him feel like he’s proud of himself – building the monument on top of the hill ‘

‘maybe he thought that people will respect him more and that he’ll be known

‘maybe it’s like about what a powerful person he was and how he won some of them battles’

(Recorded Discussion 10.1.09)

We may speculate here as to whether such follies harp back to any residual influence of the older practices whereby ‘taking possession of a place can be considered a transaction involving supranormal powers’ (Trubshaw 1996).

We have no evidence that this applies to the Pictish monuments, on whose purpose the experts do not yet agree. Were they territorial markers, indications of family unions, commemoration of particular individuals or serving some other purpose – some even suggest astronomical? – the jury is still out. As Class 2 types, however, they all have a Christian cross on one side, thereby attesting to the recent conversion to Christianity. The story of Paul and Anthony mentioned earlier may well have had a particular resonance with local people.

The Accrual of Monumental Tradition

Hugh Miller relates the story regarding the Pictish monuments ‘of the Vikingr and Sea-King… we owe our data regarding it, not to written records, but to an interesting class of ancient remains, and to a doubtful and imperfect tradition.’ (See Appendix 10)

No doubt his 1834 version of the story was widely read and passed on – but it was a surprise to find an expanded version enthusiastically recounted by 91 year old Dolina MacDonald of Hilton in 2009.

(Short excerpt) ‘The Ross saw the whole country of …. Norwegians going after them, they turned like the cowards that they were, but there was … a battle fought – however he (Earl of Ross) was a fly fellow – there is a rock at Shandwick, on the outside of Shandwick, and (gesturing) there is a little channel …‘He (Ross) knew the channel to go and he diddled them and they were mostly drowned, but the king’s sons were thrown, their bodies were thrown – one at Hilton, one at Shandwick and one at Nigg – and the story goes, you see, that the Norwegians came and built this – monuments – to their sons…’

Dolina MacDonald, who received the story from her grandmother, quickly adds:

‘but of course it’s not true because it was the little Picts who did it and were the – beautiful people who did the effigies – they were the people that did it you see – and that story is true, so far as Ross and the Norwegian king’

As in many such folk tales it is hard to ascertain the point at which the folk teller him/herself believes fact merges into fiction. She goes on to add:

‘But that’s the story and it really wasn’t true you know - but it’s a good story.’ (Interviewed 27.11.09)

This same story is referred to in local publicity and interpretation boards. Also Watson (1904) refers to Creag Harail (Harold’s Rock), the skerry off the Nigg coast which is called in the New Statistical Account The King’s Sons. He abbreviates the above legend; however he also links the story to the graveyard at Nigg Rocks: ‘Here the Danish princes were buried. Their gravestones came from Denmark, and had iron rings fastened in them to facilitate their landing. So local tradition’ (p56). Watson also refers to the nearby Fairyhill or Danish fort - ‘really a Celtic fort’. The peninsula is bound up with such stories - hardly surprising given the nearby Norse place names such as Shandwick and the battle of Torfness likely to have been at Tarbatness.

Tales about the Fyrish monument allude to the suggestion that local people would not take charity at a time of food shortage but would be happy to work instead; that they were paid to take stones up the hill. Pupils of Kiltearn primary had heard that it was either a penny a day or a shilling a day. An older couple at the monument itself suggested it was a shilling a day, but then mused that maybe this referred to nearby Shillinghill. A younger female walker from Dingwall gladly related a story which she had Googled, inadvertently modified and had shared with her friends from Glasgow:

‘During the Depression in the 30s the landowner asked his tenants to bring up one stone at a time and build the monument and he paid them for it and then they razed the monument too the ground, they just flattened it, so they’d have to pay them twice to rebuild it again just so as he could give his tenants some money without giving them charity because he didn’t think he would accept it if he had just given them the money; they wanted to work for it’ Mairi Campbell (Dingwall) 2009

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Fig. 5 Mairi Campbell and friends at Fyrish (2009)

A similar story appears to have been current in the 50s – 60s amongst Evantonians:

‘The story was that the people carried the stones and stuff to the top and the laird rolled the stones back down every night’ Liz Campbell 2009.

Primary 5/6 pupils at Kiltearn Primary (2009), most of whom said they had had been up to the monument, had not heard this story but one did suggest that:

‘The men tied ropes round the rocks and pulled them up’

Other secondary sources suggest horses and barrows were used.

Stories relating to the more recent Cambrai Cross are less diverse (or fanciful) as the basic facts are presented on the memorial plaques (Appendix 2). And yet even within 90 years of its well reported installation some people relate very specific details which are not borne out by the facts.

‘Yes I remember hearing the story …. probably when I was in school – that it was brought back from France in World War 1 at the end of the war by the battalion of the Seaforth Highlanders who had used it in the trenches to carry communication wire….The actual wood – was used in that shape to string the wires in the trenches. They would have had many of them in rows along the trenches. So I imagine the wood would not have stuck too much above the parapets – they were built in he trenches but they had to keep the wires out of the trenches…’ (Nick Tweddle 2009).

