With the loss of their traditional homelands,
the eventual outpouring of displaced McGregors resulted in their migration to other
parts of Scotland Scotland
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| Map showing the Clan Lairdships as at 1745 and the position of Glengairn in the Catholic Gordon (Huntly) territories |
According to popular accounts there were two branches of the clan: Gregorach na Smuide (McGregors of the Smoke) and Gregorach na Aol (McGregors of the Lime). There is an account of the McGregor families said to have settled in Braemar as early as 1403 - it was copied from an old MS. found among the papers of Sir John McGregor Murray. Its author, a John Gregory, is not otherwise known, and the document was probably written in the early 1700's. According to this John Gregory, the McGregors of the Lime came from the south under the patronage and protection of the Earls of Mar circa 1403. Their nickname arose from them being the first to make use of lime for agricultural purposes in those highland regions. They burnt it and applied it to the land, raising great crops "to the inexpressible astonishment of the whole country". While it is impossible to vouch for its accuracy, the story is very characteristic of the period to which it refers, and due allowance must be made for a strong bias against the Clan Farquharson who appear to have been the immediate successors of the McGregors of Inverenzie. [1]
The area of Glengairn and Morven is a rich source of lime and many old lime kilns in various states of ruin still dot the countryside. There is quite an impressive one a little north of the old McGregor holding of Dalfad and one in quite good condition at the foot of the Shenval not far from the Ringing Stone.
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| The Lime Kiln at Dalfad |
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| The Ringing Stone near Shenval |
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| The Lime Kiln at Shenval |
It is also quite possible that
some members of the Clan Gregor arrived on the Deeside early in the 16th Century, being
credited as agricultural improvers at Braemar with the title McGregors "of the Lime". Francis Diack (1908) however rejected such an early settlement as unlikely.
Whether this is so, is a matter of conjecture, but what is certain is that the first legal record of the incomers concerns a Thomas Erskine "alias McGregor" of Rinabrough, who took the Earl of Mar's family name when leasing a Gairnside property in 1633 (Michie, 1891). Richarkarie and Torran were leased from Sir Alexander Irvine of Drum. The other lairdships which came into McGregor hands about this time were Auchalater in the parish of Braemar and Wester Micras in Crathie.
After the clan was proscribed by James VI in 1603 the McGregors were vulnerable in their native Breadalbane and a group of them came up over Glen Tilt, recruited as mercenaries by James Stewart, Earl of Moray. In 1634, the 1st Marquis of Huntly, George Gordon, used them in the feud between certain Gordon lairds and the Crichtons of Frendraught and in the ongoing feud with the Forbes. These McGregors naturally took the Royalist side in the Civil War, one group in particular emerging from it as landholders at Dalfad, Inverenzie and Ballater. The "Troubles", in short, were good for the Deeside McGregors: "Sheltered among the mountains of Glengairn and fortified by a tenantry mostly of the same name and blood, these McGregor lairds were the leaders of a little sept or clan that presented a bold front to all and sundry. In character and habits they were Highlanders to the core - proud, spirited and clannish, devoted to the old faith and the old dynasty...". [2]
The first of the family was Duncan McGregor, who came from Glenlyon and married the Baron of Braickley's daughter in Glenmuick. Braickley was a Gordon and kinsman to the then Earl of Huntly. Duncan's grandson, Gregor "of the swivels", so known because he devised a way of yoking oxen to the plough with birch wands, died about 1677.
Even those who managed to obtain land lived recklessly. In 1676 the son of Gregor "of the swivels", Malcolm or Calum Grierson alias McGregor of Ardoch (his father still laird at Dalfad) was fined £50 Scots after a fracas at Stranlea. Calum had drawn his sword and cut his neighbour, Alister Coutts, "twice in the head, in the left eye and in the left arm". [3] And in 1704 the Laird of Dalfad's economic activities were described in a way which suggests no clear distinction between landholders and caterans: "He is worth about 500 merks of visible fortown, but that much of it is now adjudged upon decreits obtained against him before the justiciary courts for robbing the Laird of Glenkindie's house and other such like barbarities. Only he makes a considerable deal of money yearly by black mail, extorted by him from several low country parishes such as Fordon, Strachane, Fettercairn under pretence of protecting them" (Spalding Club, 1844, p.xxxi).
