Machrihanish to Southend - The Townships
- The Society's
Library
Gigha - A New Survey -
The Tourist Business
- Local Men
Everywhere
Even here! -
How's
that!
An Extremely Informative
and Very Welcome e-mail
To: Frances P. Morrison
Dear Frances:
I saw your letter in the current edition of the Magazine of the Kintyre Antiquarian - in reference to the Earls of Argyll.
Campbell is indeed the family name of the Dukes of Argyll. However, once they inherit the title, they no longer use the name Campbell and their name is simply "Argyll." He also has many other titles, but normally uses the most senior title - Duke of Argyll or simply Argyll.
For some general background information on the Campbells visit the Clan Campbell website at www.ccsna.org and click on "Main Page." You will also find a list there of all of Argyll's titles.
A book entitled "The Heraldry of the Campbells" by G. Harvey Johnston gives genealogies of most of the branches of Clan Campbell. The following information on the 8th and 9th Earls was extracted from it. If this book is not available in your local library, you can purchase it from the Clan Campbell (North America) Store for $15 plus $3 s & h. Mail to CCS(NA) Store, Georgeanna Campbell, 3922 E. Downey Court, Simi Valley, CA 93063 USA. It is also available at the Castle Shop in Inveraray Castle.
"(16) ARCHIBALD, EIGHTH EARL OF ARGYLL, born 1607, executed in Edinburgh
27th May 1661. On 15th November 1641 he was created MARQUIS OF ARGYLL, LORD
CAMPBELL AND LORNE. He was defeated by Montrose at Inverlochy in 1645. In
1651 he crowned King Charles II. He married, 6th or 7th August 1626, Margaret
Douglas, daughter of William, sixth Earl of Morton. She died 13th March 1678,
leaving:-
(a) Archibald (No. 17).
(b) Neil Campbell of Ardmaddie, born 1630; died April 1692.
"(17) ARCHIBALD, NINTH EARL OF ARGYLL, born 26th February 1629; executed
30th June 1685. He was restored, 16th October 1663, to the Earldom forfeited
by his father. He was cast into prison, but escaped 20th December 1681 and
went to Holland, but returned in May 1685, when he was captured. He married
first, 13th May 1650, Mary Stewart, daughter of James, fifth Earl of Moray,
who died 1668, leaving issue:-
(a) Archibald (No.18).
(b) John of Mamore (No. 21).
(c) Colonel Charles Campbell, married 1678, Sophia Lindsay, daughter of
Alexander, first Earl of Balcarres. No male descendants survive.
(d) James Campbell of Burnbank and Boquhan, M.P. for Renfrew 1699-1702, and
for Ayr Burghs 1708-10. In 1690 he carried off and married Mary, daughter
of Sir George Wharton, but this marriage was annulled. See The Argyll Papers.
He married later, Margaret Leslie, daughter of David, first Lord Newark.
She died 19th April 1755, leaving three sons: -
(1) Archibald, died 1713.
(2) John, died s.p.
(3) Charles, living 1718.
The Earl married second, 28th January 1670, Anne Mackenzie, daughter of Colin,
first Earl of Seaforth, by whom he had no issue."
I hope some of this may be of interest to you.
Kenneth B. Campbell
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
MACHRIHANISH TO SOUTHEND:
THE TOWNSHIPS.
Catrina M. Watson.’
When I heard from Alasdair and Agnes Stewart of the ruined townships between Machrihanish and Southend in S. Kintyre, I decided to make those the subject of a thesis for my degree at Aberdeen University. At Easter 1984 when the bracken was down and so walking over the hills and spotting the ruins of the townships was comparatively easy, I made my base at Glemanuilt Cottage. From here I walked round all the sites - eleven in all - took photographs and made plans and notes.
