AboutKaye McAlpine Expertise Lifecycle (birth, marriage, death) customs in Scotland, Early Modern Scottish social
customs, modern Scottish social customs, Border March laws and procedures, criminal
processes and judicial execution practices, social history in Early Modern Scotland,
ephemera printing in Scotland. While I have knowledge of the clan system and function of
the clan society (Highland and Lowland), I am not a an expert in clan genealogy.
Experience Freelance tutor in outreach courses from Edinburgh University on Scottish Culture and Tradition, including lifecycle customs, broadsheet ballads in Scotland, the traditional ballad and history. Freelance writer, guest presenter on Ch4 History Hunters programme, contributor to BBC Radio Scotland's 'Songlines' series on 'The Dowie Dens of Yarrow'. Currently co-director of amedia production company
Publications Books: Forthcoming - Compendium of Scottish Ethnology, chapter on The Traditional and the Border Ballad; The Harris Repertoire (2000, Scottish Text Society, co-editor), The Ballad in History (chapter on Border ballads). Journals include Folklore, The Review of Scottish Culture,Sottish Studies, and The Scottish Literary Journal
Question Hi, I would like to know how long it took a man to travel on foot from Essex to the Black Isle.
How long did it take a ship to make the passage from Scotland to North Carolina? Do you know the name of a ship that made the passage around 1750?
Oh, and do you know by any chance for how much a horse would be sold at that time?
I'm grateful for every tiny peace of information!
Answer Hi Johanna
This is not really about Scottish culture. This sound to me very much like research to me. I've done my own fair share of this for novels, articles etc. And if it is, asking someone else is not really the way to do it, as you should know that there are a 1000+ other aspects which can make a difference. You need to go to primary records, such as parish records, burgh records (Scotland), diaries from travelled people and so on
A man travelling from Essex to the Black Isle? That depends on his age, the urgency etc. There are no roads as such. There are brigands, footpads etc. The conditions vary from season to season. The word of Elizabeth I's death was transported from London to Edinburgh in a day or so, but that was because reliable horses had been posted along the main route for the messenger. A man on foot, even two hundred years later would be looking at weeks and weeks. And you would have to decide on the route, and look at how the land was then rather than now: would river crossings delay him? Was there a marsh or heavy forestation where there is ow a main road etc etc.
The crossing took around 5 or 6 weeks. Choose your type of vessel, then check port records
You need to decide on what type of horse. Nag, hunter, racehorse, cart horse. And remember you would need tack too.
There are good 18th century culture site online. Go searching for the minutiae. You will find them, but always check with primary records.