"Malcolm or Calum Grierson alias M'Grigor, of Daladar (Ballater), papist, frequently receives popish priests... The said Calum was leatly building a chapel for them, erected a very high crucifix on a little hill near to his house, to be adored by all the neighbourhood. He keeps always publick mass and popish conventickles in his house; and is such trafector that few or no protestants that become his tenants, or servants, escape being perverted by him... the said Calum Grierson is a common mocker of God and religion, e.g.: In September, 1701, at Alanchoich, at a publick marriage feast before a great many people, after he had first rediculed the protestant religion he next went to his knees and with aloud voice uttered a deal of horrid blasphemie, pretending to personate protestant ministers in their prayers, and then fell a preaching, to the great astonishment of the beholders" (Spalding Club, 1844, p.xxxi). So wrote the Rev. James Robertson, the newly appointed Presbyterian minister of Glenmuick, Tullich and Glengairn in a 1704 submission to the Presbytery of Kincardine O'Neil.
In the narrative by John Gregory, as mentioned above, Calum also figures:
"The lairds of Inverenzie," he says, "were in opulent circumstances until at last when one of them, young Malcolm, one of the most valiant men in his day, by misfortune was inveigled in a process of law before the Court of Session, in defence of which process he almost spent his all, so high was the spirit of this brave man. After being told by his advocates that he would inevitably lose, unless he would sell some part of his estate in order to maintain the cause, so much perplexed was he that he did not know how to behave; but upon retiring to his room in Edinburgh he betook himself to his pair of trumps [bagpipes] and there was making a tune to himself by way of recreation. The lawyers now finding, as they thought, that he would be obliged to sell his estate or at least a good part of it, they would go and advise him to advertise the same. Upon their approaching the room they were confounded to see him in such top spirits as he seemed to be; however, so dexterous was he at that kind of music that the lawyers insisted on his playing on, and after some hours play and a handsome treat no doubt, they left him without ever advising him to dispose of any part of his estate; and next day, or a few days after, upon considering the high spirits of such a brave man, gained his plea." [4]
"The lairds of Inverenzie," he says, "were in opulent circumstances until at last when one of them, young Malcolm, one of the most valiant men in his day, by misfortune was inveigled in a process of law before the Court of Session, in defence of which process he almost spent his all, so high was the spirit of this brave man. After being told by his advocates that he would inevitably lose, unless he would sell some part of his estate in order to maintain the cause, so much perplexed was he that he did not know how to behave; but upon retiring to his room in Edinburgh he betook himself to his pair of trumps [bagpipes] and there was making a tune to himself by way of recreation. The lawyers now finding, as they thought, that he would be obliged to sell his estate or at least a good part of it, they would go and advise him to advertise the same. Upon their approaching the room they were confounded to see him in such top spirits as he seemed to be; however, so dexterous was he at that kind of music that the lawyers insisted on his playing on, and after some hours play and a handsome treat no doubt, they left him without ever advising him to dispose of any part of his estate; and next day, or a few days after, upon considering the high spirits of such a brave man, gained his plea." [4]
Calum Grierson/McGregor's original "very high crucifix" was raised on "a little hill near to his house", but the ruined chapel in Dalfad woods, which was probably built by his eldest son, the Wurzburg priest Gregor McGregor. It is said to have been left "unfinished" after Culloden (Fraser, 1977, p. 33) so it is probable that Ardoch (Gaelic: "small hill") was the site originally chosen: "Mr. Hugh Strachan, a Jesuit, resides in Ardoch which belongs to Calum Grierson, alias McGregor, of Dalfad who has built a house for him and a garden, and furnishes him with other necessaries. They keep publick mass and all other parts of their idolatrous worship in and about the same place almost every Lordsday" (Wilby, 1966). Ardoch was certainly the home of a succession of priests from 1810 until the focus of Catholic life moved down to Candacraig in 1866. During most of this period however, Glengairn's Catholics gathered at Clashenruich (clais an fhraoich, or "hollow of the heather") for their Sunday worship. The name was appropriate, since it was thatched with heather until it finally became (symbolically enough) a sheep-cote in the latter part of 19th century.
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| Date of this photo is unknown |
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| Signpost for walkers at Dalfad Chapel |
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| Ruins of Dalfad chapel among the birch & bracken |
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| Ruins of Dalfad chapel among the birch & bracken |
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| Ruins of Dalfad chapel with stone walls to only waist height |
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| Three McGregor Grave Markers. It would seen that these were originally located in the graveyard located nearby but have been relocated here at sometime in the past |
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| Hugh Mackay chalking the inscription to make more legible |
Bruce Gordon & my daughter Ashleigh McGregor standing on the chapel's end wall. The small stone marked with the cross is where the alter would have stood had the building been completed.
It is thought that this small stone marks the grave of either a small child or that of Margaret McGregor (see below), believed to have been buried here.
