On the left bank of the River Spey as it
flows north towards the Moray Firth, Garmouth, aka the Barony of Germach or the
even less pronounceable Geàrr Magh in
Gaelic [1] as it has previously been known, is a small town towards the north east of
Scotland. Eleven years ago the population of Garmouth was 494 [2] which is
surprisingly less than the 675 inhabitants in 1835 [3]. So, when I say small
town, I mean it!
To its credit though, by 1863 the town had
a gasworks, proving light to both it and Kingston-on-Spey a few miles upriver, a
public school, a Gothic Free Church with an octagonal tower [4], “three inns, a
post office, savings bank and three agents for insurances” [5] and a sawmill. There
isn’t a lot there now from what I saw - just the Church, the Garmouth Hotel
where Mum and I enjoyed lunch and narrow-winding streets, dotted with small
cottages, many of whose foundations were laid before there were white men in
Australia.
The major social event of the year is the
Maggie Fair, held annually in June and has been every year since the town was
deemed a burgh of Barony in 1587 by Robert Innes, the 19th Laird of the Innes
Clan (think Clan Chief), by virtue of a Crown Charter and granting it the right
to host a fair.
Another event of import that seems to pop
up when searching Garmouth’s history is that in June 1650, after the execution
of his father and return from exile in Europe, Charles II first set foot on the
land he now ruled in Garmouth and it is where he signed 1638 Scottish National Covenant and the
1643 Solemn League
and Covenant shortly after coming ashore.
The final event that gets some mention is
the flood of 1829. It’s strange though, upon visiting Garmouth, the Spey River
does not seem so close now that you would expect that Garmouth was a. flooded
to a height of 10 feet 2 inches above ordinary level so that “there was scarely
a house in the lower quarter of the village which was no injured or a garden
wall which was not swept away” [6] and b. part of a thriving ship building
industry that grew from the late eighteenth century to its height in the mid
1850s . Between 1785 and 1920 over 500 ships were built and launched in the
Spey, varying from 99 ton schooners and East Indiamen of over 1000 tons burthen
[7].
The industry dwindled in the early years of
the 20th century but not without employing a number of rels, including our
Robert, his brother and his father. (More on this another time). Hand in hand
with the shipbuilding was a large timber industry, which floated logs from the
forests of Glenmore, Abernethy, Rothiemurchus, and Glenfishie to the port of
Kingston, all part of the Scottish shire or county of Moray, in which Garmouth
is located.
Moray is pronounced Murray in that gorgeous Scottish burr. The Innes Family claim Moray
as their traditional lands, as does Clan Gordon, with Gordon Castle built in
the eastern corner of the shire, which stretches from the River Spey to the
Lossie River, along the North Sea coast.
One fan of the region in 1775 wrote of
Moray that “no Country in Europe can
boast of a more pure, temperate, and wholesome air. No part of it is either too
hot and sultry in Summer, nor too sharp and cold in Winter; and it is generally
(and I think justly) observed, that in the plains of Moray they have 40 days of
fair weather in the year, more than in any other country in Scotland.” [8]
It wasn’t one of those 40 days when Mum and
I visited the area. So while the weather wasn’t that inviting, the people were
hospitable and the area beautiful and I can only imagine how difficult a decision
Robert had to make, leaving everything and everyone familiar and a town our
family had called home for at least 100 years (from what I have found). But,
thank goodness he did!
[1] which means narrow plain http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garmouth,_Moray
[2] http://www.moray.gov.uk/downloads/file57809.pdf accessed 15 Jan 2012
[3] Skelton, J 1995, Speybuilt: The story
of a forgotten industry, Garmouth p.11
[5] Skelton, J 1995, Speybuilt: The story
of a forgotten industry, Garmouth p.6
[6] Skelton, J 1995, Speybuilt: The story
of a forgotten industry, Garmouth p. 10
[7] Skelton, J 1995, Speybuilt: The story
of a forgotten industry, Garmouth p. 11 (and no I don’t know what 100 tons
burthen is either!)
[8] 1882, The History of the Province of Moray.
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