Travellers in Applecross
June is Gypsy Roma Traveller History Month, and to celebrate we’ve been digging through our archive to trace the history of this community within the Applecross peninsula.
The first reference to a Traveller we can find is in 1797, as part of a government scheme to identify potential recruits to defend the country against a feared invasion by the French. It lists all males between the ages of 15 and 60 in Applecross and within Achichork, a disappeared community that once stood slightly to the east of the current campsite, is William McKenzie. What’s odd is that his name is crossed out – perhaps as he was often away travelling, returning only during the winter months, it was thought that he couldn’t be called up in a hurry. His family seems to be fairly settled though, as documented in the Church of Scotland old parish registers of 1818 his daughter Mary MacKenzie gets married to George MacKenzie, a resident at Torgarve, Applecross. Here we lose trace of the newlyweds, but William and his wife move down the hill to Shore Street where they’re listed as part of the poor roll in the 1820s. It seems that here William dies, and his widow continues to be listed until 1830 when she, too, disappears.
Mary Marries – Reproduced with the permission of the National Records of Scotland.
Traveller camp within Wester Ross, location unknown. From the collection of Gairloch Museum.
The MacKenzies seem to be an anomaly as they’re the only family of Travellers we can find who over-wintered on the peninsula when not elsewhere. More commonly families would arrive in horse drawn carts and create semi-permanent camps of bow tents. Tin smiths would make or mend items for the local households, and the women would hawk in domestic goods such as spoons, needles and combs, and sometimes crockery.
Historically very few people on the Applecross peninsula had cars, and as such Travellers with their carts provided much needed help to locals. During busy periods of the farming season they would be employed to carry heavy loads such as seaweed and dung to the fields. Ever ingenious, they wouldn’t let the remote and difficult terrain stop them from working. To gain access to the remote crofts at Coillieghillie and Ardbain, through the narrow cadha cumhang, Travellers would remove the wheels from their carts and carry the body sideways down the slope. (A’Chomraich, Applecross, The sanctuary: a glimpse of history, by IM [Ian Mackenzie]. Applecross Historical Society, 1999, reprinted 2003).
After the MacKenzie family, Travellers are missing from records for a while, with none appearing in the 1841 to 1881 censuses. But in 1891 the Stewart family is listed in a tent after Clachan Manse and Applecross House, meaning they’re most probably camped somewhere near the shore between Clachan and Shore Street. We’ve got Alexander Stewart, 38, a tin smith who was born in Sutherland and his wife Chirsty, 38, from Lochbroom. Their children are down as only speaking Gaelic and are Ann, 17 born in Assynt, James 14 born in Gairloch, and John, 12 born in Fodderty.
In the 1901 census there are three families in tents. The first two are listed under Toscaig, although apparently separate from the settlements. Although their camp could have been anywhere in the area, the Caman, an area of land between Toscaig and Culduie, was a favourite place to camp for generations of Traveller families. Local children from the late 1930s would sometimes visit the tents and have tea with their occupants. The first family found here in 1901 is the Millers; William, 32, is a tinsmith, in a tent with his wife Mary, 32, and children John 16, Tom 12, Mary 8, and George 6, all born in Gairloch. This family seem to have a connection to the Gairloch area, as in the 1891 census 10 years earlier they’re camped just east of the village, and a family named the Millers were known to be overwintering near Gairloch during the 1930s.
The second family near Toscaig are the Stewarts; John 46, a tinsmith born in Sutherland, his wife Mary 57 born in the Black Isle and their children Mary, 21 born in Applecross, Susan, 17 born in Applecross, Angus, 16 born in Ullapool and John, 11 in born Alness.
The final family from 1901 are a little harder to place. They’re listed after the entries for the Crowlin islands, so may even have been on the island, helping and hawking the remote community there. Alex Drummond, 31, a tin smith might certainly have been mending or creating items for the remote households, and with him are his wife Jemima 37, and children James 12, Jane 10, Donald 8, Alec 5, Lizzie 4, and Benjamin 10 months. The parents were born in Gairloch, and the children in Stornoway except the youngest who was born in Beauly.
And that’s what we know so far. It may not seem like a lot but with almost everyone we’ve uncovered so far hailing from no further away than Beauly or the Western Isles, it’s clear that this small band of Travellers would have been a regular part of the Applecross community, returning year on year, and forming part of the history of the area.
If you have any memories of Travellers within the Applecross area we’d love to hear from you!