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History
History Focus
The 1953 Storm
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by Douglas Craig
Since joining the Ballater Local History Group a frequent topic with photographs has been the Great Storm of January 1, 1953. It would appear that the younger members, i.e. under 75 years, have little knowledge of that momentous event. As I was out and about in that storm for the whole of that day I feel qualified to enlarge on the subject. That Saturday morning, as a fourteen year old schoolboy I was the delivery boy for Leith’s bakery. My mode of transport was the unique double message bike with a basket on each of the front and back. Having finished the village deliveries by mid morning, my next task was to deliver the bread to the Craigendarroch Hotel, and by this time the wind had really turned into a full force gale. Having dropped off their order, I then had the joy of swooping down the brae, a mite easier than the upward trek, but, on descending Station Brae into the square I was caught side on by a massive gust barrelling up the Dee valley. I crashed into the wall of Rezins shop (A B Yules). I was unhurt, as was the sturdy bike, but the two panniers took off up Viewfield Road. One was recovered 38 at the foot of Abergeldie Road and the other a few weeks later at the far side of the golf course. On returning to the shop, Winnie Leith decided it was too dangerous to send me out, so Dod Leith and I carried on in his car, but with trees crashing down and live electric cables buzzing on the ground, that had to be abandoned. After lunch, my older brother Ian, who had a temporary job with Addison’s grocery shop (now the chip shop), was battling his way along Viewfield Road. At the same time a customer entered Jock Smith’s bicycle shop in the square, coinciding with a massive blast filling the shop, causing the side window to blow out and the collapse of the frontage. The sheet of plate glass from that window flew up Viewfield Road, fortunately horizontally, and connected with my brother. He was badly cut about the face and had one ear half hanging off. He returned home, but with the telephone lines down I was despatched to get the doctor. However he was out on call so I had to get the District Nurse, who lived near the location of the present medical centre. As I approached the Episcopal Church I was confronted with flying corrugated metal sheets ripping off the Legion Hut. I took refuge behind the horse trough that used to sit on that junction, until the gale eased slightly. The nurse took me back in her car and managed to stitch on my brother’s ear. Shortly afterwards word got around calling for volunteers to help retrieve the stock from Jock`s shop, and we formed a chain to the Victoria Hall, passing down what could be salvaged. I believe the collapse of the eastern end of the station occurred at the same time as the shop collapse.
Outside the village, huge swathes of mature trees were flattened locally at the foot of Craig Coillich, on the eastern and western flanks of Craigendarroch, and many of the woods of Glenmuick, Balmoral and Glentanar. It was estimated that 50 million cubic feet of blown and damaged trees occurred in the Grampian region alone. Fortunately there were no fatalities, but elsewhere along the eastern seaboard, in the Thames estuary and in the Netherlands there was massive flooding causing 2,500 deaths, and, with the sinking of the Stranraer / Larne ferry, a further 133 lives were lost. An unexpected bonus of this storm was the huge influx of timber companies tasked with clearing and milling the fallen trees before they decayed. In Ballater a firm from Widnes built a large temporary sawmill where the caravan park now stands. I think it was there for at least a couple of years and was paying ten shillings an hour, which was far in excess of the going rate. Of course most of the local lads jumped at such an opportunity, which made it quite a problem for all the other local employers who could not compete with those rates. I was too young to benefit, but the village benefited in other ways. The `backs’, i.e. the off-cuts from the milling, grew into a mountain and the Ballater folks were encouraged to cart it away for firewood. Being a true Aberdeenshire loon I could not resist such a bargain, and many a cartload I pushed up Mary Jeans Brae, but soon regretted it, as I then had to saw them up with an old blunt saw. Of course I would not begin to compare this 1953 storm with the 2015 Storm Frank, where so many folks suffered such devastation, but it was certainly the most memorable and exciting day of my young life and I hope that some of your readers may even remember the occasion. Further info and photographs can be found on www.forestry-memories.org.uk
History Focus
The Rodolphe Christen Award
by Joan Anderson
