History of John O'Groats Part 3: The Monte Carlo Rally....
Recorded 2 years ago
About this recording
Walter Mowat was born in John O’Groats and he is a keen collector of stories and information relating to the area. Here Walter recalls some of these stories.
In 1926 the Monte Carlo Rally started from John O’Groats, where a Mr Bruce successfully added an extra five miles to his final tally by driving from John O’Groats to and from Duncansby Lighthouse before continuing south and eventually reaching and winning the Monte Carlo Rally. In 2016 two of Mr Bruce’s grandsons took part in a centenary John O’Groats Monte Carlo run. Coincidentally this was also the time when the Caithness Flag was inaugurated, and it was used to start this centenary run.
The Last House at John O’Groats was built in the 1830s or 1840s. Originally it was the home of a fisherman. In the east end lived a Mr Laird and his wife Camilla, who was the local midwife. A picture of this lady can be found today in the Johnston Photographic Collection. In the west part of the house at one time lived relatives of Walter’s. Over the years the building has operated as a shop, post office, and now the John O’Groats Brewery. During development at John O’Groats around 1990, when shops were being built the digging of the foundations unearthed a number of Viking graves. Legends suggest that there was a battle on the site.
Another antiquity in the area lies east of the John O’Groats Pier. Here the remains of a chapel, known locally as Lady Kirk or St Mary’s can be found. For a long time, the local crofter ensured that while work to remove sand from the area was taking place, what was left of the building remained intact. Later, unfortunately, what was left of the chapel was demolished. Lady Kirk would have been part of a chain of religious settlements in the area. Coins from the era of Robert the Bruce were also found in the area.
Walter recalls the tragic tale from Wife Geo, a spectacular geo between Freswick and John O’Groats. The family that lived in the croft house owned a horse that would be tethered nearby. One day the mother was ‘flitting’ the horse from one area to another. A screeching bird flew up from the geo, scared the horse and both horse and woman were thrown over the cliffs. Walter remembers that a daughter of this family always grew forget-me-knots near her house in John O’Groats.
The legend of Jan de Groot lives on, but it is not always known that he was buried in Canisbay Church. When local sculptor, John Nicolson discovered the tombstone, he had it removed to the outside of the church. Today to help its preservation it now resides within the porch of Canisbay Church.
The area now known as John O’Groats covers some 10 square miles and was originally known as Duncansby. Around 1908 the local Postmaster at the time changed the postmark from Duncansby to John O’Groats.
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