Author Archives: Admin

by Chris MacLennan and Alistair Munro

October 6, 2020

A photo montage showing local councillor Ken Gowans with the Culloden boundaries

Controversial proposals for a holiday village near Culloden Moor are to be recommended for approval by Highland Council, despite strong opposition.

Members of the south planning committee are to be asked to back the development, which has attracted outrage from those opposed to developments on the historic battle site.

Inverness Paving wants to build a four-star, £1 million holiday village with 13 lodges, a 100-seat restaurant and cafe and shop at the former TreeTops riding centre in Faebuie, a mile-and-a-half from the battlefield.

The chosen location was reputedly the staging ground for government troops preparing for combat against Bonnie Prince Charlie’s Jacobite army.

An initial application was refused by the council under delegated powers on the grounds it would not “preserve, enhance or develop” the wooded site, citing both the Highland-wide development plan and the Culloden Muir conservation area.

At the time there were 87 objections to the development, including those from historical societies and organisations.

Campaigners opposed attend along with the land owner. The protest – all from “Stop Development of Culloden” Mary MacLennan, Kate McManus, Katrina Woods, Carolyn Seggie, Paul Jameson
Pictures by JASON HEDGES

Now, Highland Council officials are recommending the plans for approval.

Elected members have been told by Highland Council that, with the exception of an objection from National Trust Scotland, who were consulted on the application, “all other outstanding concerns/technical issues arising from the consultation process have now been addressed by the applicant”.

Officials say initial concerns identified as the primary reason for refusal in 2018 have now been addressed.

Highland Council’s principal planner, John Kelly, added: “It is our intention to present the application to members at the South PAC meeting on November 3, 2020, with a recommendation to grant planning permission”.

That has angered local councillor Ken Gowans, who said: “Myself and the late Jim Crawford were both pivotal in getting the conservation area put in place, which this development is inside.

“The conservation area is not intended to stop development of say single houses or farm structures, but it is designed to protect the area against what we would consider to be larger scale developments of three houses or more – and this development is of course significantly larger.

“I am very disappointed and disheartened that on this occasion, with such a scale of development, that Historic Environment Scotland (HES) has chosen not to raise any objection as a statutory consultee.

“Given that it is within the conservation area, I would have thought that would have had a significant bearing on their opinion.

“After all, HES’ role is to protect the history and heritage of Scotland and Culloden Battlefield is such a significant site we would have thought they would have had a much more robust approach to this.”

He added: “There have been concerns raised locally by the community council, the local community, as well as across Scotland and the world.

“This is not just a local issue. It is national and international, as is reflected by the 300 objections that have been lodged.

Artists impression of the four-star holiday village

Reference: https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/news/highlands/1745964/1m-leisure-resort-at-culloden-battlefield-in-inverness-refused-by-highland-council-planners/

For more information and how you might support the cause to halt this unwarranted development see:  https://stopcullodendevelopment.weebly.com/

Donald Cameron of Lochiel was the 19th chief of Clan Cameron. Soon after Prince Charles Edward Stuart set foot on the Scottish mainland Lochiel raised the greatest number of men willing to fight for the Jacobite cause from Lochaber.

Lochiel, 19th chief of Clan Cameron

On the 19th August 1745, he led his regiment for the Gathering of the Clans and with pipes playing and banners flying, arrived at Glenfinnan with 827 men.

He was one of Prince Charles’ most trusted advisors and commanders. His honourable Nature in ensuring that prisoners of war were always well treated earned him the name of “Gentle” Lochiel.

He commanded the Lochiel Regiment throughout the 1745/46 campaign and personally led the Cameron men and the Stewarts of Appin in the Highland charge of the Jacobite right wing on the field of Culloden 16 April 1746.

 

 

 

 

Cameron of Lochiel Flags of the ’45’

He was within ten paces of engaging the British Army Regiments of Barrel’s and Munro’s with his sword and stopped briefly to fire his pistol. In the act of drawing his sword, he was seriously injured in both ankles by a blast of grape-shot fired by enemy cannon.

