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Highland Orphanage - Culduthel Road


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14 hours ago, IBM said:

i was looking at an old map of Inverness last week and noticed the Highland Orphanage which I didn't know about and doing a bit of investigation tonight found this.......... every day is a school day :smile:

https://www.cookcollection.co.uk/highland-orphanage/

A little bit more, in case you or anyone else are interested.

The Orphanage was at 71 Culduthel Road.  If you are going up Culduthel Road away from the town centre, the driveway is on the left, about 200 yards after the right hand curve at the bottom of Temple Crescent.

It is two conjoined buildings in an L-shape. The first was opened in 1877, the second in 1887.

It closed in the late 1950s, and the 18 or so children still there were transferred to Carroll, on Island Bank Road.

I have never investigated the history of the Orphanage. I have heard that, perhaps unsurprisingly, that it wasn't a happy place - but I have also heard the opposite.   I used to know the well-known town Councillor Tom McKenzie, who lived in Hilton, but I don't think I knew at the time that he was a child of the Orphanage.   Perhaps some of our elder citizens here - Scarlet or Jock Watt - know more about it?

One of my earliest memories is sitting in my grandparents' house on Daviot Drive, which overlooks the site, and seeing the children streaming out of the schoolhouse in the Orphanage grounds.

In the late 50s, the Orphanage was converted by a local builder - Campbell, I think - into 9 flats, and the schoolhouse was converted into two semi-detached houses.  As part of the deal, the same builder also put up the two blocks of flats which constitute Drynie Terrace, just over the wall from what was now called Culduthel House.  We moved into one of the flats in either 1960 or 1961, before I started school in 1961.  My mother moved out in 2008, so she didn't quite make 50 years.

The flats varied in size, but most were spacious, with good-sized rooms and high ceilings.  We were in an upstairs flat, so we also had loft space running the length of the flat - which we converted into rooms, including a bedroom for me - and also some basement space and a double garage.  When my mother moved out I took three months off work to remove nearly 50 years' worth of accumulated possessions and arrange a move to a much smaller flat - and I needed most of that three months!

There was a communal area of grass at the front of the house, which was great for small games of football. It was surrounded by bushes and trees - great for climbing.

As you will see from one of the photos below, not all of the residents cultivated their gardens, so as a consequence there was a great deal of safe space for us kids to play in.  I used to hop across the wall - or through it, when there was a big hole in it - into the field in Daviot Drive, to join in with the football game that was usually under way there. Future Caley player Ritchie Mackay and his older brother Brian (keeper for Lossiemouth, IIRC) were regulars there.

Another who moved into a newly-converted flat was Maude Anderson (although probably still unmarried and thus Maude Yuill), who was a physics teacher in the Academy. To say she was bossy is putting it mildly, but she was OK as a neighbour, and her husband Ian was a lovely man.  Guitarist Tommy Torrance, well-known on the Inverness music scene, lived with his wife Wilma in one of the flats at the front for a while. The only other resident of note was, for a year or two, Malcolm Slater, who played on the wing for Caley and won the league with them in 1970-71.

There are three photos of the front of the house at https://her.highland.gov.uk/Monument/MHG15455     They appear to be copyright Highland Council, so I haven't reproduced them here.

There is an absolute gem of a film at https://movingimage.nls.uk/film/1535  , showing a gigantic chocolate Easter Egg being taken from Mario's shop on Eastgate, and delivered to the Orphanage.

The two pictures below are from the mid-70s, showing the front and then the back of the house.

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Our flat was the very last one upstairs at the right-hand end of the house.  The single window was at the top of the stairs, the windows on either side were in what would now be called "reception rooms", and, at the back, overlooking Temple Crescent, were two double bedrooms, kitchen and bathroom.

Below are a couple of our own photos. The first is from about 1986 or so.  The second one shows the view from my loft bedroom - some of the gardens cultivated, some not, Drynie Terrace on the left, the garages constructed from the Orphanage playground shelter, and Daviot Drive straight ahead.  Beyond that is what I will always think of as "new" Hilton - it was cornfields when we first moved in.

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Very interesting s-c.  The back of the orphanage abutted Daviot Drive, as you said, which was one of our main playgrounds for many of us Hilton lads in the 50s.  We used to call it Daviot Oval in the summer months when cricket was all the go, but also used it for football too, with jackets for the goalposts.

