Tales of Home [1]

they've dressed up for the occasion..- Norc


Yes, but I think they have proved that bowties are in fact not always cool!

bow ties are always cool

so where were you when that photo was taken Petty?

Norc wrote:bow ties are always cool

Clearly haven't seen me in one then!

no, that would probably be awesome.

No.... no it isn't.

A friend sent me a link to a historical document about my home town that I thought I would share at its history is fairly eventful.

This is from Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland
(1882-4)

Dunoon, a favourite watering-place and a parish of Cowal district, Argyllshire.

Old Dunoon arose beneath the shadow of an ancient castle, which, crowning a small rocky headland between the East and West Bays, is supposed by some antiquaries to have been founded by dim Dalriadic chieftains in the early years of the 6th century, and later to have been held by Scandinavian rovers.

However that may be, from the reign of Malcolm Ceannmor (1058-93) this castle was the seat of the Lord High Stewards of Scotland, on the accession of the sixth of whom, Robert, to the throne in 1370, it became a royal palace, under the hereditary keepership of the Campbells of Lochow, ancestors of the Duke of Argyll.


By royal charter of 1472 Colin, Earl of Argyll, Lorne, and Campbell, obtained for himself certain lands around the Castle of Dunoon, which in 1544 was besieged and taken by Lennox, the would be regent, and on 26 July 1563 received a visit from Mary Queen of Scots.

In 1646 it was the scene of a cruel atrocity wrought by the Campbells on the Lamonts of Cowal and Bute, thirty-six of whom were most traitorously carried from the houses of Escog and Castle Toward to the village of Dunoon, and there were hanged on an ash-tree at the kirkyard.

'Insomuch that the Lord from heaven did declare his wrath and displeasure by striking the said tree immediately thereafter, so that the whole leaves fell from it,and the tree withered, which being cut down there sprang out of the very heart of the root thereof a spring like unto blood, popling up, and that for several years, till the said murderers or their favourers did cause howk out the root. '

The place the tree was- (I couldnt find a decent picture- but see that trianlge of green in midground- follow to the left of the picture where it ends and there is a half circle of the darker path, the other half being off the picture- the tree was in the middle of that circle)




Henceforward the castle, which seems to have covered an acre of ground, and to have had three towers, was left to utter neglect, its stones abstracted for neighbouring cottages, so that now its bare outline can hardly be traced, though the greensward of course is imagined to cover a perfect labyrinth of vaults.

Where the original castle once stood- Castle Hill-


Hard by, on the site now occupied by the parish church, stood the castle chapel-a nunnery in popular belief; and also near were the butts or cuspars, the gallows' hill, and a moat-hill (Gael. Tom-a-mhoid*).

Parish Church today-



As the castle decayed, so too decayed the village of Dunoon, in spite of its being the regular ferry between Cowal and Renfrewshire and an occasional resort of invalids for the benefit of drinking goat's whey.

The year 1822 found it a Highland clachan**, with a church, a manse, three or four slated cottages, and a sprinkling of thatched cottages or huts.

But in that year the late James Ewing, Esq., LL.D., purchased a feu here, and built thereon the handsome marine villa called, from the neighbouring castle, Castle House; and it was not long before others followed his lead.
Steam navigation having by this time brought Dunoon within comparatively easy reach of Glasgow.

Castle House today- (its now the registry offcice among other things- so if you get married at the registry office this is where your wedding is, better than a dingy office and not a bad backdrop for the photo album!)



Fringing the sweeping curves of East and West-or Milton and Balgay-Bays, modern Dunoon stands partly on the low platform of the Firth's old sea-margin, partly on gentle ascents, with immediate background of broken, heather-clad braes, and, beyond, of the Cowal heights.
The whole exhibits a charming indifference to town-like regularity, villas and cots being blended with gardens and trees; sea, wood, and mountain being all within easy access; and the views of the Clyde and its basin being wide as they are lovely, from the Castle Hill embracing parts of the five shires of Renfrew, Dumbarton, Ayr, Argyll, and Bute.
Good bathing-ground occurs at Balgay Bay; boats may be had for hire; and the excursions alike by land and by water comprise not a little of Scotland's fairest scenery.

The Burgh Buildings, erected in 1873-74 at a cost of £4000, are a two-storied Scottish Baronial pile, and contain the municipal offices, with a hall that, measuring 73½ by 35½ feet, can accommodate 500 persons, and is adorned with a stained-glass window.

Borough Hall today-


A fine stone edifice, Romanesque in style, and originally erected at a cost of £11,000 for a hydropathic establishment, was, thanks to Miss Beatrice Clugston of Lenzie, opened in 1869 as the West of Scotland Convalescent Sea-side Homes. Fitted with splendid baths, and accommodating 150 inmates, as enlarged by a new wing in 1880 at a cost of £8000, these Homes have hitherto (1882) been the means of restoring 19, 000 invalids to health; on 5 Aug. 1872 they were honoured with a visit by the Princess Louise and the Marquis of Lorne.

