Kiltarlity
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Kiltarlity ( gd, Cill Targhlain) is a small village in the
Highland Highlands or uplands are areas of high elevation such as a mountainous region, elevated mountainous plateau or high hills. Generally speaking, upland (or uplands) refers to ranges of hills, typically from up to while highland (or highlands) is ...
council area of
Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
. It is west of
Inverness Inverness (; from the gd, Inbhir Nis , meaning "Mouth of the River Ness"; sco, Innerness) is a city in the Scottish Highlands. It is the administrative centre for The Highland Council and is regarded as the capital of the Highlands. Histori ...
and south of
Beauly Beauly ( ; ; gd, A' Mhanachainn) is a village in the Highland area, on the River Beauly, west of Inverness by the Far North railway line. The town is historically within Kilmorack Parish of the Scottish County of Inverness. The land around B ...
, on the south bank of the Bruiach Burn. It has a population of under 1,000 people, and a local primary school, Tomnacross Primary.
Lovat Shinty Club Lovat Shinty Club is a shinty club from Kiltarlity, Inverness-shire, Scotlandbr> The club was formed in 188and has a healthy rivalry with near neighbours Beauly Shinty Club, Beauly. The club takes its name from the area within which it plays ...
play at Kiltarlity, on a pitch beside the village's main street, Balgate Drive. Kiltarlity has a village store and a post office, Brockie's Lodge (a former hotel, now bar), and a village hall. Close to the village are
Lovat Castle Lovat Castle was a castle in the Highlands of Scotland, near Kirkhill and Beauly. The castle stood on the south bank of the River Beauly. Originally known as ''Beauly Castle'', it was built by the Bissets in the 11th-12th century. The castle ca ...
, the historic seat of
Clan Fraser of Lovat Clan Fraser of Lovat ( gd, Friseal french: link=yes, Fraiser) is a Highland Scottish clan and the principal branch of Clan Fraser. The Frasers of Lovat are strongly associated with Inverness and the surrounding area since the Clan's founder gaine ...
, and the Belladrum Estate, site of the rapidly-growing
Tartan Heart Festival The Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival is a music and arts festival, held on the Belladrum Estate in Kiltarlity near Inverness, in Scotland. It is normally held at the start of August. Founded in 2004, the festival has rapidly grown in popularit ...
. Kiltarlity also has a community council, which holds regular meetings in the village hall and publishes a triannual newsletter. Nearby hamlets considered to be part of Kiltarlity include Camault Muir, Tomnacross, Ardendrain, and Culburnie. File:Kiltarlity-Geograph-4382837.jpg, Kiltarlity village green, with post office in centre File:Kiltarlity war memorial (geograph 3278662).jpg, The village war memorial, awarded 'Best Kept War Memorial in Scotland' in August 2018


History


17th century


Condition of the Kirk

Documents from the 17th century that mention the parish of Kiltarlity focused mainly on its church. Since the
Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...
, both the
Episcopalian Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of the l ...
and
Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...
churches had been slow in converting the Scottish Highlands to Protestantism, due to a lack of necessary infrastructure there and an inability to communicate with Gaelic-speaking Highlanders. Visiting the Highlands in the early-1680s, Irish Catholic priest John Cahassy claimed Highlanders were Protestant by name only, and "rather infidels then of any sect". A major problem facing
the Kirk The Church of Scotland ( sco, The Kirk o Scotland; gd, Eaglais na h-Alba) is the national church in Scotland. The Church of Scotland was principally shaped by John Knox, in the Reformation of 1560, when it split from the Catholic Church an ...
was a lack of "ecclesiastical provision", with many Highland parishes lacking even a
manse A manse () is a clergy house inhabited by, or formerly inhabited by, a minister, usually used in the context of Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist and other Christian traditions. Ultimately derived from the Latin ''mansus'', "dwelling", from '' ...
for their minister. Kiltarlity was one such parish in the 17th century, along with neighbouring Wardlaw and Daviot. The payment of ministers was also very unreliable, usually due to locals refusing to pay their
tithes A tithe (; from Old English: ''teogoþa'' "tenth") is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government. Today, tithes are normally voluntary and paid in cash or cheques or more r ...
. William Fraser, Church of Scotland minister for Kiltarlity from 1618 to 1665, died with over L. 888 in unpaid stipends. Nonetheless, the Kirk was able to construct a new church in 1626 on the south bank of the River Beauly. This was in use until 1766, when the "manse, glebe and church" were transferred to their current site at Tomnacross. The ruins of the former church can still be seen today. A further problem facing the Presbyterian church in the Highlands was poor ministerial discipline, with many ministers failing to carry out the bare minimum of their duties, committing crimes, or holding illegal marriages. Hugh Fraser, minister for Kiltarlity after William, was accused by the Church of Scotland in 1676 of marrying delinquents "without any testificat". In 1674 he had undergone a "mock marriage" to an unknown 'Bessie Gray', celebrated by his friend and minister for Daviot, Michael Fraser. The pair were later rebuked by the Kirk for not being "sober ministers". By the late-17th century, Kiltarlity's Catholic population largely resided in Strathglass, where they would remain for the next two centuries. Despite presenting "a stubborn challenge to the established Church", their community was weak, few in number, and scattered.


18th century


Geography and demographics

In 1794 the parish of Kiltarlity was one of the larger Highland parishes, comprising 180 square miles. Despite this, only "a 30th part" of its land was arable, due to the landscape being largely mountainous. Like other large and mountainous parishes in the Scottish Highlands, Kiltarlity in the 18th century would have had a scattered population and few navigable roads. This would mean poor church attendance and thus very low literacy rates, as the Kirk was the primary educator in the Highlands at the time. Over ⅓ of the parish's adult male population in 1794 were
cottars The Cottars are a Canadian Celtic musical group from Cape Breton Island formed in 2000. The group's current members are Ciarán MacGillivray, Fiona MacGillivray, Bruce Timmins, and Claire Pettit. History The Cottars were founded in late 2000 w ...
, a further ¼ "small tenants", and at least 60 crofters on the nigh inhospitable, upland moors. This signifies the land disposession that would grow into the
Highland Clearances The Highland Clearances ( gd, Fuadaichean nan Gàidheal , the "eviction of the Gaels") were the evictions of a significant number of tenants in the Scottish Highlands and Islands, mostly in two phases from 1750 to 1860. The first phase resulte ...
had already begun around Kiltarlity prior to 1794. Most of Kiltarlity's native population was still Scottish Gaelic-speaking in the late-18th century, with many monoglots in the parish's remoter areas. Only those nearest to the village kirk in the parish's low-lying east could "transact ordinary business in English"—though bilingual parishioners retained “a strong predilection for their mother tongue".


Socioeconomic change

In the late-18th century, emigration of Kiltarlity's population throughout the
British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...
accelerated. Many men went south to the rapidly industrialising
Central Belt The Central Belt of Scotland is the area of highest population density within Scotland. Depending on the definition used, it has a population of between 2.4 and 4.2 million (the country's total was around 5.4 million in 2019), including Great ...
of Scotland, or further still to England. Others went as far as the
West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...
, perhaps linked to one of the village's landholders, Major Fraser of
Belladrum Belladrum is a small community in the Mahaica-Berbice Region of Guyana, on the Atlantic coast, about east of Mahaicony. Geography Belladrum is a rural area close to the sea wall on the northern coast of Guyana. It is below sea level and is rich ...
, who held several plantations there. Industrialisation itself appeared in Kiltarlity during this time in the form a new sawmill constructed on the
River Beauly The River Beauly ( gd, Abhainn nam Manach, ) is a river in the Scottish Highlands, about 15 km west of the city of Inverness. It is about 25 km long, beginning near the village of Struy, at the confluence of the River Farrar and the ...
, which formed the parish's northern border. Hydro-powered, using a "strong artificial dam", the mill transformed Scots' pines felled 30 miles upriver into timber bound for "Leith or London". New species and technology were also introduced to the parish in the late-18th century, including
larch Larches are deciduous conifers in the genus ''Larix'', of the family Pinaceae (subfamily Laricoideae). Growing from tall, they are native to much of the cooler temperate northern hemisphere, on lowlands in the north and high on mountains furt ...
for timber purposes and the modern cast-iron
plough A plough or plow ( US; both ) is a farm tool for loosening or turning the soil before sowing seed or planting. Ploughs were traditionally drawn by oxen and horses, but in modern farms are drawn by tractors. A plough may have a wooden, iron or ...
. At the same time, several native species, including the
Scottish wildcat The Scottish wildcat is a European wildcat (''Felis silvestris silvestris'') Population (biology), population in Scotland. It was once widely distributed across Great Britain, but the population has declined drastically since the turn of the 20th ...
and
capercaillie ''Tetrao'' is a genus of birds in the grouse subfamily known as capercaillies. They are some of the largest living grouse. Taxonomy The genus ''Tetrao'' was introduced in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his ...
, had been made extinct in the area by 1794 at latest. By British Governmental statute a new road was being built along the parish's north end, using local
indentured labour Indentured servitude is a form of labor in which a person is contracted to work without salary for a specific number of years. The contract, called an "indenture", may be entered "voluntarily" for purported eventual compensation or debt repayment, ...
. According to the local Church of Scotland minister, alcoholism was rife in the parish in the form of
whisky Whisky or whiskey is a type of distilled alcoholic beverage made from fermented grain mash. Various grains (which may be malted) are used for different varieties, including barley, corn, rye, and wheat. Whisky is typically aged in wooden c ...
, with dozens of homemade and household stills.


19th century


New aristocracy

By the mid-19th century, Kiltarlity's landowning class comprised largely of absentee landlords. The owners of
Castle Dounie Beaufort Castle or Castle Dounie ( gd, Caisteal Dhùnaidh) is a Baronial style mansion built in 1880 and incorporating older building work. It is situated on the right bank of the River Beauly near the town of Beauly in Inverness-shire and is n ...
(seat of Clan Fraser prior to the 1745 rising) and the Belladrum Estate lived in Lowland Aberdeenshire, and were only present in the village "some months in the year". These new owners constructed the present-day
Beaufort Castle Beaufort Castle can refer to several places: * Beaufort Castle, Florennes, Belgium * Beaufort Castle, France, in the historical region of Auvergne * Beaufort Castle in Huy, Belgium * Beaufort Castle, Greece, a Frankish castle in Laconia * Beaufor ...
in 1880 in the
Scottish baronial style Scottish baronial or Scots baronial is an architectural style of 19th century Gothic Revival which revived the forms and ornaments of historical architecture of Scotland in the Late Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period. Reminiscent of Scot ...
. At the same time, several new structures appeared in the parish. The Sobieski Stuarts built a new mansion house on the island of
Eilean Aigas Eilean Aigas (NH4641) ( gd, Eilean Àigeis) is an island in the River Beauly, Scotland, in Kiltarlity parish in traditional Inverness-shire,Wilson, Rev. John ''The Gazetteer of Scotland'' (Edinburgh, 1882) Published by W. & A.K. Johnstone now Hig ...
in the Beauly River that still stands today. The new
Lord Lovat Lord Lovat ( gd, Mac Shimidh) is a title of the rank Lord of Parliament in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created in 1458 for Hugh Fraser, 1st Lord Lovat, Hugh Fraser by summoning him to the Scottish Parliament as Lord Fraser of Lovat, altho ...
also commissioned a Catholic chapel to be built in
Strathglass Strathglass is a strath or wide and shallow valley in the Northwest Highlands of Scotland down which runs the meandering River Glass from the point at which it starts at the confluence of the River Affric and Abhainn Deabhag to the point where ...
, to the parish's northwest, marking an important shift back towards public tolerance of Catholicism, now that
Jacobitism Jacobitism (; gd, Seumasachas, ; ga, Seacaibíteachas, ) was a political movement that supported the restoration of the senior line of the House of Stuart to the Monarchy of the United Kingdom, British throne. The name derives from the first name ...
was no longer a political threat.


Socioeconomic change

Usage of Gaelic declined rapidly over the course of the 19th century, as six new schools (including the first girls school) in the parish spread English literacy, and the Highlands' economy grew more interlinked with the British Empire. Living costs for local tenants rose dramatically in the early-19th century, from a maximum of L. 1 per acre in 1794 to an ''average'' of L. 1, 10s. per acre in 1841. At the same time, leases had become too short for tenants to "incur the expense of planting" i.e. improve poor land. Furthermore, Kiltarlity's population increased from 2,495 in 1794 to 2,881 in 1841, likely due to advancements in medicine and changing norms around marriage. With more tenants competing for less available and lower-quality land, greater English literacy rates, and the onset of the Highland Potato Famine from 1846 to 1856, yet more parishioners would have emigrated during the late-19th century. This is without even considering land clearances in the area, for which there is evidence in a Gaelic poem titled ''Theid Sinn a dh'America'', written c. 1801 by an unknown bard from Strathglass:
''“A plague on the landlords,'' ''with their greed for money;'' ''they prefer flocks of sheep'' ''to their own armed hosts.”'' (Translated from ''Gaidhlig'')


20th century


Ecology

Kiltarlity's population of
feral goats The feral goat is the domestic goat (''Capra aegagrus hircus'') when it has become established in the wild. Feral goats occur in many parts of the world. Species Feral goats consist of many breeds of goats, all of which stem from the wild goat ...
, roaming since the Clearances, had disappeared by 1963.
Myxomatosis Myxomatosis is a disease caused by ''Myxoma virus'', a poxvirus in the genus ''Leporipoxvirus''. The natural hosts are tapeti (''Sylvilagus brasiliensis'') in South and Central America, and brush rabbits (''Sylvilagus bachmani'') in North Ame ...
plague in the early-20th century led to the temporary extinction of wild rabbits in the area. Native species like grouse, deer, and trout continued to flourish.


Economic change

By the mid-20th century, the crofting way of life in Kiltarlity had died out. Largescale industrial farming replaced it, including Lord Lovat's extensive cattle ranches. Mechanisation of agriculture put many young men out of work, whilst centralisation around Inverness led to the closure of the village blacksmith, shoemaker, tailor, and public house. Most Kiltarlity residents now earned their living outside the village, either in Beauly or Inverness. From the 1910s to 1930s, deer-stalking and salmon-fishing in the parish became a popular tourist attraction for wealthy English and American visitors. This created high profits for Kiltarlity's main landowners. Due to high taxation from the 1940s onwards and poor maintenance of game stock, however, the industry declined rapidly.


New lifestyles

The popularisation of automobiles in Kiltarlity in the 20th century came at the benefit of service-providers in nearby Beauly and Inverness, but to the detriment of local merchants and shopkeepers. With many new roads for cars and buses, Kiltarlity shifted from a self-sustaining, semi-isolated community to a
commuter town A commuter town is a populated area that is primarily residential rather than commercial or industrial. Routine travel from home to work and back is called commuting, which is where the term comes from. A commuter town may be called by many o ...
for Inverness. This has led to several new housing estates over the decades, continuing today as land around the central village is developed. With the establishment of the
North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board The North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board (1943–1990) was founded to design, construct and manage hydroelectricity projects in the Highlands of Scotland. It is regarded as one of the major achievements of Scottish politician Thomas Johnston, w ...
and construction of hydroelectric dams on the River Beauly in the 1940s and 50s, most homes in Kiltarlity quickly gained electricity. Some houses retained wood and coal fires for heating, while peat-cutting disappeared almost entirely. By the 1960s, Gaelic had almost completely disappeared from the parish, only present among the oldest generations. Local church services in Gaelic ended in 1940. Nonetheless, "the old Highland custom of warm hospitality persist d—including cèilidhs and open doors. After its peak in 1861 of 2,965, Kiltarlity's population consistently decreased, the decline accelerating in the early-20th century due to emigration. Many young men in the village did not come back from WW1 and WW2. By 1961, the population was only 1,184.


Toponymy

The name 'Kiltarlity' is of disputed origin. The Old Statistical Account for the parish of Kiltarlity cites it as deriving from a corruption of the Latin ''cella'', meaning 'the worship place of a saint', and St. Thalargus—a figure of unknown origin. The
New Statistical Account The ''Statistical Accounts of Scotland'' are a series of documentary publications, related in subject matter though published at different times, covering life in Scotland in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. The ''Old (or First) Statistical Ac ...
, written 47 years later, offers an alternative explanation for the parish name. It notes the presence of a ''Clach Tarrail'' (Gaelic for 'Tarrail's stone') a 1/2 mile southwest of the old village kirk. Hence, the author translates 'Kiltarlity' as 'sepultre of Tarrail' though again, 'Tarrail' remains an unknown figure. A final explanation from a
University of St Andrews (Aien aristeuein) , motto_lang = grc , mottoeng = Ever to ExcelorEver to be the Best , established = , type = Public research university Ancient university , endowment ...
study points to the Gaelic translation of ''Cill Targhlain'', meaning 'Church of Talorgan'. This was the name of several historic (and legendary)
Pictish kings The list of kings of the Picts is based on the Pictish Chronicle king lists. These are late documents and do not record the dates when the kings reigned. The various surviving lists disagree in places as to the names of kings, and the lengths o ...
, with similarly dedicated churches in
Aberdeenshire Aberdeenshire ( sco, Aiberdeenshire; gd, Siorrachd Obar Dheathain) is one of the 32 Subdivisions of Scotland#council areas of Scotland, council areas of Scotland. It takes its name from the County of Aberdeen which has substantially differe ...
and
Skye The Isle of Skye, or simply Skye (; gd, An t-Eilean Sgitheanach or ; sco, Isle o Skye), is the largest and northernmost of the major islands in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. The island's peninsulas radiate from a mountainous hub dominated b ...
. In the past, 'Kiltarlity' referred to the entire parish, known in
Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic ( gd, Gàidhlig ), also known as Scots Gaelic and Gaelic, is a Goidelic language (in the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family) native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a Goidelic language, Scottish Gaelic, as well as ...
as ''Bràigh na h-Àirde'' ('summit of the high place')''.'' This included a number of surrounding hamlets. The main settlement was known as ''Aultfearna'' (
Gaelic Gaelic is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". As a noun it refers to the group of languages spoken by the Gaels, or to any one of the languages individually. Gaelic languages are spoken in Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man, and Ca ...
) or ''Allarburn'' ( Scots), referring to the
alder Alders are trees comprising the genus ''Alnus'' in the birch family Betulaceae. The genus comprises about 35 species of monoecious trees and shrubs, a few reaching a large size, distributed throughout the north temperate zone with a few sp ...
trees that grow on the banks of the Bruiach Burn, which runs through the village. Nowadays however, this settlement is signposted as ''Kiltarlity Village'', and usually referred to as simply ''Kiltarlity.''


References

Populated places in Inverness committee area {{Highland-geo-stub