Remicras settlement and the Macdonalds

At the settlement of Remicras (or Riemicras as I’ve seen in an other book) you can see ruins of longhouses and later ruins of a farmhouse and U shaped steading. There is a kiln and a grain mill with the remains of the mill dam. The wee stone bridge across the stream in still in situ. The lade was well engineered and would have taken considerable effort to construct. The whole area seems to have benefited from a substantial investment to construct these buildings that replace the earlier buildings. This was the home to the Macdonald’s who claimed to be descended from the third son of John, Lord of the Isles. Legend has it that they got their property from the Earl of Mar after the battle of Harlaw (1411) when Macdonald was taken prisoner. The residents of this Macdonald ‘kingdom’ were tenants, many with the same surname. The land was sold to Invercauld in 1822 but there were still Macdonalds there until 1880 when most had left to make way for more profitable sheep. Most would have gone to cities to find work but many would have tried their luck abroad in America, Canada or New Zealand.