Langwell Lairds Past and Present – Is it the Dawn of a New Day?

The Duke and Duchess of Portland at Badbea

Langwell Lairds Past and Present – Is it the dawn of a New Day?

Written by Alexander Gunn aka A Native of Badbea. Printed in the Northern Ensign 26 June 1894 Part A

To the Editor of the Northern Ensign:

Sir.- We are told that wonders never cease, and so true it is in regard to the wonder which I am about to relate, which is nothing less than that a real live Duke and Duchess (in the person of his Grace and Lady of Portland) a few weeks ago paid a visit to my native place, Badbea. This is the first time in its history that such exalted personages visited the humble clachan, and I suppose the only laird, of Langwell who favoured it with a visit since old James Horne used to call that way.

I remember the old man's visits. He used to call occasionally, riding a quiet dun pony. He would halt in front of our house and cry with a snivel, "John!" If my father was about at hand he responded to the call, and held the stirrup till the Laird dismounted. He then gave father the bridle, when the two walked along to Auchincraig, and after traversing the lawn, and being assisted to remount, the old laird retraced his steps back to Auchastle at a walking pace. He never put the pony to a trot.

To be continued….

My Comments:

As we know, Alexander Gunn had a deep abhorrence of the hardships the Lairds of Langwell had inflicted on their tenants. The years James and Donald Horne were the Lairds of Langwell  - 1816 to 1857 was a desperate time for the Badbea inhabitants with the increased rents to be paid and evictions always either threatened or enforced. The 5^th Duke of Portland purchased Langwell in 1857. This Duke was most remembered for his eccentric behaviour – he was a recluse who excavated an elaborate underground maze and tunnels under his estate at Welbeck Abbey. He wasn’t likely to be seen wandering round Badbea.

His cousin, the next Duke of Portland, was William John Arthur Charles James Cavendish-Bentink. His wife was Winifred Anna Dallas-Yorke. They lived like royals in the Welbeck Abbey in Nottinghamshire and owned other estates including Langwell in Caithness. The Portlands visited the Langwell estate from time to time on shooting expeditions. It must be these two that Alexander Gunn is so surprised to hear had visited Badbea. And well he might be surprised as we know how inhospitable and dangerous this landscape was and certainly not a likely afternoon stroll for ‘such exalted personages’.

William Cavendish Bentinck, 6th Duke of Portland by Elliott & Fry

Winifred Duchess of Portland by John Singer Sargent 1902

However, a bit of research reveals more about them both. 

One commentator says:

The Duke and Duchess of Portland were respectful and generous to the hundreds of staff they employed. Most of their staff had a job for life and were well cared for in the estate’s own hospital block when they were ill, and at such time nothing was deducted from their wages – at a time when the working classes had no privileges nor any help from the government. The Duchess of Portland was a passionate animal lover who kept stables for old horse and ponies, as well as old dogs. She also prevailed upon her husband to have some ‘alms-houses’ built for poor old women at Welbeck.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winifred_Cavendish-Bentinck,_Duchess_of_Portland

http://www.nottshistory.org.uk/portland1907/portland8.htm

It is this Duke that much later installed the Grey Hen’s Well memorial stone.

True to that closest to his heart soon Gunn diverges to write about Badbea and the laird James Horne.  He comes back to the Duke and Duchess of Portland before he closes his letter.  

At the time of the 1894 visit of the Portlands there were probably still a few families living in the area. The 1891 census shows at Badbea John Gunn and his family. John finally left Badbea in 1911. Also at Badbea is old Donald Sutherland and his family. Achnacraig has a four Sutherland women, two quite elderly – how they managed to survive is hard to imagine. 

