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Meeting Nan MacLeod
The next stop was Mrs Nan MacLeod, back in Lochinver. Over coffee in her flat, this wonderful 86 year old lady told us her memories of life in Badnaban, where she lived the first 84 years of her life. She was born in the croft nearest the shore.
The great thing was that she remembered Scott’s great grandparents Ally Alistair MacLeod and Mary Ann White: her memory was extraordinary. She remember that Ally Alistair died in 1940, and knew about his siblings, and even remembered Scott’s mother and aunt Helen coming there as children, almost 60 years ago. She knew that Scott’s MacLeods were related to her, but was quite vague as to how – she seemed most closely related to Greta, but thought that the MacLeods themselves were cousins – ‘some people you knew you were related to, and some you weren’t’. She very kindly gave us some old photographs, including one of Jimmy and Greta, and another of Badnaban as it used to be, in snow.
Amongst her memories were several of Alice herself. She had black wavy hair, blue eyes and pink cheeks. Later, we were sent some old family pictures by Scott's cousin Kay, including one of Alice - looking exactly as Nan had described her from memory. Nan told us that Alice worked as a servant, first for a local doctor and then in Glasgow. According to Nan, all the local girls ‘wanted to get away’: they earned ‘a pittance’ but would still send some money back home. She and Babs would return for two weeks’ holidays each summer, before they married.
Holidays were important, as local minister highlighted, amongst other things, in the 1795 Statistical Account:
They are patient of hunger, cold and fatigue, by sea and land, as emergencies may require. In general, they are serious and devout, and do not approve, but highly dislike the contrary character whenever seen… their manners are simple and chaste, few instances, comparatively speaking, have occurred here to the contrary, for these 25 years past, and when they have happened they were candidly acknowledged. Of customs, it says that ‘in time of holidays, relations and neighbouring families mutually visit, and cheerful and facetous…’
Alice's mother was Mary Ann White, shown below in another of cousin Kay's pictures, at Badnaban with one of her grandchildren, Murdo. The other picture shows Murdo with his parents Roddy and Dolly. To return to Nan MacLeod:
There were two Marys who came to Badnaban from the east coast, Mary Morrison who married Donald Wilson in Inverkirkaig, and Mary Ann White. Mary Ann made lovely scones, pancakes, gingerbread and shortcake on her fire (‘you’d be cooking on the fire when a lump of soot would fall down’) – they later graduated to a primus stove and Raeburn, from which Nan used to pinch scones. She had fruit trees in the garden and was’ always making jam’ that she sometimes gave Nan.
Mr McKie delivered groceries on the dot of 10.20 each Tuesday ‘you could set your watch by him’. You got change out of 10 shillings for 1lb butter; 1lb cheese; tea, sugar, a loaf, tobacco and a tin of corned beef.
Alice’s father Ally Alistair. He was ‘a bit grumpfy’ unlike his son Jimmy.
He kept sheep and fished. He sold his fish at the Haddiebank down the coast near Inverkirkaig, They would fish in all weathers, and if a storm caught them they might have to put in further down the coast, in which case a child would be sent running down to see if they were safe. Lobster fishing was done in the winter. The lobsters were packed in straw and sent to Billingsgate on Mondays and the money came back on Thursdays. At Christmas the Billingsgate fishmongers sent them colanders as presents.
The fast-flowing burn next to the croft provided all the water they needed for drinking and washing. Ally Alistair had three cows and a horse called Lilly, used for ploughing, and also kept the local bull for a while. Nan was terrified of it and used to walk a long way around to avoid going near it. There was a huge sack of corn at his croft. They kept sheep on the hills in summer and at the croft in winter. They took wool to Dingwall, a trip lasting two days, and used the money to buy sacks of oatmeal, which were very dear at £3 a sack. They sold lambs at the market in August and sheep in October, but a top lamb only sold for 6 shillings. They grew vegetables – Nan used to steal some of their turnips and commented on ‘the lovely taste of a fresh turnip’. Now the land used for vegetables is full of rushes.
Jimmie ‘would do anything for anyone’ (Nan). He was in the Navy. He was away a few years, but returned a few years before his father died.
An earlier Jimmie was bitten by an adder and died.
An earlier Archie ‘hit the bottle as well’.
Roddy, brother of of Ally Alistair. Nan remembered him giving sweets to all the local children when he was still living in Badnaban. He became a gilly on an estate owned by a surgeon in Inverness. Initially, he and Jimmie used to see each other, but ‘it faded away’ and he never came back. . He had an accident whereby he was struck on the head by a hook used for hanging haunches of venison and was then found to have a tumour in his head. ‘We didn’t realise what a tragedy it was at the time’, Nan said, for the tumour eventually killed him.
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