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General History
Port a' Bhàta (the bay of the boat) is one of
many deserted townships in Moidart. The ruins that can
be seen in the 2004 reflect the drastic changes that
took place in the 18th and 19th centuries.
It is difficult to ascertain when Port a' Bhàta
came into existence. There may have been intermittent
human use of the site since prehistory. Recessed platforms
on the west side of Torr Port a' Bhàta may be
sites of pre-medieval round huts59.
Local tradition holds that boat building may have taken
place here in the Middle Ages, but documentary evidence
of occupation before the late 18th century has been
elusive.
Unfortunately, some of the Clanranald family papers
may have been lost in a shipwreck1
and early records are limited. Port a' Bhàta
does not appear on a list of tenant's agreements for
Moidart in 1718.2 The township
is not mentioned in the estate forfeiture records3
following the 1745 rising. It does not appear in a list
of Moidart tenants for 1748/49 although the one-and
a half farthing land at neighbouring Briag is recorded
as being "waste" at that time. Very significantly,
the settlement is not listed in a " Valuation of
the lands of Moydart belonging to John MacDonald of
Clanranald... 1782", although the neighbouring
settlements of Breag, Blain, Scardoish, Langal and East
and West Mingarry were all recorded.4
It is possible that Port a Bhàta was considered
to be a branch of the neighbouring township of Briagh
or was known by another name. It may have been omitted
from various documents for a host of different reasons
but it seems probable that although there may have been
earlier activity at the site, Port a' Bhàta did
not exist as a township until the late 18th century.
The finding of the remains of probable shieling huts
just to the south of the main settlement suggests that
the site was used for summer grazing before being in
full-time occupation. The change is likely to have taken
place in the late 1700s when the population of Moidart
was steadily increasing. There is documentary evidence
that permanent settlement at former shieling sites occurred
in neighbouring areas such as that at Poll Luachrain
in Morvern61.
The name of Portvait or Portvate or Portvat or Portavata
appears on late 18th century documents. At some time
in the late 1700s, a widow of a member of the Kinlochmoidart
MacDonalds lived at a place called Innis-a-Rudha that
may have occupied the promontory to the north of the
main part of the settlement5 or
the small headland to the east of the mill. In 1790
a carpenter named Alexander Corbet from Portvait in
Moydart appears on the passenger list of a ship taking
emigrants to Canada6, and a William Corbett became the
principal tenant in 17917.
The township certainly existed in the late 18th century
and the inhabitants would have been affected by the
changes in highland society that took place prior to
and after the 1745 Jacobite rebellion.
Prior to 1745 the lives of the people of Moidart would
have been influenced by the clan system in which the
clan chief provided land for his clansmen and held responsibility
in exchange for loyalty and military service. However,
clan society had been gradually declining long before
that time8. In 1724 a list of
expenses for the Clanranald household includes the item
"Expenses for holding court and entertaining the
natives...£1.16s.3d.9 Although
the nuance of meaning has probably changed with time,
the entry probably does give some indication that the
member of the Clanranald household dealing with the
accounts perceived a gulf between the clan chief and
his clansmen. In spite of the changes, many male inhabitants
of Moidart played an active role in the 1745 rising,
loyally following their chieftain's son and the tacksmen,
MacDonald of Kinlochmoidart and MacDonald of Glenaladale.
No men from Port a' Bhàta appear on the list
described as " part of the roll of men upon Clanranald's
Mainland Estates-with their arms-made up in the year
1745" published in Father Charles MacDonald's book
" Moidart Among The Clanranalds", but Father
MacDonald states that a relation of a man who fought
in 1745 resided in the settlement in 188910.
After 1745, the Clanranald chiefs abandoned the concept
of heritable trusteeship, and became full members of
the landed gentry. The Scottish Estates were expected
to finance lavish lifestyles in London, Edinburgh and
elsewhere. In the late 18th century and early 19th century,
the estate affairs were managed by the Clanranald tutors
in Edinburgh on behalf of the heir, Ranald George. Their
aim was to make the estates as profitable as possible
for the owner. With large profits from the kelp industry,
mainly carried on in the Uist estates, Clanranald's
annual income was reportedly as much as £20,000
to £25,000 per annum11.
Little of this income appears to have been invested
in the estates or used to improve the land or to develop
diverse industry. Ranald George lived the life of a
fashionable gentleman but when the kelp industry collapsed
the lands were sold off to meet his debts. The Lochshiel
Estate which incorporated Port a' Bhàta was acquired
by Alexander MacDonald of Glenaladale in 1811 for the
sum of £6,100 paid in three instalments with interest.
An 1815 Bond of Caution for Alexander MacDonald of Glenaladale
includes the words "...the following land sold
to me 4th July 1811...Island of Shona and kelp shores,
town and lands of Scardoise, Breig, Portavait with the
lands of Mullan ull detached from the lands of Langal
by a line from Lochan Glacgillan to Lochan Druin to
be pointed out by the factor Robert Brown."12
Following Alexander Macdonald's death the estate passed
to Mr Archibald MacDonald of Rhu13.
