William Hay and Isabella Grant came to Cally in the early 1830’s. William came from Inveraven and Isabella from Lettoch further up the Spey. This is what Cally would have looked like some years later. A shop had been established and ‘Cally’s Wooden Mare’ is seen leaning against the wall with a wheel missing ! This was a bicycle built by William Hay and nicknamed by the locals. It went downhill fine but not so good going uphill !
The present cottage was built in 1831 but there is evidence of a previous cottage on the site. There was also a cottage behind and to the right of the present cottage but it was demolished in the late 1920’s so presumably it was older. The stone was used for the road.
William and Isabella had four daughters followed by four sons between 1839 and 1853.
Isabella died in 1891 and William in 1894. They are buried in Knockando churchyard.
The oldest son, also William, moved to Manchester with his wife, Helen Fraser, of the nearby Leakin farm. Her father was Simon Fraser who operated the Knockando Woolmill for about 20 years in the mid 1800’s. William Hay Jnr learned the tailoring trade from his father and he ran a very successful tailoring business at 9 Cross Street, Manchester. Helen died in 1888 and William in 1903. They are buried in Salford graveyard. Their son, another William, emigrated to America where his descendants live in Michigan and we now keep in touch by means of the wonderful internet having lost contact between the wars.
Isabella.
The youngest daughter.
William Senior’s youngest daughter, Isabella, never married and eventually looked after her elderly parents. She ran a shop and took in boarders. When she became frail, her niece, Helen, daughter of William Jnr., came home with her daughters, Winnie and Dora, to look after her. The picture above shows what Cally would have looked like when Helen arrived with her family.
Isabella died in 1925.
Helen continued to run the shop and bred Cairn Terriers.
She removed the thatched roof and replaced it with corrugated iron.
She purchased a wooden building for £8 from the Forestry people when they finished planting Scootmore forest a few miles along the road.
That became the kitchen and shop.
When Helen became frail, she went to live with her daughter, Winnie Stewart , at Willowbank near the Woolmill where Duncan worked.
She died in 1952.
The picture above is of Winnie’s wedding at Cally to Duncan Stewart in 1930.
Helen is seated second left, front row, with Tony, her grandson, on her knee.
The wedding guests are ;
Back Row left to right.
John Stuart, Mrs Janet Thomson,; Mrs Margaret Stewart,
Mr & Mrs Ned Henderson, Mr & Mrs MacPherson.
Middle Row.
Rev. P. Riddell, James Smith, John Stewart, Nora Robertson , Bride and Groom, William MacDonald,
Elsie and Willie Maconnachie, Francis Thomson.
Front Row.
Mrs Emma Smith, Mrs Helen Smith, Tony MacDonald, Elizabeth MacDonald, Mrs Stuart, Marjorie Stuart
John and Mrs Stuart had a paper shop in Grantown and Winnie worked for them when a young girl.
Francis and Janet Thomson were the tenants of Upper Knockans where Duncan was born..
Francis was Duncan’s uncle. He had 6 brothers and 5 sisters.
John and Margaret Stewart (Aunt Maggie, sister of Francis Thomson), Fernbank, Lower Post Office. John Stewart was a stone mason and built the Woolmill house, the Margach Hall and no doubt other houses in Knockando. Maggie was Duncan’s aunt.
Ned and Mrs Henderson lived in Tomintuigle Cottage just up the road from Cally. Ned was the first manager of Tormore which was the first distillery built after WW2. A spate followed !
Mr & Mrs MacPherson were friends from Grantown where Winnie spent some of her early years. She was born in Burnfoot which is now the Grantown Museum.
Rev. Patrick Riddell was Minister of Knockando from 1901 to 1940.
James and Emma Smith of the Woolmill. Emma was Duncan’s aunt, half sister of Francis and Maggie.
Nora was Winnie’s best friend when they were young. She later married Robert, Bobby Ritchie, a joiner. They lived in Carrbridge. They owned a ‘Sweetie Shop’ there called the Tuck Shop.
William MacDonald was nicknamed ‘Doctor’ for some reason. He was Duncan’s friend but was actually remotely related to Winnie. Brother of Lizzie below. Another brother was John who served in the trenches with Duncan in WW1. He was the local tailor, all the Cally tailors had gone. He worked in the little building over the road from the Upper Post Office. It was a little chapel in earlier times.
Elsie and Willie McConachie were brother and sister and lived in the cottage near to Upper Knockans. They were members of the famous Speyside family of bonesetters.
Elizabeth (Lizzie) MacDonald ran the Upper Post Office as did her mother before her.
Note that Knockando had two Post Offices then and both Postmistresses were at the wedding !
And now there are none although there is one in Archiestown which is within the parish.
Some family members and friends lived in Cally until the 70’s.
In 1972/73 Winnie carried out extensive alterations to the cottage. Electricity was installed and water from the well was piped across the road. An electric pump was used to feed water to storage tanks in the loft from where it supplied a hot water tank with an immersion heater. There was also a back boiler in the solid fuel fire in the old lounge. Previously there had been a hand pump and before that the water had to be carried. A new kitchen was fitted and a bedroom converted to a bathroom. The whole cottage was redecorated.
Many family members and friends then used the cottage for holidays.
Mains water was supplied to the area in 1990 and this was connected to the cottage.
Off-peak heating was installed in 1997.
The corrugated iron roof was replaced with modern sheet roofing in 2000.
In the winter of 2001/2, the wooden extension was replaced. Originally, it was the kitchen and the shop. When the shop closed in the early 1940’s , it was converted to a kitchen at the front and the rear part to a dining room.
The front part of the new building is now the dining room with a view looking up the Allt Arder burn towards Roy’s Hill. The kitchen and shower room are at the rear.
Our friend and local joiner, Willie Grant , did all the joiner work and acted as site agent,
This was very appropriate because his great-grandfather thatched the roof and no doubt did other jobs. He was known locally as Geordie the Leakin.