Ballater businesswoman Nicole Gildea is to present three local organisations with copies of an old school wall hanging that marks a tradition going back 114 years and is dear to the hearts of hundreds of local families and their descendants. The Rodolphe Christen prize was funded and founded by Mme Sydney Christen in 1906, intended as a lasting memorial to her late husband Rodolphe, a Swiss artist based in Glen Gairn at what is now the McEwan Gallery. For 70 years, the RC prize was awarded to between four and five Ballater pupils annually. It was unique, and many young winners used the monetary award to buy something special, ranging from jewellery to encyclopaedias to Bibles to a fishing rod and a chemistry set. Many of the older winners still have their purchases, specially treasured because the award was mostly given following votes from fellow pupils. For unknown reasons, the RC prize fizzled out, but was later revived in a different form as a cup donated by then newsagents Mr and Mrs Stephens. Today, the cup is awarded for service to the school, and pupils still have a democratic say in its recipient. Older winners of the RC prize fondly remember beautiful wall hangings containing all of the names, which graced the school walls. Thanks to Ms Gildea, one of these has been rescued, cherished, and may eventually be on view in several places (depending upon space availability) once restrictions are lifted. Nicole, who lives with her husband and daughter in Glen Gairn, where the family have run the glamping business Howe of Torbeg for 2½ years, contacted me when she found out I was recording the stories of RC alumni, including different generations of the same families in and around Ballater. She had been given the wall hanging by a friend who found it in an Aberdeen charity shop some years back. Knowing Nicole had recently moved to Ballater, the friend passed it on to her, although neither realised the significance of the find. Last year, award winning freelance
photographer Amy Muir was invited to photograph and, in some cases, frame copies of the wall hanging, so that copies can be given to Ballater School, Ballater Local History Group and the Victoria and Albert Halls, to mark the huge interest in award recipients, some of whose stories have been told, thanks to the Eagle. Amy, who normally specialises in live music and portraits, was herself an RC (modern cup version) winner in 1998 and she has provided some close ups of the more faded names so that I can continue the main heritage project. A special copy is to be presented to Elizabeth Wilson, whose relatives are on the first hanging and who, like many other Ballater folk, has given enormous help to the project. We’ve cancelled formal presentations, but all of us feel the sooner the first hanging is known about, the better chance of another one turning up. I’m still collecting names, dates and (with permission) fascinating stories of the RC awardees, while promoting better recognition for Ballater’s world-renowned geologist and discoverer, Mme Sydney Christen, who inaugurated the award and financed the early years of something unique to our school and dear to the memories of locals for over a hundred years.
History Focus
A Walk In The
Park - and a Snippet of History
by Katrina Farquhar
Rather than have a specific walk this time, I thought I would write about probably one of my favourite places for a short and easy walk. It is not only a nice place to stop for a walk, but it has the most amazing history over thousands of years. I am only giving you small snippets to whet your appetite, as there is such a vast amount to learn about a relatively small area. However, over the past year it has been incredibly busy so you have to choose your right moment to pay a visit!! The landscape of the Muir of Dinnet was shaped by retreating glaciers at the end of the last Ice Age, only about 15,000 years ago! Of course, the most popular and dramatic feature is the Vat, basically a giant pothole of pink granite, twenty five metres across, formed by glacial melt waters. Loch Kinord and Loch Davan were formed by depressions also left at the end of the last ice age. The Muir of Dinnet was declared a National Nature Reserve in 1977. Dinnet Estate owns the Reserve which is managed by NatureScot. There are four lovely way-marked walks but also lots of other paths of interest you 42 can follow. You can pick up a great leaflet detailing the walks at the visitor centre. The entire area is a site of international importance with its extensive heaths, open water and wetlands as well as woodlands. The area even has three Scheduled Ancient Monuments! Archaeological remains are found all over the Reserve and the oldest date back to around 6000BCE. From around the Stone Age times they reveal human occupancy of early farmers, wars and outlaws, decadence and worship! The earliest settlements date back to the Iron Age. To the north and west of New Kinord lie the remains of the New and Old Kinord settlements and field systems. Fifteen hut circles have been found in this area, some being fifteen metres across, and people and animals would have lived in them. Deep in the ground near the hut circles are what are thought to be collapsed underground storage rooms, and there are various banks, earthworks and sunken paths which could have been old field systems and roads. On the north shore of Loch Kinord is a 9th century CE cross slab which is carved with an intricate pattern of knotwork.