This gentleman was a well-loved character who never
lived on his Moidart lands but continued to live at
Arisaig. On his death the property passed to Alexander
MacDonald (often called Lochshiel) who was unable to
make it self-supporting.
The estate factor's accounts show that Port a' Bhàta
was regarded as one farm consisting of 7.71 acres of
arable land and 396.81 acres of pasture.14.
The farm was let jointly to a number of tenants. In
1814 and 1815 there were three tenants, William Corbet,
Alexander Corbet and Angus MacDonald paying rents of
£28, £14 and £14 respectively15.
The 1814 records show that all three tenants were in
rent arrears to varying degrees. The annual rent collected
fell to £50 8s in 1816 and 1817. William Corbet
was still the main tenant paying £25.4s and the
other two each paid £12.12s. In 1821 and 1822
the annual rent was £60 and the three named tenants,
John Corbet and Alan Corbet (both known to be sons of
William Corbet) and Peter MacGregor paid £20 each.
In 1823 the rents were the same but the widow MacGregor
was named as a tenant in place of her husband. The tenants
remained the same in 1825 but the overall rent was reduced
to £50.8s. By the 1830s seven or eight people
were named as joint tenants each year. In 1836 the total
rent was £60 shared between seven tenants. John
and Alan Corbet were the main tenants paying £20
and £15 annual rent respectively .The rents of
other tenants varied between £6.13s.4d and £3.6s.8d.
In 1838 a note recorded the fact that the overall annual
rent of the township was reduced to £45 because
of poor cattle prices. In 1841 three tenants, John Corbet,
Alan Corbet and Alexander Corbet, were recorded as having
rent arrears. In 1843 five tenants paid a combined rent
of £5016.
The Port a' Bhàta mill would have been built
by the estate and was already derelict by 1800. In that
year, papers proposing improvements to the Kinlochmoidart
estate63 suggest that a new grain
mill should be built on the site where a mill formerly
stood and that on the opposite side of Loch Moidart,
on Clanranald property (i.e. at Port a' Bhàta)
there stood a "sleat" mill that had become
derelict "for want of watter". The outer machinery
was "gone" but the inner work was "perfect".
It was proposed that an attempt should be made to obtain
the machinery for the new mill in Kinlochmoidart. Expense
could then be saved since it would no longer be necessary
to take grain to the Ardnamurchan mill. If grain was
taken to Ardnamurchan to be processed it is possible
that no mill was operating in the neighbouring Clanranald
land at that time.
Alexander Macdonald was in financial difficulties by
the 1840s. On the 16th July 1838 he borrowed the not
inconsiderable sum of £11,000. Various schemes
were sought to make the estate viable. A letter from
Lochshiel written in 183818 indicated,
" the fish curing house is about to commence"
In 1846 the decision was made to remove the majority
of people from the land to make sizable sheep farms.
In the estate rent records for that year19
an entry indicating that "Portavata" was let
to John Corbet and others in five separate holdings
for £50 was crossed out. At the foot of the page,
the following words were entered "The farms of
Blain, Briag and Portavate are made into one sheep tenement
at present in the hands of the proprietor." Most
of the inhabitants of Port a' Bhàta were cleared
from the township about that time and by the 1851 census,
there were only four households in the settlement including
that of the shepherd.
The financial problems continued and Mr Hope Scott bought
the estate in 1855. Lord Howard of Glossop succeeded
him in 1871. In the late 19th century the estate was
managed for sport and estate buildings were generally
improved. The most modern house in Port a' Bhàta
was built in the late 1870s and was lived in by the
same family until it was vacated in about 1915. The
township has remained deserted since.
Agriculture.
Highland townships grew up around small patches of land
suitable for farming. At Port a' Bhata the arable land
was only 7.71 acres. A turf and stone wall called the
head dyke defined the township separating the infield
from the hill grazing. Originally, the arable land in
Moidart was cultivated by the township tenants using
a system of shared labour that was probably less well
defined than the Run-rig system20.
This was replaced by the crofting system when the arable
land was divided into separate holdings and the surrounding
hill grazing was held in common by the tenants. Typically,
the parcels of land were too small to provide a family
with full subsistence so that the labour of tenants
would always be readily and cheaply available to the
landlord. At Port a' Bhàta the small area of
cultivated land seems to have been leased jointly to
a group of tenants who paid different rents. The remaining
dykes and field divisions do not appear to indicate
the definite division of the land into separate crofts,
but presumably there was some way of sharing the land
in proportion to the rent paid. The area of land worked
by individual households must have been pitifully small.