Convalscent Home




The first wooden steamboat jetty formed by a private joint stock company in 1835 proving insufficient, the present pier, with waiting-rooms and separate allotment for vehicle traffic, was built a few years ago by the late Mr Hunter of Hafton; it extends 390 feet into the water, which at its head has a depth of about 4 fathoms.

Dunnon Pier- 1800's



Dunoon pier today-



The beautiful cemetery, 2 acres in extent, contains the graves of Robert Buchanan of Ardfillayne (1785-1873), professor of logic in Glasgow University, and the late James Hunter, Esq. of Hafton (d. 1855); but atGreenock, not here at her birthplace, rests Mary Cameron, Burns's ' Highland Mary '

Statue to Highland Mary, looking across the Clyde for her Rabbie (probably wanted a wee word in his ear, he's a bit of the player was Rabbie)-




Clay slate, greenish, greyish, or bluish in hue, sometimes finely laminated and firmly grained, is a predominant rock, and has been quarried for roofing purposes on Toward estate and near the town of Dunoon.

Highly indurated mica slate, traversed by veins of compact quartz and contorted into every variety of curve, is still more prevalent, forming by far the greater portion of the ancient parish of Dunoon, and passing into clay slate in the southern part of Kilmun Hill.

Slate Quarry- still in use-




Silurian rock, course-grained and merging out of junction with clay slate, occurs at Strone Point and Toward; whilst Old Red sandstone skirts the shore from Inellan to within about a mile of Toward Castle, and has been quarried, at different periods, for building purposes.

Limestone, in small quantity and here and there of quality akin to marble, occurs contiguous to the Old Red sandstone, which near Toward Point is traversed by dykes of trap; and serpentine, taking a high polish, is fairly plentiful on the coast near Inellan.

The soils are generally light and shallow, consisting chiefly of humus, sandy gravel, or sandy loam. Great agricultural improvements have lately been effected, especially on the Benmore estate, where and at Castle Toward hundreds of acres have been planted with millions of trees.

On Ardnadam farm is a cromlech***; ancient stone coffins have been found in various places; an artificial mound, 90 by 73 feet, and 10 feet high, on Ardinslat farm, is supposed to have been formed by the Romans; and Kilmun has interesting ecclesiastical antiquities.

Pop. (1801) 1750, (1831) 2416, (1841) 4211, (1861) 5461, (1871) 6871, (1881) 8003

This pic has no real relevance save I thought Mrs Figg would like it, it has bustles in it.





*Tom-aMhoid Road is the name of the street that covers that area today.
** a clachan is a very traditinnal style of small settlement common in Scotland and Ireland. Usually buidings were long and low and often thatched.
*** cromelch- a neolithic burial chamber- I put a pic of the one in question on here a bit back.



So anyone else got a home town history to share?

So anyone else got a home town history to share?

I've got a lot of history, but I don't have a home town. It's 20 minutes north to the nearest town with a mayor (and 1 stoplight) and 35 minutes south to the next nearest town with a mayor (and 4 stoplights).

I just heard the the New York City Police Department has 35,000 officers. That's almost double the entire population of our whole county of 1,224 square miles!

I'd love to hear some more of your local history, Dave. What you've posted before has all been very interesting.

I just heard the the New York City Police Department has 35,000 officers. That's almost double the entire population of our whole county of 1,224 square miles!

It boggles the mind just how big NYC is. I believe the NYPD has more employees than the FBI, actually.

http://gothamist.com/2011/09/26/ray_kelly_nypd_will_take_down_plane.php

Pelley: Are you satisfied that you've dealt with threats from aircraft, even light planes, model planes, that kind of thing?
Kelly: Well, it's something that's on our radar screen. I mean in an extreme situation, you would have some means to take down a plane.
Pelley: Do you mean to say that the NYPD has the means to take down an aircraft?
Kelly: Yes, I prefer not to get into the details but obviously this would be in a very extreme situation.
Pelley: You have the equipment and the training.
Kelly: Yes.

I.m from Doncaster in t north of England and its apparently the 3rd worst town to live in. I miss it (sometimes)

From this


To this


This is a 5 min drive from our house

Brings back memories

That's a gorgeous beach, Chris! Sometimes I regret living half a day's drive away from the ocean, but then I remember that I could be living in Iowa.

If i stand on my wifes shoulders i can see the sea from my house

Its not all white sand and blue sea thou

...good thing I wasn't planning on sleeping tonight anyway.

