Which street will I choose to research?

The group met up again on Wednesday 24th November and everyone was keen to choose a street in Helmsdale and Portgower and start researching the houses and listing the previous occupants.  This information is vital for people doing family history research and we hope that by the end of the project we can make this job easier, for both local people and visitors to the area.

The project co-ordinator Jacquie Aitken was delighted to announce that Brian Adams had finished typing out the 1841 censes for both Kildonan and Loth Parishes - well done!  The information was split into the different streets and distributed out among the awaiting participants.

Here is a list of our street 'caretakers' currently working on the project - and we are still looking for more people to get involved, so come along to the next workshop on Saturday 4th December from 10.30am-12.30pm.

Joan & Jim Mackay - Strathnaver Street
Joan Murray - Sutherland Street & Trentham Street
David Cowie & Mike Wood - Shore Street
Gerry Wood - Lilleshall Street
Elizabeth Richardson - Marrel
Anne Sinclair - Stafford Street
David Cowie & Lisa Macdonald - Dunrobin Street
Jean Sargent - Old Caithness Road
Leoma Aitken - Bogholes
Stittenham Street - Frank McCuloch
Murial Amey - Navidale
Esther Macdonald - Portgower (All streets)

Did you know that there is an 'Assynt Street' with two houses mentioned on the 1841 census!

We have also started looking through the Valuation Rolls, which were compiled yearly from around 1854.  The valuation rolls from 1854 to 1988 were collected annually and for each property record the name and designation of the proprietor, the tenant, the occupier and the annual rateable value.






Saturday 27th November - Maps, maps and more maps!
Today's session went very well with 15 people braving the snowy conditions to come along to the workshop.  Everyone was given a copy of the Ordnance Survey (OS) 1st ed map dated c.1874, OS 2nd ed map dated c.1907 and the most current OS street map.  These maps will be useful to find out the location of older houses and record how the layout of the streets has changed over the last 100 years.

Wednesday 1st December

Trip to the Archive Centre in Inverness

Meeting in the Timespan Car Park at 9.30am

 Returning home at approx. 4.30pm

All enquiries direct to Timespan