Fortrose & Rosemarkie Image Library

Up until the 60's there used to be two old fellows called Dab and Flounder stayng there. The date, 1930 is when the fulmars started nesting in holes in the craig. This followed a population explosion of fulmars when the people were eventually taken off St Kilda. They paid their rent in feathers and harvested half the population of fulmars each year. Just a little bit further to to right on the craig is a thin vein, 75 - 100 mm of clay with the consistency of plasticene. We used to model it and even make jugs, but our primitive firing always let us down!

Yes, John, I well remember Dab and Flounder. As a boy, I lived in the house next door and my sister and were somewhat in fear of them. Their names were Messers Duncan and Fraser (hence Dab and Flounder), the nicknames coming from a comic strip duo in the Daily Express. They came from Fife (retired coal miners, I think) and were not very popular locally. Perhaps they were not as fierce as the impression their drooping moustaches and flat caps created!
When I lived in No.8 Bridge Street, our house was called "Holly Cottage", although the sculpted holly trees were no longer there (see my comments on No.15). A subsequent owner named the house "Fulmar Cottage".
The house has an interesting history. My grandfather John Denoon carried out his business as a butcher or "flesher" from there (see comment on No. 24). In the late 18th/19th century it hosted a drinking parlour and my great grandfather Donald Denoon is styled as "Inkeeper" on the family gravestone in Rosemarkie churchyard. The house is marked "PH" (public house) on the 1871 25inch OS map but not so on the 1906 edition.
Both the 1791-99 and 1834-45 Statistical Accounts for Scotland refer rather disparagingly to the "number of tippling houses" in Rosemarkie, lamenting that "they should be more limited". Obviously by 1906 they were!
Ian Basham

Ian, I am interested in your reference to your great grandfather, Donald Denoon. I believe he may have been married to my great grandfather's sister, Mary Ross. I wonder whether you would have any knowledge of this. My great grandfather was Robert Ross, youngest son of Donald and Christina Ross who farmed on Feadhan Hill. Robert married an Isabella McBean of Knockbain, and emigrated to Canada in 1854. I visited Rosemarkie for the first time this month (August 2009), and located the gravestone of Donald and Christina in the Rosemarkie churchyard. Any information you might have would be most appreciated.

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YES MR BASHAM&MR CORRAL I Remember it all too well!GRANNY DENOON.CORRALS CAFE Great fish&Chips. ANDREW&WILLIE LAWRIE.DAUB&FLOUNDER ECK ROSS THE GARAGE.Happy Days!Added by John Reddigan 3/4/13.

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