Tain & District Museum and Clan Ross Centre November 2017 Vol 4 Issue 1 Editor’s Letter First Visitors Tom and Meghan Ross from America were our Robert Burns oft quoted words “The best laid plans of mice and men” seems very apposite right now. Our newsletter is well first visiting Rosses this year. They were behind schedule this year but to make amends we have a closely followed, by a matter of minutes, by bumper edition for you. Anne and her family. I am most grateful to Rita Bradd for taking the time to send Meghan is Vice President of Clan Ross of the photographs and story about Des Ross in Australia and the wonderful project to restore the clipper, “City of Adelaide”. We United States (CRUS). She and her husband have an article provided by Jim Mackay about the Kirkmichael Tom enjoy sharing their knowledge of Clan restoration project along with a report on our excursion to Tain Ross history by organising Clan Ross tents at Highland Gathering. “The Tain War Memorial Project: Put a various games throughout America. They Face to a Name” is drawing to a close and we report on this visited Croick Church and were lucky enough exceptional work. We have been working with Clan Ross Association of Canada to add to our Clan Ross exhibition in the to be allowed to visit the grounds of Balnagown museum and we tell you about this excellent collaboration. Castle. You can see some of their pictures on the CRUS Facebook page. As most of you will know next year Chief David Ross of Ross and Balnagown will have been head of the Clan Ross for 50 years. To make 2018 even more special Chief David and Lady Eileen will be celebrating their diamond wedding anniversary. We would like to produce a commemorative edition of the newsletter to celebrate this special year. Do you have a photograph, a story or anecdote that you would like to share with us? Perhaps you would like to send a message of good will. Please get in touch so that your memories, stories or well- wishes can be included. Finally, I strongly recommend you check out our website and head to the Collections page where you can see the results of the “Put A Name To The Face” project and there are also fantastic photographs, links and interesting facts to be found on our Facebook page. Meghan, Tom and manager, Sheila Munro Morag Ross Bremner Anne Weckman and her family arrived in to see us on the same day. Her ancestor was William Ross, son of Hugh (1598 - 1648). Anne’s research told her that William was the eldest son and had travelled to Stockholm in 1617. He moved to Turku in Finland about 1628 and then to Vaasa about 1630. We realised that this was the same William who is claimed by many hundreds of Finns as their ancestor; see our June 2014 newsletter: http://www.tainmuseum.org.uk/userfiles/file/clan_ross /Newsletter-June-2014.pdf. Tain Through Time Tain & District Museum and Clan Ross Centre Tower Street, Tain, Anne with her family standing in front of IV19 1DY www.tainmuseum.org.uk St Duthus Collegiate Church having discovered the existence of many new E: [email protected] cousins in Finland. P: 01862894089 1 Tain & District Museum Volunteers November 2017 Vol 4 Issue 1 Volunteers and Friends who attended the recent Kirkmichael Project presentation by Jim Mackay A message from Chairperson Elizabeth Fraser Looking back at this year, and as this newsletter demonstrates, it is clear that for a small Highland museum facing huge financial pressures we have managed to achieve much and serve our community well. New volunteers have joined old stalwarts to help greet visitors and make their experience a happy one as well as continue with the perpetual task of caring for the collection. Our staff and volunteers have offered talks and tours of the museum to local community and school groups as well as find ways to fund the continuing existence of the museum. We would like to thank all our visitors who, by buying an entry ticket, help us look after this wonderful and special collection. We are most grateful for the support of members of Clan Ross from home and across the world and acknowledge the continuing support of our local community. We will be selling calendars and Christmas cards at local craft fairs in the Duthac Centre, Parish Church Hall and at Balblair over the next few weeks and hope to see you at one of these events. Life in the Farmhouse in the 1940’s Elizabeth Mackay was interviewed by her daughter who shares Elizabeth’s memories of life in a local farmhouse during the 1940s with us. Elizabeth Airlie had no choice but to leave school at 14 despite being an excellent pupil. Farm workers families were generally large – there was no money to pay for further education. Elizabeth went to work at the farmhouse at Millcraig House near Alness for the owner Mr Andrew Ross and his sister Miss Joan. Elizabeth rose at 6.30 a.m. to light the range before breakfast. The day was spent cleaning the house – sweeping carpets, scrubbing the kitchen and dairy floors, looking after the ducks and hens, waiting on table and washing up and helping the farmer’s sister, Miss Joan, to do the washing and make butter, The maid had her meals in the kitchen while the farmer’s family took theirs in the dining room. After the evening washing up was finished Elizabeth was allowed one hour free time before going back to put the hens and geese in for the night, turn the beds down, and put water into bedrooms to drink. She was then allowed another hour off but had to be back by 10pm. She finished at half past two in the afternoon on two days of the week and went home to visit her family but returned at night ready for her duties the next morning. Wages were 30 shillings (£1.50) per month. Kirkmichael Project November 2017 Vol 4 Issue 1 Medieval Kirkmichael, by Udale Bay on the north side of the Black Isle, is now open every day nine to five. A year ago it was a derelict, dangerous ruin, but it has been transformed into a heritage gem by community charity, the Kirkmichael Trust. It achieved not one but two “Highly Commended” awards at the 2017 Scottish Heritage Angel Awards in Edinburgh. The chancel was built in the early 1400s and converted to a mausoleum after the Reformation in 1560, and it contains some marvellous memorials, including a beautiful and rare “doorway” memorial of the Urquharts of Braelangwell. The nave, converted into a mausoleum about 1800, now houses an extraordinary collection of ornate medieval gravestones of national significance. Balancing these pre-Reformation decorative stones is a fine example of the later protestant “symbol of mortality” gravestones of the 1700s. And outside in the kirkyard are the unusual mausolea of the Grants of Ardoch and Lady Ardoch, both painstakingly restored and rescued from dereliction. A guide to Kirkmichael, and guides to gravestones and burial practice in the Highlands, are available in paper form on site, and are downloadable from the Trust’s website www.kirkmichael.info, itself a massive local history and family history resource. Its lively Facebook page www.facebook.com/kirkmichaeltrust carries the most uptodate news about activities involving Kirkmichael. On site, attractive information boards are located unobtrusively, providing information when the visitor wants it but out of sight unless sought for. The buildings themselves are a delight to view, and are both a Scheduled Monument and Listed Building. In its beautiful location by the shore of the Cromarty Firth, Kirkmichael is truly a heritage site worth visiting. Text by Jim Mackay 3 Photographs by Andrew Dowsett News from Australia November 2017 Vol 4 Issue 1 Rita Bradd has been kind enough to send us news about Des Ross, Commander of Clan Ross in Australia, on the occasion of the arrival of his Pipe Banner dedicated to clipper ship “City of Adelaide”. Dear Editor Des is the highly esteemed Honorary Piper for the world-renowned iconic historic vessel built in 1864 to bring migrants to South Australia. Port Adelaide has the enormous good fortune and honour to have the ship, won in 2013 through the long-term dedication and efforts of a group of South Australian individuals known Virginia Ross as 'Clipper Ship City of Adelaide Ltd', over rival bidders, saving her from demolition in Scotland. In February of this year (2017) people gathered at the ship to admire the stunning new Pipe Banner designed to adorn Des’s pipes. Des proceeded to delight us with several tunes. He is flanked in the photograph above by Julia Whittle (in black), great-great Granddaughter of Scots born David Bruce, first Master, co-commissioner and quarter-owner of City of Adelaide, and on the right by myself, Rita Bradd, author. I have been involved with the clipper ship, also known as Carrick, former RNVR clubhouse in Glasgow and latterly at the Scottish Maritime Museum at Irvine, Ayrshire, since 2011. The ship was removed from Scotland in September 2013, renamed at Greenwich by The Duke of Edinburgh, fumigated and shrink-wrapped in Rotterdam, then loaded onto a heavy-lift ship as deck cargo. I joined the ship and accompanied “City of Adelaide” over 22,000 km from Rotterdam, via Norfolk, Virginia, USA; Cape Town South Africa and Port Hedland, NW Australia. I first met Des Ross when we arrived in Port Adelaide on 3 February 2014.