19 November 2025Tribute to Ross
Tribute to Ross
Tonight I have a very sad announcement to make. Our longstanding committee member, Ross Couper, tragically passed away two weeks ago in Raigmore Hospital. We truly missed him at the last couple of meetings and had hoped that we would see him back taking charge of all our technical needs again. Sadly that wish wasn’t fulfilled, as Ross’s health deteriorated rapidly in the end. As you would have wished, I sent a condolence card to his family on behalf of the society.
Ross lived in Cromarty for many years and enjoyed being part of the history society. As well as being a committee member since 2011, he also happily undertook research to present some lectures. His last talk was in relation to his own family history, in particular his grandfather and great grandfather. He managed to weave such an interesting tale of these 2 Cromarty men, while also giving an insight to life in Cromarty during their lives as well as enlightening aspects of the wider world at the time.
Further back, he gave a talk called “Nigg and Rigs”. With the benefit of his engineering training, he gave his audience a comprehensive background to the history of drilling for oil in the North Sea and Nigg’s part in that history.
I remember when several committee members presented short talks for one of our Christmas meetings. Ross and I collaborated to tell members about a Dr. Elizabeth Fraser, the first woman to hold a professorship at Aberdeen University. We read extracts from an account of her young life in Cromarty. Ross was enthusiastic in the research and determinedly embarked on finding all the photographic interpretation needed to illustrate the presentation.
A lot of what Ross did was behind the scenes, I can’t tell you how many times I came into the hall (both the West Church and this one) to find that Ross had already put out all the seats and tables and was busily getting the equipment set up. He was practical and inventive and looked for best value and often idiosyncratic solutions to any problems. He just quietly got on with things and as I have mentioned before, it’s only when someone isn’t here, you truly appreciate what they actually did. We’ll miss Ross as a loyal member of our society and also as a friend.
A service of celebration of his life will be held at the East Church, where he was a keen volunteer, on Monday 1 December at 1.00pm.
04 November 2025Meeting Tuesday 18h November
A Jacobite Portrait — George Keith Last Earl Marischal of Scotland and his ‘menagerie of heathens’
David Alston
Victoria Hall, Cromarty
David Alston’s talk ‘The Menagerie of Heathens’ will explore the portrait of the exiled Jacobite, George Keith, (last Earl Marischal of Scotland) and an enslaved African boy named Salvador. Keith led the Spanish forces which landed in Lewis in 1719 and were defeated at the Battle of Glenshiel.
Later his household in Italy, Spain and France included not only Salvador and others from Africa but enslaved people from Turkey and Kazakhstan. They were agnostic, Christian, Buddhist and followers of Islam — and they were known to Voltaire, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, James Boswell and David Hume.
David’s Slaves and Highlanders: Silenced Histories of Scotland and the Caribbean was the Saltire Society Scottish Book of the Year in 2022. He is currently working on an account of a murder in Larkhall in 1905 and the execution of Pasha Liffey, the only Black African to have been hanged in Scotland
Meetings begin at 7.30pm in the Victoria Hall, Cromarty and are followed by refreshments. The fee for each talk is £5 but a whole year’s membership costs only £15 for all 8 meetings. Please bring cash.
Members come from the Black Isle and beyond and further information can be found on the Society’s website at www.cromartyhistory.scot. We look forward to meeting you as the new session begins.
17 October 2025Meeting Tuesday 21st October
Highlights from the Highland Archive
Lorna Steele‐McGinn
Victoria Hall, Cromarty
Archives are not always thought of by those who want to learn more about the history of a place or that of their family or what was happening in a Highland community long ago but the Highland Archive Service collects, conserves and makes records accessible in its four centres (which won the ARA Record-keeping Award in 2024) that cover 700 years of Highland history and diversity.
To discover more, Cromarty History Society’s October 21st meeting will hear from Community Engagement Officer Lorna Steele‐Mc Ginn about some of the records which are available and how those records enrich the lives of those who consult them. Lorna works with schools, adult learning groups, HMP Inverness, care homes and many others. Her ‘Learn With Lorna’s online talks’ have chalked up over 600k views.