It is suggested that this marks the spot where King Malcolm’s wife Queen Margaret, later Saint Margaret, had a small chapel. At some time, the cross was lost and buried, then miraculously around 1820 found in a field near where it now stands. Castle Island on Loch Kinord is said to have been the site of a wooden ‘peel’ tower, used by King Malcolm III as a hunting lodge in the 11th century. Not far from Castle Island is what looks to be a much smaller island but is in fact a 9th century Pictish crannog. Around Loch Davan there are also archaeological remains. A medieval moated homestead, known as the Heugh, is visible on the north shore. It is thought to have been the headquarters of Andrew de Moray during the battle of Culblean in 1335, when his men defeated the Earl David of Strathbogie after he attempted to capture the royal family at Kildrummy. There is a stone at the roadside just past the Burn O’ Vat car park commemorating this battle. Into the 15th century and this is when the Earls of Huntly took ownership of the Muir of Dinnet around 1488. In 1648 the ‘peel’ tower is demolished. In this same year the notorious outlaw Gilderoy Macgregor used the Vat and gorge as a hide-out from where he went cattle rustling and sheep stealing. He escaped captivity, but was eventually caught and hanged in 1658. In 1848, Queen Victoria arrived in Deeside and visited Balmoral for the first time; this was the start of tourism in the area. This was followed by the completion of the Deeside Railway to Ballater in 1866. In 1876 diatomite was mined at Black Moss in the Muir of Dinnet and used for making dynamite, paints and pigments. In 1888 the Earls of Huntly sold Dinnet Estate to Charles Wilson, a Minister for Parliament. Only eight years later in 1896, the estate was bought by Mr J.C. BarclayHarvey, great-great-grandfather of the present owner. Into the 20th century, and in 1919 the diatomite mining ceased production. The Wall Street crash of 1929 inadvertently caused sheep prices to plummet, and by 1944, as sheep farming had become uneconomic, Dinnet Estate decided to reduce their sheep numbers dramatically. At the same time, heather burning on the moor was suspended as most of the gamekeepers were off fighting in World War II. Trees quickly grew and spread across the heath. In 1949 the Muir of Dinnet was included in a possible list of National Nature Reserves. By 1950 all sheep grazing on the muir had ceased. It wasn’t until 1971 that the Muir of Dinnet was made a Site of Special Scientific Interest. In 1977 a twenty-year agreement was in place with Dinnet Estate and the Nature Conservancy Council. The Duke of Edinburgh officially opened the Reserve in September 1977. Then in 2006 there was a new agreement, and The Duke of Rothesay opened the Reserve. The NCC has gone through various changes over the years, and is now known as NatureScot, but its mission remains the same: “NatureScot is the leading organisation in Scotland that seeks to inspire, enthuse and influence others to manage our natural resources sustainably.”
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History Focus
The Heights Of Dargai
Another pipe tune story from Stuart Archer
This tuneful and swinging march is often played alongside ‘The Battle of the Somme’ which shares this uncommon 9/8 time signature (compound time with three beats to the bar) and melodic scheme. The tune was composed by John Wallace of Edinburgh who is also known for composing, among others, ‘The Henderson March’ and ‘The Circassian Circle’. However, perhaps his most famous tune is the hornpipe called the ‘CTS Empress’, which refers to the Clyde Training Ship, the Empress, which was moored off Rhu in the Gareloch and provided care for 400 homeless boys. John Wallace took up employment as an instructor on the Empress in 1898/99 and within six months he had trained up and turned out the Empress Juvenile Pipeband which was apparently of good standard and was known to play often at the bandstand in Helensburgh. ‘The Heights of Dargai’ commemorates the bravery of the Gordon Highlanders Regiment at the battle in 1897 at the Heights of Dargai in northern India 44 (modern day Pakistan) during the Tirah campaign. In October 1897, the British Army tried to quell the rebellion of one of the main tribes called the Afridi. The Dargai Heights commanded the entrance to a pass that was of great strategic significance. The three hundred yard high cliffs of Dargai were a rocky outcrop that offered an excellent natural defence for the 8,000 Afridis. Pressing west from Kohat, on 18 October, the British force, led by General Sir William Lockhart, passed through the Khanki Valley and began to attack the cliffs of Dargai. Although some cliffs were taken, they could not be held due to the lack of water in the heights and also because of incessant stiff counter-attacks from the Afridis. On 20 October the Dorset and Devon Regiment and the Ghurka Rifles attacked, again to no avail, and it was then that the Gordon Highlanders eventually received the order to join the fray. To the sound of the pipes, they climbed the cliffs under heavy fire from the Afridis. There were five pipers at the start of the action but only one made it to the top. Famously, the junior piper, Findlater, was hit in both ankles by bullets, but even in excruciating pain he still managed to lean against a rock and continue to play his battle-damaged pipes until he passed out. He inspired the Gordons forward to a quick victory in only 40 minutes. There is some conjecture as to the tune played by Findlater, but it is said that although ‘Cock of the North’ was called for, Findlater chose ‘The Haughs o’ Cromdale’ to better inspire the men. He later shared his thinking, that ‘The Cock of the North’ was more of a classic march and that ‘The Haughs’, as a Strathspey,
was more of what was required for a quick assault! Findlater became disabled from the wounds he sustained in Dargai and was repatriated for treatment. He was awarded the Victoria Cross (the highest and most prestigious award in the British Army for heroism and courage) on 16 May 1898 by Queen Victoria herself for the bravery he displayed during the Battle of Dargai. Findlater’s military decoration of the Victoria Cross is displayed at the Gordon Highlanders Museum on Viewfield Road, just off Queens Road in Aberdeen. This museum is housed in the former regimental headquarters of the Gordons and is recommended to anyone interested in the Gordon Highlanders – it’s certainly worth a visit! Many famous paintings exist that commemorate this action including The Storming of the Heights of Dargai by Vereker Monteith Hamilton (1856-1931). This is a short version of one of 30 stories in Stuart’s book ‘Tales Behind the Tunes of Glory’ available online from deesidebooks.com.
