Thank you Anne and Gavin for your help and guidance. It serves to help clarify an otherwise muddy perspective from a long way away. The photo's are a great asset Anne and much appreciated. I guess the old Urquhart church is identical with that which is now a guest house per. the web adverts? Grateful if you could keep these Roses in mind during your research in the area and let me know if you come across any information. Best regards George ----- Original Message ----- From: <moray-request@rootsweb.com> To: <moray@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, February 23, 2010 4:00 AM Subject: MORAY Digest, Vol 5, Issue 30 > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. Location of Meft, Urquhart (George Rose) > 2. Re: Location of Meft, Urquhart (Gavin Bell) > 3. Re: Location of Meft, Urquhart (Anne Burgess) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Mon, 22 Feb 2010 16:21:51 -0400 > From: "George Rose" <gfr@logic.bm> > Subject: [MORAY] Location of Meft, Urquhart > To: <moray@rootsweb.com> > Message-ID: <0902C2BF2DAD4976B294A57813C29B57@GeorgeVostro> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" > > Hello everyone, > > I am tracking my Rose ancestors in Scotland and have some of them baptized > to my G.G.Gf William Rose and Margaret Young variously described in the > records as being "in Meft", and "at Upper Meft, Urquhart, > [Moray]. > > I am having difficulty identifying the precise location of Meft although I > have identified the following terms as likely references - all in > Urquhart, Morayshire. > > Meft Farm, Innes Estate, Urquhart: > > Nether Meft Farm, Urquhart: > > Moss of Meft Farm, Urquhart: > > Over Meft Farm, Urquhart: > > Upper Meft Farm, Urquhart: > > Blackhills of Meft Farm or Blackhills Farm, Fife Estate, Urquhart. > > > > My question is - can anyone help in identifying/locating the place named > as Meft - and its church ? > > Is it a village or hamlet and does the reference to "Upper Meft" in one > of the baptisms provide the clue > > as meaning Upper Meft Farm ? Does the word Meft actually have a > meaning. > > > > I would be most grateful for any explanation you can provide. > > George F. Rose > > Bermuda Islands > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 2 > Date: Mon, 22 Feb 2010 21:18:56 +0000 > From: Gavin Bell <g.bell@which.net> > Subject: Re: [MORAY] Location of Meft, Urquhart > To: moray@rootsweb.com > Message-ID: <4B82F4C0.1060301@which.net> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed > > George Rose wrote: >> Hello everyone, >> >> I am tracking my Rose ancestors in Scotland and have some of them >> baptized to my G.G.Gf William Rose and Margaret Young variously >> described in the records as being "in Meft", and "at Upper Meft, >> Urquhart, [Moray]. >> >> I am having difficulty identifying the precise location of Meft >> although I have identified the following terms as likely references - >> all in Urquhart, Morayshire. >> >> Meft Farm, Innes Estate, Urquhart: >> >> Nether Meft Farm, Urquhart: >> >> Moss of Meft Farm, Urquhart: >> >> Over Meft Farm, Urquhart: >> >> Upper Meft Farm, Urquhart: >> >> Blackhills of Meft Farm or Blackhills Farm, Fife Estate, Urquhart. >> >> >> >> My question is - can anyone help in identifying/locating the place >> named as Meft - and its church ? > > > I don't think there ever was a *single* place called "Meft". Rather, in > line with what seems to be standard pattern for Scottish placenames, the > name "Meft" will have applied to a stretch of country, within which some > of the variants you list above (and quite possibly others) will have > occurred. > > Studies I have carried out on placenames in the adjoining county of > Banffshire suggest that, while the base name ("Meft") probably remained > constant over a long period of time, the "qualifiers" ("Nether", "Upper" > etc.) are quite likely to have varied over the years. For example, the > 1851 Census includes a "Moss of Meft", which also appears on the 1st > edition (1876) of the Ordnance Survey 1" map. > >> >> Is it a village or hamlet and does the reference to "Upper Meft" in >> one of the baptisms provide the clue > > > I very much doubt if there was ever as much as a hamlet, and there > certainly won't have been a separate church. The name will have been > understood as applying to an area to the north-west of the village of > Urquhart, and people will not necessarily always have been too bothered > to distinguish between ""Upper", "Lower", "Moss of". > > > Gavin Bell > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 3 > Date: Mon, 22 Feb 2010 22:47:28 -0000 > From: "Anne Burgess" <anne.burgess@btinternet.com> > Subject: Re: [MORAY] Location of Meft, Urquhart > To: <moray@rootsweb.com> > Message-ID: <437B787207504DEE9F834132A10CB1DC@anneb> > Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="Windows-1252"; > reply-type=original > > Meft is almost on my doorstep (in fact I almost bought a house > there once), and I can confirm what Gavin said. There are > several places with 'Meft' in their names, all fairly close > together south of Innes House. Theye do not, in my opinion, > constitute either a village or a hamlet. Sorting out which > particular one > an ancestor lived in may not be easy. > > There is no church in Meft. The nearest would have been Urquhart > in one direction or St Andrews-Lhanbryd in the other. Most if > not all of Meft is in the parish of Urquhart. > > There are some photographs of Meft at > http://www.geograph.org.uk/gridref/NJ2663 > http://www.geograph.org.uk/gridref/NJ2764 > http://www.geograph.org.uk/gridref/NJ2562 > http://www.geograph.org.uk/gridref/NJ2863 > > Hope this helps. > > Anne > > > > > ------------------------------ > > To contact the MORAY list administrator, send an email to > MORAY-admin@rootsweb.com. > > To post a message to the MORAY mailing list, send an email to > MORAY@rootsweb.com. > > __________________________________________________________ > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > MORAY-request@rootsweb.com > with the word "unsubscribe" without the quotes in the subject and the body > of the > email with no additional text. > > > End of MORAY Digest, Vol 5, Issue 30 > ************************************ >

> I guess the old Urquhart church is identical with that which > is now a guest > house per. the web adverts? Yes. The kirk was turned into a guest house about 15 years ago, but it has changed hands at least once since then and last time I looked it was on the market again so I am not sure if it is still a GH. Anne