What was Maigrie Fair in Scotland?

Question

I found a baptismal record for David Bell in 1746 at Maryculter Parish in Kincardineshire, Scotland saying the babe "was born on Thursday, being the day of Maigrie Fair, In the month of October, In the Year One Thousand Seven Hundred and Forty Six." I googled "Maigrie Fair" and nothing obvious was coming up. Can anyone tell me what this day was and which day in October 1746 it would have been?

Comments

there is a French verb maigrir ...

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Could Maigrie be a transcription error? Can you see the original document? Where is this located?

(Sorry to be firing questions, but it piqued my interest)

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Yes, I viewed the original on Scotland's People. I have updated my question with the location: Maryculter Parish in Kincardineshire.

Answer 1

Could it be a mis-spelling of "Mergie"? In which case Mergie fair was a cattle fair held in the second week of October (see  A General View of Kincardineshire or the Mearns by George Robertson, London 1810, p 407 at https://archive.org/details/ageneralviewkin00britgoog/page/n444/mode/2up ) To help with your calculations, Michaelmas is 29 September  And for a (modern) map try this https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Mergie,+Stonehaven+AB39+3TH/@56.9886446,-2.4767193,11z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x488418aca6ca1a91:0x988823cdba545f63!8m2!3d56.9886463!4d-2.3366435

Comments

Oh, BRAVA! Sheena! I think you've hit the nail on the head.

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Wow, great sleuthing! I had another look at the register, and I don't think it's transcription error on my part -- the letters are well-formed and clear, and even if I got one wrong there's no way it was spelled "Mergie".  Thank you!

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Put on your best Scots accent, Barry, and you could probably pronounce it so it could be spelled close to Mairgrie, except for that one extra "r".  ;)

Sheena, a question: (I'm assuming you're a native Scot) in the Mergie spelling would the "g" be a hard as in "goat" or soft as in "George"? If hard, then Mairgrie makes perfect sense.

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I am a native Scot (moving back in six months - not that I'm counting or anything!! )

I'd pronounce it with a hard "g" as in goat, but I'm from the Glasgow area and Kincardineshire would probably have a doric accent and pronunciation - think Lewis Grassic Gibbon and Scots Quair

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Well done, local knowledge is so important.

Answer 2

Is there a town nearby called Maigrie?

Comments

Not that I know of. Good thought.

Answer 3

Maigrie  appears to  be the name of a farm.in East Lothian  but only a few 'hits' (google wants us to diet) .

A charter was granted to a Andrew Fletcher of Saltoun of Maigry http://manuscripts.nls.uk/repositories/2/archival_objects/5492

Another says that General.Fletcher owned land called Maigrie in Pencaitland parish  (1802) https://scotlandsplaces.gov.uk/digital-volumes/historical-tax-rolls/land-tax-rolls-1645-1831/land-tax-rolls-east-lothian-volume-02/13

Theres also a  'hit'  mentioning   farm rents for an improved farm called Wester Maigrie, Saltoun 

Maybe the Fletchers allowed some of their fields to be used for an annual fair(??)

Comments

I updated the post with a location: Maryculter Parish in Kincardineshire. So I'd guess that is too far away to be the Maigrie you found.

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Yes, that is rather a long way and seems unlikely

Answer 4

There is also a Maggie Fair held on the outskirts of Buckie Banffshire in June and the Peter Fair held in Buckie in July