Sandy's Blog
'Provost' Bain of Newton
by Casagrandeblog - 14:25 on 08 July 2013
We haven’t really talked much about the farms around Cromarty, and yet there are some great stories associated with them. One of my favourite Cromarty characters is ‘Provost’ Bain of Newton farm. There had been Bains at Newton since at least the 1670s, and by the mid 18th century there were four small farms there - all tenanted by Bain relatives. These farm buildings, by the way, were on the south side of the road - not where Bill and Daphne are now
. Jock’s Cottage (see photo) stands on the site of one of the original farms.
After the Battle of Culloden in April 1746 the townsfolk of Cromarty were anxiously awaiting news of the outcome, and Alexander Bain of Newton, along with two others, agreed to walk to Inverness to find out how the land lay. They were probably relieved, on arrival, to find the Government forces victorious and Inverness full of redcoat soldiers. Deciding that it was now too late to start the homeward journey, they tried in vain to find overnight lodgings, but all the inns were full to bursting. Having observed that only the ‘gentry’ seemed able to secure a bed, they decided to promote themselves. Alexander announced himself as the Provost of Cromarty, his companion Mr Allan as ‘Baillie Allan’ and the third member as ‘Doctor’ Forbes. Thus promoted, they managed to talk themselves into lodgings for the night.
After telling their story at home, they were for the rest of their lives known as ‘Provost’, ‘Baillie’ and ‘Doctor’.
‘Provost’ Bain’s grave is in the East Kirk burial ground, in the Bain family enclosure.
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