Forest Heritage Scotland webpage - Rogie
Date 2009
Event ID 588241
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/588241
The website text produced for Rogie webpages on the Forest Heritage Scotland website (www.forestheritagescotland.com).
Introduction: A lovely little world of its own
This is how Nan Bray, from New Zealand, recalls growing up on Rogie farm during the Second World War.
Rogie farm lies close to the abandoned township of Rogie. In the 1940s only the McQueens still lived there; they were Nan's only neighbour. As a young girl Nan often felt isolated. Rogie was not easy to travel to, so few people visited. They did not even have electricity or a telephone.
In the past, however, Rogie had been a thriving farming community. Historical records show that in 1792 at least twelve families were living and paying rent at the township of Rogie.
At this time the township was part of the Coul Estate owned by the MacKenzies. In 1795 George MacKenzie inherited his father's land, fortune and title and, soon after, began to evict farming tenants from his land.
Mackenzie cleared Rogie in 1808. Shepherds moved in to the area instead to work on the new sheep farms. Nan Bray's memoirs tell us that over the following century many families, including her own, moved to New Zealand and Canada to find a new life.
The remains of the township are still visible spread across the Torrachilty forest clearing. Yet evidence of more may still be hidden within the trees and grassland surrounding them. Why not explore it for yourself?
People Story: The plan of mice and men....
Sir George McKenzie's obituary in the local newspaper described him as a landlord who was....
[i]
" substantially kind and liberal and disposed towards improvements",[/i]
Inverness Courier, November 9, 1848
Today it is difficult to see how he could be both.
Sir George MacKenzie held strong views about the need to improve the way that land was farmed in the Highlands. He did not believe that his small farm tenants had the money or capability to adapt to new ways of farming. These tenants, like the families at Rogie, were removed and replaced with large sheep farms.
Yet Mackenzie recognised that the people he moved would not like his actions. He even invested in a wool factory to create more jobs for those who lost their farms, but it was unsuccessful and closed.
Sir George MacKenzie believed that these changes would make more money and help the economy of the Highlands.
Ironically, Dr John MacKenzie noted that Sir George's tenants were hard workers, who always paid their rents. This MacKenzie believed that Sir George made more money with the old tenant system than he did from his so called [i]"improvements"[/i], the sheep farms.
If this was true it would seem that all Sir George's grand plans were for little gain, but caused a lot of people's lives to change completely. It is only fair to note, however, that Dr John MacKenzie went bankrupt trying to keep the old tenant system on his own land.