Piece: SCT1891/38 Place: Latheron -Caithness Enumeration District: 19 Civil Parish: Latheron Ecclesiastical Parish, Village or Island: Berriedale Folio: 0 Page: 2 Schedule: 9 Address: Badbea

Surname

First name(s)

Rel

Status

Sex

Age

Occupation

Where Born

Remarks

GUNN

John

Head

M

M

45

Crofter

Sutherland - Kildonan

Language: Both

GUNN

Jessie

Wife

M

F

45

-

Caithness - Badbea

Language: Both

GUNN

Donaldina

Dau

-

F

12

Scholar

Caithness - Badbea

GUNN

Mary

Dau

-

F

8

Scholar

Caithness - Badbea

GUNN

Donald

Son

-

M

7

Badbea

Caithness - Latheron

GRANT

Georgina

Ma-Law

W

F

79

-

Sutherland - Brora

Language: Both

Piece: SCT1891/38 Place: Latheron -Caithness Enumeration District: 19 Civil Parish: Latheron Ecclesiastical Parish, Village or Island: Berriedale Folio: 0 Page: 2 Schedule: 8 Address: Badbea

Surname

First name(s)

Rel

Status

Sex

Age

Occupation

Where Born

Remarks

SUTHERLAND

Donald

Head

W

M

80

Crofter(Notem)

Sutherland - Kildonan

Language: Both

MCPHERSON

Hannah

Dau

M

F

31

-

Sutherland - Kildonan

MCPHERSON

Alexander

Sonlaw

M

M

30

Farm Servant(Em'ee)

Aberdeenshire - Huntly

MCPHERSON

Barbara

Grndau

-

F

2

-

Caithness - Latheron

PATERSON

Maggie

Servnt

-

F

13

General Servant

Caithness - Latheron

Piece: SCT1891/38 Place: Latheron -Caithness Enumeration District: 19 Civil Parish: Latheron Ecclesiastical Parish, Village or Island: Berriedale Folio: 0 Page: 2 Schedule: 7 Address: Achnacraig

Surname

First name(s)

Rel

Status

Sex

Age

Occupation

Where Born

Remarks

SUTHERLAND

Hannah

Head

W

F

81

Annuitant

Caithness - Latheron

Language: Both

SUTHERLAND

Isabella

Dau

U

F

58

General Servant

Caithness - Latheron

Language: Both

SUTHERLAND

Catherine

Dau

U

F

52

General Servant

Caithness - Latheron

Language: Both

SCT1891/38 Place: Latheron -Caithness Enumeration District: 19 Civil Parish: Latheron Ecclesiastical Parish, Village or Island: Berriedale Folio: 0 Page: 2 Schedule: 6 Address: Achnacraig

Surname

First name(s)

Rel

Status

Sex

Age

Occupation

Where Born

Remarks

SUTHERLAND

Janet

Head

W

F

78

Annuitant

Caithness - Latheron

Language: Both

Government Drainage Act

(Letter above referred to)

EVICTIONS ON THE ESTATE OF LANGWELL FROM 1830-31 TO 1855

(To the Editor of the Dundee and Perth Saturday Post) Part D 

“Badbea comes next in course, the inhabitants of which were employed in reclaiming a wild piece of ground on a hill-side at Ousdale for Mr Horne, where he availed himself of the Government Drainage Act. They were made to toil and travel two miles each way for 1s a day, and Mr Horne was very fortunate in the choice of a man to set over them, as he spared neither bone nor sinew. The heads of families were obliged to take all their family to the work that could work, and if any young man was found spirited enough to go and work where he would be better remunerated for his labour, his parents were marked, and they did not escape punishment."  

The Ousdale broch surrounded by steep hillsides

The Ousdale bridge showing steep hillsides never suitable for fattening sheep.

"But the work at Ousdale was finished, and Mr Horne could find nothing more for them to do, and as a matter of course six families were single out to be set adrift by next Whitsunday, and to find no shelter on the paternal estate of Langwell. This appeared the harder when it is considered that some of them had been in the place for 50 or 60 years, and one family occupied the house possessed by their forebears for four generations, and others reared families of 10 and 11 children under the same roof. They were promised payment for all the foreign timber in their houses, but one day a couple of men appeared on the scene, leaped on the top of the house, and with shovels and graipe peeled the roofs of the house, leaving nothing but the bare roofs and the bare walls." 

A roofless Badbea house

"When the poor people demanded payment as promised, they were told they could take the timber if they chose, but no payment would be made, and there was no redress. These men were the scum of the estate, always ready to perform any dirty work the laird wanted done. This was the year 1845. Before this happened the village of Badbea was surrounded by a five-feet stone wall, a sure indication of the coming storm."