Calum himself seems to have possessed a great physical strength: "This man was a great champion and was proprietor of the lands of Ballater as well as those of Inneregny" (Inverenzie). He greatly repined towards the close of his life that he was acquainted with no McGregor who could bear his heavy "armachd-chatha" (battle arms). "Let rust eat them up," he said, "Rather than they should pass, after my demise, into the hands of another clan, if a McGregor cannot be found worthy of them" (R. McGregor, 1818). He died just before the outbreak of the 1715 uprising.
The McGregors were staunchly Jacobite and were also the local centre of resistance to Presbyterianism. This was a period of intolerance, but such was the McGregor position that the Kirk Session was powerless to act against them. The McGregor property holdings were considerable, but Dalfad was the McGregor stronghold. In the 1696 Poll Book their valuation was £160, quite high in comparison with others. They were known as or at least styled themselves as the "Lairds of Inverenzie".
The eldest of Calum's sons,
Gregor McGregor became a Benedictine
priest and returned from Wurzburg Black Bridge,
In December of 1745 one of the parties (belonging to Monaltrie's Jacobite regiment) commanded by "Little" Patrick (Peter) Fleming of Auchintoul was sent to Aberdeen
"A thing no man of Gairn could ever on any condition tolerate." exclaimed Inverigny, as he drew his sword.
But the Forbeses were men of might, and they outnumbered, outflanked, and nearly overpowered McGregor, who thought to rout them by downright hard slashing. When he could withstand them no longer, the little Fleming bade him stand aside, and stepped forward with his famous sword (a Scottish basket-hilted broadsword) made by the famed Andrea Ferrara . "Let me try the metal of those men of Lonach."
The Forbeses laughed at the little brisk creature; but Auchintoul quickly had tallest Forbes' sword lon the ground between his feet. In the twinkling of an eye, another was put out of action and a third surrendered as a prisoner of war. The remainder betook themselves to flight. [5]
The Laird of Dalfad, Captain John McGregor died at Culloden, stabbed in the shoulder by a redcoat bayonet as both he and Flemming lay wounded on the field of battle. Flemming was to survive the ordeal but lost a leg. John McGregor's three other brothers Alexander, Malcolm, and Appin fled abroad and into exile while a fourth was captured at Tarland and transported.
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| Sign alerting walkers to the events that occurred in 1745 on the Long Haugh |
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| Looking downstream towards the Black Bridge from mid-way across the ford. |
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| Mid-way across the ford. |
Dr. Sheila Sedgwick, the author of many informative books on the Glengairn area and its people, recounts a story that, while it contains fictional elements and a number of versions exist, is probably well based on local legend and could be rooted in some fact.
The story has it that three
McGregor sons, (I have as yet been unable
to rightly identify these individuals), Callum,
James and John from Glengairn were in Monaltrie's regiment. On Drumossie Moor at Culloden the
16 year old John lying wounded on the field, was killed by redcoats, while his
wounded brothers watched from the shelter of some trees. On the long trail home
James died leaving Callum alone.
A handsome man and a good
swordsman Callum had a wife, Nettie Gordon from Glenmuick, but few knew of the hand-fasted
marriage because she was not a Roman Catholic like the McGregors. The couple had been in
the habit of meeting in a little clump of trees and Callum promised when he
returned he would go there every night, an hour before midnight.
After Culloden, homes were
burned, including the McGregor base in Glengairn. Nettie visited the clump of
trees regularly bringing with her a baby daughter. She became more hopeful about Callum's return
when men trickling back from Culloden told her that Callum had been alive after
the battle.
One autumn night after she had
waited for almost an hour, suddenly three soldiers appeared: one grabbed her,
another snatched the baby and ran off. She cried out and, with great
coincidence, Callum and two other highlanders, appeared from a hiding place in
the bushes.
Haggard and wounded from their ordeal, the three faced the soldiers. Callum
managed to kill one. Meanwhile his screaming wife was beating her hands against
the other. This soldier ran his sword through her. Callum fought him too and
was victorious.
He held his dying wife in his
arms and swore he would find the baby daughter he had never seen if it took him
to the end of time. More soldiers arrived and the wounded Callum
along with his friends were killed.
Now a ghostly highlander, mad
with rage, disheveled and ill-kept, with a torn kilt, bleeding from his wounds
and with his claymore dripping blood, comes back to the place where
his wife died. Nettie comes too, to meet her husband, they embrace and stay on
the spot until the cock-crow. They then move off in search of their baby.
According to local lore a more
compassionate redcoat soldier rescued the baby, returning it to the Glenmuick
grandparents. There is in the Baptismal Register the name of a baby called
Euphemia Gordon, so named after Nettie's mother. [6]
Loyalty to the Stuarts caused
the Glengairn McGregors to lose everything.
