History of Glenbuchat
- Chronological List of Events
rev 30 April 2008
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1438 |
The first mention of Haltoun de Glenbuchart was in the national accounts of revenue from the Earldom of Mar, of which Glenbuchat was a small part. |
1455 |
Belnaboth appears in the same accounts. |
1472 |
The independent Parish of Glenbuchat established by the Catholic Church. |
1549 |
The Catholic church conveyed the estate of Glenbuchat to Alexander Thommulson and his wife Helen Carlile. |
1582 |
Thommulson sold the lands to John Gordon and his wife Helen Carnegy. |
1590 |
The Gordons built the castle at the mouth of the Glen. |
1600 |
Birth of future Charles I, son of James V1 of Scotland. |
1603 |
Death of Queen Elizabeth of England. Union of the Crowns between Scotland and England. James VI of Scotland and I of England and Ireland, son of Mary Queen of Scots, proclaimed King. |
1606 |
Power of Bishops in the Kirk (Presbyterian) established. |
1625 |
Death of James VI of Scotland and I of England. His son, Charles I, proclaimed King. |
1629-40 |
Dissolution of Parliament, in March 1629, by Charles I. Charles I (b.1600, d.1649) rules England without a Parliament until 1640. |
1638 |
The National Covenant. Additions condemning recent innovations. The King's Commissioner defied at the General Assembly at Glasgow. General Assembly deposes bishops and condemns liturgy and other innovations. |
1639 |
First Bishops's War. English army on border and Scots army at Duns Law. Charles I agrees to ratify the Assembly's acts and allow future Assemblies to govern the Kirk. Scots Parliament meets and is prorogued. |
1640 |
Second Bishops' War. Scots occupy Newcastle. Charles I agrees to revolutionary laws giving supreme power to parliament, restoring Presbyterianism. Makes the Covenant compulsory. (The Long Parliament meets in England). |
1643 |
The Solemn League and Covenant signed and accepted by Scottish and English Parliaments. |
1644 |
Battle of Marston Moor - Scots and Parliamentary army defeat Prince Rupert of the Palatinate, in July. |
1646 |
Charles I captured by English Army in January. King Charles I escapes at Neward to the Scots in April. |
1647 |
The Engagement. Signed by the King at Carisbrooke in December. This was an agreement with Scots Commissioners to confirm Presbyterianism in Scotland and give it a three-year trial in England in return for restoration. |
1648 |
The Engagement causes a political split in Scotland. |
1648 |
Outbreak of second Civil War in England. |
1649 |
"Execution" of Charles I in London on 30th January. Charles II (b.1630 d.1685) proclaimed King of Scots in February. Montrose last expedition. |
1650 |
Oliver Cromwell, in the Act of June 26th became Captain-General and Commander-in-Chief. Oliver Cromwell invades Scotland. |
1652 |
All of Scotland subdued. |
1653 |
Union with England (completed in 1657). Oliver Cromwell, becomes Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland. |
1654 |
Herein is a reproduction of Blaeu's 1654 Atlas, compiled from survey of Timothy Pont by Robert Gordon of Straloch. In this map the only places shown in Glenbuchat or Inverbuchat as it was then called, are the following:- Badenyon; Kilhalach; Balnacraig; Beltamor; all situated on the north bank of the Water of Buchat. Innerbuchat (Glenbuchat Castle) is situated on the south bank of the Water of Buchat near the confluence of the Water of Buchat and River Don. Kirktoun is the only farm shown on the south side of the Water of Buchat. It is interesting that in 1654, "Glenbuchat" as we now know it, was included in an area (which is outlined on the map) called "Strathdon". |
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(Courtesy of Bettina McConchie) |
1658 |
Death of Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector on 3rd September. (Oliver Cromwell was born 25 April, 1599 son of Robert Cromwell of Huntingdon and his wife, Elizabeth Stewart). |
1660 |
Restoration of Charles II to the throne. |
1661 |
Restoration of Parliament. |
1665 |
Great plague in London. |
1666 |
Fire of London. Covenanters march on Edinburgh and are defeated at Rullion Green. |
1678 |
The Highland Host plunders the west of Scotland. |
1685 | Death of Charles II. James VII of Scotland and II of England brother of Charles II becomes King. |
1686 |
Toleration of Roman Catholics proposed and refused by Parliament. |
1687 |
Third Indulgence. Complete freedom of worship for Covenanters and Catholics. |
1688 |
Birth of a son, James Edward, (the future "Old Pretender") in June, to King James VII of Scotland and II of England. In November, William, Prince of Orange, husband of King James' elder daughter Mary, invades England on the invitation of politicians. King James is deserted and escapes to France in December. |
1689 |
James VII of Scotland and II of England deposed. William of Orange and his wife Mary elected King and Queen of England in February. William II and Mary II elected King and Queen of Scots in April. (During his reign, William II never visited Scotland nor was he crowned in Scotland). John Graham of Claverhouse, Viscount Dundee, initiates an Uprising for deposed King James. (Jacobite Army). Battle of Killiecrankie - victory to Jacobite army but death of John Graham. Battle of Dunkeld - Jacobite army beaten by Cameronian Regiment. Collapse of the Uprising. |
1690 |