Lochiel was carried by his men from the field, along with the Cameron banner, which was bravely saved that day. He later joined Prince Charles on the ship that sailed with them to France.

The pistol of Lochiel which he fired that day on Culloden field has been recently restored by Paul Macdonald of Macdonald Armouries.

It is one of the finest examples of a scroll-butt Scottish steel pistol, crafted by Alexander Campbell. Alexander was one of the best craftsmen working in Doune, a village famous for production of Scottish pistols throughout the C17th and C18th.

The pistol is crammed with hand-engraving, etching and inlaid silver scroll-work and badges. One of the silver badges on the grip bears the engraved decoration of the Cameron Clan crest. The five arrows represent the five cadet branches of Clan Cameron. These are surmounted by UNITE, an Anglicised version of the original Gaelic motto “Aonaibh Ri Cheile”.

One of the retaining screws for the belt-slide was missing, necessitating the hand-crafting of a period-style replacement and an overall refurbishment of all metalwork.

The pistol is a rare national treasure and testament to our unique martial culture, aspirational craftsmanship and the fearlessness of our forebears.

  

 

 

 

It is with great sadness that we learn of the passing of Valerie Cairney, a great lady and mother of the Scottish Banner publisher and editor Sean Cairney.

Valerie, along with husband Jim, came up with the idea of a Scottish publication in the 1970s. Under Valerie’s stewardship, and now that of son Sean, the Scottish Banner has helped to bring together the global Scottish community with her love of Scottish heritage and culture.

In the September edition of the Scottish Banner Sean writes of Valerie’s passion for and dedication to celebrating Scottish culture and its people and of the joy she had in attending Highland games across the world and connecting with the people, many of whom became life-long friends.

Clan Cameron in Australia wishes Sean and the family our sincere condolences.

Another link has been added which may be of value to those seeking clarity regarding some Scottish place names and terms.

I have included a few below as an indication of what one might find useful.

Go to Links on the website Header.

https://www.scottish-places.info/scotgaz/glossw.html

Run rig

Run rig, or runrig, also known as rig-a-rendal, was a system of land tenure practised in Scotland, particularly in the Highlands and islands. It was used on open fields for arable farming. Strips of land allocated to tenants.

Crofts

Crofting is a traditional social system in Scotland defined by small-scale food production. Crofting is characterised by its common working communities, or “townships”. Individual crofts are typically established on 2–5 hectares (5–12 1⁄2 acres)  for better quality forage, arable and vegetable production. Each township manages poorer-quality hill ground as common grazing for cattle and sheep.

Highland Clearances

The Highland Clearances were the evictions of a significant number of tenants in the Scottish Highlands and Islands, mostly in the period 1750-1860.

Factor: In Scotland a factor (or property manager) is a person or firm charged with superintending or managing properties and estates—sometimes where the owner or landlord is unable to or uninterested in attending to such details personally, or in tenements in which several owners of individual flats contribute to the factoring of communal areas.

Tacksman

A person who holds a lease and sublets land to others. (Tacksmen were found mostly in the highlands from the 17th century, and were often a close relative of the chief. Although some of them farmed the land themselves, most lived off the difference between the low rent they paid to the chief and the rents they charged to sublet the land.

Cotter/Cottar

The term for a peasant farmer. They occupied cottages and cultivated small land lots.

Highland Cottars (including on the islands, such as Mull) were affected by the Industrial Revolution. Landowners realized that they could make more money from sheep, whose wool was spun and processed into textiles for export, than crops. The landowners raised rents to unaffordable prices, or forcibly evicted entire villages. This resulted in the mass exodus of peasants and cotters, leading to an influx of former cotters into industrial centers, such as a burgeoning Glasgow.