Sons who would have
inherited and many other young men of the extended family died at Culloden or fled into exile and what lands they had
left were forfeit. Important Catholic patron lairds were no longer in positions of influence and the faith
that had supported the clan-folk
was subject to intense persecution. Many houses and farms of Jacobite supporters were torched including the
McGregor Dalfad stronghold.
Farming was on a subsistence level and after a series of bad winters and poor harvests the townsfolk of places like Richarkarie and other hamlets were in a sorry state. Most houses had a little kale yard or garden with a few sheep or a cow. Ploughing was on the run-rig system, with more difficult areas being dug by hand using spade or cas-crom. Cultivation was based on the in-field, out-field system. Roman Catholics were often evicted to make way for Protestant sheep farms. Settlements and crofts were abandoned. Emigration, whether overseas or to the south, or colonial army service beckoned to these desperate folk. By 1815 many of the communities in the area had fallen or were badly depleted.
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| Glengairn - more as it is today |
Still the old habits continued and were probably more of a necessity given the desperate state of the area after Culloden: two McGregor men (believed to be grandsons of Calum Grierson/McGregor) drowned at Balnaan in the Gairn river while it was in spate (in flood) returning from a cattle-lifting expedition in the west.
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| Balnaan in a peaceful mood - Looking upstream |
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| Balnaan in a peaceful mood - Looking downstream toward Gairnshiel Lodge and the Gairnshiel bridge |
No doubt the distilling and sale of illicit whisky was also a well practiced art, as the Glengairn McGregors were noted bootleggers.
The person whose name was the most respected for sanctity was Margaret McGregor, Margaret of the Laggan, as she was called. She lived at the beginning of last century (1800's), and occupied a small hut near the Laggan burn.
She employed her time spinning and carding, whilst on a small loom she made "gartans" which were thought to be so strong that no wear and tear would use them up. She also made ropes of rough wool, sent in by the neighbours, the ropes being used at clipping time to tie the sheep. Her shoes were made by herself of the same rough wool, and were something akin to carpet slippers. The soles were of old cloths laid fourfold beneath the foot and sewn together with strong twine. Her gown was of blue homespun, and over it she habitually wore a grey cloak with a hood. Thus clad she was often seen walking over the hill the nine miles to the Corgarff chapel, for she seldom left her cottage save to go to Mass. Her food was of the simplest, a boiled turnip over which she sometimes cast a handful of meal for her dinner.
Margaret was well educated and had many books, whilst her piety was the admiration of the countryside; all day long she worked and prayed at intervals. She had an hour-glass which told her the time for prayer and the time for labour, and she passed from her knitting to her prayers and from her prayers to her knitting as methodically as possible. " She composed and repeated constantly Gaelic prayers. I sometimes brought her meal or other food and learned these prayers from her own lips." She wasted away without any struggle, and was attended on her deathbed by Father Forbes. She had been for a long time helpless, crippled, and deformed by rheumatism. She is buried in the old churchyard of Dalfad, the family burying-ground of the McGregors, from whom she was sprung. So wrote the Benedictine monk, Frederick Odo Blundell in 1909. [7]
[1] Michie, Rev. J. G. Deeside Tales - (Reprint Edition 2000) The Clan Gregor Society - Page 222.
[2] Diack, F.C. (1908) Notes for the 3rd edition of Deeside Tales by J.G. Michie.
[3] Fraser, A. S. (1977) In Memory Long. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul - Page 11.
[4] MacGregor, A.G.M. (1901) History of the Clan Gregor, Vol. 2 - William Brown - Page 3.
[5] Grant, John (1876) Legends of the Braes o' Mar - A King & Co. Aberdeen - Pages 209-210.
[6] Sedgwick, Sheila (2007/2013) The Barracks Ghost - Ballater Eagle Community Magazine Nos. 47 & 72.
[7] F. O. Blundell (1909) The Catholic Highlands of Scotland - Vol. 1 The Central Highlands - Sands & Co.
[2] Diack, F.C. (1908) Notes for the 3rd edition of Deeside Tales by J.G. Michie.
[3] Fraser, A. S. (1977) In Memory Long. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul - Page 11.
[4] MacGregor, A.G.M. (1901) History of the Clan Gregor, Vol. 2 - William Brown - Page 3.
[5] Grant, John (1876) Legends of the Braes o' Mar - A King & Co. Aberdeen - Pages 209-210.
[6] Sedgwick, Sheila (2007/2013) The Barracks Ghost - Ballater Eagle Community Magazine Nos. 47 & 72.
[7] F. O. Blundell (1909) The Catholic Highlands of Scotland - Vol. 1 The Central Highlands - Sands & Co.