The Scottish breed of small black cattle was important
in the local economy and droves to Falkirk took place
annually21. The annual sale of
cattle provided the means to buy in meal to supplement
the inadequate quantities that could be grown on the
meagre and poor arable acreage and to pay rents. Cattle
prices were good in the late 18th century and sale of
cattle financed many emigrations to Canada. The cattle
were usually kept close to home and the byres were often
next to or near dwellings. Sometimes the cattle occupied
one side of the main house, people and animals being
separated by a wooden or stone partition. Providing
enough food for cattle during the winter was a problem
and there are descriptions of cattle becoming so weak
that they would need to be carried from the byres in
spring22. In the summer they moved
to summer pasture at the shielings together with the
women and children. Rough shelters were built as accommodation
at the shielings and butter and cheese making would
be carried out there in the summer months23.
At Port a' Bhàta the remains of a large number
of rough shieling shelters can be seen on the hillside
above and south of the settlement along the burn that
eventually flows through the glen south of the Torr.
Other remains of shieling huts can be found adjacent
to the township itself. These remains indicate that
the Port a' Bhàta site was probably used for
summer grazing before it was used for permanent settlement.
It is quite possible that these shielings could all
have been used by people from the nearby township of
Mingarry (later called High Mingarry). It is likely
that Mingarry existed from very early times and is reputed
to have been the home of Clanranald's smiths and armourers.
A John Corbet was a tenant in Mingary in the late 18th
century and it seems likely that his sons became the
first permanent occupants of Port a' Bhàta. The
practice of seasonal transhumance may have become limited
by the time Port a' Bhàta was established. Lazy-beds
at shieling sites such as Meall an Aoil indicate that
some summer sites were eventually used for cultivation.
Sheep or goats were usually left to forage on the hillsides
surrounding the township. The fleeces were processed
into yarn by the women and woven into cloth locally
on their own or neighbours looms until well into the
19th century. A weaver inhabited Port a' Bhàta
at the time of the 1841 census.
Crops were grown in the small irregular fields. These
cultivation patches were cleared of stones which were
piled into clearance cairns which can be seen at various
places within the head dyke at Port a' Bhàta.
Crops were also grown in lazy beds, which were made
in any suitable small patch of land. There are usually
many patches of lazybed cultivation surrounding townships
in Moidart but there appear to be very few around Port
a' Bhàta. There are some visible on the high
ground between the track to the township through the
glen and the main township. Clearance cairns and lazybeds
can also be seen in the woods in the east of the settlement.
Bere barley and oats were usually grown24
together with root crops such as turnips. Potatoes were
increasingly grown in the late 18th century and would
certainly have been an extremely important part of the
diet of the inhabitants of Port a' Bhàta in the
19th century. The people still living in the Moidart
area in the years following 1845, would have suffered
privation during the time of the potato blight. Thanks
to the provision of relief, the disaster did not cause
loss of life on the same scale as in Ireland, but records
of annual deaths in Moidart show significant increases
in 1845, 1847 and 1848. However, the recorded number
of deaths in 1849 was actually fewer than the average
in the 10 years before the famine25.
Cultivation in Moidart was usually by
the cas dhireach or straight spade until the late 18th
century26. In the wet climate,
harvesting and drying grain was difficult. The township
would have shared the corn-drying kiln at the heart
of the settlement and grain would have been ground using
household querns, or taken to the mill along the shore
to the east of the township. The landowner would have
owned the mill. There were other corn-drying kilns associated
with the buildings along the shore to the east of the
mill. The site of this mill is puzzling because there
could have been relatively little grain production on
this side of the estate to warrant such a building and
complex of corn kilns.
The inhabitants of the settlement would have used peat
for fuel27. Evidence of peat cutting
exists on an area of hill above the shielings some distance
to the south.
Income from sources other than agriculture.
Life would have been hard in Port a' Bhàta and
it must always have been difficult to obtain sufficient
food to last out the long winters. It is evident that
in a township with so little arable land and very rough
grazing, the inhabitants must have earned money to buy
in meal.
Boat building.
Local people maintain that boat building was carried
on at the township, and there is some evidence for this
in that the Alexander Corbett who emigrated in 1790
was a carpenter and another Alexander Corbett who lived
there in 1841 and 1851 was described in the 1851 census
as being a joiner. Alexander MacDonald who moved to
Dalilea from Port a' Bhàta in the 1840s was listed
as being a "carpenter-boat" in the 1861 census.
Kelp.
One of the ways of augmenting the income in townships
on the west coast was by participation in the kelp industry28.
People were paid to collect, dry and burn kelp throughout
the summer months. The alkaline product was shipped
to the Clyde and used in bleaching and the manufacture
of glass and soap. This industry was very lucrative
for the landowners especially during the Napoleonic
wars but finally declined and died out in the 1820s.
