Some past articles

Some Graveyards around Lochcarron

Actually there are two Locharron Graveyards, separated by a stream, east of the village. The old graveyard surrounds the ruin of a church built in 1751, probably on the site of an earlier structure and known as the "long church"in comparison to the previous church building. The church in the new graveyard known as the East Church and built in 1836 replaced it. It is no longer in regular use except for funerals, when it is used by all denominations.

Kishorn Graveyard is not visible from the road, but it is past Kishorn village, you will see a wall surrounding the ruins of Courthil House and it is beyond there. The old graveyard is behind the new graveyard. In the middle of the old graveyard is what is believed to be the foundation of St.
Donan's Chapel. This may be the oldest graveyard in the
area as St. Donan came to this area one hundred years
before St. Maelrubha.

Applecross Graveyard is where St. Maelrubha founded his monastery in 673 A.D. An area of six square miles around was a sanctuary, thus the Gaelic name for Applecross - A Chomraich. St. Maelrubha travelled widely until his death and burial here in 722 A.D. The Church, now seldom used except for funerals, was built in 1817 during the time of Rev. John MacQueen. He too lies buried here. Fragments of carved stones from the graveyard are in the Church for safe keeping.

Annat Graveyard is just past Annat village. The foundations of an ancient building were discovered here and are probably another site of worship. Nearby there was a
well credited with miraculous healing properties. Nowadays,
people seem to prefer the powers of modern medicine and
it has fallen into disuse.

It is believed that these graveyards have been in constant use since the coming of the Saints and perhaps, much longer, as the Saints would have established them-selves in centers of population, wisely adapting local customs to suit Christianity.

Nowadays, there are official gravediggers, but until recent times it was the custom that the relatives of the deceased dug the graves, or arrange for this to be done. Each family knew their own plot and a glance around an old graveyard will show unnamed "marker stones" which were known to the families concerned. Gravestones with names and dates are only about 250 years old, and belong to the better-off members of society.

Since legislation was passed forbidding further interments in the old graveyards, these have had to be extended, some several times. An occasional funeral has taken place in old graveyards when perhaps the last surviving member of a family has died, usually at a great age, but it is possible that these folks are now all gone...

Strangely, there is not graveyard at Shieldaig, though when the site of the modern housing scheme was excavated, remains of a prehistoric burial site were found. Most Shieldaig people are buried in Annat.

Generation after generation lie in these sacred plots which are situated at the head of sea lochs and enclosed by stone walls, looking across the water to the hills beyond.

Wife 1. Elizabeth Vaughn Abt. 1767 in Guilford (Now
Rockingham) Co., NC. She was born 1749 in Rock. Co.
NC, and died Abt 1796 in Rockingham Co., NC. She was
buried in Rockingham Co., NC.
Children of Drury Smith and Elizabeth Vaughn are:
Phoebe, William, Benjamin Frank, Daniel, Johnson,
Drury,*Sarah "Sallie", Martha "Patsey", Thomas Martin,
Mary Ann, Susannah, and Elizabeth "Betsey".
Wife 2. Eleanor Grogan, 10 Jun 1797 in Stokes Co, NC.
She was born 1750 in Kings Co., Ireland.
Children of Drury Smith and Eleanor Grogan are:
Edwin, Nancy, John, and Richard.

Frank Smith b.1750, married Annie Grogan.
They also had a son named Drury, b. 1786, whose wife is
unnamed, but he had son Edd Smith, who married
Manerva Boley Jack, and they had sonWilliam Dairy
Smith, who married Kate Scott and they had son William
Jennings Smith who married Helen Marie Holt and they
are the parents of Dr. William (Bill) Smith.

If anyone sees anything that looks familiar in
these names, please contact us and we will pass your mes-
sage on to Dr. Smith.

Congratulations Jay and family on the marriage and on the birth of Lillian Renee! Also, welcome back home to Joe!

Spring Edition 2007: The 2006 Annual Meeting Report

Congratulations Jay and family on the marriage and on the birth of Lillian Renee! Also, welcome back home to Joe!

Lochcarron Smithy Heritage Centre

When Debbie and Mike Clark were in Scotland they
visited this wonderful old smithy and forge. Such a place as
this was an integral part of the life of a blacksmith long ago.
This particular smithy as built about 1820 and used for
farrier and agricultural work until the 1950s. This old
smithy was acquired in 1992 as a centre for local history.

The Lochcarron Smithy heritage Centre has been
copying and collecting old photographs and documents since 1900, when they held their first Exhibitions on 'The Way of Life' and 'Shinty in Lochcarron', under their then name of 'the Smithy Trust'. They have received much support over the years since then for this endeavor and they have beevery grateful to the many people who have contributed to their permanent collection. They publish a fascinating booklet called "Bygone Years." Debbie and Mike brought us back a copy and we wish that all of you could see the many interesting pictures and captions included in the book. You can write to the Lochcarron Smithy Heritage Centre at New Kelso, Strathcarron,
IV54 8YS.

Another part of the Lochcarron Smithy centre is the Kishorn Mines, which include four mines - two copper,
though one non-productive, and two iron, all occur in the
Durness Limestone (Ordovician in age - 490 million years
old) which outcrops in the Kishorn area. Unfortunately
there are no known records as to the yields of any of the
mines, or where the ore was taken for smelting or for what
it may have been used. All four mines seem to have been
fairly low key and short lived operations for one reason or
another.

The Rassal Copper mine was being mined before 1762 and is said to have had copper of the best quality of any found in Britain. It was probably exhausted by the mid-19th century. Small amounts of Malachite and Brochantite can also be found in that area.

The Lower Sanachan Copper Mine seems to have begun around 1903 and lasted until at least 1907, but the main lode was never found and the shaft was finally abandoned.

The Tornapress Iron Mine is the third mine in the area. Six men worked underground and brought up several hundred tons of iron ore. The method used to transport it was that after it was brought up it would be left in a pile by the stream at the bottom of the gorge prior to being winced up out of the gorge with a pulley and bucket system lowered down from the rim. From there it would have been taken away by horse and cart. One time the entire pile was washed away by a flash food before it could be uplifted, and
as a result of this and the irregular nature of the veins,
mining stopped in this mine in 1914 and was never resumed.

The fourth mine was the Upper Sanachan Iron Mine, which
was in operation at the same time as Tornapress and was probably run by the same company.

The archaeology of Lochcarron shows that people have inhabited the area since at least as far back as around
7500 BC, when a few amall groups of hunter gatherers
were moving up and down the coast and the islands. By
4000 to 2200 BC the first farmers arrived by sea from the
south.

Special Scottish Tour Article!