The Statutes of Iona

Passed in Scotland in 1609, required that Highland Scottish clan chiefs send their heirs to Lowland Scotland to be educated in English-speaking Protestant schools. As a result, some clans, such as the MacDonalds of Sleat and the MacLeods of Harris, adopted the new religion. Other Clans, notably the MacLeans of Morvern & Mull, MacDonalds of Clanranald, Keppoch, Glengarry, and Glencoe, remained resolutely Roman Catholic.

Tartan

Often mistakenly called “plaid” (particularly in the United States), but in Scotland, a plaid is a large piece of tartan cloth, worn as a type of kilt or large shawl. The term plaid is also used in Scotland for an ordinary blanket such as one would have on a bed.

The Dress Act of 1746 attempted to bring the warrior clans under government control by banning the tartan and other aspects of Gaelic culture. When the law was repealed in 1782, it was no longer ordinary Highland dress, but was adopted instead as the symbolic national dress of Scotland.

Declaration of Arbroath

The name usually given to a letter, dated 6 April 1320 at Arbroath, written by Scottish barons and addressed to Pope John XXII. It constituted King Robert I’s response to his excommunication for disobeying the pope’s demand in 1317 for a truce in the First War of Scottish Independence. The letter asserted the antiquity of the independence of the Kingdom of Scotland, denouncing English attempts to subjugate it.

Generally believed to have been written in Arbroath Abbey by Bernard of Kilwinning (or of Linton), then Chancellor of Scotland and Abbot of Arbroath, and sealed by fifty-one magnates and nobles, the letter is the sole survivor of three created at the time. The others were a letter from the King of Scots, Robert I, and a letter from four Scottish bishops which all made similar points. The Declaration was intended to assert Scotland’s status as an independent, sovereign state and defend Scotland’s right to use military action when unjustly attacked.

“As long as but a hundred of us remain alive, never will we on any conditions be brought under English rule. It is in truth not for glory, nor riches, nor honours, that we are fighting, but for freedom – for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself”

Scallag

Landless farm labourer or servant. Rustic.

Authority of the clans (the dùthchas and the oighreachd)

Scottish clanship contained two complementary but distinct concepts of heritage. These were firstly the collective heritage of the clan, known as their dùthchas, which was their prescriptive right to settle in the territories in which the chiefs and leading gentry of the clan customarily provided protection.[14] This concept was where all clansmen recognised the personal authority of the chiefs and leading gentry as trustees for their clan.[14] The second concept was the wider acceptance of the granting of charters by the Crown and other powerful land owners to the chiefs, chieftains and lairds which defined the estate settled by their clan.[14] This was known as their oighreachd and gave a different emphasis to the clan chief’s authority in that it gave the authority to the chiefs and leading gentry as landed proprietors, who owned the land in their own right, rather than just as trustees for the clan.[14] From the beginning of Scottish clanship, the clan warrior elite, who were known as the ‘fine’, strove to be landowners as well as territorial war lords.[14]

Baile

In reference to the history of Scotland, a township is often called a toun (the Lowland Scots word for a township), although before the Anglic language Scots became widespread in Scotland the word baile was more commonly used.

(Bhaile) a town, village, hamlet, township or homestead. [Gaelic]

Highlands

You will notice a change in the layout and options in our Cameron Genealogies site due to The Next Generation software update that powers our Cameron genealogies database.

Family Charts and Group Sheets have embellished images and layout for example, and a PDF of the display can be downloaded.

 

 

 

 

Clan Cameron NSW Inc. is fortunate to have genealogist Dr Robert Cameron continuing his work managing and updating the data base for the benefit of all Camerons not only in Australia, but across the world.

The continued operation of the website and related genealogy database software is funded by the members of Clan Cameron NSW Inc.

Your donation to help maintain this site, which comes at a cost to the members of Clan Cameron NSW Inc., is welcome. The Donation Button can be found on the website Home Page.

We thank the following who have enabled the association to manage and update the site and the genealogies database, which is not without complications, with considerable time and expertise donated by Hawkesbury Websites and Darrin Lythgoe, TNG, updating our database at a very reasonable cost to the association.