At the end of the war, imported foreign barilla became
freely available and it was discovered that cheaper
alkali could be manufactured from common salt by the
Le Blanc process. The people were paid little for their
labours but even the little helped. However, although
Kinlochmoidart estate papers indicate that kelp collection
occurred at Kyles and Shonabeg in the 1780s and through
into the early 19th century29,
it is uncertain that any collection took place at Port
a' Bhàta. The shore at the township itself is
too muddy for good kelp growth but growth is quite prolific
at the bay to the west of the glen that lies to the
south of the Torr. The inhabitants would certainly have
been adversely affected by the decision made by the
Clanranald tutors in 1800 to prosecute anyone removing
kelp for manure30.
Whisky production.
Another means of acquiring cash was the production of
whisky31. Distillation for household
consumption at places like Port a' Bhàta would
have been legal until the 1780s when legislation was
passed imposing licensing, a heavy duty on whisky production
and regulating the size of stills, thus putting the
small producer out of legal business. Whisky continued
to be distilled illegally in stills hidden along the
burns throughout the Highlands. There was a good market
for a product that was considered to be far superior
in quality to the whisky produced by the large Lowland
distilleries and both overland and sea-coast distribution
routes operated. "Smuggling" flourished until
after 1815 when a degree of relaxation of regulation
and duties plus vigorous deployment of excise officers
made the trade far less profitable. In remote places
such as Port a' Bhàta illicit spirit production
may have persisted until much later in the 1800s. Bere
barley was usually used and the malted barley was processed
in corn-drying kilns32. The priest,
Charles MacDonald stated in his book written in the
1880s that local "smuggling" had come to an
end about 50 years previously but that excessive consumption
of whisky had become such an established habit among
local inhabitants that it continued to be a problem
for some families after emigration to Australia in the
1850s 57. He also states that
vessels from Uist and Tiree would bring cargoes of barley
into Loch Moidart to be converted into malt and then
whisky and would leave laden with timber
58. Port a' Bhàta is likely to have been
one of the main sites for this illicit industry and
in local tradition is reputed to have been infamous
for the production of illicit whisky. The presence of
the remains of four corn-drying kilns and indeed the
site of the mill at Port a' Bhàta is puzzling.
There were only about 14 acres of possible arable land
at the combined townships of Briagh and Port a' Bhàta,
so that large quantities of grain could not have been
produced. The northern shores of the loch were under
a different proprietor and would be served by the mill
at Kinlochmoidart. It therefore seems probable that
the corn kilns and mill were intended to process grain
brought into the area and would have been used in processing
grain for distillation as described by Charles MacDonald.
Remains along the burn above the mill certainly indicate
the presence of hidden stills.
Excisemen were stationed at Altegil and Briaig. Tales
are still known locally about the exploits of Port a'
Bhàta smugglers. One describes an episode when
an excise man pursuing a smuggler at Port a' Bhàta
was led out onto the mud at low tide. The local smuggler
knew the safe parts of the mud banks but the unfortunate
officer sank and became stuck. He was left until the
incoming tide made his position perilous and was rescued
on the understanding that the smuggling incident would
be forgotten33.
Charcoal.
In the late 18th century, charcoal produced on the estate
along the north side of Loch Shiel and around Dalilea
was transported over the hill from Langal by pony and
shipped from Port a' Bhàta.34
It is difficult to see where the charcoal might have
been taken aboard since there is no sign of a substantial
jetty at Port a' Bhàta but a small jetty on the
northeast side of the promontory could have been used
at high tide. There are at least three recessed platforms
on the wooded west slopes of the Torr that may have
been used for charcoal production. Investigation of
similar platforms by Elizabeth Rennie revealed rings
of post holes dated to pre-medieval times59.
It is postulated that such platforms represent the foundations
of small round huts or houses but they may have been
used for charcoal hearths in the 18th century. No Moidart
platforms have been excavated.
Herring.
Preserved herring became an important item of food on
the west coast in the 19th century. The people of the
coastal areas of Moidart are likely to have fished inshore
waters from small boats. It is reported locally that
descendents of Port a' Bhàta emigrants to Canada
said that their forebears were involved in fish smoking
and boat building in Moidart and continued these occupations
in the New World.
Hardship, emigration and clearance.
In spite of harsh living conditions, the population
of Moidart grew steadily throughout the 18th century
and early 19th century. Between 1801 and 1841 the population
along the western seaboard and islands increased by
53%35. It became increasingly
difficult to produce adequate food to support the population.
A letter written on 7th July 1808 by the factor of the
Kinlochmoidart estate to Col. Robertson the proprietor,
mentions the fact that some meal was coming into the
coast that would enable the poor people of the area
to survive in miserable circumstances until the potato
harvest36. As the population grew,
previously uncultivated land was used. It is possible
that the township of Port a' Bhàta came into
existence as a response to the need for more land. It
seems an unlikely site for a very early farming settlement
because of its relatively small area of arable land
and its position to the north of the hill with consequent
limitation of sunlight. With increasing population the
available land was shared between larger numbers of
people. This certainly occurred in Port a' Bhàta
as evidenced by the estate rent rolls and the census
records. At the time of the 1841 census fifty seven
people were living in this township with only 7.71 acres
of arable land.
