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I stayed at the stunning Castle Hotel in Huntly, which I would recommend to anyone planning a trip to the area. It is the former hunting lodge of the Dukes of Gordon and lies in a deep green valley near the River Deveron, surrounded by forests and just up the road from the ruins of Huntly Castle.The photo on the left shows the rolling land between Kennethmont and Insch and reminded me of the Minnedosa Valley in Manitoba, near where my family eventually settled. Although there are much higher hills to the west, near Rhynie, most of the countryside I saw was of this lush green rolling farmland, dotted with ancient Pictish stone circles, carved stones and hill forts. |
My great-great-great-great-grandfather, William McKenzie, had been a brewer and a distiller in the village of Rhynie in 1835-6, according to church records, and old maps of the area show the Glennoth Distillery in the valley beneath Noth Hill (the Glen of Noth), but aside from one very overgrown track, I saw no possible way to look for any ruins. After an accident which cost him one of his arms, William became the innkeeper and publican at The Lodge in Kennethmont, which is now a private residence. It was also the local Masonic Lodge.This photo shows the ruins of Insch Church, possibly the one where my great-great-great-grandmother, Mary Brown, was baptized in 1838. I found some Brown stones in the churchyard but it is too common a surname for me to be certain this was the right location. Mary went to work as a housemaid for the McKenzie family in the early 1850s at The Lodge in Kennethmont, where she lived with the confusing group of siblings, half-siblings and step-siblings left by the various marriages and relationships of William McKenzie and his wife Jane Warrack. In 1858 Mary married the boss' son and they moved next door to Kennethmonthill and got started on their family of fourteen. |
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This page was last updated 22/04/2007 12:49:25