The stone wall taken from Badbea looking south toward Ousdale

"The inhabitants of Badrinsary laboured hard and sore in their new place, and by dint of hard labour and perseverance, they latterly became pretty comfortable, but their doom was speeding on, and this year, at Whitsunday, every one of them was swept away, and no shelter for them on the paternal estate. We can guess who are to occupy their places – Mr Horne’s sheep. There can be little doubt as to the fate of those still remaining on the estate. It is only a matter of time and they too will be swept away. One would have thought that after the exposure made in Parliament by the indefatigable Mr Ellice, M.P., of the Knoydart evictions it would have struck terror into the hearts of others. But it would seem as if nothing would make them depart from this curse of our land, or that the war in which we are engaged as a nation, which makes such heavy demand on our men and money, would make them pause and consider the danger of such a course of policy.

Ousdale Cheviot ewes and lambs on the top side of the Badbea stone wall

Mr Editor, I have trespassed too much on your valuable time and space, but the well-merited castigation you dealt the Duke of Sutherland for his conduct towards his poor and oppressed people this year, encouraged me to trouble you with these few simple facts, and facts they are which I defy Mr Horne or anyone who may take his part to controvert. I do not state them from hearsay; I state them from personal knowledge, and as one who has suffered by his conduct, and I only wonder that no one was bold enough to come forward and plead the cause of the poor. It may be said that what is past cannot be recalled. True, but there are other evictions to follow if public opinion does not avert the blow and shield them from the power and tyranny of the strong. Should you find a spare corner in your spirited journal for these remarks, you will confer a favour on your obedient servant.

A NATIVE OF BADBEA, Peebles, 19^th Sept., 1855

My Comments:

Much of this letter is repeated in Alexander Gunn’s report to the Crofter Commission in 1883 but bearing in mind that he first wrote this in 1855 when Horne was still proprietor of Langwell he was sure to have a reaction from Horne – which as we have seen, he got.

It seems likely that the Government Drainage Act referred to was dated 1846.

Alexander Gunn's father was evicted from Badbea at this time.

It seems amazing that 163 years after Alexander Gunn bravely first published this letter in  the Dundee and Perth Saturday Post in 1855 and again in the Northern Ensign in 1892 I can repost it for the world to see. Sadly many of Gunn's dreams and ambitions for his native land never came true. The Ousdale farm is still there farmed productively but the wild land between Ousdale and Langwell is still unproductive. The wall fencing off Badbea is still there. Badbea is still inhospitable and dangerous - an impossible place to live and rear a large family. The people have gone. There are Cheviots on the heather but it is not good sheep country. The remains of the Badbea houses are there. Gunn was right in his estimation that the best land use was not Horne's sheep  - Horne eventually was financially embarrased and had to sell. Langwell is now a shooting estate. But bravo Alexander Gunn - you never let 'sleeping dogs lie'. 

Evictions on the Estate of Langwell Part C

EVICTIONS ON THE ESTATE OF LANGWELL FROM 1830-31 TO 1855

(To the Editor of the Dundee and Perth Saturday Post) Part C

Sir John Sinclair

"Sir John Sinclair, Bart, of Ulster, who gained European fame as an agriculturalist, was, strange to say, the originator of the deeds described above, and was succeeded in the estate of Langwell by James Horne, Esq. Whatever Sir John’s faults may have been, those under him enjoyed a considerable degree of comfort and prosperity. Herring and white fishing were carried on and encouraged by him in various creeks on the estate." 

Sir John Sinclair statue in Thurso dated to 1835 

Source: Canmore SC0117055

Donald Horne Turned Them Out

"But when the present man, D Horne, succeeded him in 1830, a very different line of conduct was pursued. His first act was to turn out two thriving villages on his estate, containing twelve families each, and who paid a rental of from £7 to £10, and possessed on an average ten head of cattle. One of these villages, Auchencraig, had a creek for fishing connected with it, where I have seen 14 boats engaged for seven weeks in the season at the herring fishing and landed and cured thousands of barrels of herring, and who carried on a considerable trade with the Moray Firth for the various commodities used in the herring trade. There were hundreds of pounds spent from time to time on the port for curing and harbour accommodation." 

