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

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