Presbyterianism re-established and recognised as the established Church of Scotland and all Ministers had to subscribe to the Westminster Confession of Faith as "the standard of their faith". Power of excommunication is limited. In Ireland, deposed King James attempts of hold Ireland at the Battle of the Boyne. |
1692 |
Massacre of Glencoe on 13 February 1692. All Clan Chieftains were required to sign by 1 January 1692, an oath of allegience to King William and Queen Mary. The failure of Macdonald who resided in Glencoe, to sign the oath by the required date, ended in the slaughter of forty Macdonald people by Jacobite soldiers who were largely members of the Campbell Clan. |
1693 |
The Poll Tax in Scotland, first imposed in May to pay arrears due to the country and the army. |
1695 |
Bank of Scotland founded. |
1695-96 |
Act of Parliament anent Pole-Money dated 25 June 1695, to increase the army and navy. The "List of Pollable Persons within the Shire of Aberdeen, 1696" in one of the few remaining records of the Pole-Money Tax. in the Pollable Persons of 1696 as found in the Book of Glenbuchat, pages 141-146, the list of farms in Parish of Glenbuchat are as follows:- Cottertoune; Badenyon; Dulaks; Nethertoune; Crofts; Uppertoune; Torrentoule; Belnacraige; Beltom; Tombreck; Belnaboth; Beltimor; Miltoun of Glenbuchet; Backhillock. |
1696 |
Education Act passed in Scotland. Act for establishing Parish schools. |
1699 |
In the
"Lists of Heritors who have Given Bond for Peaceable Behaviour of their
Men" dated 1699 there are few names listed, considering the long lists in
the Pol. Pers. of 1696. "The List of Heritors" has under "John Gordon of
Knockespock his men in Glenbuchet" the following: |
1700 |
The estate was bought by a second branch of the Gordons. The famous Jacobite leader John Gordon was the last of the Gordon Lairds of Glenbucket. |
1715 |
The first Jacobite Uprising in support of the return of the Catholic James III |
1736 |
John Gordon sold to William Duff of Braco. At that time there were 450 inhabitants in the Glen. The Duff family became the Dukes of Fife. For the next 150 years the Fifes were to neglect the agricultural aspects of the Glen, spending a minimum on the farms and crofts. They were primarily interested in the revenue from shooting. |
1745 |
The second Jacobite Rebellion known as "The Forty-Five" began in July 1745 and ended on April 16 1746 at the Battle of Culloden. Laird Gordon of Glenbucket was one of the main generals for the Jacobite cause. |
1840 |
A hunting lodge was built at the top of the Glen. |
1883 |
Henry Burra purchased the estate from the Duff family. |
1901 |
When James W. Barclay purchased the estate in 1901 he was appalled by the condition of the farm properties. He wrote ---only a few dwellings were slated thee rest were thatched and mostly in a condition more or less unfit for human habitation. The housing of the livestock was correspondingly bad. On many farms the land was in the lowest stage of cultivation, with the outlying fields no longer ploughed but lying as pasture without grass. By that time the population had declined to 401. Barclay began to make improvements based on his experience as an improving tenant of a 300 acre farm in the North-East. |
1906 |
In the Book of Glenbuchat (p43) James Barclay (laird) writes in 1906: "Up to the middle of the nineteenth century people lived for the most part in clachans, irregular groups of ten to twenty "Fire-houses," that sheltered, very indifferently, as many families, usually related. The houses were set down anyhow in a group, and were built partly of stone with lime and clay and having thatched roofs. . . . The principal clachans were Easter Buchat, Beltamore, Belnacraig, Belnaboth, Upperton, Peatfold and Badenyon, but they are rapidly disappearing, being replaced by houses erected by the new laird, who has already built or reconstructed over twenty. By that year twenty dwellings and twelve steadings had been built new or reconstructed, one in Upperton. Others were proceeding as fast as the local tradesmen could carry out the work. |
1907 |
Barclay died that winter, but his daughter Florence and her husband Col. James Milne carried on the improvements. |
1927 |
Florence died in 1927 by which time the economic slump was causing desperate times on the farms and crofts of the glen and the population had declined to 225. The most vulnerable were the small farmers on the higher, marginal land such as Upperton. These were gradually abandoned, their cottages became ruinous and the fields became pasture for the larger farms lower down the Glen. |
1939 |
Col. Milne died in 1939. His daughter, Mrs. Soles, inherited the estate and started selling off some of the cottages. The estate was short of money and she was interested only in the shooting (grouse and deer) which brought in some small income. |
1940's |
The only large clachan by late 1940s on was Craigton (the Crag). The shop and shop-house and two cottages sat beside the Free Kirk and Manse, going up the brae there were 7(8?) cottages, a croft and a farm. At Milton, where there was only one house consisting of an older part (with a "chaumer" above for for single Ag Labs) and a newer part. Some of the farms had "cottar" houses for married Ag Labs and I think Easter Buchat had an outside "chaumer" and some cottages. |
2000 |
There was only one fully operational year round farm in the Glen. The rest of the inhabitants were using their properties on a casual basis. |
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