Emigration from the area was initiated because of the
growing dissatisfaction of the tacksmen and more wealthy
tenants in the years following 1745 but was later driven
by the need of poor clansmen for land and opportunity.
In May 1772 a party of 210 people sponsored by the Roman
Catholic Church and who mainly came from the Moidart
area, joined 11 South Uist families and sailed for St
Johns Island, Canada37. Glenaladale,
who recruited all but the Uist families for the venture,
led the emigration. The emigrants from the Moidart area
paid their own passage and tended to be the better off
members of the population. The settlement in Canada
had initial problems but began to flourish after a few
years. Emigrant families would have written to their
friends and relations in Scotland thus encouraging further
emigration38. Many people who
could afford to do so paid their own passage to Canada
in the late 18th century and early 19th century. At
least one young man left Port a' Bhàta for Canada
in 1790.
By the 1840s Moidart was overpopulated and hardship
was widespread. Overcrowding was made worse by an influx
of families who were displaced from Rhu Arisaig39.
The failure of the potato crop in 1846 caused a crisis40.
In the 1840s the general hardship was such that many
felt that assisted emigration was necessary. The local
priest at the time, Father Ranald Rankin, was an advocate
of emigration and wrote to local landlords expressing
his views and urging them to assist their tenants to
emigrate. At the same time the landlords were seeking
to make their estates profitable by making large sheep
farms. Large-scale clearances and assisted emigration
from the area took place from 1848 to 1854. Some people
from Moidart sailed to Port Phillip Australia on the
Allison in 1852 and the Hornet in 1854. Father Rankin
joined them in 185741. No tenants
from Port a' Bhàta left for Australia on those
ships but it is evident that some people who had originally
come from the township but were living elsewhere by
the late 1840s or early 1850s, did go to Port Phillip,
Australia on the Araminta, sailing from Liverpool on
20th of June 185252. Some Lochshiel
estate tenants left for Canada in 185042
and it is possible that people of Port a' Bhàta
were among them. It is known that the family of Ranald
Corbet of Port a' Bhata left for North America some
time after 1847 but relatively few of the families cleared
from the township appear to have emigrated. Many relocated
in the area and others probably moved to cities such
as Glasgow or Dundee.
Religion.
The population of the township followed the Roman Catholic
faith and their religion would have been important to
them. Generally, the people of Moidart maintained their
faith throughout the years of suppression of the Roman
Catholic Church. When soldiers were stationed at Castle
Tioram, the priest's hiding place was said to be a small
cave in a hillside between Port a' Bhàta and
Dorlin. Although it is described by Father Charles Macdonald
in his book written in the late 19th century and was
mentioned by Wendy Wood in her book "Moidart and
Morar" nobody now knows the location43.
The Inhabitants of Port a' Bhàta.
Father Charles MacDonald in his book " Moidart,
Among the Clanranalds" states that following the
1745 uprising, all but one of the members of the MacDonald
family of Kinlochmoidart sailed to France and did not
return. The exception, Ranald Macdonald, married a daughter
of the Dalilea family and settled for his lifetime at
Roshven. Following his death his widow lived at a place
called Innis-a-Rhuda5 that he
describes carefully as being sited on a promontory on
the south shore of Loch Moidart. On the map included
in the 1997 edition of the book, the site is marked
as occupying the north part of Port a' Bhàta,
and on the 1875 Ordnance survey map, the north end of
the peninsula is labelled Rudha Port a' Bhàta.
This lady and her invalid priest son Eoin, may therefore
have lived at Port a' Bhàta at that time, although
it is strange that Father Charles did not describe the
place in relationship to Port a' Bhàta. It seems
likely that he was unsure of the exact location. After
the death of her son, the widow moved to Langal where
she spent the remainder of her life.
Records definitely link the name of the Corbett (or
Corbet) family with Port a' Bhàta in the late
18th century. The Corbett family were originally Normans
who settled in Shropshire. Later, a branch of the family
gained lands in the borders and descendants are spread
widely throughout Scotland. The name is a corruption
of Corbeau, meaning a crow44.
