3 Girls, late 1970s

3 Girls, late 1970s, a photo by James_at_Slack on Flickr.

A recently found old picture I took way back in the mid to late 1970s when I was just a lad.
I was walking around the town of Buckie taking pictures of stuff down beside the harbour. Somewhere near the Star Brae, these three girls wanted to know what I was taking photos of and demanded I take their picture. It was a hot summer's day which makes me wonder if it was 1976?

This is a poor scan of the print.

If anybody recognises these Buckie girls, I'd love to let them see this.

© James Dyas Davidson

Macdonald Aisle or tomb.

This is the private burial ground of the Macdonalds at Remicras. It is about half an acre in size, surrounded by a stone wall and one can see the remains of where an iron gate used to be. The Aisle is basically a square vault with two headstones. One states, ‘Within this tomb is laid the remains of Jas Macdonald Esq of Rineton who died on the 9th May 1776. Likewise of Helen Tulloch, his wife and several other Descendants.’  The inscription of a daughter of Helen and James, Christine, reads, ‘…wife of Lieut John Farquharson of 76th regiment…she departed this life on 29th August 1781, in the 49th year of her age, leaving one son and one daughter. The stone is erected by her son, Colonel Farquharson of the 25th Regiment.’ The stone was erected sometime between 1814 and 1817. A right in perpetuity was granted to the Macdonalds for their burial ground on payment of a nominal feu duty of one and a half pence (old money) per annum.

It was not an easy place to photograph. I liked the decayed, dead, fallen and abandoned look of this shot, as well as the only blink of sun I got on the Aisle. I decided to try the cheap plastic Holga lens on my D50 and I'm happier with this image than the ones with the other expensive lens.

Remicras settlement and the Macdonalds

At the settlement of Remicras (or Riemicras as I’ve seen in an other book) you can see ruins of longhouses and later ruins of a farmhouse and U shaped steading. There is a kiln and a grain mill with the remains of the mill dam. The wee stone bridge across the stream in still in situ. The lade was well engineered and would have taken considerable effort to construct. The whole area seems to have benefited from a substantial investment to construct these buildings that replace the earlier buildings. This was the home to the Macdonald’s who claimed to be descended from the third son of John, Lord of the Isles. Legend has it that they got their property from the Earl of Mar after the battle of Harlaw (1411) when Macdonald was taken prisoner. The residents of this Macdonald ‘kingdom’ were tenants, many with the same surname. The land was sold to Invercauld in 1822 but there were still Macdonalds there until 1880 when most had left to make way for more profitable sheep. Most would have gone to cities to find work but many would have tried their luck abroad in America, Canada or New Zealand.

Looking out for the past in the present, Allalogie.

At the bedroom window, Allalogie., a photo by James_at_Slack on Flickr.

Had a great weekend this weekend.

It kind of started on Thursday night in Tarland at a talk and mini concert by a local accordian player called Rob McCombie. Great stories of his life and dance bands of north east Scotland followed as well as tunes to enhance the talk.
One of the best bits for me was finding out he was brought up in the house we own. So if you wanted to hear one of the best accordian players in the Howe of Cromar back then, you came to our house we now live in! What is interesting is, if you wanted to hear one of the best accordian players in the Buckie area, you came to our old family home to hear my late father play. He played in a dance band called Bill Geddes Band all along the coast and in land too.

On Sunday I met up with Janet, a lady I know from our local history group. She wanted to show me an abandoned house I hadn't been to before. It was a great wee place with some interesting rooms. In fact, I enjoyed the area the ruin was in so much, I went back alone in the afternoon to explore further. This is when I took this shot of me standing looking out the bedroom window.

The textures of the hole in the roof and the hole in the floor I thought were wonderful. I also liked the shadow cast by the jam jar. This was a 3s exposure so I placed myself at the window for one of the many 'ghost' shots I seem to be doing at the moment. It seems to fit the mood of these abandoned, forgotten and derelict places. Maybe it's cliched and unimaginative but I like doing them for now.

Later, I went for a walk in the area and who should I meet but the accordian player Rob! That was a nice surpise meeting and chat. He is keen to come to see his old home. We are looking forward to it and I'm hoping he will once again fill the house with music. What sounds were common in Allalogie I wonder?

Threads of history and traces of memories are there to be found. Remembering and celebrating past places, events and people I truly enjoy and will keep on exploring and capturing abandoned Aberdeenshire.