The North Star 1925 informs us that the pole was cut from a tree in the shattered woods. There is considerable variation in views as to the original elements of the cross. One senior local respondent, whose own father won the Military Medal at Cambrai (or ‘Cambria’ in this case) stated (2009):

‘That is the cross of St Andrew…it actually came from the battlefield … at Cambria …. that is original’ David Mackenzie (2009)

In 1990, however, it was well reported that the upright was replaced after:

‘Well it fell down you see – years ago – they were trying to get one with a bend in it and that – so that one is still up yet. I think we got that one about Achilty’ Duncan Mackenzie, Seaforth Association (2009)

Even in 1927 it had been reported that:

‘Owing to the enormous price demanded for the site, and the high cost of maintaining this monument on the spot (in France), it was decided after the war to bring it to Dingwall, where it now stands just outside the station. As the original cross had perished, a new one had to be put in its place’ (Haldane 1927, p225)

One respondent suggests that ‘the rose, thistle and stag’s antlers on the station are all associated with the Seaforths. The metal piece on the monument represents the stag’s antlers’ (Alan Auld 2009). This interesting idea is not supported by the Regimental Association or Dingwall Museum. It is more likely that the lunar crescent, sun and other finials are emblems of the Highland Railway (the station master had seen other stations with the same) (Appendix 5)

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Fig 6 The Cambrai Cross Fig. 7 Dingwall Station

Recycling and Recreating the Tales

The above stories demonstrate individual associations with these iconic monuments, which contain mythic elements/semi truths. There are also other specific ways in which people use the monuments - to celebrate, commemorate, communicate, recreate and even campaign.

Remembrance Sunday is arguably one of the most important dates in the Highland calendar. It is likely that today more people will be aware of its date and associations that of Beltane and Samhain (- an opportunity for research). In Dingwall several hundred people process around and lay their wreaths at the 5 memorials while many others look on. (Numbers have increased in recent years due to the number of young soldiers returning from combat, suggests Brian Fraser of British Legion 2009).

Two local artists have taken the Cambrai Cross as a subject in recent years. Lizzie MacDougall explains why it became one of a series of monuments chosen for a children’s art project:

‘…. of all the landmarks in Dingwall … I found the most poignant because the girls that chose it had been involved in the Remembrance Day service and …. knew some of the old Brahan Seer prophecies which were related to the trains … they realised how important this was because of course this was made after the battle in Cambrai and so many of the Seaforth Highlanders had died and therefore would not be returning to Dingwall but the monument that was erected there in Cambrai eventually did return to Dingwall and… they put it by the station where they had left from. …. The girls found that very important …. they chose words to do with strength and courage and bravery but then we chose a dark finish for it.’ (Interviewed 18.11.09)

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Fig 8 Lizzie MacDougall with Cambrai Cross and other Monumental Artwork

Janis Mennie, local artist, also chose the Cambrai Cross as part of a commissioned exhibition of local monuments. She explains:

‘I found it always a very moving monument, because I’m interested in the First World War as so many people are – I’ve been out last year to the Somme area ... and I looked at the monument with new eyes when I came back. The fact that it was presented, or parts of it presented by French villagers, by way of thanks, - it means a lot’

‘…. it’s lit up from underneath, the shadows cast by the stones are beautiful – it makes it more of an emotional painting, visually. The shadows are strong and it’s a dark night and the colours are almost muddy, like the fields in the area the battle took place – not much colour.’ (Interviewed 23.11.09)

(See Fig. 9)

Bennett refers to the importance of memorial cairns throughout Highland history and particularly for visiting expatriates (1993, pp 3003-5). ‘Sith do d’anam, is clach air do chàirn’ (‘Peace to your soul, and a stone on your cairn’)

The Fyrish Monument is a destination for walking groups, families, Scouts, mountain bikers and many others. Although not a pilgrimage in terms of it being an 'omphalos' or a ‘sacred centre’ (Trubshaw), there is almost a ritual element associated with such walks, which are commonly undertaken around New Year and mid summer. It is truly a local landmark and was the chosen location for 25 people in October 2009 to be part of the international day of climate action (Appendix 6a). The monument is also the crest/logo for Kiltearn Primary School, Arch (Archaeology for Communities in the Highlands), and of the now defunct Fyrish Trust (1980s-90s) (Appendix 6b).

One Pictish stone, the Hilton of Cadboll, was physically recycled back in 1676, by a ‘barbarous mason’ (Hugh Miller p41), Alexander Duff, who defaced it and used it as a tombstone for his three wives. The defaced original later found its way to London and then, after an outcry, to Edinburgh.

‘People saw these stones as something to use; they were very practical about them’ Michelle Cadger 2009

The year 2000 ‘saw the return of the Hilton stone in the form of a stone reconstruction carved by sculptor Barry Grove, commissioned by Tain Civic Trust ‘to reproduce this sculpture, as closely as possible as to how the original would have appeared when freshly carved. For many years members of the local community have wished for the return of this valuable monument to their village.’ (Hilton of Cadboll website) A year later the exquisitely carved base of the original monument was unearthed by the archaeologists, but to date the community has resisted it being taken away to Edinburgh or elsewhere. 91 year old Dolina MacDonald, quoted above, suggests she that she is not the National Museum’s favourite person!

