Tom Henry's notes on his visit to Scotland, March 2008

Notes from trip to Scotland 8 and 9 March 2008

I went to London with Laurie on the 7^th and stayed overnight. She stayed in London, and I flew up to Edinburgh on Saturday morning.   I rented a car and drove north about an hour to the village of Blackford, where our ancestors lived till about 1870.  I have put on the disk as photo #1 the air photo of Blackford I found on the web.  To put the photos in context, I suggest you read this first, then see the photos as a slide show. I numbered them so they should all come up in order.

I had found a lead while I was digging about on the Internet that suggested that Robert Gilmour (married 1787 in Blackford) was the son of James Gilmour and Geiles Crawford of Auchterarder.  Auchterarder is the next village to the east towards Perth.  I went to Auchterarder and had a look around. There is only a fairly modern church, and the graveyard dates back to only the early 1900s.  With some time on my hands, I headed north to Creiff, which is the biggest town around that part of Perthshire.  I checked the Creiff graveyard, and again found graves back to only about 1900.  And no Gilmours to be seen. So, back to Blackford, for a quick visit to the ancient churchyard up on the hill above the village.  I found a Gilmour grave that I had missed last time-----I have not dug around to see if this John Gilmour is a relative of ours……a brother of one of our guys.  The reason I found the grave this time is that the sun was shining briefly and a previously unreadable tombstone became somewhat readable. I also found some Finlaysons that may be  brothers of Isabella Finlayson, mother of William Gilmour.  I need to check my census records for that one. The dates seem right.

On Saturday before dinner I went to the Blackford Inn, which I had not visited before. This is on “the other” street in Blackford.  (I was staying in the Blackford Hotel, see the photos.)  The proprietors were the only people there, so I had a beer and chatted to them about the history. They know that the pub dates from 1716, because they found a historical record that notes that the government troops who were in Scotland in 1716 to put down the first Jacobite rebellion burned Auchterarder and Blackford to the ground, except for the Blackford Inn, because they needed somewhere to stay.  The owners assured me that their street is the one called Old Street in the census when our guys were there (1840, etc).   They also told me the pub is haunted.  It looks like it should be. I can’t remember the names of the proprietors, but the male ghost is named George.

On Sunday morning I headed off to Stirling, which is only about 20 minutes away.  I had contacted the Stirling Council and found the locations of the graves of William Gilmour and Maggie Ann Gilmour. They are buried in the same “lair” in one of the oldest cemeteries in Stirling, Ballengeich.  It is quite a spectacular and peaceful place, sitting just below the wall of the castle, and high above the valley of the Allen river.   There are no tombstones marking the Gilmour grave (tombstones were for the rich).   In the photos, the grave location is marked by a little bunch of daffodils that I brought.  You will also see photos of a little wren who followed me around while I was looking at the graveyard. 

I took some other photos in Stirling.  One of them (#33 on the CD) is a view across the valley to the Wallace monument, which William may have helped to build (may be the reason why he moved to the Stirling area).  I sent a letter to the Masons Grand Lodge in Stirling to ask if they have records of the names of the Masons who worked on the monument.  They told me they do not, but if he was a mason, there is a very good chance he did work on it.  There were hundreds of masons employed in building it.

In Stirling, I went around to see Bayne Street and Bruce Street, where the family lived from before 1880 to at least 1898 when William died.  You will also see some photos of 27 Queen Street, where David Gilmour, Williams brother, lived in 1898, and of 27 Barnton Street, where they lived sometime after 1898 (address from a schoolbook of my grandfather’s).   I took a photo of the high school which James, William, George and maybe the girls would have attended. 

In the photo view across the valley (#33), just behind the crag of the Wallace monument is the parish church of Logie.  It was built in 1800, when the Old Kirk of Logie became too decrepit to be used.  William Gilmour and Margaret Robertson were married at Logie Church in 1878. I went to the Logie church just as the service was ending and was lucky to meet one of the church people (I don’t know his job title: I don’t know much about these deans, vergers, etc.   Only about priests and choir boys……….)   Anyhow, this man took me around the church and showed me the sights, and also told me about the Old Kirk, a couple of hundred yards up a little road.   The latter has a churchyard with some remarkable 17^th century tombstones, still very legible.   I went around the new Logie graveyard; did not find any Gilmours, or any Fyfes but did find a couple of Robertsons.  (Margaret Robertsons parents were John Robertson and Jane Fyfe. That’s where Jane Fyfe Gilmour,  the oldest daughter of Margaret and William, got her name.)   On the wall of the church there is a plaque thanking a Mr. Fyfe, who served the church for many years and passed away recently.  I asked if there were lots of Fyfes around, and they said there were not. There was one elderly Fyfe lady (widow of the guy on the plaque) who had been at the service that just ended.  I gave the man a photocopy of the marriage record of Margaret and William (which shows the names of their parents) and asked him to give it to Mrs. Fyfe.  I asked that if she thought she was related to our Jane Fyfe, to contact me. 

After Logie, I drove a few miles to the east to the village of Menstrie. That is where Margaret and William lived when they were married.  Not much there…..most of the old buildings have been replaced.  I was planning to go look at Alloa, where the Robertsons came from, but it was blowing and sleeting pretty well at the time, so I suspended the research and went for a beer and a soup at a pub. 

Hope you enjoy the photos.

Best wishes

Tom (Henry)