Episcopacy, the North-East and the aftermath of Culloden

Episcopacy, always strong in North East Scotland, was disestablished in Scotland in 1689 with the fall of the Stuart dynasty. Episcopalians, however, held on to Dunottar Parish Church until 1709. Thereafter they worshipped in the Tolbooth until a meeting place was erected in Stonehaven High Street in 1737.

In 1746, prior to the Battle of Culloden (which, incidentally, took place on the lands of Clan Chattan, East of Inverness), two Cowie fishermen, a Christie stronghold, saved the altar of the local Episcopal chapel in Stonehaven High Street from desecration. It had been removed from the chapel by the Duke of Cumberland's men on their way to Culloden. Cumberland had ordered that it should be carried across the street to a public house and used as a counter for the sale of drink. The Cowie men recognised the altar and, seizing their chance, removed the altar, broke it up and reverently burnt it to prevent it being defiled. For this they were both thrown into prison.

Among the 326 Jacobite prisoners held in the Inverness gaols in the aftermath of the Battle of Culloden on Drummossie Moor on the night of Wednesday 16th April 1746 were the following Christies: Alexander, 21; Alexander, 19; David, 21; Robert and William. There was also a John Masson, whitefisher from Footdee.

The Highland clan (Gaelic, clann 'children') was an organised Celtic social or family system based on kinship with members marrying into another associated household to avoid in-breeding. Besides clansmen of the blood, the clan included bondsmen and adopted foreigners. A 'great clan' such as the Clan Chattan Confederation  (the Clan of the Cats) included a number of related and unrelated families, or sub-clans, bearing a variety of surnames. The Scottish clans were in reality a specialised form of tribal organisation. The heads of the various families all claim descent from a common ancestor and acknowledge the paramountcy of a king or superior chief who bears the clan name as a distinctive title (ie, the MacFionnlaidh). The clan had a definite formation in war, corresponding to that of a regiment and a recognised meeting place to which it was called by beacons, or by the fiery cross. Three hundred men of the Farquharsons of Monaltrie and Balmoral on Deeside together with five hundred men of Clan Chattan held the centre of the Jacobite line on Drummossie Moor on 16 April, 1746 - they also paid the highest price in lives among the Rebel Army.