Category: Rural Life

Beauly Snowball Riot of 1847

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In 1847 during the Highland Famine, a farmer tried to ship grain out of Beauly and was stopped by a group of starving men. The Sheriff tried to read the Riot Act and got a snowball to the face. 600 folk were at the Beauly Snowball Riot, which took 70 soldiers to break up.

Many in the English press had little sympathy for the starving folk of Beauly:

Whatever want of food may be felt at Beauly, there seemed to be no lack of whiskey [sic]. In the evening, the heroes who had volunteered their services in aid of the villages, were seen reeling home intoxicated. They had money to put themselves into this state, but they had none to buy bread!
Leamington Spa Courier, Saturday 27th February 1847

Sources
“The Beauly Rioters”. John O’ Groat Journal, Friday 16th April 1847, pg 3.

Tags Beauly, famine, Highland Potato Famine, riot, rioting, snowball

Rural Life

Ship sent from hell

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As the PS Comet (the first paddle steamer) came towards Bute in 1812, folk flocked to the shore to see. As it pulled into Rothesay, the locals ran up Barone Hill in fear, thinking it a ship sent from hell by the deil himsel as they’d never seen its like before.

Tags Bute, Comet, Rothesay, ships

Animals Folklore Food and Drink Rural Life Words

PANDORE

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PANDORE. n. large oyster from Prestonpans. Supposed to be big because of the proximity to the doors of the saltpans. Prestonpans oyster fishers would sing “dreg sangs” to charm the oysters into their nets. “Oysters are a gentle kin, wullna tak unless ye sing”

Tags dreg sangs, oysters, Prestonpans

Folklore Rural Life

Avoch Wedding Tradition

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At the weddings of Avoch fisherfolk, the best man would untie the groom’s left shoe before the ceremony to defend against meddling by witches. The shoe needed to be worn untied for the rest of the day, night, and following morning.

Tags Avoch, fisherfolk, marriage, wedding

Folklore Rural Life Words

CAISEAN-UCHD

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CAISEAN-UCHD. n. Breast-strip of a sheep that was singed and sniffed to ward off evil spirits in a house. Passed around clockwise for the next person to inhale. Bad luck if it went out on your turn. Used at Xmas only in other places, but all the time on Islay. It must’ve smelled awful.

Tags Christmas, Hogmanay, ritual, sheep

Disasters Rural Life

Portpatrick Fireballs

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In March 1931, a “fireball” crashed into the farm of Knock and Maize near Portpatrick destroying a pigsty and chicken coop and set fire to an enginehouse. Five years later, during a December storm, a massive fireball crashed in the sea two miles off the harbour.

Tags fireball, Knock and Maize, meteor, meteorite, Portpatrick

Medicine Rural Life

The Man Who Vomited a Slug

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After drinking from ditches, Robert Dixon, of Markle, E. Lothian complained of “sour belchings” and “obstinate bowels”. For 2 years he coughed up “fetid slimy matter”. In June 1828 a doctor gave him bicarb and he vomited up a great grey slug, 4 inches long!

He kept it as pet for 5 days. It was “quite lively and vigorous when voided”.

The account is from William Rhind’s 1829 book on intestinal worms. He was clear it was “limax major” (a big slug) rather than one of the more typical invertebrates found in the human gut.

Tags East Lothian, Lothian, Markle, slug

Crime and Punishment Rural Life Uncategorized

Symington: Hotbed of News

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By 1793, apparently nothing had ever happened.

In 1925, a farmer left a gate open and let his horses wander and was fined.

In 1950, a man defrauded a farmer of a dozen eggs to buy back his boots.

Tags Ayrshire, Symington

Animals Rural Life

Auchtermuchty “serpent”

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In January 1837, a workman at Myres Castle raised the alarm when a massive serpent crossed his path. After several musket shots didn’t kill it, a pitchfork was thrown and it was cast into the Barroway burn and washed into the River Eden.

It was a feather boa.

Tags Auchtermuchty, Myres

Crime and Punishment Rural Life Words

GOOL-RIDERS

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GOOL-RIDERS. n. mounted police that checked fields for corn marigolds and collected fines from farmers. A Mediterranean plant, it caused problems in the reign of Alexander II (1214-49)–his statute was still followed in Cargill as late as 1808.

Tags Alexander II, Cargill, invasive species