Gutting Herring at Wick late 19th early 20th C 

Am Baile facebook

"Alas, where is it today? Anyone who remembered its ancient glory, visiting it now, could not fail to see the contrast. The crews of these boats were composed of the inhabitants of Auchencraig and Badbea, a village a mile to the east of Auchencraig, of which more afterwards. Kinsary, the other village treated in the same way as Auchencraig was situated on the north side of eastern Berriedale, which, after joining the western stream, empties itself into the ocean below the village of that name, the inhabitants of which engaged in the herring fishing with their neighbours at Newport, a little to the east of the river, and enjoyed equal prosperity with Auchencraig."

Looking from Ousdale up to the remains of some Auchencraig buildings and the start of the stone wall from where it runs a distance of just under 5 miles to below Langwell House.

Driven to the Four Winds

"The inhabitants of the villages were driven to the four winds of heaven, and their once comfortable habitations were demolished and used in building a five feet stone dyke around the place, which was of course converted to a sheep walk. A favoured few got patches of land at Newport and Badrinsary – waste pieces of bogs and quagmire, fit for nothing. Those at Newport got neat and comfortable houses built for them, a few hundred yards above the public road, and travellers passing by would set Mr Horne down as a model of a landlord, not knowing that the people had to pay a yearly instalment, over and above their rents, for the building of their houses."

"The district being depopulated, the fishing was discontinued, and those poor people were obliged to work for their human laird at the rate of 1s per day for full grown men, women and boys from 4d to 6d per day, and out of this pittance to support themselves and families, and pay their rents, for their crofts scarcely yielded anything. But those set down at Badrinsary were out of sight of the traveller and got leave to build themselves houses to suit themselves and right glad they were for it, as they reckoned their neighbours at Newport paid dearly for their whistle."

There are still several old buildings at Newport being used for farm or storage purposes and now with corrugated iron roofs. I don’t know if these buildings are the same as referred to by Alexander Gunn but I think it is likely they are.
A Native of Badbea To Be continued

My Comments:

The closing down of the seasonal fishing business at Auchencraig (aka Achnacraig) by Donald Horne seems hard to fathom. The fishing trade was financed and operated by independent operators. While the fishing provided desperately needed income for the poverty-stricken crofters it would not have necessarily added to the Laird of Langwell’s income – except to guarantee the rents the crofters owed him. Sir John Sinclair and both James and Donald Horne were sure that sheep farming would bring in untold wealth to them so pursued sheep no matter what. In the long run both the fishing and the sheep farming would fail. But the immediate consequences of closing down the Auchnacraig fishery to the Auchencraig and Badbea crofters were very severe and cut off a lifeline to survival. Many were evicted and left Scotland, while some moved to nearby miserable places, while yet others headed to Wick where the herring trade was still flourishing.

A good read, graphically describing the herring trade and the dangers at sea, is Neil Gunn’s 1941 novel Silver Darlings. 

Evictions on the Estate of Langwell Part B

(Letter above referred to) See previous blog.

Just behind Langwell House

EVICTIONS ON THE ESTATE OF LANGWELL FROM 1830-31 TO 1855

(To the Editor of the Dundee and Perth Saturday Post)

SIR, - There are men in this world of ours, whatever their conduct may be, who are never brought to task for their actions; and from the licence thus given them, they assume and air of infallibility and unaccountableness. Consequently their word becomes law in the region in which they live. In short they become Popes within their own domains. Those under them may be commanded to make ropes from sand, or dam the raging ocean, and they, like the children of Israel of old when commanded to make bricks without straw, must obey. But we would venture to hope that such absolutism cannot long survive in this free country of ours. If the united powers of Europe are engaged to crush and extirpate tyranny and despotism by an expenditure of blood and treasure such as was never known before, will we permit that cruel system of depopulation that is so sorely felt at the present crisis to exist at our very doors?