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Fig.10 The Hilton of Cadboll Cross Replica Fig 11 The original cross (lower section)

References

Ash M (1991), This Noble Harbour – A History of the Cromarty Firth, Edinburgh: John Donald

Bennett M (1992, 2004) Scottish Customs from the Cradle to the Grave, Edinburgh reprinted 2007

Blake E (1999), Non Archaeological Approaches – Sardinia’s Nuraghi, in Gazin-Schwarz A and Holtorf C (1999) Archaeology and Folklore, London: Routledge

Clark A (1992), Vikings in Ross and Cromarty – Fact and Fantasy, Evanton (Highland Libraries)

Fraser, A and F (1988), Tarbat Easter Ross, Evanton: RCHS

Haldane M, A History of the Fourth Battalion, The Seaforth Highlanders (1927), London, Witherby

Highland Council Environmental Record (2009) - Highland Regional Council Archaeological and Monuments Record (1986) (accessed 11.12.09)

Hilton of Cadboll stone website (accessed 1.1.209)

Mackenzie A, (1848), History of the Munros, Inverness

Mackenzie, Sir George Steuart (1810), A General View of the Counties of Ross and Cromarty, London: Phillips

McKillop A (2005), The Highlands and the Returning Nabob in Emigrant Homecomings ed Harper M, Manchester University Press

Miller H (1834), Scenes and Legends of the North of Scotland, Edinburgh: Nimmo (1869), Kessinger Publishing Reprint (undated)

The New Statistical Account (1845), Edinburgh and London

The Nigg Old Trust website (accessed 1.12.09)

Ritchie A (1989), Picts, HMSO

Sellar WD (1993) Sueno’s Stone and Its Interpreters, in Moray and its People ed Sellar WD

Southey R (1929), Journal of a tour in Scotland in 1819, London: J Murray

Trubshaw (1996, 2008) The metaphors and rituals of place and time: an introduction to liminality or Why Christopher Robin wouldn't walk on the cracks , At The Edge (accessed 11.12.09)

Visitscotland website (2009) (accessed 12.12.09)

Watson G, Place Names of Ross and Cromarty (1904), Inverness (reprinted 1996 Highland Heritage Books)

Wikipedia: Fyrish Monument (2009) Monumental Myth, Monumental Irony (accessed 1.11.09)

Figs.

(All photographs by Adrian Clark except where noted)

1. The Fyrish Monument (2009)

2. The Nigg Stone (2009)

3. The Cambrai Cross (2009)

4. Novar House with Fyrish behind (2009) [Novar House website]

5. Mairi Campbell and Friends at Fyrish (2009)

6. The Cambrai Cross (2009)

7. Dingwall Station (2009)

8. Lizzie MacDougall with Cambrai Cross and other Monumental Artwork (2009)

9. Cambrai Cross by Janis Mennie (postcard)

10. The Hilton of Cadboll Stone Cross Replica (2009)

11. The Hilton Cross of Cadboll stone original (lower part) (2009) exhibited in Seaboard Memorial Hall

12. The Fyrish Monument postcard – Photograph (anon)

13. The Fyrish Monument postcard – painting by Janis Mannie

14. Additional Dingwall Monuments – paintings by Janis Mennie

Appendices

Appendix 1 - Dingwall War Memorials (outdoor)

Appendix 2 - Cambrai Cross Plaques

Appendix 3 - Cambrai Cross – The 4th Bn. Seaforth Highlanders at Cambrai

Appendix 4 - Cambrai Cross Rededication 1990 and Earlier Unveiling 1925

Appendix 5 - Dingwall Station

Appendix 6 - Fyrish Monument: International Day of Climate Action

Appendix 7 - Fyrish Monument - Some extracts

Appendix 8 - The Pictish Trail Leaflet (part)

Appendix 9 – The Nigg Pictish Stone

Appendix 10 – The King of Denmark’s Daughter and Sons (Hugh Miller)

Appendix 11 – Tarbat Witchcraft

Appendix 12 - Interview List

Appendix 13 - Interview Transcripts

Appendix 1 - Dingwall War Memorials (outdoor)

• South African War Memorial – corner Station Road and Ferry Road

• 1st and 2nd World War – outside the National Hotel

• Cambrai Cross (1917) – outside station

• Sgt John Meikle (VC) – outside station

• Normandy Memorial – outside station

also

• Sir Hector MacDonald Memorial – Dingwall cemetery

Appendix 2 - Cambrai Cross

Cross pieces

MORT POUR LA PATRIE/ 4EME BATAILLON

LES SEAFORTH HIGHLANDERS

HONNEUR AUX HOMMES

MOBILISES DANS CE VILLAGE

POUR LA BATAILLE DE CAMBRAI 1917

Died For Their Country/ 4th Battalion/ Seaforth Highlanders/ Honour To The Men/ Who Left This Village/ (Cambrai)/ For The/ Battle Of Cambrai 1917

Plaque

THIS CROSS WAS BROUGHT/ HOME FROM FRANCE IN/ 1924/ AND RE-ERECTED HERE/ BY THE/ 4TH SEAFORTH RE-UNION CLUB/ 1914 - 1918/ IN MEMORY OF/ THEIR BELOVED DEAD/ NO BURDENS YONDER/ ALL SORROWS PAST/ NO BURDENS YONDER/ HOME AT LAST

Appendix 3 - Cambrai Cross – The 4th Bn. Seaforth Highlanders at Cambrai

‘At 6.30 P.M. on 4th August (1914) the order to mobilize was received… proclaimed news at the Mercat Cross, in front of the Municipal Buildings, in front of the National Hotel and at the western end’ (Haldane, p 47).

