The Big Music
Page 40
1948–49: as above, minus Donald McCaddie
1949–50: as above
iv
The origins of land use
The original longhouse that was The Grey House in the early eighteenth century was, as we have already seen, a simple dwelling built close to the land so as to escape the worst of the weather and offer, in its environs, shelter to animals and gardens as well as its inhabitants. It was made with locally farmed materials such as stone, turf, thatch of reeds, oats, barley or marram grass – usually on the worst arable land.
This was the case of the original ‘Grey Longhouse’, given up for tenure by the Sutherland Estates, and the land subsequently bought freehold by John ‘Elder’ Sutherland (1800–1871) – in both instances the land upon which the house stood (some 27 acres) regarded by the estate to be of little or no value. Thus, while its size and holdings remained modest in the period from the early eighteenth century to the mid-nineteenth century, nevertheless by acquiring the property as they did, independently, the Sutherland family were able to maintain autonomous control over their property and, as the century evolved, were able to confirm substantial landholdings that comprised fishing, stalking and later forestry rights.
In this way, because of its locality and particular history, ‘The Grey House, from its earliest incarnation as ‘Grey Longhouse’, was operating as though an independent concern – outwith the usual customs and fealties that accompanied the responsibilities of the independent farmer or landowner (see also Appendix 3/ii). Before the introduction of crofting at the beginning of the nineteenth century, most ‘farms’ on the Highland estates were run by tacksmen who paid a rent to the clan chief. On each of these there would be a small settlement whose inhabitants would pay their rents to the tacksman. No such system operated for the tenants of the ‘Grey Longhouse’ – who, from the beginning, sought value from the land themselves, not through renting it out but by careful management of their holdings and the extension of them in creating what became known as the ‘corridor’ – as detailed in the Taorluath section of ‘The Big Music’ and earlier Appendices. Thus the Sutherlands were able to increase their agricultural activities and prosper – while paying a modest fee to the estate – and when local crofting was formally introduced to the area, The Grey House was already established as a significant property on those lands between the hills of Mhorvaig and Luath which, even then, were still being regarded by the big estates as inhospitable, worthless ground.
So did the Sutherland family of that region escape the pressures and ignominies of the Sutherland Clearances that were elsewhere in the region stripping crofts and subsistence communities from the face of the earth. By contrast, as we see throughout the second and third movements of ‘The Big Music’, in the variations sections of the tune and subsequent paragraphs and doublings, the holdings of The Grey House only became more established as time went on – with, as noted already, various fishing and stalking rights added to the original sheep-farming interests, as well as extensive developments in forestry and agriculture.
To the date of being written about, the area of grounds and land surrounding The Grey House amount to some 400 acres.
Appendix 6: The Grey House and the Sutherland family
i
History
The Vikings called the mainland south of Caithness ‘Suth-r-land’, or southern land, and occupied the area as far as a King David I granted a Flemish family Freskin land further south in Moray around 1130. As the power of the Vikings waned, that family acquired land further north in Sutherland and by 1235 the first Earl of Sutherland was appointed by King Alexander II. The family interests were then split – with those in Moray taking the name Murray and those further north taking the name Sutherland.
Kenneth, the 4th Earl, was killed at the Battle of Halidon Hill in 1333 fighting the English army led by Edward III. The 5th Earl was married to the daughter of Robert the Bruce and at one stage their son was heir to the throne but died of the plague. The 6th Earl built the original Dunrobin Castle. In 1651 a contingent of the clan fought with King Charles II when he was defeated at the Battle of Worcester.
There was frequent strife with the Gordon family to the south and at one stage the Gordons usurped the Sutherland earldom. In the eighteenth century the dispute over succession was heard in the House of Lords and the Countess of Sutherland was confirmed in the title in her own right. She married the Marquis of Staf-ford, who was created 1st Duke of Sutherland in 1833. The Duke and Duchess were responsible for the ‘improvements’ to the estates which resulted in the notorious Clearances and depopulation.
That period in Sutherland history resulted in many with that name being dispersed but the name is still the seventh most common in the northern Highlands and fifty-fourth in the whole of Scotland. The Sutherland family of The Grey House have been established in that part of the county that occupies the land between the hill range of Mhorvaig and Luath for many generations, however, and have not been dispersed – though most recently John MacKay Sutherland moved to London for some years. In this, he was going against the pattern of settlement laid down by his forebears who had, in unbroken succession, inhabited that particular area of the county since the early eighteenth century and before. His son, Callum Sutherland, at the time of writing, may be in the process of returning to the House to take up the place there left by his father.
