On the week end of September 22nd 2001, I travelled to Scotland
to visit a good friend of mine Heather,
who lives near Blairgowrie in Perthshire. Although I was only up for a long weekend visit,
It was my
intention to find the place where the origin of the family name came from.
My grandfather, William Dumbreck (WVD) prepared a bound volume of the history of the
Family, which I have read in part on several
occasions. Dumbreck is not listed on any of the modern road maps that I have seen, but
it's whereabouts is well documented in the
family history. It was with out the book, but with the name of Udney memorised, I went
venturing north, Via Aberdeen and then
westward.
.
Hey... at last, I've found it!
Travelling down the road signposted in the picture above, the first farm entrance that
we came to, was exactly exactly as I remembered from the black and white photographs
that I had seen before. Being an inquisitive person, I drove down the track towards the
farm to investigate further.
On arrival at the farm , I found the owner of the farm offloading wheat into a grain
tank.
Having introduced myself and explained my presence, I was told that he had brought the
property about five years ago and knew something of the places history. I was invited to
look at some stones set in the farm buildings and house that had probably come from the
the ruins of the original family castle.
By all accounts, I was one of a few descendants of the ancestral land owners that had
been
to visit in recent times.
The farm buildings at Mains Dumbreck
Stone thought to have come from the ruins of the
original Castle
Above are two pictures of stones thought to have been salvaged from the
remains of the original family castle. The one on the left is set
high in the west facing wall of the Farm house, and the one on the right is set in one of
the farm buildings.
The position of the castle is well known by the locals but there is nothing of it to
see. The remains of the chapel on the high point of
the ground, now owned by a neighbouring farmer were slightly more evident, but only by the
lay of the land. According to the family
history, this is also a family burial site, this being consistent with the site of a
chapel.
Off we went to gain the permission of the neighbouring farmer to go and visit the site,
via the lane that goes round the other seats of
Dumbreck, before returning to the main road from where we had originally come.
Half way around the road of Dumbreck , near New Seat, I stopped to take this
photograph, looking back towards Mains Dumbreck.
In the centre of the photograph, a group of trees can be seen that mark the site of the
remains of the chapel and burial site. Immediately
to the right of the trees, the farm at Mains Dumbreck can just bee seen.
Driving round the road of Dumbreck, many more of the original signs that I have seen in
old black and white
photographs were in the the same places that they must have been in for I would guess, at
least the last 50 or
60 years.
There is always a sense of excitement and satisfaction at finding not only places, but
images seen by
ancestors, recent as well as distant. I was in the process of retracing my Grandfathers
footsteps and tyre
tracks, come to that. That all added to the adventure!
So round we drive to the end of the road and find the busy farmer to whom the site of
the chapel belonged.
He was somewhat bewildered as to why we would want to visit the site, but said that we
were welcome to
do so if we wished... and on with his tractor and loader he continued.
Facing West at the site of the remains of the Chapel and
burial ground
Having arrived at the site, it was difficult to know what to make of it, or even
imagine that the chapel has one stood there. I saw a
similar such site at Glen Doll, where there was a raised area of about the same size,
shored up by a stone wall with a small chapel and
a burial ground adjacent. I wondered if this place might have been the same at some point.
It was obviously a raised area of ground
on a high point with the remains of a stone retaining wall. Another point that drew my
curiosity was the arrangement of trees, planted
mostly around the perimeter and a regular spacing and mostly in an orthogonal pattern...
why?
Left is a picture of my Scottish friend, Heather, taken at the same site. Heather
came with me on
my mission to find Dumbreck and seemed please for me that I had actually got around to
finding it,
having been talking about doing it for so long. I though it would be rude not to include
this one!
One day soon, it is my intention to scan is some of the original pictures, take by WVD
and add
them to this page, including one of my grandmother, standing beneath the wooden signpost
pointing to Dumbreck, all those years ago!
In 2002, I will visit more such places, whenever I find the time to do so, and add more
pages to
this site, for those whom it may interest.
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