The next phase entailed much letter writing to the National Library of Scotland to find out how many old maps of the south part of Kintyre there were. There were Pont’s manuscripts which had been used to produce Blau and Gordon’s maps, Moll’s map, Roy’s maps from the Military Survey of Scotland. After this the Ordance Survey came into being, and the 1866, 6 inch maps were published. The present-day 1:50,000 sheet No. 68 ‘South Kintyre’ shows no trace of the sites, but some of the names are retained in promontories and glens.
The maps provided interesting background information, but the real aim of the work was to ascertain why those townships had been deserted. Documented evidence is scattered and difficult to find. The Statistical Accounts of Scotland, 1792, 1845 and 1961 give little information. The most useful records, I found, were those held by the Kintyre Antiquarian Society Library where transcribed copies of some rentals from 1505 through to 1792 are held. Frank Forbes MacKay’s ‘MacNeill of Carskey” gave useful and interesting reading on the social’ structure in the period of this estate journal, 1705-1743. Another important work is R.A. Gailey on “Settlement Changes in the S.W. Highlands of Scotland” in which he uses the Argyll Estate censuses of 1779 and 1792.
I looked at all the information available on those townships in relation to clachans elsewhere in Scotland over a similar period. My conclusion was that the desertion of those townships was not a forced eviction but rather due to the marginal nature of this area for agriculture. The improvements that began to be made in agriculture elsewhere in the peninsula and in Scotland in general made those uplands increasingly uneconomic. Many townships would subsequently have become single steading farms, but the marginal nature of the south-west side of the Mull made it unattractive to do so. Families would abandon the area which subsequently became a sheep walk.
I thank all whose help made ny work possible. A copy is held by the Kintyre Antiquarian Library, and by Agnes Stewart, Lagavurick.
Not all members are aware of the existence of the Society's excellent Library. Over the years an attempt has been made to collect books of local interest but there is also a very wide collection of papers and manuscripts relating to local history.
The Manuscript Collection naturally depends on gifts from friends and members and it is to be hoped that individuals and local businesses will not discard old papers without offering them to the Society.
We are recently indebted to the daughters of the late Mr. William Anderson, M.B.E., for a gift of his invaluable collection of local photographs.
But from Dallas, Teas, has come a most generous donation from Lt. Col. Victor E. Clark, U.S.A.F., Retd. Colonel Clark, a descendant of Gilbert Clark who was born in Jura in 1723, and emigrated with his father Alexander Clark and the first Highland Settlers, to North Carolina in 1739.
Col. Clark has been indefatigable in collecting information regarding this settlement and has been instrumental in founding ‘Argyll Colony Plus’ a valuable Newsletter which contains a great deal of material of interest to Kintyre and Argyllahire local historians.
In addition to gifting these to the Society the following volumes have been donated by Colonel Clark:
(1) Complete Index to McKerral’s Kintyre in the XVIIth century.
(2) Details of Kintyre Rentals 1505-1710 with a complete index.
(3) Genealogy of the Clark Family (2 vols).
(4) Jura - an Island of Argyll by Rev Donald Budge.
(5) Islay People 1650-1850 by Gordon Booth - an index of Islay personal
names from a great array of
sources.
(6) 'Tartan for me' by Philip D. Smith
(7) The Highland Scots of North Carolina by Duane Meyer
(8) Genealogical record of the descendants of Colonel Alexander McAlister
(also a 1739 settler who sailed from Gigha
with his father, Coll McAlister of Ballinakill and his mother, a Losset
McNeill.
(9) Moore County, North Carolina.
(10) 'They passed this way' by Malcolm Fowler.
(11) Moore County, North Carolina 1747- 1847.
(12) The Carolina Quaker Experiance.
These and other accessions are at present being catalogued by Mr. Norman Newton, the Society's Librarian.
Our diligent committee member Mrs Frances Hood took advantage of her posting to Gigha as District Nurse to organise fellow members of the Association of Certificated Field Archaeologists into making a complete survey of the island.