The Sutherland motto is ‘Sans peur’ – ‘Without fear’.
ii
Genealogy
The family records kept in archive detail those sons of the Sutherland family who inherited both the holdings and musical tradition of the House that had been established as early as the mid-eighteenth century, though no doubt before that date. These include a more detailed family tree and an additional ‘Tree of Women’, an intricate and detailed drawing created by Elizabeth Clare Sutherland in the second part of the twentieth century. In addition, at the beginning of and in the Crunluath movement of ‘The Big Music’, in the paper ‘gracenotes/piobaireachd, its genealogy’, there is presented a table of pipers at The Grey House that spans seven generations. In that chart one sees that eldest sons were traditionally named John, though in some cases, following a death, a younger son inherited.
iii
Births, deaths, marriages
For a full family tree, showing the pattern of hereditary pipers at The Grey House and the professions and status of other members of the Sutherland family, also details of marriages, illnesses and deaths – see full family records kept on file at the University of Dundee archive.
iv
Family names
As is clear from family records, there are certain names that reappear throughout the history of the Sutherland family of The Grey House: first-born sons, for the main part, take the name John, or John MacKay, with second-born sons and daughters taking the names Roderick, Callum, David, Donald, George, and Alexandra, Wilhemina, Elizabeth.
These names in turn have various ‘pet’ names, or alternatives, e.g. Wilhemina was always known as Bunty, the third Elizabeth was Bette, and so on. In ‘The Big Music’ John was called Johnnie by his mother (never his father), and, as is seen, refers to himself in later years by that name – though it is uncertain whether or not he was ever known by that name elsewhere, away from home. Certainly his estranged wife, Sarah, never called him Johnnie, nor did Margaret.
Callum, John MacKay’s son, was named for his grandfather, John’s father, who, though he was christened Roderick and became John after the death of his elder brother, and took Callum as his second name, was nevertheless known by John’s mother as Callum – so John may have had sentimental reasons for selecting that name, rather than that it was carried by himself and his father. All through the history of the Sutherland family there is a tendency to name in this way, or to ‘mark’ certain family members by characteristics. Thus, the John Roderick MacKay who first established the ‘Grey Longhouse’ as a stop-over place for the Lairg sheep run was ‘First John’ and his gr
andson, who went himself to visit the factor of the Sutherland Estates to arrange for the leasing (and subsequent sale) of that property to himself (this, in the Taorluath section of ‘The Big Music’), was always known as John ‘Elder’, and his son ‘Old John’ – although the prefix ‘Old’ is a local term that applies to the patriarch of any family where it is likely that a son holds the same name. John MacKay was never named this way, with the description attached. Perhaps that was because he spent the main part of his adult life in Edinburgh and London. Perhaps it was because, in that way, he had never fully belonged to The Grey House as his father and the generations before had belonged. Or perhaps, because his son was nowhere near and he barely saw him at all, there was no reason to mark him as separate from his child. They were separate enough already.
v
Family records of music kept, compositions
From as far back as the time of the ‘Grey Longhouse’ there have been kept records of music played and compositions attempted by various members of the Sutherland family.
In the beginning, before the easy circulation of printed manuscript, records consist of basic notes set down in a sort of chapbook that was kept in the original ‘Grey Longhouse’ and denotes tunes played and on what date, and some remarks. For example: the note ‘I had a kiss of the King’s hand’ is followed by the note ‘tunings, the dampe has found the bag’ and ‘J. played’. These are in shorthand, and hard to read – scanned versions of some of the pages are available, along with other original notes of this sort, in archive and are listed in the List of Additional Materials at the back of this book.
In addition to these papers are certain documents, letters etc. describing sections of music in canntaireachd, as may have been in custom at the time. For example, J. F. Campbell of Islay signs, ‘I have often seen my nurse, John Piper, reading and practicing music from an old paper manuscript, and silently fingering tunes’ (see Bibliography: Canntaireachd: Articulate Music, Archibald Sinclair, 1880), and certainly we have some remnants of what must have been once a comprehensive musical record kept at The Grey House that describe this practice, though the fragments left are badly damaged.
By the late nineteenth century, when the economic interests of The Grey House were prospering, there was money to purchase copies of the now-famous Angus MacKay manuscripts, all transcribed by him from the canntaireachd, which were used and played from right up to the time of John MacKay’s practice – though now these have been placed in archive. In addition there are copies of the Kilberry manuscripts and reproductions of the so-called Nether Lorn and Binneas A Boreraig manuscripts and the William Ross collection. In the twentieth century the library was extended with the introduction of the Piobaireachd Society’s volumes, these published regularly from 1902 until the present day, along with various pamphlets, leaflets and books containing more recent piobaireachd by John MacDougall Gillies and John MacDonald, as well as Donald MacLeod and John Callum Sutherland but excluding his last work ‘Lament for Himself’, which was left incomplete but is nevertheless ‘finished’ through the pages of this book, and is represented in extant manuscript form in Appendix 10a.
So then we understand that although, initially, the Sutherland family of pipers kept their own music for play within their own circle, at family gatherings and events, by the time of John ‘Elder’ Sutherland some of these compositions were notated and circulated for play by other pipers in the region, and as time went on, this practice formed the basis of the original ‘Grey House School of Piping’ as detailed in various sections of ‘The Big Music’. Papers and records of this and the musical activities of subsequent lessons and parties form a significant portion of filed papers and booklets kept in what has always been known as the Music Room in The Grey House – these include marches, strathspeys and reels and some salutes. In addition, the works of John MacKay are kept in labelled files – Ceol Mor 1–27, 1957–79 (referred to in the Taorluath movement) – including the well-known tunes ‘The Hills Always Come Back the Same’, ‘Stag’s Leap’ and ‘Elegy of the Lost Son’, all of which are also kept as recordings and similarly listed by number and date.
