This
is an abandoned house in Glen Girnock, but it still has a name: Bovaglie, once
a ferm-toun of sixteen long houses scattered around three wells. I took this
picture back in June 2008. It may have been my first visit, I don’t recall. I’m
not sure if this was the first digital photograph I made here, but I would
return to Bovaglie another six times.
Why? What do I want to achieve? Do I want people to see my images of these abandoned houses and be angry, puzzled, sad, or all three? I was certainly puzzled – I wanted to know about Bovaglie’s story.
Why? What do I want to achieve? Do I want people to see my images of these abandoned houses and be angry, puzzled, sad, or all three? I was certainly puzzled – I wanted to know about Bovaglie’s story.
The
first place I normally refer to when I need to find out about an abandoned
dwelling in Aberdeenshire is Robert Smith’s book, Land of the Lost. Disappointingly, all that is mentioned is: ‘The shuttered windows of Bovaglia tell the
old story; this was once a busy fermtoun, now it is dead and deserted.’ Why the difference in spelling the name?
A search of the internet found Peter J Gordon’s work. According to his book Deeside Tales, this abandoned house has had the following spellings recorded in various documents over the centuries:
1358 - Botwaglach
A search of the internet found Peter J Gordon’s work. According to his book Deeside Tales, this abandoned house has had the following spellings recorded in various documents over the centuries:
1358 - Botwaglach
1607
- Bogvalich
1666
- Balbaglie
1698
- Bavaglich
1725
- Bovaglai
1764
- Bovaglack
1782
- Belvaglech
1799
- Bevaglie
1806
- Bavagly
1822
- Balvaglay
1848
- Balvagly
1860 –
BalvaglieWhat is surprising to me is how far back people have lived at this wild spot in the glen.
In John Milne’s Celtic Place Names of Aberdeenshire, the meaning of Bovaglie is given as:
‘Bovaglie (Both Faicille). Guard-house. Both, house; faicille, gen. of faicill, watch, guard. The house had been occupied by persons guarding cattle in a glen against thieves. F and v, and c and g are interchangeable.’
I can see how Both or Bothag (hut or house ) contributes to the ‘Bot’ or ‘Bov’ in the name, but the gaelic faicille or facill? The best gaelic word I could find that meant ‘guard’, but also when pronounced in gaelic could contribute to ‘valich’ or ‘vaglech’ in the Bovaglie name, was rabhadh. But who am I to disagree with John Milne?
Bovaglie sits in a commanding position at the southern end of the
Girnock, staring straight into the coires of Lochnagar, and this could indeed
be a place to ‘guard’ cattle – or keep an eye out for the gauger! By the side
of Bovaglie, the track turns eastwards through the woods and onwards to the
Genechal, the Distillery, and eventually to Balmoral.
The wood that surrounds Bovaglie, ‘haps
Bovaglie ferm like a plaid’, which, of course, inspired J.Scott Skinner’s
tune Bovaglie’s Plaid.
Researching
into the history of an abandoned place before I make my first field trip is a
way to make connections with the people who once lived there. It gives my
imagination the means to visualise traces of their past. How else can I get a
sense of the spirit of the place? It not only makes me consider their way of
life, but also the way we now live our lives and how things have changed, for
better and for worse.
Bovaglie shared the communal 12 oxen plough, ‘twal ousen plough’, with the neighbouring farms of Camlet and Loinveg, each farm providing 4 oxen. In many other glens, horses replaced oxen but in Girnock, they couldn’t afford horses and had little knowledge of how to handle and look after them. So, by the mid 1800s., ploughmen from other areas were ‘fee’d’ to do the ploughing.
The ruin of Loinveg
Cattle were tried in the glen and droving up to early 19th century, but market fluctuations made it a precarious trade. Turnip cultivation helped to feed cattle over winter, and after 1840s, winter fattened cattle were taken to markets by rail, but small glens like Girnoc suffered, being further away from railways and markets. Bovaglie and much of the glen turned to sheep farming, which required less farm workers. That said, under the tenanacy of Donald Gordon, (‘Red Gordon’ or ‘Auld Prodeegous’), a new farmhouse was built at Bovaglie in 1860 for Donald and his wife Margaret. This new farmhouse is the one we can visit today. In 1866, Bovaglie had 2,000 acres of hill pasture and employed 10 shepherds and 5 servants, (in 1826, Bovaglie had only 18 acres).
After this, Donald bought a property in Dee St in Aberdeen, for the family to stay during the long, hard winters.
This indicates how well financially Donald Gordon was doing at Bovaglie.
What we have abandoned, the elements claim. Nature slowly conquers as it makes its home. Entropy. The land will endure.
The land was grazed for a
while, but due to fencing disputes, much of it was given over to the Forestry
Commission.
