The Bonnie Black Isle

“Their holds early in November a famous cattle market in the ancient Barony of Ferintosh and Thomsen set out to attend it. He reached about midday the little straggling village at which the market holds. Thomsen had never before attended a thoroughly highland market and the scene now presented was wholly new to him. The area it occupied was an irregular opening in the middle of the village, broken by ruts, dung hills and heaps of stone. In front of the little turf houses on either side, there was a row of booths, constructed partly of poles and blankets, in which much whisky and a few of the simpler articles of merchandise were sold. In the middle of the open space there were carts and benches, laden with the crude manufactures of the country - Highland brogues and blankets; bowls and platters of beech; bundles of split fir for lathes and torches; and hair tackle and nets for fishermen. Nearly seven thousand persons male and female thronged the area, bustling and busy and in continual motion like the tides and eddies of two rivers in their confluence. There were country women with their shaggy little horses laden with cheese and butter; highlanders from the far hills with droves of sheep and cattle; shoemakers and weavers from the neighbouring villages with bales of webs and wallets of shoes; farmers and fishermen engaged, as it chanced, in buying and selling; bevies of bonny lassies attired in their gayest; ploughmen and mechanics; drovers, butchers and herd boys. Whisky flowed abundantly, whether bargain makers bought or sold, or friends met or parted and as the day wore later the confusion and bustle of the crowd increased. A highland tryst, even in the present day, rarely passes without witnessing a fray and the highlanders, seventy years ago, were of a more combatative disposition than they are now.”

On our visit we were fortunate enough to contact Professor James MacIntosh whose mother was a Cameron and who lived in his grandfather’s croft at Ferintosh during the summer and early autumn. The names of the Munro children were familiar family names to him and he felt quite sure that Ann belonged to his family. The Black Isle is not Cameron territory and here is the story of how they came to be there.

Long, long ago, Locheil’s daughter was to marry The McKenzie of Redcastle in the Black Isle, so he sent his kinsman, whose Gaelic name meant black and bald headed, as her chaperone and protector of her interests – a very necessary precaution in those wild days. Together they journeyed from their home at Loch Eil near Fort William, to Redcastle at the south western corner of the Black Isle. Here he was granted a meal mill for his living but, after three generations, the McKenzie of the day cast envious eyes on the prosperity derived from the mill and evicted the Camerons so that he could reap the profits for himself. One branch of the family went to Leannach and became landowners, while the other branch settled in Mulquhaich and prospered by trade.

At that time Ferintosh was a busy trading centre, as can be seen by the above anecdote by Hugh Miller, the distinguished geologist and writer who lived at Cromarty, about ten miles to the east and at about the same time as Donald. Whisky, as he mentions, flowed abundantly and this was due to the Ferintosh “Gift” – a privilege granted by a grateful government to Duncan Forbes of Culloden, the owner of the Ferintosh Estate. This was in recompense for his quashing a religious rebellion in the 17th century and the subsequent devastation of his lands and distilleries as retribution. The privilege allowed the grain grown on the estate to be distilled free of excise duty and was worth a fortune. As a result, whisky flowed like water from this area, so much so that the name of Ferintosh became synonymous with the drink. The high density of crofts in the surrounding neighbourhood was as a result of this free home distilling. The privilege was bought back by the government in 1785 for the large sum of 21,580 pounds, which resulted in a somewhat more sober population. At that time, this small parish was densely populated and included 34 masons, 16 carpenters, 29 weavers, 29 tailors, 18 shoemakers and 17 smiths. The advent of cloth mills and shoe factories in the south, where goods could be mass produced more cheaply, diminished local trade to such an extent that many left for the south to find work. Although the effect of the Highland Clearances was not as horrific as elsewhere in Scotland, this too led to a decrease in population as people emigrated to the Colonies in great numbers. In 1885, the Munro family joined them and sailed for Tasmania.

© Audrey Bailey