We left heading west and stopped by Sterling Castle and Abbey, second
only to Edinburgh. We had planned to stay in the area for the night.
However, nothing suitable could be found. We continued on west. About
10:00 pm we arrived at the small village of Aberfoyle and Craig Rannach
B&B.
The next morning we bought a few thing in local shops. Leaving
Aberfoyle, we headed north toward the Trossachs. We continued on to the
city of Doune and Castle ruin. While at the Castle, which was being
restored, I enjoyed a musical play on the grounds inside the castle
walls.
The small Perthshire village of Doune between Stirling and Callander
was know throughout the world as the home of the famous pistols which
possessed such mystery, such superb artistry, and such deadly accuracy
that they brought incredible sums in the 1600s and 1700s. Today they
are literally worth their weight in gold to collectors. Many are so
valuable they are kept only in bank vaults.
In the early 1600s Doune became a center for trade, civil and criminal
law, and for the sale of livestock. Being strategically located between
Edinburgh, Glasgow and Inverness, it was a magnet for Higlanders who
were anxious to purchase goods and especially firearms, for the North
was still turbulent with war.
In 1646 Thomas CADDELL settled in Doune, setting up business as a
gunsmith. He had come to Doune from the village of Muthill, 15 miles to
the north, where he had been a country blacksmith. His artistry and
rare skill is still a mystery. The Old Statistical Account state "This
famous tradesman possessed a most profound genius, and an inquisitive
mind; and though a man of no education, and remote from every means of
instruction in the mechanical arts, his study and perseverance brought
his work to such high degree of perfection that no pistol made in
Britain excelled or perhaps equalled those of his making either for
sureness or beauty." What confounded experts was his ignoring
traditional and imprecise forging of his own material. He apparently
experimented and found the surest metal which was easy to work yet in
constant supply - horseshoe nails. He took handfuls of nails, heating
and hammering them into a flat slab of metal and finally drew this out
into a long steel ribbon. This was again heated and beaten around an
iron rod in a close, spiral twist. After the rod was removed the
roughly-shaped barrel was bored out to the correct diameter and the
outer surface filed down. It was designed to fire a round lead shot
about three-quarters of an inch in size. The breech was attached with a
breech plug screwed into the barrel. The stock was one piece and was
joined to the barrel, before the decoration was applied. The end
product was an all- steel pistol about 14 inches long which ended with a
ram's head butt and a subtle flared muzzle. The entire pistol was
covered with intricate Oriental and Celtic designs of scrolls and
spirals. The pistols were made in pairs for both left and right-handed
use. They were soon bought by Higland clansmen costing between four and
twenty quineas, a lifetime's savings to many. In later years more
expensive pistols inlaid with silver and gold were ordered by noble
families. A plaque was also inlaid into the stock for the maker's name
and coat-of-arms of its owner. The 9th Earl of Argyll, Sir Archibald
Campbell, was in possession of one of CADDELL's pistols when he was
captured crossing the River Cart in 1685, before he was executed at
Edinburgh. Doune pistol-making reached its peak during the 1700s. It
appears that the last gunsmith carried on his trade there until 1798.
Thomas CADDELL passed on his skill to his son Thomas, his grandson John
and apprentices John and Alexander Campbell, Thomas Murdock, Christie,
Bissett and Sutherland, who went on to a higher level of expertise. His
son Thomas continued to work in Doune. However, his grandson John
established a shop in Edinburgh and worked from 1730 to 1764. Thomas
Caddell's original workshop still exists, the derelict building behind
Taylor's dairy in Doune Main Street has been restored and is a business
office. Today, pistols from Doune are displayed in almost every main
museum on the European continent. The oldest such weapon is of 1678 and
signed by Thomas Caddell, in the Neuchatel Museum, Switzerland.
All that now remains in Doune is the reminents of Thomas CADDELL's
workshop and the graves of generations of pistol makers in the old
overgrown graveyard of Kilmadock, Kilmadock parish, about a mile to the
west. The early parish records between 1600 and 1800 showed births,
christenings, marriages and deaths for some 135 members of the CADDELL
family.
Proceeding on, we stopped at the Burnside Cottage B&B between Crieff
and Comrie. The cottage was a recent restoration by a couple from the
south of England. The original (built during the 1870's) was a three
unit bungalow and had been restored into a single residence. That
evening we drove west to a nice restaurant on Loch Earn.
Early the next day, we stopped by the Comrie tartan museum and did
shopping in Crieff. That afternoon we drove east to the Motorway and
south into Edinburgh. We stopped off in East CALDER (a suburb of
Edinburgh) at the Ashcroft Farmhouse B&B.
We caught a bus the next morning and went into the town centre of
Edinburgh. We spent the day shopping, taking pictures and sightseeing.
We saw Calton Hill, Holyrood Palace and park, the Tolbooth Kirk,
Greyfriars Kirk and Greyfriars Bobby statue, Candlemaker Row, the Grass
Market, the Canongate, St. Giles, Victoria Street, Sir Walter Scott
Monument, Old Towne, Princes Park, and all around Edinburgh Castle. The
Tolbooth was very interesting.
On high street we saw a bagpipe maker shop. When we went in, I
realized that it was the same shop that had been highlighted in one of
the travel videos we had. I visited with the owner and his partner for
a brief period, looking at their machines and tools used to make the
bagpipes.
Back in the 16th and 17th Century the Tolbooth was a City Prison. In
the old Scottish Chronicles was listed an Andrew CADDELL, who was on 13
January 1691 in the Tolbooth prison "a seaman...lyen..in...prisone...ten
months...to the utter ruine of his poor wyfe and starving childrein, not
for any ill deed of his owne...." and on 5 February 1691, "The Lords of
their Majesties Privy Councell doe heirby give order ... to ...
majistrates of Edinburgh and keeper of their tolbooth to sett at
liberty...Andrew CADDELL...."
The following day we checked out of the B&B and drove into Edinburgh.
We continued with our sightseeing and did some shopping. Later in the
afternoon we went to an area northwest of Edinburgh on the Almond River
near the Firth of Fourth. Along the River was CADDELL park and Cottages
on CADDELL Row. I inquired of an elderly woman in one of the cottages.
She said that originally their had been a iron mill on the Almond River
founded by a CADDELL. He lived in a bungalow at the end of CADDELL Row
and some of his workers lived in the row cottages.
It is noted that around 1730 Cramond was a busy community at the
heights of its prosperity. There were extensive iron works in the
area. William CADELL and a Mr. Edington owned the ironworks. These
cottages were built for his workers.
That evening we drove on to Glasgow and the next day we boarded the
airplane and came home.
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That's all folks.......
Bill Caddell