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The Rev.
Duncan McAra, who was Minister of the Parish of Fortingall for about 50
years after 1745 and wrote the Old Statistical Account of the Parish,
testified to the fact that the people of Rannoch were very badly off at
the time of the Rebellion, but that their conditions had improved beyond
all measure by 1791. There were no roads or bridges previously and they
lived in the most primitive and poverty-stricken fashion, as we have
already seen, but by 1791 there were excellent roads and twelve bridges.
The people, he said, were now clean and lived in houses of stone with
blankets and had sufficient food to keep themselves healthy. As a result
they were more law-abiding. It was even reported earlier, in 1761 in the
General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, that the notorious people of
Rannoch were becoming greatly civilized, and no thefts or robberies had
been heard of recently among the inhabitants.
However,
it was a different story in the early days after the Battle of Culloden in
1746 and the years immediately following, for Rannoch was in a sad state.
Not only were the people starving, but there seemed to be no alternative
open to the returning warriors but thieving. There were soldiers
everywhere searching for the rebel leaders and trying to curb and capture
the thieves. These soldiers established themselves at Black Park, sing as
their barracks the encampment built by General Wade’s men in 1730 when
they were building the stretch of Military road from Tummel Bridge to
Trinafour. You can still see this today in a sheltered hollow near the
burn Alt na Moine. It is said to be similar in plan to Ruthven Barracks
with the same type of central alleyways off which go to the small barrack
rooms and enclosures for horses. Quarters were also built at the west end
of Loch Rannoch. The Barracks, as it exists now, is a modern version
built near the site of the old one.
The
soldiers took over Mount Alexander but Struan Robertson, because of his
age, was allowed to stay in a modest cottage at Carie from where he could
see his beloved home. Other leads who had not been killed had to evade
capture, and that meant exile. Their homes were burnt down as reprisals.
Crossmount, Innerhadden, Dalchosnie and Dall suffered this fate and their
estates were forfeited to the Crown.
Against
the thieves the soldiers had much more trouble. A report sent in to
General Blakeney at Fort Augustus asked for steps to be taken to protect
such places as Banff, Aberdeen, Angus and Mearns from the depredations of
the thieves of Rannoch. In the same year (1747) a report from a
detachment at Clova stated that they intercepted a band of Rannoch thieves
and recovered forty head of cattle from them. There are dozens of similar
reports which gave a fair indication of the problems facing the soldiers.
They patrolled enormous distances trying to intercept the stolen herds as
they were driven into Rannoch, and some of the reports sound a note of
pessimism and frustration. A Captain Patton of Guise’s regiment said ’the
people of this country (Rannoch) are the greatest thieves in Scotland and
were all in the late rebellion, except for a few. They have a great
number of arms but they keep them concealed from us.’ They have a great
number of arms but they keep them concealed from us.’ He goes on to say
that he was sure a Captain Robertson of Carie had plenty hidden away but
he doubted if he would find them.
If their
reports are accurate these men deserved a Military Medal at least. This
same captain report patrolling from Dalnaspidal to Leargan (in Rannoch)
where he found arms hidden in Duncan Stewart’s house although Stewart
escaped into the hills. He then went to Innerhadden where six
Highlanders, dressed in the banned kilt and chased them to Tummel Bridge
and searched all night. From there he was ordered to guard the approaches
and to apprehend a band of thieves who had lifted cattle from Braemar and
were headed to Rannoch. It is not stated what the result of this action
was, but the report ends up with an account of his unit’s attempts to
catch up with robbers who were reported to be heading for the foot of
Schichallion after a successful raid in Glenlyon.
Similar
reports from a Captain Hughes in 1749 tell of a party of fully armed
Highlanders plundering at Killicrankie; they were chased as far as
Aberfeldy where they escaped ‘as the soldiers could get no help from any
of the local inhabitants’. Shortly afterwards two of the men were
captured at Killin but because of the large mob they were let off. The
report was handed in at Invercomrie…quite a mileage covered in one patrol!
The
soldiers were kept very busy but it seems that by 1754 peace was beginning
to reign in Rannoch. Once the thieving stopped the soldiers were able to
devote their energies to more constructive activities and there is no
doubt about it but they were responsible for bringing about an improvement
and stability to the place. They built roads and temporary bridges, shops
and school rooms. Behind them was an officer who more than any one should
be credited with the honour of bringing peace and prosperity to the area.
He was Ensign James Small of Lord Loudoun’s Regiment. He had been
stationed at Finnart and in 1754 he was appointed by the Commissioners for
the Forfeited Estates to be factor of the estates at Rannoch, and he
continued this office until he died in 1777, by which time he had improved
the state of affairs at Rannoch beyond all recognition.
