Crathie: Life in a Crofting Township (21 of 25)

Crathie: Life in a Crofting Township (21 of 25)

ID: KIGHF_ROSIE_CAMPBELL_21 DESCRIPTION: Crathie was one of the last Badenoch townships to be abandoned in the 20th century. Situated north of the River Spey, at the entrance to Glen Markie, Crathie once supported thirty families. Rosie Campbell, a native of Laggan, used to spend her childhood summers in Crathie, staying with her friend Maggie MacPherson. In this audio extract Rosie talks about the Gaelic language. (Image - Ruins at Crathie, as seen from the Glen Markie road. © Copyright Richard Webb, licensed for reuse under Creative Commons Licence 2.0) 'Interviewer: The language that was spoken, would this have been mainly Gaelic? Yes, they spoke a lot of Gaelic, but, like, Mrs MacGregor had no Gaelic, Mrs MacDougall had no Gaelic, you see, and it wasn't spoken in the house the same. And, I'm not sure if Mr MacFarlane's niece spoke Gaelic, I don't think she did, because she was brought up in Glasgow. I don't think so. Interviewer: These wives that didn't speak Gaelic, they were incomers? They were incomers, yes. Well, I think it so happened that they were both Aberdeenshire, as far as I know. They were either Morayshire or Aberdeenshire. I'm just not quite sure. They were in that sort of line. I'm sure it was Mrs MacGregor I think, it was Aberdeenshire, and I'm not sure, was it Moray, or Banff, or round the, about Aberdeenshire way that Mrs MacDougall belonged to? They likely came to the area to some of the big houses, you see. Interviewer: What was their attitude and the attitude generally to the language? Oh, I don't think they objected to the language. You never heard much about it in these days because that was a time when we weren't allowed to speak it in school, you see. That was the time when it really got lost. It was at that period we weren't allowed, the teachers weren't allowed to let us have Gaelic. Interviewer: What were the attitudes of the ministers and the priest? Oh, they were quite friendly, on very friendly grounds too. Quite, yes, quite friendly. Interviewer: Towards the language? Well, at that time, there wasn't so much about the language as there is today about it, really. No, I wouldn't say there was, because they were always on quite friendly terms, yes. Interviewer: And did everyone in Crathie have the ability to speak English? Oh, yes, yes, yes. They all spoke English. Interviewer: And what was their English like? Oh, they'd quite good English, yes. They were quite good English speakers, and that. And then, you see, the Fraser family all spoke English, and they were a big family. There was about seven or eight of them, the children about, so they all spoke, their mother was English, though their father was a Scot. I think Mr Fraser himself would have had Gaelic. I expect he did because he belonged to over Inch way.' PLACENAME: Crathie DISTRICT: Badenoch OLD COUNTY/PARISH: INVERNESS: Laggan CREATOR (AV): Rosie Campbell DATE OF RECORDING: 7 December 1983 PERIOD: 1980s SOURCE: Highland Folk Museum COLLECTION: Highland Folk Museum: Crathie Township Asset ID: 41271 KEYWORDS: