Local History

STRATHDEARN: A LITTLE HISTORY OF EARLIER TIMES

Strathdearn is a river valley in the Highlands of Scotland extending about 22 miles long, from Coignafearn downstream to Moy, following the river Findhorn's meandering course through the parishes of Dalarossie, Tomatin and Moy. The upper part of the glen is narrower, then widens to a maximum of approximately 4 miles with the main centre of the community at Tomatin (meaning 'Hill of the Juniper' in Gaelic).

The Strath was sculpted by a retreating glacier and is bounded by hills of the Monadhliath range, reaching heights of 3000ft nearer the headwaters of the river and gradually becoming less steep. They are covered in heather and grass now but in ancient times were heavily wooded; and stumps and trunks of the old trees, mostly pine, can be seen protruding from peat banks - what remains of the Caledonian Forest after slash and burn by early farmers, and changing climate. The hills are home to the native red deer, roe deer, feral goats, blue hares, foxes and wild cats, as well as red grouse, ptarmigan and other upland birds such as golden eagles, buzzards, ringed plover and redshank (and osprey - summer visitors).

The fertile land along the riversides has been grazed and cultivated for thousands of years, although the very first dwellers in the Strath after the ice retreated about 6,000 years BC were Neolithic people - hunter gatherers who had no permanent abode. Their skilfully carved flint scrapers and arrowheads have been found in various places, but no stones axes here.

Later, Bronze Age settlers came - the Beaker People - and as the climate was more temperate then they were able to till land at about the 1,200 ft contour, away from the swampy thickets by the river which harboured wild beasts: wolves and boar, bear and lynx. They could also see the approach of any enemy or just have the comfort of seeing firelight from other nearby settlements. All that is left of their dwellings are hut circles: large stones which were the foundations of wattle walls and wooden posts supporting a heather-thatched conical roof with a doorway facing south. There would have been a central hearth from which smoke found its way through the thatch: a custom still known even in the last century in more remote areas.

Graves are seldom found unless during deep ploughing for forestry. They are in the form of a cist - a rectangle of upright slabs with a capstone 'lid'. The body lay in a crouched position, but in such acid, peaty soil nothing usually remains except a shadowy stain, sometimes with white pebbles or shells left as an offering.

The Beaker People were the first farmers and hunted the plentiful game, but their successors of the Iron Age, the Celts, went from strength to strength with more sophisticated tools and ploughs which enabled them to grow more crops and sustain an increasing population. Their houses would have been much the same, in a circular form, but later Norse influence brought rectangular buildings (though not here). The Celts domesticated animals: the small native cattle, sheep, goats and pigs as well as the hardy Highland breed of ponies. These all provided manure to improve soil, for hay and early grain varieties bred from native grasses. It also meant fodder for beasts over the winter whereas before they had had to be killed and the meat salted or smoked to preserve it. More animals meant a form of currency through barter with neighbours and the beginning of the future drovers of cattle from the Highlands ultimately to Smithfield in London in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Improved tools also brought the ability to forge weapons, and trouble flared with skirmishes locally from theft of beasts or belongings, up to wider conflict. The Celts were famous for their use of chariots in battle, but that could not happen in Strathdearn owing to unsuitable terrain. Iron Age burials have not yet been found in Strathdearn - they would probably contain grave goods such as pottery bowls or beakers for the sustenance of the deceased in the afterlife, plus bone combs or loom weights for a woman or a tool or weapons for a man. By this stage cremation was also a means of disposal, in a cinerary urn. High status burials would be marked by a barrow, or a cairn of stones, over the grave as at Clava … but we cannot even boast of a ring-cairn such as seen at Gask in Strathnairn.

The Romans, coming in the early decades AD, made little impact in the Strath. Their galleys navigated round the Moray coast but they avoided coming far inland, having a healthy respect for the fierce Caledonian tribe. And anyway, there was not much gain to be had - no working mines or rich plunder. Possibly they made forays to secure slaves, or barter for dogs of the fleet-footed Deerhound type, which were coveted. Once the Legions withdrew to the Antonine Wall - and ultimately abandoned Britain altogether in the 5th century - the Picts, the painted ones, were then the indigenous people but they in turn were pushed east by the advancing Scots who had originally come to the West Coast, or Dalriada, from Ireland.

The Picts left a lasting legacy in their beautiful carvings on stone slabs - stylised animals, mythical beasts and enigmatic symbols - but even now we have no way of interpreting them. Maybe they were tribal boundary markers or a newsletter of the area for visiting chieftains! We are very fortunate that one of these carved stones was turned up by the plough at Invereen, near Moy. The original is in the Royal Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh but we have a fine life-sized colour photograph of it in the foyer of our new Millennium Village Hall at Tomatin, an echo of amazing craftsmanship from the Dark Ages.

We know that Christianity came to Strathdearn in the 7th or 8th century, when St. Fergus, a follower of St. Columba, built his simple cell on a curve of the Findhorn at Dalarossie and converted the local people. Up until then they had worshipped pagan deities, usually connected with a special spring or sacred woodland grove. An ancient water-worn stone basin was found in the church glebe and is now set up and used as a baptismal font at Dalarossie church.

The Clan system gradually evolved in the Highlands, the name denoting a family association with the Chieftain as its head. The Mackintosh Clan Chattan was the one to which the people of the Strath owed their allegiance, and in many cases their land tenancy, and turned out to fight for their cause in times of trouble. The Chief's original seat was on the island on Loch Moy in the 14th century.

The defeat of the Scottish Clans at the battle of Culloden Moor in 1746 was a disaster for the Highlands - so many brave men killed or taken prisoner and their lands sequestered - but for those in Strathdearn their mainly agricultural way of life continued, amid changes. The one of greatest impact was the building of the trunk road from Perth to Inverness by General Wade and the erection of the three-arch stone bridge over the Findhorn near Raigbeg by General Barrington in 1763. This opened up a whole new way of life and contact with the wider world, only equalled by the coming of the railway in 1896.

The unimagined ease of travel suddenly brought newcomers and new trade to the North in the 19th century. This included sportsmen: they and their staff stayed in the spacious new lodges built in Victorian style throughout the Strath; they fished for salmon, shot grouse and stalked deer, all of which brought employment as well as welcome revenue to the area.

And so I close as I began, with Man in pursuit of game, albeit with different weapons and many changing cultures over the early centuries in the Highland community of Strathdearn.

A.G-P. © Copyright August 2006