Ballachnahudy

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Ballachnahudy

Postby lindaf » Wed May 24, 2017 6:47 pm

Has anyone come across the name of this farm in Kintyre. Do you know where it was?
My Gt Gt Gt Gt Grandfather Alexander McConnachy has on his family headstone in the Old Burial Ground at Kilkivan erected 1815, that he was a farmer at Ballachnahule. Old place names only give Ballachnahudy, so I can't say which is the correct spelling.
He had married Florence Stevenson 30-6-1795 and on their daughter Catherine [my Gt Gt Gt Grandmother] baptism record of 1798, he was then living at Lossit Mill. The Lossit Estate is near Machrihanish.

Thanks!
Linda
Last edited by lindaf on Sat Jul 06, 2019 9:56 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Ballachnahudy

Postby MaryM » Tue May 30, 2017 4:56 pm

Linda, I also have McConachy/McConnachie ancestors. My 3x gt grandfather was an Alexander McConachy but not the same as your ancestor.
I understand that Balnahule was a farm at Machrihanish beside the present day Ugadale Hotel , now gone since the large expansion of the Ugadale Hotel a few years ago. The hotel car park on the right hand of the entrance road was the former stackyard of Balnahule Farm. All the land probably went to present day farm of West Trodigal, possibly when the Golf Course was made around 1872?
It was known as Balnahule although printed spelling was as you used.
Not many know of this farm, it is shown on some of the old maps and was part of the Lossit Estate.

Argyll and Bute Sheet CCLVII.9 (Campbelton) http://maps.nls.uk/view/74480928
This link should take you to the above map which was surveyed in 1866 and clearly shows the buildings associated with 'Ballachnahully'.
I also understand that there is a gravestone in Kilkiven Cemetery with the placename but have no details about this.
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Re: Ballachnahudy

Postby lindaf » Fri Jun 02, 2017 12:35 pm

Mary
Thank you very much indeed! That is wonderful information.
Your message is most timely. I am in the middle of packing our camping gear ready to leave on Monday for Scotland from West Sussex for a month. We intend spending a lot of that time in Kintyre, our 4th visit. I keep on being drawn back to this magical peninsular.
Linda
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Re: Ballachnahudy

Postby MaryM » Thu Jun 08, 2017 1:40 pm

I hope that you have a great time in Kintyre!
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Re: Ballachnahudy

Postby lindaf » Tue Jul 04, 2017 7:51 pm

Thank you Mary!
We are now home again after a glorious month in Argyll, 10 days of which were spent in Kintyre.
I was successful in finding Alexander McConochy my Gt.Gt. Gt. Gt Grandfather's headstone to his family in Kilkivan graveyard with its ancient Chapel. The medieval slabs here are in excellent condition. The headstone erected in 1825 tells he was a Farmer at Ballachnahule [where the current Ugadale Hotel complex is]. The Baptism Records of his children on microfiche at Campbeltown Library tell that in 1798 he was living at Lossit Mill and in 1808 and 1812 he was a Merchant at Lossit Mill. Records give that Lossit was a Corn Mill. So I wonder if he was farming and dealing in grain for the Whisky trade. Other records tell Alexander McConochy of Lossit Miln was accused in 1813 with two others for forcing a signature from Joseph McIlchere for a Bill, but no further proceedings were recorded! I asume here that Miln was the Mill.
We were kindly invited into the garden of the current Mill House but this does not align with the Lossit Stream, its not close enough. We searched along the Lossit Stream for any evidence of old Mill building but found nothing. Does anyone know anything of this?
The Warden at the Bird Observatory told that The Mill later supplied electricity to Machrihanish, but I can find no information on this.
Alexander's daughter Florence, my Gt Gt Gt Aunt, married Malcolm McNeil, a labourer, and Census up to 1881 tell they lived at High Knockriock. We were very kindly shown around. [I really can't thank people enough for their generosity in enabling me to experience such links to my past.] But the Census doesn't include any Farmer at High Knochriock that he might have been working for here. Has anyone any old information on this farm? Florence was age 90 when she died in 1890. It amazes me the longevity of many Scottish people.
Linda
Last edited by lindaf on Sat Jul 27, 2019 2:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Ballachnahudy

Postby lindaf » Thu Jul 13, 2017 11:50 am

My searches into the place Ballachnahule engraved on Alexander McConachy's tombstone in 1825 have continued!
I have discovered facts on the farm on the O.S. Name Books 1868-1878 Vol 78 Campbeltown p.77.
Here spelt Ballachnahully, it was described as a farm house and offices, the property of Captain McNeil of Losset Park, and it gave that the occupier was then Neil Stephenson. Carrick Caban, the small point of rocks on the shore was part of the Farm. And Ballachnahully School was next door.
Looking further into Captain McNeil, I was led to "Canna of the McNeil's" on the Canna Local History Group. Canna is one of the Small Isles. There is a lengthy piece on here about a dispute over unpaid rent by the McNeils and referring to Donald MacNeill of Bealachnahully. The explanation for the name place was given at that time that "bealach na h-ulaidh" meaning "pass of the treasure" was possibly near Lossit".

