port henderson : past & present - Royal Commission on the Ancient ...

Valuations Rolls
These were account books showing the yearly rent and the length of each lease for the tenants
within the landlord’s townships. For Port Henderson these began in 1868/1869 when K. (Kenneth) S.
MacKenzie, Bart, was the proprietor. Some years showed the name of the factor as in that year it was
John Binning of Brae, Dingwall and in 1871/1872 it was James Hay, Conon. Up to 1884/85 any tenant
who paid rent of under £4 per year was not recorded by name but by a number and the word
‘proprietor’. No records for 1885/86 were made and then from 1886/1887 every tenant was named,
whatever the amount of money. Lot (croft) numbers were not shown until 1876/1877 but by checking
with the census forms and Estate records the tenants can usually be matched although there are some
discrepancies.
In 1868/1869 six tenants were named (crofts 5, 6, 8, 14 and possibly 21 which later became 4 -
two tenants shared one croft). All had 12 year leases and all but one paid £4 per year, Roderick
MacKenzie of croft 14 paid £4.15s. There were 15 other tenants whose tenancies amounted to £32 a
year. Why these particular five crofts (later to become six, number 10 was added) were worth more is
not known but checking from the total rents on the 1886/1887 list it can be noted that six croft’s rents
remained at £4 or above whilst another 14 crofts ranged between £1.10s and £3. Rent certainly dropped
for the poor and in 1890/1891 Kenneth MacLennan of croft 12 paid 10s as he was a pauper. (In
1886/1887 it appears that crofts 3 and 4 amalgamated and the rent was £6 and croft 7 was halved, one
half standing alone and the other half going to number 6. Crofts 6 and 7 have continued to be split in
this way). According to these valuation rolls crofts 12 and 13 might have changed tenancies unless the
numbering was incorrect. The rolls also confirm the acquisition of croft 12 by the MacKenzies of croft
15 in 1900/1901 so that they could build their boats in the boatshed on the shore. In the earlier years it
appears that Kenneth MacKenzie, the Laird, might have paid for the ‘occupiers’ hill grazings at a rent
of £11 per year.
Schooling : Opinan Public School
In 1851 a parish school opened in the adjoining township of Opinan maybe because the SSPCK school
in Port Henderson closed, with John MacLean, from Gairloch, as the teacher. The Gairloch Estate plan
for Opin (Opinan), dated 1846, shows the school marked on plot 15. Children from Port Henderson
attended this school which served the scattered communities in the south side of Gairloch parish, from
Craig to Shieldaig.
(A Side School opened in a room of a house at Craig in 1921 with four pupils. Neil MacLennan
was the teacher. Craig Side School was monitored by the Opinan school headteacher but it closed in
May 1932 because there were only two children attending. However, education also took place there in
1900 and 1901 as the school register records four MacDonald children in June, Kate being 17 years old
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