The fourteen enthusiatic particpants started the session by filling out questionnaires to find out how much they knew about the houses they lived in and their past inhabitants.
Here are some useful questions that the particpants came up with to help us research the houses of Helmsdale and Portgower. Maybe you could help us answer them!
House name and number (Including Street Name)
Can you help us with house names and numbers? Some houses just have a number, i.e. a croft number or street number. Do you know the meaning of your house name, i.e. Gaelic translation. Is your house built on a corner and therefore located in two streets.
When was your house built?
Look out for a datestone or do you have the land deeds showing the date. It is more difficult to find out the date of earlier houses built in the late 18th and early 19th centuries - maps or title deeds can help here.
Present condition
Some older houses in the villages were demolished, but their locations still exist on old maps. Some houses are still upstanding but not occupied and most are currently upstanding and occupied.
Last or present occupant
This information can be easily obtained by talking to local residents or using old phone directories etc.
Pre-1841 infomration
(Maps, estate rentals, title deeds etc)
Previous occupants
(Census records 1841-1901, Valuation Rolls, Old Parish Records etc)
House queries
Number or name changes etc.
Surname street connections
List the streets with inhabitants with the same surname.
Do you have old photographs of your house?
Old photogrpahs can show a house before it has been altered, e.g. thatched roof, before or before it has been heightened or harled etc. We are also looking for photographs of the past residents - can you help?
Oral history account
Any house history can be greatly enriched by adding real-life histories and memories from older inhabitants and a new prespective can be gained from the current younger generation.
Family Tree
The Timespan geneaology group is working hard to link up the members of the different families in the village from 1841 to present day. If you have family history information we would love to hear from you.
Additional information
Do you have any stories or anecdotes to add to the house and occupant histories, i.e. The house where McLeod, the local Helmsdale photographer, lived was called 'The Studio'.
Useful contacts
We would like to make contact with the older street residents to ensure that we collect the correct information and hear from them what life was like growing up in the diffeent streets in Helsmdale and how they ahve changed over the years.
Can you help us with any of these questions for the houses in Helmsdale and Portgower - if you can, we would love to hear from you - please contact Timespan on 01431 821327 or e-mail: archive@timespan.org.uk