‘At once the streets became crowded with people. Young men belonging to HM Forces were to be seen leaving shops and offices to answer the call. One man going his rounds with a horse and milk-cart left them to take care of themselves while he hurried away to report for duty. There was a striking absence of all outward excitement; everyone seemed to realize that Britain had entered a conflict that must for ever leave its mark on her destiny, and that the men who were already making their way to the Headquarters in kilt and khaki were among those responsible for the fate of their native land’ (Haldane, p 47).

‘The 4th Battalion The Seaforth Highlanders … was to go into action a unit of splendid youth, to emerge as a ragged remnant of worn-out men; it was to be built up again and again by drafts of new soldiers – eager volunteers, raw conscripts, patched-up survivors of former battles; it was to go through the same ordeal again and yet again; and still the stamp that had been set on it, the mould in which it had originally been cast, was to mark it with its own distinctive personality till the day of demobilization’(Haldane, p 65).

“When I took over command of the 154th Infantry Brigade in Sept 1917, the 4th Seaforth Highlanders was a veteran battalion, with already a magnificent record. Those last fifteen months saw the Battalion engaged in some of the severest fighting of the long struggle – at Cambrai – in the German March offensive – on the Lys – in Champagne – and in the final advance. Not many battalions have been put to such a test, but because of the unbounded cheerfulness of spirit and the determination to win displayed by all ranks, under all conditions, the Battalion stood the test and finished the War with a record difficult to equal.”

K.G Buchanan, Colonel, 1 Sept 1927 (Haldane, p 355)

‘The inhabitants of Fontaine were delighted to see the British troops, for they had not had a happy time under German rule. The proprietor of the café opened up a hidden store of wine in his garden and gave it to the troops. Captain Harris issued it as if it had been a rum ration’ (Haldane, p 243).

‘One man (anon) wrote thus: “Our reception in the village was a very cordial one. Mden, women and children came out of the houses, and recognizing us, they made a great fuss. They called us ‘Scotchia’, and many of the men were kissed by the womenfolk. The men were well treated, receiving beer, wine, coffee and various kinds of foods. The people could not do enough for us.”’(Haldane, p243)

‘Captain ‘Ray’ Macdonald and some of the fallen were buried in Orival Wood, between Justice and Flequières, but the majority could not be buried, and lie in unknown graves. On the anniversary of the battle the following year the batallion marched to Fontaine and erected a cross at the western end, on which were recorded the names of all who were known to have fallen in battle. Some of those who were reported missing were not included, because there was still reason to hope that they might yet be found among the returning prisoners of war. Owing to the enormous price demanded for the site, and the high cost of maintaining this monument on the spot, it was decided after the war to bring it to Dingwall, where it now stands just outside the station. As the original cross had perished, a new one had to be put in its placed’ (Haldane 1927, p255).

A History of the Fourth Battalion, The Seaforth Highlanders (1927), Haldane M., London, Witherby

Appendix 4 - Cambrai Cross Rededication 1990 and Earlier Unveiling 1925

Appendix 5 - Dingwall Station

Plaque at Dingwall station

The station was used as a Tea Stall for Sailors and Soldiers 20 Sept 1915 to 12 April 1919

Ross and Cromarty Society Red Cross

134,864 men were served with tea

This sun finial decorates the crest of one of the gables of Dingwall Railway Station, built to designs by Murdoch Patterson in 1886.

(accessed 19.11.09)

Appendix 7 - Fyrish Monument (Some extracts)

This postcard shows Fyrish Monument at Novar, near Evanton. The monument was constructed by Sir Hector Munro of Novar, in 1792. The General served in India with the East India Company and on returning home he ordered the building of the monument, in order to provide work for the local unemployed. Fyrish Monument is said to represent the gates of the Indian town of Negatapam, captured in 1781 and the scene of the General's greatest victory



Monumental Myth

There is a myth about the building of the Fyrish Monument, relating to the commissioning of it by Sir Hector Munro. It is said that Sir Munro was a generous man, looking to help the local villagers in their time of unemployment. As the villagers would not take his charity, he instead paid them, as noted, to build the monument. The myth goes that after the villagers had transported the large boulders that the monument is made out of to the top of the hill it is situated on, Sir Hector Munro (presumably with help) rolled all of the stones down the hill again. He could then pay the villagers double the amount for them having to complete the task twice.