Re Tom McKenzie, he was a great friend of my parents, and visited us regularly, once a week in Dell Road, for a cuppa and whatever cake my Mam had  recently baked.  I never knew he was a product of the orphanage.  Maybe my parents knew, but never told me, as I was adopted, and but for their kindness in 'taking me in', could well have ended up there myself.

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  • 3 years later...

Here is an old photo from my wife’s family (I have cut out the family members) which was taken in 1954 from the rear of 16 Drynie Avenue before the flats were built in Drynie Avenue. It shows a bell tower on the orphanage. The photos online that I can find don’t show one. Any idea?

E2E0EBC7-D397-43EC-942D-5B0F0EBEBD50.png

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IBM, I don't recognise that at all.  I would have said that that is not the Orphanage.  It certainly doesn't look like any part of the building as I remember it, and it doesn't look like any of the photos above. 

The Orphanage grounds had a substantial wall all round them, and I don't see that.  There appear to be two fences with a lane between them, running obliquely between the photographer and the building, and that looks odd to me too.

There was a schoolhouse in the grounds, which had a small rectangular opening up on one of its walls, facing into the grounds.  It was filled in when we moved in, but I had always assumed that that had been where the bell was.

I could well be wrong, of course, and I would be very interested to see any other pictures that you have.

 

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It is the orphanage, if you look round the back on Google street view the door on the south side of that bit of the building has been filled in and the front of the building has changed since Mario delivered the easter egg.  My thoughts are the tower was above the old front door and was removed when it was converted to flats.  I will keep looking and asking to find out more.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Nope - still can't get my head round that photograph.  I can see a part of the current building which resembles it - but that would require an extension to have been built on to the left after your photograph was taken, and that would probably make your photo much earlier than 1954.  Basically, the slope and drop of the roof just look wrong to me.

Had a search online, but there are very few photographs of the place online, and none of them help.

My suggestion would be to see if the library or Highland Archives had any old maps or plans.  However, most maps will show only the shape of the building, and I don't think OS maps ever showed bell towers (as opposed to "church with spire").

The firm which converted the orphanage and built Drynie Terrace was called Campbell's, and I think that they have long since disappeared.  It's a very slim chance, but maybe there's an archive of their stuff somewhere...

 

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I have been making enquiries through the Inverness Local History Forum and there are no photos in the Joseph Cook collection, someone suggested it might not be a belltower but a pagoda.  I spoke to someone from the Archive Center but it's unlikely they will have photos but they might have drawings of the building so when I have more time I hope to go over and try to find out more.  I have also had a walk around the building and it is the building in my poor quality photo.

See the location marked on the map and the photo from streetview.

Map.png

Doorway.png

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  • 8 months later...

I was speaking to a guy that I worked with who was brought up in old Hilton today and he went to the school beside the orphanage before Hilton Primary opened in 1957.  I showed him the photo and he said there was a bell tower although the school bell was rung by hand.

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  • 5 weeks later...

I lived at the bottom end of Temple Crescent at No 8 between 1971 -76 as a child and our back garden was overlooked by a huge old house which must be the Old Orphanage you describe although I had no idea at the time what it was then or had been but it always seemed very dark and eerie, almost deserted ( I never remember seeing any signs of life ) so thanks for posting all this information it's amazing what you can still learn 50 years on. There was a big stone wall running along the back of our garden and the big house was tight to the wall as I recall 

The Daviot playing field was a magnet for youngsters of my era as well and continued to develop youngsters who went on to play Highland League for local teams ( Charlie Christie and John MacGillivray were certainly regulars there in my time ) Come the summer holidays it was run out the door asap after breakfast to join a game there and play as long as light held, perhaps venturing home for some refreshment. Although not a regular at the field Willie Sutherland used to come up from Fort William to visit his grandparents in the holidays. they were our neighbours in TC and we played head tennis between the back gardens with washing line poles used as goals.

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Yup, that's it.  We were in the top flat at the left hand end as you would have looked at the building.  We had four windows - from left to right they were a bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, and another bedroom.  So you wouldn't have seen much life, even in the kitchen, because it had a deep window sill and then the sink, so you couldn't get close to the window.  The flat downstairs had a back door, which they did use all the time.  To reach it you went along a narrow passageway between the house and the wall, but you wouldn't have seen anything because of the height of the wall.

I remember that one of the houses on Temple Crescent - a few doors up from you, I think - was occupied by the mother of Lloyd Arthur who was an officer in or perhaps captain of the 9th (Hilton) BB.  My Dad was an officer in the 5th, and knew Lloyd quite well, and hence his mother too.