The estate of Langwell, situated in the west end of the county of Caithness, abounds in rich and fertile straths and valleys, once inhabited by a loyal and happy people. But Alas! These happy days are past and gone, and in these straths and glens, where the merry notes of the reapers wafted on the breeze as the golden grain fell before their sickles, and who were always foremost at the nation’s call to defend their country and their homes, there is nothing heard but the bleating of sheep and the bark of the shepherd’s dog. But we do not undertake to rake up the ashes of the dead, we mean only to deal with present men and their actions.

Scything North Uist Am Baile Facebook

A Native of Badbea - To be continued

My Comments:

The opening paragraph of A Native of Badbea’s letter of 1855 pulls no punches and tells his readers exactly what he thinks of the changes in land occupation and use on the Langwell estate in his lifetime. Next blog we will see that he names those he sees as ‘Popes within their own domains’.

Locked gate near Langwell

The Braemore and Langwell Estate is 52,00 acres and was purchased from Donald Horne by the Duke of Portland in 1857. After the estate changed hands the large flocks of sheep went and Langwell was developed as deer forest and hunting estate. 

How the Agitation Began - Evictions Part A

LAND REFORM IN CAITHNESS – HOW THE AGITATION BEGAN

TO THE EDITOR OF THE NORTHERN ENSIGN TUESDAY, JUNE 23, 1892

SIR,- An article appeared in your spirited journal a few weeks ago with the above heading, referring to the early action taken in the matter of Land Reform, and describing the process of the movement. I am not sure but I brought the abuse and tyranny of the landlords before the public at as early a date as that referred to by your correspondent. In September of 1855, a letter of mine appeared in the Dundee and Perth Saturday Post on the evictions in the estate of Langwell from 1830-31 to 1855. 

A Land Reform League was formed in Dundee at that time, of which I was a member, the Secretary being George Gunn, 47 Perth Road, Dundee.

I can see Alex Gunn walking to this Edward VII pillarbox

 in Peebles and posting his letter. 

After my letter appeared (I was living in Peebles at the time) I had a message from a lawyer in town wishing to see me. Accordingly I called and found the gentleman in his room. I was invited to sit down, when I was asked if I had written a letter to a Dundee paper animadverting on the management of the estate of Langwell by Mr Horne. I said I would answer that question in a Scottish fashion by putting a question to him. My letter was signed “A Native of Badbea.” I asked him had Mr Horne employed him to find out the author of that letter. He said he had not. Then I asked him how he came to know of it. He said he heard of it by a side-wind. “Well,” I said, “I did write that letter.” He asked was not Mr Horne well liked? I said Mr Horne was not, “Then,” he said, “Mr Horne might raise an action against you for writing that letter.” I answered if he should he would leave the court a blacker man than he entered it, and that he could get nothing from me by taking me to court. 

Former Courthouse, Peebles. 

Originally a sheriff court and prison, the building dates from 1848.

Then he asked if I would not write a letter to the same paper and retract what I had written in my former one. I said Mr Horne might have the power to hang me, but no power on earth would make me retract. Then he said would I not write and say that I did not intend to offend Mr Horne. I answered that I was not aware that Mr Horne was offended. It would be time enough for me to do as he suggested when I knew that Mr Horne was offended at my letter. I never heard a word more about that letter to this day. 

This gentleman was a Tory agent for Mr Horne, for a small estate that he had in Roxburgh-shire.

I have a cutting of this letter, and this was I think the first time I appeared in print. With your permission, I beg to send you the letter for publication should you have spare corner in your spirited journal. About this time I began corresponding with the Ensign, as I have continued to expose the cruelty and oppression of the Langwell lairds of former times to this day. – I am &c,

A NATIVE OF BADBEA

My Comments:

Alexander Gunn aka A Native of Badbea was amazing. Here he is, still keeping the issues in front of the public 37 years after he first published a fearless letter exposing the treatment by the proprietors of small-time crofters on the Langwell estate.

I will publish the original letter in two or three blogs following this as it was quite long.

Gunn was asking for trouble from Donald Horne, as in 1855 at the time of the publication of his critical letter Horne still owned Langwell (he sold it in 1857). Horne was also litigious and very likely to do exactly what he threatened Gunn with – that was take court action against him. Unfazed Gunn met him head on and Horne pulled his head in, no doubt knowing that a court case would indeed leave him publicly uncovered.