Monumental Irony

It should perhaps be pointed out that as the local landowner, it was none other than Sir Hector who had brought in the sheep which were the cause of the unemployment problem. In fact, the risings against the sheep which occurred 10 years later were centered on the glens north and west of Fyrish, on land let by Sir Hector Munro to men from outwith the area. These risings culminated in 1792 with the Black Watch being called in to disperse the highlanders who had driven all of the sheep in ross-shire into a huge flock within sight of Fyrish!

(2009)

Appendix 9 – The Nigg Pictish Stone

‘Two priest-like figures attired in long garments, and furnished each with a book, incline forwards in the attitude of prayer; and in the centre between them there is a circular cake or wafer, which a dove, descending from above, holds in its bill. Two dogs seem starting towards the wafer from either side; and directly under it there is a figure so much weathered, that it may be deemed to represent, as fancy may determine, either a little circular table, or the sacramental cup. A pictorial record cannot be other than a doubtful one; and it is difficult to decide whether the hieroglyphic of this department denotes the ghostly influence of the priest in delivering the soul from the evils of an intermediate state; for, at a slight expense of conjectural analogy, we may premise that the mysterious dove descends in answer to the prayer of the two kneeling figures, to deliver the little emblematical from the “power of the dog;” – or whether it may not represent a treaty of peace between two rival chiefs whose previous hostility may be symbolized by the two fierce animals’ (Hugh Miller, Scenes and Legends, p42)

Appendix 10 – The King of Denmark’s Daughter and Sons

‘In this age, says the tradition, the Maormor of Ross was married to a daughter of the king of Denmark, and proved so barbarous a husband, that her father, to who she at length found the means to escape, fitted out a fleet and army to avenge on him the cruelties inflicted on her. Three of her brothers accompanied the expedition; but, on nearing the Scottish coast, a terrible storm arose, in which almost all the vessels of the fleet either foundered or were driven ashore, and the three princes were drowned. The ledge of rock at which this latter disaster is said to have taken place, still bears the name of the King’s Sons; a magnificent cave which opens among the cliffs of the neighbouring shore is still known as the King’s Cave; and a path that winds to the summits of the precipices behind it, as the King’s Path. The bodies of the princes, says the tradition, were interred, one at Shandwick, one at Hilton, and one at Nigg; and the sculptured obelisks of these places, three very curious pieces of antiquity, are said to be the monuments erected to their memory by their father.’ (Hugh Miller, Scenes and Legends pp39-40)

Appendix 11 - Tarbat

‘Until fairly recent times there were few in the parish who would have denied categorically their having some belief in the powers of witchcraft, second sight and the evil eye.’

(Fraser, A and F 1988, Tarbat East Ross, p212)

Appendix 12 - Interview List

Cambrai Cross Interviews

• Nick Tweddle, passer by [filmed 13 Nov 2009] (signed consent)

• David Mackenzie, passer by (ex Seaforth) [filmed 13 Nov 2009] (signed consent)

• Duncan Mackenzie (chair Seaforth Association) [filmed 13 Nov 2009] (signed consent)

• Lizzie MacDougall, artist [filmed 18.11.09] (signed consent)

• Janis Mennie, artist [audio recording 23.11.09] (signed consent)

Also spoke with 18 further passers-by and people on the High Street:

• Alison (Strathpeffer) [13 Nov 2009]

• George Henderson, ex Council [7.12.09]

• Alan Auld [spoke 16.11.09]

• 2 men: No knowledge (13.11.09)

• 2 girls with baby: No knowledge (13.11.09)

• Older man: the cross is ‘all original’

• Man in 40s takes train from station each day: No knowledge

• G Potter: great uncle died at the Battle of Cambrai (13.11.09)

• Older lady (local): No knowledge (23.11.09)

• Man in 60s: ‘Memorial to Battle of St Valéry’ (23.11.09)

• Young Polish couple: no info (23.11.09)

• 2 foreign ladies: No knowledge (23.11.09)

• Older man: ‘Battle of Cambria’ (23.11.09)

• Older man: ‘thanks to them we are standing here today’(23.11.09)

• Man in 40s: ‘Speak to the Legion’ (7.12.09)

• 2 older men: No knowledge – speak to British Legion (7.12.09)

Fyrish Monument Interviews

• Mairi Campbell [audio recording 7.11.09] (consent given on recording)

• Mr and Mrs Dingwall [audio recording 7.11.09] (signed consent)

• Margaret MacDonald (9.1.209] [not recorded](signed consent)

• Liz Campbell [9.12.09] [not recorded](signed consent)

• Kiltearn Primary School P6/5 pupils [10.12.09] (signed consent)

Pictish Stones Interviews

• Dolina MacDonald [filmed 27.11.09] (signed consent)

• Michelle Cadger [phone 19.11.09]

• Bob Pegg [email 25.11.09]

Appendix 13 - Interview Transcripts (Relevant Extracts)

The Cambrai Cross : David Mackenzie (13.11.09)

DM

Cambria … 1917

AC

And who is it a memorial to?

DM

4th the Seaforth Highlanders

AC

And what is the cross?

DM

That is the cross of St Andrew

AC

And what is the significance of this? Where does it come from?

DM

It actually came from the battlefield … at Cambria … it actually came from the battlefield.

