Millfield Rathven? and the death of a Coal Miner John Cullen 1913...help please!

[monkeymagik]

 

Hello all  ,  I'm looking for information about a place called "Millfield" in Rathven (Its where my Great Granny lived around 1913-1917)  has anyone ever heard of it? I'm familiar with Rathven but can't find any info on "Millfield".

Also looking for the death of a John Cullen, Grannies First husband (possibly second  its all a bit confusing If I'm honest ) a Coal Miner who apparently died 10th May 1913  Domicile- Millfield Rathven.

I have a feeling the ans to my next question is going to be embarrassingly simple ......but for the life of me I can not find a concrete ans on the tinternet............where would a Coal Miner living in Rathven c1913 work?? I have been googling away for hours and can't find records of a Coal Mine nearby....Maybe I've been googling too long.... sigh..

Any input/help gratefully appreciated..... I think I'm all googled out!

Nic

[ev]

Alexander Kennedy/Margaret Kerivin or Cullen , marriage 1917 , Keith Moray

Margaret Kennedy(other surname Kerivin) death 1970 Aberdeen(shire) , born c1889

ev

http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,264751.msg1498347.html#msg1498347

[monkeymagik]

I posted that 5 years ago! Can't believe its that long ago still looking   just thought id try a different angle.....try and find John instead.... I didn't know John was a miner, where he lived  or when he had died back then....all I had was a name 

[GDub71]

Well, since I'm a Buckie resident, I thought I'd take up this challenge.

Pt1. The location of Millfield?

This would appear to be a simple case of phonetic mis-direction. Believe it or not, the place you are looking for still exists on modern OS maps. Perhaps you were looking too close to the village of Rathven, but Rathven parish covered quite a large area and "Millfield" is over 5 km as the crow flies from Rathven village.

It is in fact called "Milnesfield" and is to be found at Grid Reference: NJ452616, virtually bordering the parish of Deskford.


Pt.2 A Coal-miner in Rathven, but why?

Now, this is a tougher question to answer. Coal was largely imported into the area through Portgordon harbour and would have been reasonably cheap to obtain. I'm  99% sure there weren't any coal mines here! I imagine that your John Cullen had been a Miner by trade, but likely carried out his work a long way from Rathven parish and may not have done any such work for some time prior to his death. It would still be listed as his occupation on his Death certificate if it had been his pricipal occupation in days gone by. His age and cause of death might give some hints!

[monkeymagik]

Thank you so much for that GDub71.  My family & I have been trying to find information about my Great Granny's life prior to her marriage to Great Grandad for many years, but to no avail.
 I have been unable to find any evidence to support where we believed she was born, where she lived in later years, what she was doing during those years, and most importantly who she was living with 
 Prior to her 2nd marriage in 1917 almost 30 years of her life are unaccounted for.... at least now we know where she was living for a while  NJ452616

(My cousin has been to Rathven and asked the locals about Millfield
 ....."Milnesfield"...   no one" could help! they had never heard of it!!  Just shows you the power of Rootschat  )

Also thank you for the information on Coal Mining in the area, the only info I could find was that you could "buy" coal in Banff so I assumed it was imported & John was working away from home, but wasn't sure where.

I feel a bit cheeky asking you this after you have helped me already.....But given that shy bairns get nae sweeties .....have ever heard of... Drum Burn Gate House, Keith??? Its the recorded birth place of one of Great Granny & Grandads children, although! at the time of birth, the mother  (aka Grt Granny) was still living "Milnesfield"  Honestly the mind boggles     (... perhaps she worked at the gate house? right up until the birth? and gave birth at work???  ) Clutching at straws?? 

Anyway, many thanks for your help regarding "Milnesfield" & Coal Mines..(or lack of)  in & around Banff 

regards Nic 

[GDub71]

I can't give you the exact location, but there are definitely some clues there:

Drum Road leads almost directly east out of Keith.
It goes directly past a farm called Drum (NJ 444 507).
South of the farm, the fields slope down to the Drum burn.

This area was a 9-hole golf course in days of yore.
Old Golf Course

Drum Burn gate House would have likely been near the start of Drum Road or somewhere along it.

However, another minor road to the South also crosses the Drum burn, the road leading to the Balloch Hill,  a few hundred metres North of Dunnyduff Wood. I suppose that it could also have been along here, but I think Drum road would be a more likely location.

It is quite a distance from Milnesfield, but there was (and still is, though rarely used), an old right of way, from Newton of Letterfourie up through the Aultmore woods to Drodland, which I'm led to believe was more substantial in days gone by. It's still marked as a path on modern OS maps all the same.

I make it just over 13kn by this route from Milnesfield to the farm of Drum! About 3 hours on foot!

[Forfarian]

I'm  99% sure there weren't any coal mines here!

I'd even stick my neck out and say 99.999%!

The Scottish coal mines are all in Carboniferous rocks, and there is, as far as I am aware, no significant Carboniferous along the south of the Moray Firth. In the Buckie/Cullen area the rocks are all much older than Carboniferous, and there were no coal mines around there. There is coal further north, at Brora in Sutherland.