Thats just a baby

I've been giving some thought to how I'd tell the history of this area. It's going to have to come in little pieces or I'll never write anything. I've had family living on this stretch of beach for about 125 years. 30 mile south of here, the Columbia River enters the Pacific after a journey of 1200 miles. For thousands of years this has been a major trading route, as it is to this day.

10 miles north of here the Chehalis River drains into the Pacific as well from headwaters that are only a few miles walk from Puget Sound near Olympia Washington (home of Beck). These two water trade routes made this stretch of beach a very prosperous highway for thousands of years, but when railroads and highways came in in the mid 20th century we became somewhat forgotten. Not a bad thing really.

The Chinook Peoples were a major trading culture who controlled the mouth of the Columbia River. They're still very much present here, and I consider many of them friends and neighbors. Some are still able to speak the old language, which is complex and poetic, with a lot of clicks, ch and x sounds and very few vowels.

They have an oral history going back to the beginning of time, but I'll start this history with their story of the first European ship which they captured. It's believed to be the Spanish galleon "San Francisco Xavier' which disappeared in 1707 while sailing from Manilla loaded with the wealth of Asia, bound for Panama. Bits of the cargo still wash up on the beaches after big storms.

This is a literal translation. It loses the poetry, but here goes:

The son of an old woman had died. She wailed for him a whole year and then she stopped. Now one day she went to Seaside. There she used to stop, and she returned. She returned walking along the beach. She nearly reached Clatsop; now she saw something. She thought it was a whale. When she came near it site saw two spruce trees standing upright on it. She thought, "Behold! it is no whale. It is a monster."

She reached the thing that lay there. Now she saw that its outer side was all covered with copper. Ropes were tied to those spruce trees and it was full of iron. Then a bear came out of it. He stood on the thing that lay there. He looked just like a bear, but his face was that of a human being. Then she went home. Now she thought of her son, and cried, saying, "Oh, my son is dead and the thing about which we heard in tales is on shore."

When she nearly reached the town she continued to cry. The people said, "Oh, a person comes crying. Perhaps somebody struck her." The people made themselves ready. They took their arrows. An old man said, "Listen!" Then the people listened. Now she said all the time, "Oh, my son is dead, and the thing about which we heard in tales is on shore." The people said,
"What may it be?" They went running to meet her. They said, "What is it?" "Ah, something lies there and it is thus. There are two bears on it, or maybe they are people."

Then the people ran. They reached the thing that lay there. Now the people, or what else they might be, held two copper kettles in their hands. Now the first one reached there. Another one arrived. Now the person's took their hands to their mouths and gave the people their kettles. They had lids. The men pointed inland and asked for water. Then two people ran inland. They hid themselves behind a log.

They returned again and ran to the beach. One man climbed up and entered the thing. He went down into the ship. He looked about in the interior of the ship; it was full of boxes. He found brass buttons in strings half a fathom long. He went out again to call his relatives, but they had already set fire to the ship. He jumped down. Those two persons had also gone down. It burnt just like fat.

Then the Clatsop gathered the iron, the copper, and the brass. Then all the people learned about it. The two persons were taken to the chief of the Clatsop. Then the chief of the one town said, "I want to keep one of the men with me." The people almost began to fight. Now one of them was taken to one town. Then the chief was satisfied. Now the Quenaiult, the Chehalis, the Cascades, the Cowlitz, and the Klickatat learned about it and they all went to Clatsop. The Quenaiult, the Chehalis, and the Willapa went. The people of all the towns went there. The Cascades, the Cowlitz, and the Klickatat came down the river. All those of the upper part of the river came down to Clatsop.

Strips of copper two fingers wide and going around the arm were exchanged for one slave each. A piece of iron as long as one-half the forearm was exchanged for one slave. A piece of brass two fingers wide was exchanged for one slave. A nail was sold for a good curried deerskin. Several nails were given for long dentalia. The people bought this and the Clatsop became rich. Then iron and brass were seen for the first time. Now they kept these two persons. One was kept by each chief; one was at the Clatsop town at the cape.

Let me know if this stuff is interesting, and if you like it I'll keep adding things from time to time.

Interesting ? Il say its interesting ! I, for one, would like to read more, In the south we are renowned for Pirates & highway men & smuggling.

I enjoyed that Dave, I love hearing about local history, lets me understand the land and the people so much better. I will happily read more.


In the south we are renowned for Pirates & highway men & smuggling. - Azriel

Are you in Morris Dancing Terrority Azriel?

{{{Damn dangerous activity, you can get a right groining if your not careful so I hear, and as for the Stick-an-Bucket dance, well least said the better- even we Scothobbits thinks thats excessive! }}}

aye lad, Morris men are not easily scared ! Under all that grease paint,rags,feathers & bells lurks the heart of a deadly Ninja ! PAH! we laugh in the face of a "Stick n Bucket" !

azriel wrote: In the south we are renowned for Pirates & highway men & smuggling.