AC

And the wood came from there, did it?

DM

Yes – that is original

The Cambrai Cross : Nick Tweddle (13.11.09)

‘Yes I remember hearing the story …. Probably when I was in school – that it was brought back from France in World War 1 at the end of the war by the battalion of the Seaforth Highlanders who had used it in the trenches to carry communication wire. The actual wood – was used in that shape to string the wires in the trenches. They would have had many of them in rows along the trenches. So I imagine the wood would not have stuck too much above the parapets – they were built in he trenches but they had to keep the wires out of the trenches…. What possessed them to bring it back I don’t know but it was put up as a monument by local people’

The Cambrai Cross : Janis Mennie (23.11.09)

… because I live very close to the Cambrai Cross that was really one of the first ones I did because I knew it so well and I saw it lit up at night and it was always – I found it always – a very moving monument, because I’m interested in the First World War as so many people are – I’ve been out last year to the Somme area, which was a new experience, and I looked at the monument with new eyes when I came back. The fact that it was presented, or parts of it presented by French villagers, by way of thanks, - it means a lot –

Yes, I don’t normally paint in a photographic manner, but I felt in this case it was important to paint it fairly accurately because each part of kit means something to someone and I didn’t want to mess about with artistic licence with this particular painting; it was important to have it as accurate as possible. I think that part of (pointing to the metal crescent) was dug up in the fields and presented as a memento of war… It’s such a long time since I did this, but it’s all coming back to me now. …It would have been 10 years ago.

Q

And you chose to do it at night when it was illuminated

JM

Yes, I think it makes it more dramatic, it’s lit up from underneath, the shadows cast by the stones are beautiful – it makes it – it makes it more of an emotional painting, visually, I think. The shadows are strong and it’s a dark night and the colours are almost muddy, like the fields in the area the battle took place – not much colour …

The Cambrai Cross : Lizzie MacDougall (18.11.09)

‘Of all the landmarks in Dingwall – I mean what’s wonderful is that these monuments only exist in Dingwall – each one of them has a sort of story which is very important that is why it is there – so they are all very special but the one that is the most poignant and I found the most poignant because the girls that chose it had been involved in the Remembrance Day service and they had also been involved previously, a few years before, in a different Brahan Seer project which I was doing so they knew some of the old Brahan Seer prophecies which were related to the trains and one of the things that they were attracted to or – well they realised how important this was because of course this was made after the battle in Cambrai and so many of the Seaforth Highlanders had died and therefore would not be returning to Dingwall but the monument that was erected there in Cambrai eventually did return to Dingwall and the place they put it was by the station where they had left from. So I don’t know …. The girls found that very important – that it is there by the station and again they chose words to do with strength and courage and bravery but then we chose a dark finish for it. But again it is the Easter egg foil which I hope will show up on the camera, because the stones at the bottom was the cairn, which of course is what you originally build when somebody dies – you build a cairn – and then the birch tree, the silver birch tree and then the bits of – stuff that had been left on the battlefield to make this completely unique monument’

The Cambrai Cross : Alan Auld (16.11.09)

‘The rose, thistle and stag’s antlers on the station are all associated with the Seaforths.’

‘The metal piece on the monument represents the stag’s antlers.’

The Cambrai Cross : Duncan Mackenzie (13.11.09)

Well it fell down you see – years ago – they were trying to get one with a bend in it and that – so that one is still up yet. I think we got that one about Achilty.

AC

You had to go and look for a special piece of wood

HM

Well, well similar to the same aye

The Cambrai Cross: David Mackenzie (13.11.09)

AC Is this cross important to the people of Dingwall?

DM Yes, yes

AC What does it mean to you sir?

DM Well my dad was at the battle of Cambria – and he won the Military Medal –

so I am quite interested in it

AC What was his name?

DM David Mackenzie

The Cambrai Cross : Nick Tweddle (13.11.09)

‘I‘ve always found it deeply moving – at this time of year particularly – the question of why young men should die in such numbers and whether is justified by what we around us just now. I find it emotionally very upsetting to be perfectly honest – because young men are continuing to die. It doesn’t seem to be improving things very much at the moment. And they particularly were the cream of the Highlanders. This part of Scotland and the West coast too – devastated after the First World War, the population collapsed, houses went to ruin, a bit like after the invasion of the English two hundred years before, but these men had all gone away to die somewhere else, which is a – horrible waste’

Fyrish Monument

‘The story that I’ve heard is that during the Depression in the 30s the landowner asked his tenants to bring up one stone at a time and build the monument and he paid them for it and then they razed the monument too the ground, they just flattened it, so they’d have to pay them twice to rebuild it again just so as he could give his tenants some money without giving them charity because he didn’t think he would accept it if he had just given them the money; they wanted to work for it …. And the ruins are based on some sort of famous ruins but you’d have to look that up because I don’t know the name of them’

(Mairi Campbell 7.11.2009)

‘We’re relatively new to the area and all that we’ve heard about it is that it was built by some guy with too much money. We think he had something to do with the Sutherland family and we understand that he built it as a showpiece of some kind … I don’t know – a sort of show-off as well but to be honest I’m not sure and I’m sure there are lots of people who do know more about it’

(Doug Dingwall 7.11.2009)

‘There is another story I’ve heard and I don’t know if it’s this one – it’s called Shillinghill and I don’t know if it’s to do with this monument but somebody wanted to build a monument but his workers got fed up carting up and down here so I think he offered them a shilling – a week or something but even that wasn’t enough to finish it … that’s another of these tales’

(Mrs M Dingwall 7.11.2009)

Fyrish Monument: Discussion with Kiltearn Primary pupils P5/6

Evanton 10.12.09

(Most of the pupils said had been up to Fyrish monument)

Q You are going to tell me what you know about how the monument was built.

