Kirkden, Angus, Scotland: Past and Present Company

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Notes: From Wikepedia:-
Friockheim is a village in Angus, Scotland dating from 1848.

[edit] History

In the middle of the magical diamond shaped parallelogram formed by the Angus burghs of Brechin, Montrose, Arbroath and Forfar lies the triangular village of Friockheim.

The birth of the village took place soon after 1814 when Thomas Gardyne of Middleton succeeded his brother as the laird of the lands of Friock and feud them to Mr John Andson, of Arbroath, who built a flax spinning mill and as proprietor-in-feu attracted many textile workers to come and settle on easy terms in what was at first known as Friock feus.

There seems no doubt that Mr Andson who had contracted his own name from the more familiar Anderson was a strong believer in original nomenclature. It was he who, having travelled to Germany, the home of the type of coarse linen called Osnaburghs, from the city of Osnabruck, which he was now manufacturing in this country, brought in the “heim” part of the name. He had to obtain the sanction of Thomas Gardyne as superior and together they agreed on the famous advertisement, which is virtually Friockheim’s foundation charter.

Printed in Arbroath and dated May 22, 1824 this read:

"The Spinning Mill and Village of Friock, of which Mr Gardyne of Middleton is the Superior, and Mr John Andson, Proprietor holding in feu, hitherto called 'Friock Feus' from this date henceforward is to be named “FRIOCKHEIM” and of which change of designation this on the part of Mr Gardyne and Mr Andson is notice unto all whom it may concern.”

So that was that. It certainly introduced a most unusual conjunction of Gaelic and German into the place names of Angus. Friock being simply a derivative from the Gaelic fraoch (heather) and from the German heim (home), i.e. Heather Home. Its pronunciation causes no difficulty to those in the know. They pronounce it 'Freecum'.

But look what has happened after over 150 years. The parish of Kirkden has disappeared. Friockheim the despised and rejected has become a cornerstone of the whole community. Mr Andson’s Mill was burnt to the ground in 1862 but other things took place.

Kirkden

"The parish is 7 miles from east to west and its breadth does not exceed 2 miles. At one part, within a mile east of the church, it does not exceed a stone-cast in width. It is bounded by Rescobie, Guthrie, Carmylie, Kinnell, Inverkeillor and Dunnichen. The prevailing wind is from the east, which, during the months of spring, carries dense aqueous vapours, here termed eastern haars, exhaled from the German Ocean. There are two excellent freestone quarries. Poaching is practised to some extent, but smuggling is now entirely abandoned. The parish contains about 789 manufacturing operatives, employed in spinning flax and weaving Osnaburg cloth, 2/3 of whom are females, and of these nearly 4/5 are weavers on the hand loom. The market towns of Arbroath and Forfar are each 5 miles from the parish. The nearest post offices are there. Application was made to Government a few months ago to establish a letter carrier between Arbroath & Forfar via Letham but this was rejected. A person has, on his own account, made a very good livelihood by undertaking the post between Forfar and Letham. There are 6 ale houses in the parish." (edited from The New Statistical Account of Scotland, Angus, 1840)

City/Town : Latitude: 56.6368786, Longitude: -2.6720809

Birth

Matches 51 to 53 of 53

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	Last Name, Given Name(s)	Birth		Person ID	Tree
51	SHEPHERD, Peter	Abt 1878	Kirkden, Angus, Scotland	I11717	The Full Family Tree
52	SHEPHERD, Robina	3 Apr 1873	Kirkden, Angus, Scotland	I11707	The Full Family Tree
53	WILLIAMSON, Margaret	15 Jul 1849	Kirkden, Angus, Scotland	I15245	The Full Family Tree

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