Ah yes... I've heard that some of the folks down your way would put out false lights when the ships weren't coming ashore fast enough. I guess that's just good business really....

It's cool to find oral histories of the first meetings are still extant. I guess they are a bit confusing because they are in poetical form - parts of it I couldn't quite make out.

Morris dancers wearing grease paint? Must be something going on I don't know about. Is Morris dancing Celtic?

Is Morris dancing Celtic?- Halfwise

I hope not!

Oh yeah, they didnt miss a trick ! Lured many a poor ship & crew on to the rocks just to rob them blind of Tobacco & booze. I found this on good old Google......
smuggling started in the reign of Edward I, about 1300, when a customs duty was placed on the export of wool, which was in great demand in Europe. This was the first permanent customs system established in England, and until it was set up all trade in and out of England was free.

The initial duties started quite small, but as the Hundred Years War progressed, so the tax went up, to help pay for the troops and fighting.

Initially the Customs Service was only there to collect the duties at the ports, and not to prevent smuggling. Chichester was the only port in Sussex where importing and exporting goods was allowed. However the merchants of our area found it easier to land the goods in the local Cinque Ports where there were few Customs Officials.

In 1357 a court was held in Rye to try a number of merchants who were smuggling goods through the port of Pevensey.

In 1614, the export of any wool was made illegal, and so the volumes being exported increased the smuggling of wool was known as Owling (After the owl like noises made by the smugglers to communicate with each other). As time went on and the smuggling became more profitable, so the smugglers were able to bribe more of the port officials, which in turn allowed more smuggling.

In 1661 the illegal exporting of wool was made punishable by the death sentence, this meant that the smugglers started to arm themselves, and the only way they could be stopped was by the army.

Before 1671 the collection of Customs Duties was generally let out to private individuals. During 1671 Charles II created the the Board of Customs.

The Romney Marshes became the centre of smuggling and the records show that in the 1670's 20,000 packs of wool were sent to Calais annually. The smugglers were now building fast and armed ships to carry out their nocturnal runs.

During the 1680's the Revenue Officers were provided with Customs sloops to enable them to patrol the coasts, and catch the smugglers.

In 1698 the government decided to take action. An Act was passed stopping people within 15 miles of the sea from buying any wool, unless they guaranteed that they wouldn't sell it to anyone within 15 miles of the sea. Also any farmers within 10 miles of the sea had to account for their fleeces within 3 days of shearing. A further change was the introduction of a number of officials who were paid to prevent smuggling. The initial effect of these officers was to limit the smuggling of wool which they had sent into serious decline by 1703, but the officials became corrupt, and smuggling returned.

In 1714, the local records show that the majority of the population within the area was involved with smuggling. The main wool smugglers ( owlers ) from 1710 in the area were the Mayfield Gang , but they were stopped by their leader being arrested in 1721. By 1724, the number of wool smuggling runs was reducing , as the French could get wool from Ireland for about the same price, but with less problems.

The 1730's brought the major smugglers into the area , 1733 the Groombridge Gang started smuggling tea and brandy through the Ashdown Forest .

Between 1735 and 1749 the area was terrorised by the Hawkhurst Gang , who controlled the smuggling in a large part of the south coast. Originally known as the Holkhourst Genge, they were based in the Oak and Ivy Inn in the village of Hawkhurst on the Kent border. They roamed from Herne Bay to Poole in Dorset, but they frequented the Mermaid Inn in Rye, where they "would sit and drink with loaded pistols on the table". A further reference to the gang was in 1740, at Silver Hill in Robertsbridge where Thomas Carswell (a customs officer) was shot and killed while trying to apprehend some of the smugglers. One of the guilty smugglers George Chapman was gibbetted on the Village Green in the village of Hurst Green .

In 1784 the duty on tea and French wines was reduced by the government, removing the incentive to smuggle these items, but those for spirits and tobacco still remained.

The Napoleonic Wars 1797 - 1815 saw a number of increases in duty to try to pay for the War,
but this along with the decline in the local iron industry provided more reasons and better incentives to smuggle.

The Aldington Gang probably formed by soldiers returning from the Napoleonic Wars survived until 1827 when their leaders were found guilty and transported.

In 1831 the Coastguard took over the coastal policing, and from 1832-33 a number of violent events occured, culminating with a fight at Pevensey in 1833, which seemed to be the end of the smuggling in this area.

Good stuff Azriel.

You know I first heard about 'wreckers' in Five go to Smugglers Top- horray for Enid Blyton!