Pupil This man went to India and copied part of a gate

Pupil He gave them all a penny each for doing it.

Q One penny? ..Is that a lot of money?

Pupil Not now – but it was then

(inaudible…..) a shilling?

Q Was it a shilling? Where did you hear that?

Pupil I think it was Mrs Cook …or Mrs Cameron

Q You learnt it in school

Pupil Yea

Q Did any of you hear anything from your parents, your grannies or your granddads?

Pupil I’ve got a really freaky one but it’s really true ……(unrelated gruesome story)

Q You were saying about how the monument was built

Pupil The men tied ropes round the rocks and pulled them up

Pupil Was the man who copied the pattern of the gate not an architect looking for things to build? Is it maybe that it has a sort of bump in it where it not straight – is maybe because they did the first bit and then decided that ……..

Q Somebody suggested that they were going to build a wall between this monument and the other monuments. Has anyone been up to the other monuments?

Pupil I’ve been to the two other monuments

Q How did you find them?

Pupil Weird

Q Was it difficult to find them?

Pupil No

Pupil Up on Fyrish isn’t there a bit missing – off the rock? That’s what someone said – they said someone went up and took a bit off

Q Look at your (school) badge. There’s that thing – pillar – in the middle of the arch. What’s that doing there?

Pupil Maybe to keep people out ….(>>>>)

Q What about the shapes? What do they remind you of?

Pupil Castles… my mum says that Fyrish was built as a castle

Pupil There used to be a castle down at the beach …(>>>>)

……………………………………………………………………………………

Q Why do you think they built the monument on top of the hill?

Pupil So that they could see it – so that the whole of Evanton could see it

Pupil So that people would see it and wonder if they could go up there

Q A sort of challenge. But why would the owner of the estate want people to walk up on top of his hill

Pupil I was going to say that it might take more tourists to Evanton

Q Possibly but maybe he didn’t want loads of tourists

Pupil Isn’t it to remember all the wars he had?

Pupil Maybe he built it on top because he thought that maybe Evanton needed some sort of landmark to attract other people to come and stay in Evanton

Pupil I think it’s so that (inaudible) would know that he owns it

Q To show that it’s his land.

……

Pupil Is it so that when you go up you can look down and see the whole of Evanton

Pupil Because if you’re down you can see it from miles away

Q And you can see his estate from miles away. What does that make you think about him?

Pupil It makes you think …. That he’s like a king … quite well known

(Discussion about his grave at Kiltearn)

Pupil He might feel like he’s the ruler of the country

Pupil It probably makes him feel like he’s proud of himself – building the monument on top of the hill

Pupil Maybe he thought that people will respect him more and that he’ll be known

Pupil I think he thought that he’d be well known if he built something on a hill instead of something not on a hill

Pupil Maybe it’s like about what a powerful person he was and how he won some of them battles

……………………………

Q Why did he want to give work to these people?

Pupil Because they weren’t rich

Pupil I think most places then had landmarks or something and so he went some places and took some different bits of different landmarks

Interviews re Fyrish Monument (unrecorded)

Evanton Walking Club During a walk 9.12.09

Liz Campbell (leader)

‘We did an evening walk up Fyrish as part of the 2007 celebrations – same time as the Evanton tapestry was made. It was very misty – lovely feel from the top. The mist broke and showed patches of land – it was magical.’

Q

Why do you go up?

LC

For the view and to accomplish something. We have one lady, Isobel Fraser, who came up in her seventies – it was her first time up

Q

Did you go up as a child?

LC

We would have gone up from Evanton (through Novar) and the path would have been better this side

Margaret MacDonald (b 1962)

I went up with the guides. From this (Evanton) side – nobody had cars.

I went up with my husband in 1979-80. There were a dozen (motor) bikers camping up there, watching the stars. They were punks – but they were fine.

Q

What stories did you hear about the monument?

MM

That he built it when he came back from Nepal. We were told he rolled down the stones to keep the workers in employment.

Q

Where would you have heard this?

MM

In school or in Sunday school – as a story.

People in Evanton had close associations with the estate – it was a livelihood for a lot of people – picking tatties and the like.

Q

Did you pick tatties?

MM

No, I worked as a cook for the laird for a few years ….

You need this kind of history to keep the place alive.

A lot of visitors go up Fyrish. It’s very popular with mountain bikers. I often send postcards of Fyrish to people who have visited it.

Liz Campbell

I heard the workers were paid a penny a day to take stones up the hill.