James Dyas Davidson
This blog features the work of local photographer James Dyas Davidson
link
photography
Cattle were tried in the glen and droving up to early 19th century, but market fluctuations made it a precarious trade. Turnip cultivation helped to feed cattle over winter, and after 1840s, winter fattened cattle were taken to markets by rail, but small glens like Girnoc suffered, being further away from railways and markets. Bovaglie and much of the glen turned to sheep farming, which required less farm workers. That said, under the tenanacy of Donald Gordon, (‘Red Gordon’ or ‘Auld Prodeegous’), a new farmhouse was built at Bovaglie in 1860 for Donald and his wife Margaret. This new farmhouse is the one we can visit today. In 1866, Bovaglie had 2,000 acres of hill pasture and employed 10 shepherds and 5 servants, (in 1826, Bovaglie had only 18 acres).
Bovaglie steading
Donald Gordon lost three children to smallpox at Bovaglie.
Donald Gordon lost three children to smallpox at Bovaglie.
After this, Donald bought a property in Dee St in Aberdeen, for the family to stay during the long, hard winters.
This indicates how well financially Donald Gordon was doing at Bovaglie.
Decay
reminds me of my own impermanence, and that, paradoxically, keeps me more
alive, tuned in to the moment. I find beauty in decay, odd as that may sound –
even subversive to some. Decay isn’t normally seen as beautiful. It’s filthy,
unclean, stinking, and rotting. Decay is the opposite of society’s vision of
success, of achievement.
What we have abandoned, the elements claim. Nature slowly conquers as it makes its home. Entropy. The land will endure.
In Deeside Tales, it is suggested that Bovaglie may have
survived, indeed flourished, where other farms failed, due to Queen Victoria’s
mutton larder. (Royalty never owned Bovaglie, but did have 3 x 40 year leases
from Abergeldy Estate.)
However, with the decline in cattle farming, and the poor, marginal land in the many parts of the glen, combined with the end of the illicit whisky trade, saw many leave the glen for the lowlands, towns, cities, England and abroad. By 1872, Bovaglie ferm-toun was already being described as a ‘shapeless heap of ruins’.
However, with the decline in cattle farming, and the poor, marginal land in the many parts of the glen, combined with the end of the illicit whisky trade, saw many leave the glen for the lowlands, towns, cities, England and abroad. By 1872, Bovaglie ferm-toun was already being described as a ‘shapeless heap of ruins’.
I am, in a way, visually archiving this decay and neglect, visually
documenting traces of the past, memories, but, more than that, elegant and
spacious homes like Bovaglie, abandoned, gaping out to the land, waiting and
wondering if anyone will return, they are sources for the historian to show the
effects of changing land management and land use, the impact of the industrial
revolution, urbanisation and a growth in population.
There is a contemplative aspect to exploring abandoned places like Bovaglie which have lost their economic function. They have been left to rot away, with nature relentlessly reclaiming them. Much for the explorer’s mind to contemplate.
Lizzie Gordon, born in Bovaglie in 1865, stayed there as a spinster until the 1930’s. Bovaglie estate was run by Lizzie’s sister’s son, Victor Cook.
There is a contemplative aspect to exploring abandoned places like Bovaglie which have lost their economic function. They have been left to rot away, with nature relentlessly reclaiming them. Much for the explorer’s mind to contemplate.
Lizzie Gordon, born in Bovaglie in 1865, stayed there as a spinster until the 1930’s. Bovaglie estate was run by Lizzie’s sister’s son, Victor Cook.
The Merchant family lived
and worked at Bovaglie in the late 1930’s and 1940s. Tragically, Charles
Merchant got up one morning, pick up his rifle, went to one of the outbuildings
at Bovaglie and shot himself. He was 60 years old. Ten years later, his son
also committed suicide, in Loch Builg, Glen Gairn. Charles Merchant’s wife and
son ‘Wollie’, left Bovaglie soon after.
James Esson was the last to farm Bovaglie between 1957 - 1981. He was there with his wife only. James Esson took his hat off the peg, switched off the lights and closed the door for the last time.
James Esson was the last to farm Bovaglie between 1957 - 1981. He was there with his wife only. James Esson took his hat off the peg, switched off the lights and closed the door for the last time.
And that’s the story of Bovaglie. We
shouldn’t feel too nostalgic about abandoned places in Aberdeenshire as many
left glens like Girnock to find a better life, and many did.
This October I went back to Glen Girnock. It was my 8th visit to this glen and I still find something thrilling there, in the changing effects of decay and nature's relentless encroachment.
This October I went back to Glen Girnock. It was my 8th visit to this glen and I still find something thrilling there, in the changing effects of decay and nature's relentless encroachment.
James Dyas Davidson
This blog features the work of local photographer James Dyas Davidson
James
and Alec would like to think Peter Gordon for allowing us to quote from his
work; readers can see more at this is a big chunk of a small story in the whole
of time: The man with the Child in his eyes.
The original place-name research into Bovaglie is from Adam Watson.
The original place-name research into Bovaglie is from Adam Watson.
link
photography
all by James Dyas Davidson
Gathering was commissioned by Hauser & Wirth, for the
Fife Arms Hotel, Braemar; the project was launched in 2015 and will conclude in
2018.
The artist residency at University of Aberdeen is funded by The Leverhulme Trust; the project was launched in July 2016 and will conclude May 2017.
The artist residency at University of Aberdeen is funded by The Leverhulme Trust; the project was launched in July 2016 and will conclude May 2017.