Blog Post

Family History Month

Vikki Brightman • 30 September 2021

Appreciating your ancestors.

October is Family History Month, and Ferry View owes a lot to Royston’s family history as, without his ancestors, Ferry View would not exist.

Many of you will have heard the story when you visited of how Royston is the first of many generations not to be born in Caithness. His dad, the inspiration behind Mr. Eddy’s, was the last. 


In May of 1945 Mary Anderson Smith (nee Taylor) returned to the family home in Shore Lane in Wick to give birth to Edmond Anderson Smith. Just 18 months later, they left with Eddy’s sister Rosemary to start a new life with Leonard Brightman in Africa, not returning to the UK for many years.

Eddy had never returned to Wick, and knew only bits and pieces of his Caithness ancestry, which he picked up throughout his life. In June of 2010, Eddy returned to Caithness with me to continue the family history research I had started some months before, and I just fell in love with the area – the people, the landscape, the big skies and stunning coastline – what’s not to love!


On our visit to Wick, we found that the basic 2 up, 2 down in Shore Lane where Eddy was born no longer existed – having been knocked down to widen the very narrow Shore Lane some years previous. Others similar properties still exist, giving us some idea of the life he had been born into. Wick in 1945 would have been a different place to the one that exists now. Self-imposed prohibition had just ended and many buildings would have shown the scars of World War 2 – today in Bank Row stands a memorial garden to the lives lost in what is believed to be the first daylight bombing on the mainland UK. Fifteen people, including eight children, lost their lives. These people would have been people that Eddy’s family would have known – a reality which is quite chilling.


It’s amazing to think how decisions and choices our ancestors made have affected our future. Had Eddy not left the UK, would he have remained in Wick? Would he have met Annette and married, having Jon and Royston? Would Royston and Vikki have met? Would Ferry View exist?


So I guess we have a lot to thank Royston’s ancestors for – without whom, nothing we have now would have been possible – one different choice made would have change the future forever!



When you look at your life, and think about those in the past, there is always something to be grateful for – even if you may not agree with the decisions and choices they made, we are thankful to be where we are now.

by Vikki Brightman 29 March 2022
The tale of the Selkie
by Vikki Brightman 25 January 2022
Or that's what people believe.
by Vikki Brightman 2 March 2021
Or learn from our mistakes!
by Vikki Brightman 26 January 2021
Explore, explore, explore...
by Vikki Brightman 17 January 2021
Off the beaten track.
by Vikki Brightman 4 January 2021
So what's a broch?
by Vikki Brightman 30 November 2020
The Annual Untangle...
by Vikki Brightman 18 November 2020
Always expect the unexpected!
by Vikki Brightman 11 November 2020
No trip to Caithness, or the North Coast 500, would be complete without a trip to the famous John O' Groats, and a picture by the sign. However, up until 1902, John O'Groats as a place didn't really exist - the area was all covered by is now lesser known neighbour Duncansby (a lesser known, but nevertheless beautiful place for another blog). The previous grocer, George Manson, in 1902, charged the name of the Post Office and postal district to John O'Groats (a shrewd marketing move) and was also the first person to import souvenirs (not from China!) for the tourists to by and take home. Prior to 1902, the most famous landmark in the area was "Johnny Groats House", as written about by Scotland's national bard, Robert Burns - a landmark seen on the early Ordnance Survey maps, but a landmark that has left no trace, but in the mind. The man, John O'Groats (Jan de Grot (Groot) to give him his proper name) was granted a charter by King James IV (1488 - 1513) of a ferry and lands at Duncansby in 1496. According to records, he ran the ferry until 1715 - a long running family business! The legend says that his seven descendants continuously quarreled about precedence so to resolve the quarreling John built a house with 8 doors, and a table with 8 sides, ensuring no one entered the house before anyone else, nor sat at the head of the table.
by Vikki Brightman 3 November 2020
To continue our local tour of Caithness places, I decided (well, Jake made the final decision as I couldn't decide between Canisbay Kirk & John O'Groats) on Canisbay Kirk. Canisbay Kirk sits on a prehistoric mound, covering the ruins of a broch (a topic I will touch on in a later blog), the site of an earlier Celtic church dedicated to St. Drostan. Drostan headed a mission Pictland in the 6th century. There is mention of a church in church documentation of 1222. Legend says that the current steeple was erected on the site of a previous round tower, which would have been seperate to the small church of the time. The church, as it stands now, was erected around 1720.
Show More
Share by: