Our lost heritage
The language of Crieff and Strathearn in
the 1790s and how a concerted effort was
made in the 18th Century to remove Gaelic as the spoken language of
the people
Like many Scots , I have a thoroughly mixed
pedigree .I do believe that this factor , perhaps more than any
other , allows one to analyse and
appreciate one’s genetic heritage
without the innate prejudice that all too frequently mars true objectivity in
Scottish discussions especially those concerning politics and religion ! My maternal great grand parents Archibald
and Mary McFarlane were born and raised in the delightful Kintyre village of Clachan some
miles south of the fishing port of Tarbert on Loch Fyne in the County of Argyll
– the ancient Kingdom of Dalriada . They
were first cousins – their fathers
Duncan and Archibald McFarlane being brothers.
Archibald was some eleven years older than Mary and
was a widower at the time of their marriage in Campbeltown in 1864 .
Both were native Gaelic speakers and were educated at the small village school in Clachan . Family anecdotes
passed down through the generations tell
us that the only non Gaelic speaking
person in the school at the time was the teacher ! This somewhat bizarre situation was not
to uncommon in Highland Scotland
in the 18th and early 19th Centuries . Clachan school was run by an organisation known as the
SSPCK or to give it its full “ handle” – The Society in Scotland for the Propagation Of Christian Knowledge .
It was formed by Royal Charter in 1709 for the purpose of founding schools and
they proudly proclaimed “where
religion and virtue might be taught to young and old in the Scottish Highlands
and other uncivilised areas of the country.”
Their schools were
part of a programme by the Established Church of Scotland – known as the “ Kirk
“ to extend its influence throughout the
country and to include those parts of
Scotland known in Gaelic as a'
ghàidhealtachd or those parts of Scotland where Gaelic was spoken as the dominant and first language by the local population. This ,remember, was still in the aftermath period of the
Jacobite rising and the Presbyterian Kirk was somewhat paranoiac
about those who espoused the old
faiths – the Episcopalians and the
Catholics . Many of the Highland Clans
still adhered to these traditional Christian forms of worship but to those
of Calvinistic disposition they were now
an anathema in Scotland amongst the established
Presbyterian society . The fact that Kirk had already started to fragment
with the first Secession in 1733
is perhaps indicative of its failure
to appreciate the importance of other viewpoints in those far off days .
The Kirk was already working with support from a tax on
landowners to provide a school in every parish.
The SSPCK had 5 schools by 1711, 25 by 1715, 176 by 1758 and 189 by 1808
with 13,000 pupils attending. Initially the
SSPCK avoided using Gaelic with the result that pupils learned by rote without
understanding what they read. My great grandparents
experience appears not to have been that
unusual in Highland Scotland . In the late 18th and early 19th
centuries, the attitude of most Lowland Scots towards the Highlanders was one
of disdain and contempt for both their
language and their way of life .
Indeed the
following is an extract from the published Statistical Account of the Parish of
Kilcalmonell in which Clachan was situated .
“ Language : The Gaelic is the vernacular
language of the parishioners but the English is displacing it and the sooner it
overmasters it the better “
One can examine the written words contained
within the Statistical Accounts
of Scotland produced for every parish in the country in the 1790s and
the 1830s .
The two Statistical Accounts of Scotland,
covering the 1790s and the 1830s, are among the best contemporary reports of
life during the agricultural and industrial revolutions in Europe.
Based largely on information supplied by
each parish church minister Statistical Accounts of Scotland provide a rich
record of a wide variety of topics: wealth, class and poverty; climate,
agriculture, fishing and wildlife; population, schools, and the moral health of
the people. ( University of Leicester )
Thanks to the
wonders of the Internet one can access them all on the Edina ( Universities of
Edinburgh and Glasgow ) web site
Go to “ For non
subscribers “ and click on the “ browse scanned pages “ . You then enter the Parish ( or County ) name in the appropriate box .
What then
were conditions like in Strathearn and
particular in the town of Crieff
situated right on the border
between Highland and lowland Scotland ?The following extracts from the aforementioned Statistical Accounts written in the 1790s is self explicit regarding the prevailing attitude in some quarters towards Gaelic and its culture .
Crieff
The people speak the English language in
the best Scotch dialect ; although Gaelic be commonly spoken at a distance of
three miles north , or four miles west of Crieff , yet no adult natives of the
Lowland part of the Parish can speak or understand it .They have not even
contracted the peculiar tone of that
language by their intercourse with the numerous Highland families now residing
in the town . Many of these indeed understand
no other language but the Gaelic , and their children born in Crieff
speak that alone as their mother tongue . The great number of these Highland
families , their general poverty , their frequent ignorance in the grand
subjects of revelation , their incapacity of deriving benefit from the public religious service performed
in the English language , the happy effects to themselves and society that may
result from a proper regard to their interest and comfort , are all such , as
justify to merit the humane attention and friendly aid of the
Society for Propagating Christian Knowledge. A small annuity allotted to a
prudent man qualified to instruct and catechise these people on Sundays , would
be an act of piety and beneficence .
Comrie
Character and Language
Like the generality of the common
Highlanders , the lower ranks here are here modest , peaceable and very
obliging .There are few law suits among them and there have been none for these
10 years , except about legacies ,
multures and marches , They are frugal , moderate and industrious , and except
at merry meetings are not much addicted to drinking – the common language of
the people is Gaelic . All the natives understand it , but many , especially of
the old , do not understand English well
.All the young people can speak English , but in order to acquire it , they
must go to service in the Low Country. The
Gaelic is not spoken in its purity, neither here , or in the bordering parishes
,
Fowlis Wester
The inhabitants of the northern half of the Parish use among themselves the
Gaelic tongue ; all of them can however
speak English which is the only language spoken or understood on the south side
of the hill .
Monzie
This parish being situated on the borders
of the Highlands , and having much intercourse and connection with the natives , we need not be surprised
to find that Gaelic is spoken in the back part of it , and the old Scotch
dialect in the fore part , spoken with the Gaelic tone and accent . There are ,
however , very few persons in the whole Parish who do not speak or understand
Gaelic . Most of the names of places are evidently derived from that language
and are expressive of their local situation .
The Society in
Scotland for the Propagation Of
Christian Knowledge .
The expansion of
the Society was only possible by the generous and sometimes large accessions of
capital particularly from its wealthy Presbyterian supporters in Lowland
Edinburgh . In the
second charter by George II of 1738 the Society was empowered over and above
the purposes of the original patent “to instruct pupils in husbandry,
housewifery, trading, manufacturing or manual occupations”. The Society main ambition would
appear to have been the
establishment of charity schools throughout the Highlands . Their attitude towards the Gaelic language and its culture went a long way to destroying an already vulnerable but
established way of life . A ban on teaching Gaelic literacy was not lifted
until the 1760s and is generally
regarded as part of their overall strategy to
attempt to destroy the language “
in the hopes of producing a greater
civilisation in the Highlands”
Today when I leave
Crieff for a day out to enjoy the beauties
of Strathearn , I am conscious that the vast majority of the hills , mountains and lochs shown on my map are still named in the language of
our fore fathers . For that we should be
deeply thankful How sad that not enough
was done to maintain our very old
and rich heritage and that so much has been lost .
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