He
decided that the huddle of houses at the east end of Loch Rannoch,
erroneously called Kinloch, which means head of the loc, would make an
ideal village. He had the place chalked out and he planned the building
of houses. He provided for disbanded soldiers as crofters and
householders; he brought in food for the inhabitants; he advised on
improved agricultural methods; he had mills erected; he introduced flax
and potatoes. He prepared for the making of more schools, for erecting
church buildings, for building bridges and for establishing centres for
teaching people spinning and weaving. He also brought in mason, joiners
and wheelwrights to teach the younger generation useful trades. In
addition to the trades already mentioned he chose a Smith able to work
with iron, copper and tin, likewise a Shoemaker and Tailor. He also
arranged for the soldiers to build a new village at the west end of the
loch. They put up ten houses but they chose an unfortunate name for the
village…Georgetown, a name that is no more popular with the villages now
than it was then. The Stewarts brought nothing but bad luck to their
subject but their subjects have remained loyal to them in spite of all.
However, in spite of the name, King George’s soldiers brought peace and
prosperity to the place.
James
Small grew to like ‘his’ people and he did well by them.. He used soldiers
to help the Braes folk (Georgetown to the soldiers) by draining their
sheiling land on the moor. They took part in a huge ditching operation in
attempts to make something of the marshy grazing grounds. It proved
unsuccessful because as we know now, nothing short of a thousands of
bulldozers working non-stop for years is likely to make any difference to
Rannoch Moor. However, the scheme became known as the Soldiers’ Trenches
and the ditches can still be seen (just). A more successful scheme he
introduced was the use of lime. He had a crushing machine made so that
lime could be used to manure the ground. He also introduced and
encouraged the burning of lime for farming purposes.
It is to
be hoped that the people of Rannoch appreciated his efforts. I expect
they did, although I know of one who did not. She was Mrs. MacIntrye. It
was all to do with a pub. Small felt that his ex-soldiers were in need of
a Brew Seat. So in 1757 he obtained an estimate. The house chosen was
built so close to a tree that it was supported very precariously.
Eventually it became so dangerous that even the hardened drinkers refused
to stay in it. So a new house was built. But whiles it was being built
the storekeeper who was the wife of Sergeant MacIntyre, go the trade of
the soldiers and ex-soldiers. Once the new inn was completed the men
started to frequent it, but not for long. Mrs MacIntyre, finding that she
had lost the trade, stormed down to the new inn and she beat up the
soldiers until they returned to drink in her house.
A person
of a different sort from James Small also devoted a large portion of his
life to improving the lot of the Rannoch people. He was the teacher,
evangelist and sacred poet, Dugal Buchanan, and he laboured seventeen
years to the benefit of all who encountered him. It is likely that he was
one of the first S.S.P.C.K. missionaries to the district. He is heard of
as teaching in his school at Drumchastle in 1748 and then at Bunrannoch at
7 per year. He was quickly established as a good teacher and in addition
he was said to be a wonderful Catechist and ‘every Sunday had an audience
of above five hundred people’. James Small worked with him, building him
a school and a free house in Kinloch Rannoch, the new village, where he
taught the boys and girls in the forenoon and visited the tenants and
other people in the afternoon, teaching them the Catechism for which his
salary was increased to 15 a year. His wife also taught Spinning to the
wives and daughters.
He found
time to write many poems, most of them on religious themes. They all show
a sensitivity of feeling and inspiration. His most quoted one is called
The Skull. The incident which provoked it was when he was officiating at
a burial in Lassintullich and there at his feet was skull. Such an
incident nowadays would be regarded either horror levity but in those days
when many bodies were buried in the same grave such an incident was not
uncommon. However, Dugal treats the subject with awe and sacredness.
He was a
frequent visitor to the houses and villages around the loch. Some of his
flock were wild and intractable but his kindness and patient manners won
the hearts of all. His name has been revered in Rannoch since those
early days and a later generation of people showed their affection and
respect for his memory by erecting a marble monument to him in the village
square. It says in Gaelic and English ‘Dungald Buchanan, Evangelist and
Sacred Poet, Died 2nd June, 1763.’
Plenty
has been written in this historical account of the ‘bad men’ of Rannoch
and we have seen the outstanding work of two ‘good men’. It behoves me to
say now that in the early history of the clans of Rannoch, and indeed of
Scotland itself, the Campbells are frequently execrated. But when Rannoch
needed ‘good men and true’ during the bad times around the middle of the
18th century, a clan that figured more than any of the others
in the Rannoch story were the Campbells. In the 1760’s we find Hugh and
James Campbell are teaching in schools, Donald and James Campbell are flax
dressers and linen weavers respectively, and Archibald Campbell is farming
at Carie. Robert Campbell works a saw mill at Dall, while in 1770 Helen
Campbell is a midwife. Captain James Campbell has a tack of two farms in
the same year. In the 1780’s there are many more Campbells recorded as
doing task that promoted peace and industry in an area that needed such
stability. The final accolade must go to Archibald Campbell, the teach of
Kinloch Rannoch School in 1773, for his work there when the Rev. Duncan
McAra was President of Visitation. What the Minister said of him sums up
what accounted for the successful circumstances that changed Rannoch from
a savage haunt of thieves to a place worthy of the highest respect. He
spoke of his outstanding ‘diligence and faithfulnesss’. This was the
quality that Small and Buchanan possessed and this was the virtue that
made Rannoch into that admirable place it became. |