Appendix 7: The Grey House and John MacKay Sutherland – family history; business
The Taorluath movement of ‘The Big Music’ details the history of John MacKay Sutherland, in terms of his business activities and musical endeavours, in relation to his taking leave of and then returning to The Grey House.
In addition, the third paper of the Crunluath movement, continued, contains a time line giving details of his family life – his position in his father’s family as only son bearing his father’s name, and his role as husband, father – as well as indications of his education, business and musical endeavours.
The business interests contain as follows: investments in Baillie Ross; Ross Holdings; MacKay Investments; Sutherland Holdings. Also Grey House estates; additional fishing, sporting holdings; forestry; real estate, London, Edinburgh.
Appendix 8: The Grey House and the people who live there
In many respects, this section of the Appendix should sit outside the formal reference section of ‘The Big Music’ but is sited here for the reader’s convenience, as it may be viewed that the following notes pertain more to the history and knowledge of The Grey House than to an understanding of the people who lived there permanently from the years 1964 (Margaret and Helen) and 1968 (Iain) and who continue to inhabit the House and keep watch over it, are doing so now, at the moment while you are reading this.
So is the information included here to give insight as to how the House was managed and run, from those years when old John and Elizabeth were still alive. In addition, these notes may give greater understanding of the Taorluath and Crunluath movements of ‘The Big Music’ – those sections pertaining to Margaret MacKay in particular.
i
Personal archive
Materials and transcripts
From the time of her (permanent) arrival at The Grey House, Margaret MacKay kept a domestic journal recording details of the kitchen and laundry, gardens and domestic upkeep – including an inventory of linens, soft furnishings and various pieces of furniture and effects, with a running commentary on the state of their repair and condition.
This detailed logbook was not kept when she first came to the House as a young girl, when she worked for one summer only as a domestic assistant, but later, when her position was made permanent, and there is evidence that Margaret updated it regularly – sometimes on a daily basis.
In these account books we can gather a pattern of daily life as is lived: the fruits and vegetables that are in season, when and how these are bottled and preserved; the seeds that are sown for flower beds and glasshouse blooms; the condition of textiles and embroideries, curtains and cushions etc. – all of which were rotated to be cleaned and mended, what rooms they were used in and indeed, how the use of these rooms changed over the years. We know, for example, how John MacKay’s bedroom was moved from the first floor to the little room downstairs, with details of how this move was arranged, as well as other alterations (painting, carpentry and so on) that are not provided in the body of the text of ‘The Big Music’. These records may be of interest to the student of domestic history as Margaret’s notes are fulsome and often refer to her reading from earlier household diaries kept from Elizabeth Sutherland’s time and before. Significantly, there is no recording in the logbook about the rearrangement of the Schoolroom at the top of the House to accommodate a double bed. In some way, it might be as though such an arrangement had never been.
In addition to journals kept, there are various transcripts of conversations, interviews, that took place between Margaret and her daughter Helen that are clearly intended to form a personal historical account – a way of placing certain facts within an objective, feminist context so as to understand more about how certain women, like Margaret MacKay, defined it seems almost entirely by their domestic capability, have a place within, say, gender studies or an understa
nding of the female role in literature. Though nothing formal has come of these recordings as yet, in terms of Helen MacKay editing and collecting them into some kind of history or novel or poem (save those sections used at various points of ‘The Big Music’ to provide a sort of ‘dithis’ or variation to the theme), they nevertheless provide an illuminating account of how a woman’s domestic life may be described – how a mother may describe herself to a daughter, as a parent to a child; how the so-called ‘invisibility’ of motherhood may be made ‘visible’ – and someday could well form the basis of a moving and involving polemic regarding the subject of maternity and its identity and ethics. For more information on this area of study, see Lisa Baraitser and Sigal Spigel, MaMSIE (Mapping Maternal Subjectivities, Identities, Ethics), University of London. For this reason, all tapes have been labelled and numbered, with a view to providing for future research interests and general study. Included in all accounts, running through them as an ongoing theme, is the background of The Grey House and the way it provides a context – emotional as well as economic, practical and historical – for a particular way of life that is defined by living in part of the world that is far off and remote, that sees few visitors and much that is familiar, long winters and a short, sharp spring. This context may find other useful metaphors in the practice of, say, the visual and literary arts, social criticism and essay, philosophy, ethical thinking.
ii
Helen’s notes and reading
Helen MacKay began keeping notes of her reading and study from as early as her time as a student at the Farr Academy, when she was a teenager, to the present day. The list is randomly kept – according to the order in which she read certain books – with a star marked alongside those titles that are of particular interest to her (and that we see written about in more detail in various school and university essays, some of which recur in her reading and research for her PhD degree and are available in archive and referred to in various papers of ‘The Big Music’, ‘The people at the House and what they thought of him’ etc.).