Q

Who would have told you?

LC

My father, Thomas Campbell – ‘Tommy’ – Culnaskeath. Work was scarce. The story was that the people carried the stones and stuff to the top and the laird rolled the stones back down every night. Now I think ‘how stupid!’ and maybe I thought so then.

The Story of the Earl of Ross and the Norwegian Princess

Interview with Dolina MacDonald

(Age 91)

Hilton 27 November 2009

by Adrian Clark

‘It’s the wicked Earl of Ross that we have to start with. He was always wanting to better himself in the king’s… the king gave him lands and that many years ago and he married – the easiest thing you could do, as he couldn’t marry the English kings daughters or that – he couldn’t just reach to that, but he reached to this girl – the Norwegian’s daughter, one of them. Now she came – she married him and I think they were both delighted – the Norwegians and the Scottish people – but he was terrible! - he was a terrible bad-tempered man and she wasn’t used to all of that – and he abused her.’

‘Now when she got secret word to her brother apparently (that) he was abusing her, and could they find a way to come and take her – do you see? And so what they had to go through to get her – it was difficult because The Ross …. he had spies and everything – I mean she had no way _ I mean he was just a bad lot. And so, they could hardly believe it in Norway, do you see? – but they managed, she managed to make friends and she got away home. Apparently by the west coast – you see the route (1) (is through there from the Ross, but she went – she found Highland people who helped her and she went through the islands off our Highlands here instead of going where he was looking for her. And so she had many, many adventures passing from one to the other until she reached her father, but it was more her brother who was doing the kingship really – the old man wasn’t fit – and so they came around by John o’ Groats – the long way round – she was a long time on the road, not knowing was she ever going to see her people again. They were good to her but then they were terrified of Ross – he got so big a hold on the country and he had the king’s ear, with the result that they were far and near - but nobody thought of her getting to go round the islands and to come out up to the thing – and what a storm she got – I was up there once and there was a storm too – but she had a very bad storm on an open boat and she reached her people.’

‘And he was looking for her, The Ross, up to Norway, do you see?, and the woman told what happened to her and they were all so angry that they – the family in Norway – and there were brothers and a string of people and they knew that The Ross was on the road and they wanted to meet him, and when The Ross saw the whole country of Norway – of Norwegians – going after them, they turned like the cowards that they were but there was on the way home the Norwegians always - and there was a battle fought – however he was a fly fellow – there is a rock at Shandwick, on the outside of Shandwick, and (gesturing) there is a little channel that you can get in – now you see the tide was full in and he went in and they went after him and the ships were all broken on Shandwick Bay – the Norwegians – they were all into the bad place where he could go - they thought the tide was at the – you know – and they followed him to that channel – but they didn’t go near the channel but you wouldn’t know that on the sea.’

Q: The Earl of Ross?

DM

‘Yes - he knew the channel to go and he diddled them and they were mostly drowned, but the king’s sons were thrown, their bodies were thrown – one at Hilton, one at Shandwick and one at Nigg – and the story goes, you see, that the Norwegians came and built this – monuments – to their sons, but of course it’s not true because it was the little Picts who did it and were the – beautiful people who did the effigies – they were the people that did it you see – and that story is true, so far as Ross and the Norwegian king – and you know the policeman’s daughter in Tain danced to the Norwegian king on his time in Tain …. And we danced to him, Isobel Fraser and myself. We danced two dances and we did two reels, eight of us did two reels for them in the old soldiers’ place down at Tain.’

‘But that’s the story and it really wasn’t true you know - but it’s a good story.’

Q

Where did you hear it from Dolly?

DM

‘My grandmother. My grandmother told me and many stories that I haven’t done. My grandmother she was a great teacher.’

Q

She was from Balintore was she?

DM

‘She was from Hilton – this house was built by my great great grandfather – he was chased out of the north – they came from up at Latheron Wheel almost – they had a croft there – they were Sutherlands, as you would know – I’m Sutherland in my name…’

Q

So she had the Gaelic?

DM

Oh yes, of course she had the Gaelic

Q

But she didn’t teach it to you?

DM

‘Well, my mother wouldn’t allow her – do you see?

…. But I have it and I understand it – you know – I don’t speak it a lot because I’m …. And Jo(e) says to me “and I’d like to take you and put you in the West Coast – and I’m never out of them West Coast – I was there last year. He says that if I was in Benbecula or any other that places – but I made my way in the north and they have Gaelic and they’ll say “Ciamar a tha shid (sic) thu?” and they’ll say to me “Ciamar a tha mi fhein – that (peul?) Gaelic agad!” Tha – pas – no no a little…….’

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

Note (1) Pronounced ‘rowt’

Pictish Monuments

’There is one remarkable legend associated with the Nigg stone, and that's the story of the Desert Saints Anthony and Paul. It's now generally accepted that they're shown praying at the top of one side of the stone, with a raven descending between them with a loaf of bread in its beak (Miller has a different interpretation).….it's a  story the Picts themselves must have known. If you don't know it, it's a great tale and definitely worth hunting down.’

Bob Pegg 25 Nov 09

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