Echoes 26  2020

You can download the complete edition as a .pdf file Here. It is about 16 megabytes in size.

Or you can download the individual articles listed below:

Sir Alexander Ogston  – Lindsay Mair takes a look at the life of this outstanding surgeon who built Glendavan House

Ogston’s Antiquities in the Howe of Cromar –  An insight into how Ogston carried out his field surveys revealed by Peter Craig

Cromar in 1654  – Jim Forbes has to translate Latin to see what Robert Gordon had to say about Cromar in 1654

Selling Cromar: 1884-1897 – Simon Welfare unravels the story behind the change from tenancies to ownership in Tarland

NNew Clubhouse Opened by Lady MacRobert  – Newspaper reports on the opening of the ‘Clubbie’ and the closure of a school outdoor centre

Dorothy Delius Allan MacLeish (née Black) 1890 – 1977 – Part One  – Andrew Wilson reflects on the fascinating life of a best-selling author who lived at Coull

The Stone Boundary Markers of Meikle Tom and Green Hill –  David Currie and Gillian Needham investigate some overlooked local boundary markers

From Oldmill Poorhouse to Woodend Hospital  – An unexpected spell in hospital stimulates Joyce Marchant to investigate its history

Sir William MacGregor: from Crofter to Colonial Governor  – Veronica Ross tells the story of a local crofter’s son who made his mark around the world

Mary Bella Esson (1888 – 1970) Part One  – Peter Craig tells the first part of the life story of a brave VAD nurse brought up in Tarland

Jake Broere (1946 – 2020)  – Jake was a greatly respected friend of the Cromar History Group

Building Bridges  – A newspaper advert from 1821 raises some questions still to be answered

John Strachan and William Fletcher – Ron Fletcher shares his researches into two restless Scots pioneers in Canada

There’s No Place Like Home!  – Some reflections by Mildred Coutts on how happy she was – last year

“A Prettey Little Countrey”   – Jim Forbes tackles the complex history of the boundaries of Cromar and its parishes

Air Crash on Morven, 1943  – A forgotten wartime air accident remembered by Sandy Mellis

Selected Extracts from ‘The Earlier Antiquities of the District of Cromar’   – One of the earliest archaeological descriptions of the local area written by John Stuart in 1852

The Thunderbolt Carline / Cailleach-Beathrach –   Sheena Blackhall’s poem on the traditional explanation of the origins of the Slochs o’ Carvie

More Proctor Clocks  – An update on Dorothy Reid’s 2002 article that sparked great interest in these clocks

Tarland Church Bells  – Some details of our local church bells extracted from a rare publication

Auld Slorachs   – A great traditional tale by Stanley Robertson from the 2013 book ‘Aberdeenshire Folk Tales’

Rodolphe Christen   – Some references to local history from a book about an artist who found peace on Deeside

Mystery of the Lady in the Well – Another tale remembered from his childhood by Sandy Mellis

Pitline and other Pictish names in the Howe of Cromar – Lindsay Mair finds some local place names that date back to Pictish times

Tales of the Superstitious from Cushnie  – Stories from a 1914 article by David Rorie reveal the extent of local superstious beliefs

Bogmore – and a tantalising reference  – Footnotes in a 1923 paper by W D Simpson set your editor off on another false trail

An ExpandingSchool – Some key moments in the development of Tarland School as reported in local newspapers

Smuggling Times in the Braes of Cromar – follow-up – Two ‘brew-houses’ described in last year’s article are located and photographed

Ness McConachie BEM (1925 – 2020)  – The story of how Ness first became an ROC Observer – and remained one for 48 years

Tarland, The Village – This poem by Robert L. Fyfe makes some interesting references