It's well known that King Robert the Bruce of the early 1300's gave what was to be known as the Ugadale Brooch to a supporter in Argyll and that he had sat on the "Barley Stone". The Ugadale Brooch was to be held by the McNeil family at Lossit. The brooch disappeared after the 1745 Rising when the Government Troops scoured the County for Jacobite sympathisers. The brooch only reappeared in 1824 when the Old Lossit House was being pulled down and it fell, amid a pile of mortar, from a wall panel. It had obviously been hidden.

Linda
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Re: Ballachnahudy

Postby lindaf » Fri Dec 01, 2017 10:49 pm

I have been determined to find out just where Lossit Mill was!
In Pigots Directory of 1837 for Campbeltown I found an entry that Neil Stephenson [Stevenson] was the Miller at Lossit Mill. In 1841, Neil was living at Kilkivan with his family occupation "Cart K" [can anyone help with what that is please.] In 1851 he was farmer at Knockany, then in 1861 a farmer of 31 acres at Pans. He surely has to have known my Alexander McConachy.

The only evidence I now have for the position of the Mill is on John Thomson's Atlas of Scotland 1831 published by John Thomson & Co Edinburgh 1824. This clearly shows the word Mill close to the coast line at Machrihanish where the un-named stream through Lossit Glen enters the sea as shown on later maps.

As the current Mill House is not close to the stream, I have to think my McConachy family lived in an earlier Mill House on that same site, but that the Mill itself was separate. I will have to return to Kintyre for another holiday to look at the ground levels to see if there was enough height to turn the water wheel!
Linda
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Re: Ballachnahudy

Postby lindaf » Tue May 01, 2018 8:55 pm

I have just discovered my McConachy family on the 1797 Horse Tax Records.
Alexander b.1772 [my x4 Gt Grandfather], brother Donald b.1774, their father Malcolm [my x5 Gt Grandfather] and [an uncle?] John were living at Ballygroggan, with a total of 8 working horses and being taxed at 2 shillings on each one. I was unaware of this when I walked through its farmyard last June for its on the Kintyre Way. Positioned on the headland just up from High Lossit, the land must have been difficult to plough back then. Might they have been growing barley to grind in the Lossit Mill I have been searching for and where Alexander was living the following year 1798 when his daughter was born as shown on the baptism records.
Linda
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Re: Ballachnahudy

Postby calmac » Thu May 03, 2018 1:00 pm

Are they in the Duke of Argyll list of inhabitants 1779?
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Re: Ballachnahudy

Postby lindaf » Thu May 03, 2018 7:21 pm

Thanks for the suggestion Calmac. But I can't find this list on the Web. Does anyone have a link for it please? I do know that Campbeltown library has a copy of the book with the lists.
Linda
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Re: Ballachnahudy

Postby calmac » Thu May 03, 2018 8:05 pm

I thought you might ask that. It isn't easy to find.

Available here, but not very searchable; you have to comb through it.
I would not even be sure that the Duke of Argyll owned the whole of Kintyre.
It is probably helpful to know your way around Argyll.

http://glenaray.wikidot.com/duke-of-argyll-census-1779

This may also be of interest

http://www.talkingscot.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7576
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Re: Ballachnahudy

Postby lindaf » Fri May 04, 2018 2:42 pm

Thanks Calmac.
Unfortunately the pages you refer to on the link seem only to be for Glenaray. Or have I not looked deeply enough?
And the McConachy family on your link are in Saddell, so not my family line. I'd found them previously.

No, the Duke of Argyll didn't own all of Kintyre. Lord Carskey owned the area around Mull. My Mcnaugh [various older spellings] line lived at Gartvaigh [again with various older spellings] from at least as far back as 1505 until 1861] and they were under the Carskey Estate. Carskey Bay is to the West of Southend.

Has any body else got further suggestions please!

Linda
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Re: Ballachnahudy

Postby calmac » Fri May 04, 2018 3:14 pm

There sis a link on that page to a pdf pf the whole scanned document; but I am not sure that everything is listed. There could be a few pages missing. You might just come across something that connects with something else.
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