Oldmeldrum Square 1843
Written especially for the children and young people of Oldmeldrum
If the animals on the Urquhart coat of arms on the Oldmeldrum Town Hall could speak what tales they might tell!
Were they on the Tolbooth (the original Town Hall), we wonder, in 1746 when Bonnie Prince Charlie and his army marched through on their way North? Did they see the Duke of Cumberland’s army encamped in the town on its way to Culloden? Did they hear Jacobites whisper of rebellion?
What stories could they tell of the bustling, noisy markets and fairs of the 18th and 19th centuries? Could they recall the farmers and traders setting up their stances and the sounds and the smells of market day that filled the air?
Did they ever, at dead of night, hear prisoners cry out in the black-hole of the tollbooth below them?
Would they remember the lively cattle markets when Oldmeldrum was a great centre of the trade and the most important town of the Garioch? Did they watch as herds of cattle and their drovers ambled through on their way to the markets of the South.
Did they stir at the sound of galloping hooves and see the dust rising as the mail coach approached Barnett’s Inn (Meldrum Arms)? Did they hear the commotion and sense the urgency in the stable yard as the tired horses were set loose and fresh ones harnessed up for the next leg of the journey?
Meldrum has a rich history and this topic could lend itself to art, drama and storytelling as well as history or animations in Crazy Talk. What about creating a timeline of events in Meldrum’s history from 1741 to the present day? What about a re-enactment?
Evelyn Munro
03.11.10
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