17 October 2025Philip Paris Book Tour 2025
vvvvvvvvPhilip Paris Book Tour — A fire in their hearts
Join bestselling author Philip Paris and discover the extraordinary story of the civil war in Scotland when Covenanters fought kings for the freedom of the Kirk. An epic tale of love, faith, loss and loyalty, it also explores the little-known story of captured Covenanters sent to plantations in Barbados as forced labour.
- Tuesday 4th November, 11 am, The Old School, Beauly
- Friday 21st November, 2 pm, Dingwall Library
The one-hour talks are free to attend,
25 August 2025Meeting Tuesday 16th September
Corrugated Iron Buildings in the Highlands
Graham Clark
Victoria Hall, Cromarty
Autumn is coming and with it Cromarty History Society’s season of monthly talks will soon be underway.
On Tuesday September 16th, Dr Graham Clark will be telling us about the history of Corrugated Iron Buildings in the Highlands. Graham retired in 2002 as Principal of Inverness College and published a book about Redcastle in 2009 since when he has published more books and articles. He specialises in the history of ‘School Log Books’ and ‘Corrugated Iron Buildings’ and has won awards for articles on his research.
His illustrated talk begins with the invention of corrugated iron sheeting and why its use became widespread across the Highlands from the 18th Century until after WW1.
Meetings begin at 7.30pm in the Victoria Hall, Cromarty and are followed by refreshments. The fee for each talk is £5 but a whole year’s membership costs only £15 for all 8 meetings. Please bring cash.
Members come from the Black Isle and beyond and further information can be found on the Society’s website at www.cromartyhistory.scot. We look forward to meeting you as the new session begins.
25 August 2025Programme 2025-6
Press Release: Programme 2025‐6
Autumn is on its way and after last year’s very successful programme it will soon be time for Cromarty History Society’s monthly talks to begin again.
We’ve all noticed the corrugated iron buildings dotted about the Highlands. I remember as a child how loud the rain was on the roof and in the Victoria Hall on Tuesday September 16th at 7.30pm Graham Clark will explain how they came about and why they were so popular in remote areas. While on Tuesday 21st October we will discover the special collections preserved at the purpose-built Highland Archives in Inverness, available to us all, under the guidance of Lorna Steele‐McGinn, Community Engagement Officer.
David Alston needs no introduction to history buffs from the Black Isle and on Tuesday November 18th he will be telling us about the 10th and last Earl Marischal of Scotland, George Keith, Jacobite Commander in the 1719 uprising and later Ambassador of Prussia.
The December 16th meeting will feature Cromarty Trust Photographer of the Year, David Kent, showing ‘Then and Now’ pictures of Cromarty. As always, this meeting will feature mulled wine and mince pies. January”s meeting will instead be on a Thursday — January 30th at 2‐4pm in the Victoria Hall — and will be held jointly with the Fourways Club. Last year’s talk had to be cancelled because of flu, so Scilla Aitchison will be speaking of the Countess of Sutherland’s 18th Century Shopping List and how it involved the Black Isle.
Dingwall will celebrate its 800th anniversary in 2026 and Jonathan McColl will give us a potted history of the ancient town on Tuesday February 17th. On March 17th we will welcome the return of retired NHS medic Andrew Newton who will unveil his research into the Romans in the North of Scotland. Andrew works with museums and schools across the country explaining the Romans and their influence on us all. On April 21st herbalist and researcher Claire Mackay will speak on Highland Traditional Medicines, some of which go back 5000 years and of her work in researching and preserving the tradition.
With the exception of January 2026 all meetings begin at 7.30pm in the Victoria Hall Cromarty and are followed by refreshments. Meetings cost £5, but a year’s membership of the Society is only £15 for all the talks — please bring cash.
Members come from across the Black Isle and beyond and further information will be found on the Society’s website at www.cromartyhistory.scot. We look forward to welcoming you.
Scilla Aitchison, Secretary, Cromarty History Society