Alistair Cameron (North Argyll) States in his booklet
"St. Finnan's Isle" that Corbets moved into
Moidart from Easter Ross. " North Argyll"
also mentions a tradition that the flagstaff of the
standard raised at Glenfinnan in 1745 was made by a
Corbet from Moidart. When and why the Corbet family
appeared in Moidart is unclear. In the Robertson Macdonald
Papers a John Corbet is recorded as being a tenant at
Inchrory in Glenmoidart in 1764. A John Corbet submitted
an estimate for repairs to the house at Kinlochmoidart
in 1773 and a man of the same name was mentioned in
1782 as a ground officer. Also in 1782 a John Corbitt
living at Mingarry was recorded buying two stirks at
a farm sale45. In 1836, when giving
evidence in a dispute over rights to collect shell sand46,
a John Corbet of Port a' Bhàta stated that his
father William Corbet moved from the Kinlochmoidart
estate at the age of 30 years. William died aged 93
years in 1833 and would therefore have left the Kinlochmoidart
estate about 1770. In 1836 John stated that the family
had lived at Port a' Bhàta for 45 years, that
is from 1791. However William was not the first Corbet
to live in the township. In 1790 a carpenter named Alexander
Corbet left Port a' Bhàta to sail to the Island
of St John on the Lucy47. On the
same ship were12 people from Eilean Shona, 14 people
from Caolas, 11 from Glenuig, 1 from Samalaman, and
3 from Kentra together with others from the area. The
relationship between William, Alexander and the John
Corbet mentioned in connection with the Kinlochmoidart
estate earlier in the century remains a matter for speculation
but it seems likely that both William and Alexander
were sons of John. Certainly William Corbet of Port
a' Bhàta had at least two sons, Allan Corbet
born probably in the early 1770s and John born in 1784.
A reference to a John Corbet appears in a letter from
the Kinlochmoidart factor in 1805. The factor complained
that John Corbet had not paid his rent and indicated
that he feared others may follow his example48.It
is unclear if this John Corbet is William Corbet's son
or another member of the Corbet family.
Information about the inhabitants
of the Township after 1811 are gained from the Lochshiel
estate records held in the National Archives of Scotland
as part of the Macdonald of Glenaladale papers. Other
useful information has been gained from Roman Catholic
Church records of Baptisms (Appendix II) and
marriages (Appendix III), from records relating
to poor relief and from census records (Appendix
I.).
Successive census records give valuable information
on the population of Port a' Bhàta, though there
is some inconsistency of accurate age and precise Christian
names in successive 10 yearly records. The first census
in 1841 did not record relationships of individuals
within households or their marital status and the ages
of adult individuals appear to have been rounded up
or down and recorded as a multiple of five! Although
the households are enumerated in each census, their
exact position is not described so that it is not possible
to ascertain which ruin corresponds to individual dwellings
listed as occupied, in the various years.
In the years 1814 to 1817 the main tenants
recorded in the township15were
William
Corbet(t) and Alexander Corbet(t )(exact relationship
uncertain) and an Angus
MacDonald who was married to Mary Corbet(t) and was
therefore certainly related to
the other families by marriage.
Rents in the 1820s show that John and Allan Corbet(t)
(sons of William) had become the main tenants with at
first Peter MacGregor and later with the widow MacGregor
(Catherine MacIntyre). In the 1830s the number of tenants
expanded to include a Duncan Corbet and an Alexander
Corbet(t) and a Donald MacDonald and an Angus Macdonald
as well as John and Allan Corbet(t) and widow MacGregor.
It is likely that all the families were related in some
way with the exception of Catherine Macgregor(MacIntyre).
For example, from church and Census records it is apparent
that a son of Donald Macdonald named Alexander was married
to a Flora Corbet.
It appears that there was considerable
change in the population in the years before the clearance
of the township circa 1846. In 1829 a MacNeil family
lived in the township but they were resident in Scardoish
at the 1841 census. Although few families appear to
have emigrated directly from Port a' Bhàta it
is evident that individuals connected to the township
did emigrate prior to the clearance. The Angus MacDonald
and Mary Corbet who resided in the township in the early
1800s had a daughter Catherine and a son Donald. Their
daughter Catherine married a Duncan MacDonald and sailed
from Skye on the Midlothian bound for Port Jackson on
31/12/1837. Their son, Donald Macdonald (born in 1810)
married a Marcella Macdonald from Kylesmor at Mingarry
church on 25/1/1837. Marcella was born on 20/7/1811.
The couple sailed to Port Jackson (Sydney) Australia
on the British King, leaving from Tobermory. 51
There was certainly hardship. In 1839
the widow MacGregor received 2 stones of meal as poor
relief. A Duncan MacIsaac resident in the township in
1839 received similar help but was not resident by 1841.
The family of Duncan Corbet also received assistance
in 183949.
In 1841 there were 57 people living
in 9 households in Port a' Bhàta. There were
two dwellings occupied by single women. These houses
may have been small and rudimentary. All the other seven
households were involved in working the land to some
degree although there was a publican, a weaver and a
merchant.
The first household enumerated in the 1841 census was
that of John Corbet, his wife Sarah (sometimes called
Marcella or Marion) and six of their children. John
was a publican but the site of his public house is uncertain.
He gave evidence to the inquiry into a dispute over
shell sand collection in 1836 at the public house at
Ardmorlich7, but whether he ran the Ardmorlich establishment
or a public house at Port a' Bhàta is unknown.