As I said above, we converted part of our loft into my bedroom.  One night my Dad woke me up, took me downstairs, and into his bedroom, where we could see, just a few feet away, that one of the houses on Temple Crescent was well ablaze!  Looking at Google Maps just now, I reckon it would have been number 14.  Can't remember if that was Mrs Arthur or not.  My parents thought it best to get me down in case anything came our way and we had to evacuate, but fortunately we didn't.  No one was hurt, but the Temple Crescent house required substantial rebuilding.

Much later on, my parents used to moan that one of the group Wolfstone was living in one of the Temple Crescent houses.  They said "the guitarist", but I never found out who it actually was.  Their complaint was that he used to practise a lot in his shed. which wasn't soundproof....

My grandparents lived at 13 Daviot Drive, which, if you are going up the road, is the last one before you turn the corner.  Just round the corner at number 11 was Mrs Christie, who was Charlie's grandmother.  I don't know if she was widowed or how many of the family lived there.  She was a very pleasant lady, and got on well with my grandparents. 

 

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It could be that snorbens was from a poor family and they could not put a shilling in the meter so there was no lights on and that's why it almost seemed to be dark and eerie :sad: and the poor boy was kept in the loft :ohmy: he is fortunate that he survived to become an ICT supporter :smile: 

The guitarist in Wolfstone was Wayne Mackenzie who I believe was one of the main ones setting up the Ironworks in Inverness but have no idea if he stayed Temple Crescent.

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  • 4 weeks later...
On 1/24/2024 at 11:54 PM, IBM said:

It could be that snorbens was from a poor family and they could not put a shilling in the meter so there was no lights on and that's why it almost seemed to be dark and eerie :sad: and the poor boy was kept in the loft :ohmy: he is fortunate that he survived to become an ICT supporter :smile: 

The guitarist in Wolfstone was Wayne Mackenzie who I believe was one of the main ones setting up the Ironworks in Inverness but have no idea if he stayed Temple Crescent.

Wayne was the bassist, no?

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On 2/21/2024 at 2:12 PM, The Mantis said:

Wayne was the bassist, no?

He played the guitar but I am not sure if it was the bass but you might be right.  I am better with cars :wink:

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On 2/22/2024 at 10:01 PM, IBM said:

He played the guitar but I am not sure if it was the bass but you might be right.  I am better with cars :wink:

You know by this time I always have the photographic evidence 😂

3rd November 2000, Glenrothes. Stevie Saint, Duncan with some hair, Stuart Eaglesham on guitar and Wayne on bass. Not sure about the drummer.

PB030024.JPG

Edited by The Mantis
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  • 1 month later...

Back on track with this thread, although the Archive Center at the Bught do not have any photos or plans for the orphanage I was in for a visit last week  looking at the records for the children that were there from 1915-1922 over 100years ago.

On family history on my wife's side there were two families in the orphanage at that time the first were on the 1921 census and the parents who were not married split up for reasons unknown and five children  were left as orphans, they all left the orphanage age 14 and would have gone to work and married and had a family in later life.  

The other family was a very sad case both parents married and had seven children born 1905-1917.  The father a ploughman died in 1918 and the mother died in 1921 leaving a very young family.  The mothers death was registered by the eldest daughter age 16!  The five children went to the orphanage in 1922.  The oldest sister died in Culduthel Hospital in 1930 while her two younger brothers were still in the orphanage the others left and likely working from age 14.  Some of the family that I have found went on to marry and raise their own family but Donald the youngest was not so lucky.  After his father dying when he was one and his mother when he was four he would have spent ten years in the orphanage before finding work an a place to stay at fourteen years old.  He was called up in 1939 to war serving with the Seaforth Highlanders and was killed in France in 1940 aged 23.  

Times were very hard back the for all.

 

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17 hours ago, IBM said:

Back on track with this thread, although the Archive Center at the Bught do not have any photos or plans for the orphanage

I've never seen much about the Orphanage anywhere, although I've only ever spent the odd five minutes looking on the internet.  Nowadays we would probably say that there is very little information about somewhere like that because we were respecting their privacy.  But I suspect that back then - probably right up until it closed - there would also have been a element of shame about the place.  It would not have been somewhere to publicise.

I visited the Archive Centre a few years ago.  I was trying to find out more about the Inverness silversmith's marks on a spoon which I have, and my wife, who had been researching my mother's family, wanted to look at things like police service records from the Fort Augustus area.  The staff seemed to be genuinely interested in what we we were doing, and couldn't have been more helpful.

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