Those taking part with Mrs Hood were: Anne and John MacDonald, Ann Johnson, Scott Wood, Sheila and Ronald Golightly, Susan Hathersall and Donald McKay. Local residents who gave willing help were Rev. Herbert Gunneberg, Sally Hall, Vi Tulloch and Betty McNeill.
Gigha is about three miles west of Kintyre and measures about 9½ miles long. Its breadth varies from about ½ mile to three miles. There are now about 120 inhabitants though the charm of the island and the famed Achamore Gardens attract many visitors.
The island is conveniently divided in two by the main road which runs north and south and the surveyors divided the work up into quarters. They were rewarded by discovering about 100 unrecorded sites, ranging from ruined dwellings and old cultivations to forts and duns.
Frances will make a written report to the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland and to Strathclyde Regional Council. Decisions can then be made as to further investigation and recording of the more interesting discoveries.
A copy of the Report will be placed in our Society’s Library.
For those who may be interested in further study of Gigha, Frances has provided the following bibliography:
ANDERSON, R. C. S. Antiquities of Gigha. 1978 reprint.
CAMPBELL, Sheriff MacMaster. The story of Gigha. Kintyre Antiquarian Society, no date.
MARTIN, Martin. A description of the Western Islands. Eneas McKay: Stirling, 1934 reprint.
MERCER, John. Hebridean islands: Colonsay, Gigha, Jura. 1974
PHILIP, Kathleen. Gigha. the flourishing island. 1979.
ROYAL COMMISSION ON THE ANCIENT AND HISTORICAL MONUMENTS OF SCOTLAND. Argyll Inventory; Vol. 1, Kintyre. 1971.
TULLOCH, Vi. Flora and fauna of Gigha. 1971.
WHITE, Capt T. H. Knapdale and Gigha. 1875.
Miss Jenny Cronin, a Glasgow University student, is preparing (Autumn 1993) a thesis on the development of tourism in Kintyre, particularly in the Victorian period. She would be pleased to hear from anyone who can give her anecdotal or other evidence. She can be contacted at 51 Cecil Street, Glasgow (Tel: 0141 337 3497).
Scottish Local History, June 1993, carries a review of To see oursels: rural Scotland in old photographs, by Dorothy Kidd (Harper Collins 1992, £15.99). There is special mention of one of the 181 photographs which is captioned “Fishermen enjoying Amy McLean’s ice cream on a Saturday morning in early summer in Mallaig Harbour”. The men who are eating Amy’s “sliders” are identified as John McIntyre and Sandy McKinlay of the Kingfisher, Archie Stewart and Malcolm McLean of the Kingbird, John Short Sr. of the Nulli Secundus and Charlie Durnan of the Bluebird.
Mr Thomas (“Mack”) McLarty, Chief of Staff to President Clinton, has replied to our enquiry by admitting Scottish ancestry but being uncertain as to a Kintyre connection. He says that judging from the number of letters he has received from all over the U.S.A. the McLarty name is well represented in that country.
North Carolina has many whose roots are in Kintyre and recently a party from that place visiting Scotland took the ferries from Ayrshire to Kintyre, and in the short time between arriving and returning visited Southend to see the farm, now non-existing, Cnocmoran,from which an ancestor had emigrated with a certificate from the church, which a sister of one of the party had brought back and shown to the editor some years ago. Following a very rough sketch map made then the party were able to motor past the spot where the old steading had stood, without having to seek any local help!
Page 2: A Maker of Illicit Stills
Page 3: Campbeltown's Protestant Churches - A Brief History
Page 4: Some Descendants of Lachlan McNeill Buidhe
Page 5: Kintyre's "Subtropical" Image // Psalm Practice Verses
Page 6: The Blues of North Kintyre
Page 7: The Evolution of Gaelic Surnames in Kintyre
Page 8: By Hill and Shore - Meanders from Mr. Angus Martin
Page 10: The McShannons of Kintyre - Harpers to Tacksmen