He employed servants to work his land and as domestic
servants. Three of these employees were named MacVarish
and were likely to have been relatives of his wife whose
maiden name was MacVarish. John appears to have been
well regarded by his neighbours and was frequently named
as sponsor in the Roman Catholic Baptismal records in
the 1840s. The family moved several times after 1845.
They lived at Kylesmor then at Sloch, and were living
at Samalaman by 1851. In the 1851 census Marion Corbet
is listed as a farmer's wife in Samalaman, and their
children Margaret, William, and Ann are listed with
her together with two younger daughters; Ann aged 7
and Catherine aged 4 years. John Corbet appears as a
visitor in Ardtoe on the 1851 census but is recorded
as a farmer in Samalaman with his wife Sarah and three
of the children in 1861. Descendents of John and Sarah
still live in Moidart.
The family of Duncan Corbet who was
described as a farmer, occupied the second house enumerated
in the 1841 census. This family moved to Blain Moss
and all were recorded there in 1851. Norman and two
of his sisters became well known in the area
in the 20th century because of their longevity.
The family of Alexander Corbet, farmer,
resided in the third house recorded in the 1841 census.
Although the ages do not correspond exactly, it is probable
that Alexander Corbet and his wife Margaret were still
living in Port a' Bhàta in house 3 in 1851. Their
son, Ranald and his wife Ann MacDonald, and 3 children
emigrated to North America sometime after the birth
of their son Charles in 1847. It is likely that this
was the Ranald Corbet who was described by North Argyll
as competing successfully at games held at Glenfinnan
in 1845 to commemorate the centenary of the '45 Rising50.
He stated that this Ronald Corbet emigrated to Canada
in 1846 and that he was possibly the man who had led
the excise man out onto the mud at Port a' Bhàta
when caught at an illegal still. Another son of the
household, Allan, married Ann MacPherson and moved away
from the township after the birth of their first four
children. The 15 year old Ann Corbet on the census record
was almost certainly Ann MacPherson who had given birth
to her first child, James, four months previously. This
family eventually moved to the High Street Fort William
and a daughter Flora Corbet married the jeweller Englebert
F Angler in Fort William. The family are commemorated
on the Green Isle.
The family of Alexander Macdonald,
agricultural labourer, occupied the fourth house recorded
in 1841. This family were still resident in 1851 but
their daughters Catherine and Mary were not with them
at that time. Catherine would have been 19 years old
so that she could have married or emigrated or could
have left home to work, but Mary would only have been
11 years old in 1851 and so was possibly staying with
relatives. By 1861 Alexander's family had moved to Dalilea
and Alexander's occupation is recorded as Carpenter-Boat.
Mary had rejoined the family. It is possible that Alexander
was a son of Angus MacDonald and Mary Corbet who had
resided in the township in the early 1800s.
The fifth house was occupied by a Sarah Grant who lived
alone.
The sixth house listed, was occupied by the family of
Alexander MacIntyre, handloom weaver in 1841. This family
do not appear to be resident in the area by 1851. They
do not appear on the known passenger lists of the ships
that left for Australia, but could have gone to Canada,
or elsewhere in Scotland. It is possible that they were
related to the widow MacGregor who had lived in the
settlement in the 1820s and 1830s.
The seventh house was occupied by Jessie MacDonald,
an 85 year-old woman living alone.
The family of the farmer Allan Corbet occupied the eighth
house enumerated in 1841. Of the occupants of the house,
several remain unaccounted for in 1851, but a widow
named Mary Gillies (probably her maiden name) was recorded
with her two daughters Margaret and Marjory Corbet in
Blain in the 1851 census. The two girls were likely
to have been the two youngest members of Allan Corbet's
1841 household. They emigrated to Geelong, Australia
on the Araminta in 1852 when they were listed as Dairymaids
on the passenger list52*.
The last and ninth house enumerated in 1841 was occupied
by a family of eight Macdonalds headed by the patriarch
Donald Macdonald, farmer. One of his sons, John, is
described as a merchant, but the nature of his business
is unspecified. The Flora MacDonald in this household
was Flora Corbet before her marriage. By 1851 Donald
Macdonald had died and the family had moved to a place
recorded as "Moidart" on the census returns.
This was probably Mingarry. By 1861, Flora's husband,
Alexander MacDonald, had died and the family were living
at Dorlin. Flora's uncle, Allan Corbet had joined the
household and was described as a pauper. Flora's brother
in law, John MacDonald, was still a member of the household
and was working as a gardener.
Of the inhabitants of Port a' Bhàta whose whereabouts
cannot be accounted for after the clearance, some individuals
would have moved to cities such as Glasgow and others
may have emigrated. John Watt, in his notes in the appendix
to Father MacDonald's book, states that some tenants
from Loch Shiel Estate appear on passenger lists of
a ship that left for Canada in 1850.
Some former residents of the township who do not appear
on the 1841 census records, perhaps because they were
away from home at the time of the census, appear on
known passenger lists of the ships that left for Australia.
In 1848 Father Ranald Rankin married a Clementina MacDonald
of Port a' Bhàta to a Ewen MacDonald of Morar
prior to the couple's emigration to Australia. In 1850,
Kitty Corbet of Port a' Bhàta married Archie
Macdonald (also known as Archie MacIsaac) of Scardoise
and the couple with their son Allan and four of Archie's
siblings, left for Port Philip Australia in 1852 aboard
the Araminta52*. The couple had
8 more children in Australia before Archie died in 186553*.
The early years must have been hard since records show
that the family applied for a pauper's funeral for Archie
and had been receiving aid for some time prior to his
death54*. Catherine lived in Geelong
until her death in 1910. One son became a local government
councillor in Geelong and at least three others appear
to have prospered. Descendants still live in the Melbourne
area.
Since
the mill to the east of the settlement had ceased operation
prior to 1800, there was no miller at Port a' Bhàta
in the 1841 census. There was a miller and his apprentice
living in Kinlochmoidart and it is possible that any
grain produced by the people of Port a' Bhàta
would have been taken across Loch Moidart to be processed
or ground in small quantities within households using
rotary querns.
By the time of the 1851 census,
the township had been largely cleared for sheep.
There were only four households in Port a' Bhàta,
and a total population of 22. Ten persons made up the
shepherd's household. The enumerators recorded family
relationships in 1851 so that it is possible to see
the composition of households. The parish where individuals
were born is also recorded. Occasionally enumerators
listed the actual place of birth instead of just the
parish and this information can be useful in tracing
family origins.
One of the houses was still occupied by Alexander MacDonald
and his family. His occupation had changed to occasional
fishing. Another house was occupied by Alexander Corbet
and his wife Margaret. The couple were living with one
servant, Ann Kennedy. Alexander was described as being
a joiner by trade.
The shepherd, Donald Campbell and his wife and five
children together with two of his servants, came from
Morar/ Arisaig. Only one of their servants, Archibald
MacIsaac, was from Moidart.
An eighty-year-old widow, Sally Macdonald, described
as a temporary pauper and her daughter occupied the
fourth house.
By 1861, Port a' Bhàta consisted of one farm
and a house occupied by a gamekeeper. The keeper, John
Macdonald, originally hailed from Abertarff. The place
where his elder child had been born shows that this
family had been living in Lochalsh just two years before
the census suggesting that estate workers probably moved
jobs frequently and had little security.
The family of Roderick Macdonald occupied the farm.
They had been living in Kinlochmoidart a decade earlier.
In 1861 the household consisted of Roderick and his
wife Margaret and their three young adult children,
Donald, Donald (it was not unusual to have 2 children
with the same Christian name) and Ann. Roderick's brother,
Archibald and his spinster sister-in-law also shared
the house.
By the time of the 1871 census only
one house was occupied. The gamekeeper's family had
moved to Resipole. His little daughter Angusina had
died aged 15 months and is buried on the Green Isle.
The MacDonald family were the only residents of Port
a' Bhàta. Roderick Macdonald was recorded as
being a forester instead of a farmer. One of the sons
was not recorded as living at the house and the sister-in-law
was not present. In this year, the recorded information
started to include the number of rooms with at least
one window in the house. The family were occupying a
two-roomed house. The Ordnance Survey map produced in
1875 shows east facing roofed buildings in the north
part of the main settlement. These would have been the
house and outbuildings used by the family at that time.
By 1881 the same family were still living
at Port a' Bhàta in a six-roomed house. This
is likely to be the more modern two storied south facing
house, the ruins of which can be seen standing to the
north of the settlement roughly in the same position
as one of the east facing buildings recorded on the
1875 map. The household consisted of only Roderick and
Margaret and their daughter Ann and a nine-year-old
grandson, Hugh.
In 1891 the same family occupied the
house but Roderick and Margaret had died. The two brothers,
both named Donald, had returned. One of the brothers
is described as a plasterer by trade and the other as
a shepherd. Ann was keeping house and the nineteen-year-old
Hugh was working as a farm servant.
In the 1901 census, the 6-roomed house
is described as the crofter's house, and is enumerated
as 14 on the census returns on the Loch Shiel Estate.
It was occupied by one of the brothers who was described
as being a shepherd/crofter, and by his sister Ann and
nephew Hugh. Hugh MacDonald is recorded as being married
but his wife does not appear on the record as being
resident on the day of the census. The members of the
household were all recorded as Gaelic and English speakers.
Hugh was known as Hugh (French) MacDonald
and worked on the Cameron-Head estate until his early
death at 38 years of age. After his death his wife,
who came from Gorteneorn, went to live at the old Poors
House situated between Langal and Kinlochmoidart, and
brought up their children with the help of local relations.
Hugh's uncle Donald remained the tenant at Port a' Bhàta
until about 1915 when the township was finally deserted.
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