 

https://www.hawkesburywebsites.com.au/

 

 

http://lythgoes.net/genealogy/software.php

 

Thank you to all Clan Cameron NSW members who have continued their membership of the association and supported our work promoting and sustaining our proud Cameron traditions and activities in Australia.

Your membership also assists the continuation of this website.

Donations, regardless of the amount, are also welcome.

NSW Annual Subscription Renewals 2020/21 are due by 30 September 2020.

Membership Renewals can be paid by either Direct Deposit or by Cheque or by the online Annual Recurring Membership Subscription via the links on this website.

Applications for membership of Clan Cameron NSW Inc. are also welcome from new members who can trace their ancestry to Clan Cameron or who are connected to the clan through marriage or partnership or who are from a family accepted as a Sept of clan Cameron.

The Application for Membership can be found via the Clan Business and Membership portal on the website home page or in the following download.

https://www.clan-cameron.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Application-for-membership-revised-2020-21.pdf

We look forward to continuing to promote the unity and welfare of members of Clan Cameron New South Wales Inc. and to ensure a growing and active membership of the Clan Cameron association in our state and across Australia.

The Scottish Highland Clans: Origins, Decline and Transformation

University of Glasgow

 

 

Discover the important history of the Highland clans

The Highland, Gaelic speaking clans are a vital part of Scotland’s history. They also shape how the world imagines Scotland today.

This course uses the expertise of University of Glasgow academics to explain the structure, economy and culture of the clans. It covers the centuries between the fall of the MacDonald Lords of the Isles in 1493 until around 1800, when the clans dissolved away as a result of social economic change. It then discusses how the legacies of clanship shaped global images of Scotland up until the present.

What topics will you cover?

  • Week 1: Defining the Clans: Meet the chiefs and the clan gentry. See how different forms of family, kinship and strong links to land helped bind a clan together. Learn about the ‘professional clans’, those families who provided bards, doctors and judges for Scottish Gaelic society. Explore how archaeology and history can help explain the castles, churches, defensive sites and overall function of the clans.
  • Week 2: Clan Society and Culture: Explore daily life for ordinary people living under the authority of the chiefs. Using the case study of the Macgregors and Campbell, learn why and how clans feuded, and what made the Scottish Crown seek to ‘civilise’ the Highlands? Learn about Gaelic musical culture, poetry and dress. Discover how clan involvement in the religious and civil wars of the seventeenth century was high profile and traumatic. Lastly, consider how new cultural and social-economic changes resulted in a slow decline of the clans as a form of community.
  • Week 3: Decline and Transformation: Assess the debates around clan involvement in the Jacobite risings between 1689 and 1746. Discover the latest thinking on the Battle of Culloden and the ‘Clearances’. Finally, appreciate how the literature of Walter Scott, the romantic poets, as well as Highland Games, theatre and film reinvented the clans as a romantic Scottish and global emblem.

This free 3 week online course is readily accessible and free by accessing the following link:

https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/the-highland-clans

Clan Cameron NSW Vice-President John Cameron and wife Lynne and the writer have accessed this course and we have found it very informative.

Parts can be skimmed over if needed.

Historic Environment Scotland (HES)

Learn at Home initiative

Historic Environment Scotland has launched free online learning resources to help support home educators and learners during the Coronavirus lockdown.

While seemingly mainly aimed at young people and educators there is something here for everyone interested in bettering their knowledge and understanding of things Scottish I believe.

The Learn at Home resource areas are:

  1. Welcome
  2. Gaelic
  3. Play
  4. Make and Create
  5. Draw and Colour
  6. Explore
  7. Investigate
  8. Educators’ Area

While primarily aimed at educators and young people I’m sure that you will find something of interest here. After all, we all probably aim to be better educated at whatever level!

Access to SCRAN (Learning Culture Heritage) is also free until 31 July but I didn’t find this all that useful or easy to access.

SCRAN is a volunteer organisation that aims to provide educational access to digital materials representing Scottish culture and history.

https://www.historicenvironment.scot/learn/learn-at-home