TULLOCH-ALLUM.
Tulloch-Allum in the Highlands of Banffshire, alluded to in this work, was a favourite resort of the venerable Bishop Hay. The head of the family that had been resident there for several gener­ations was devoted to the Bishop always served his mass and accompanied him on his missionary journeyings. His eldest son, John Gordon, who was studying for the priesthood at the College of Douai at the time of the French Revolution, escaped from France, along with other students, and became distinguished as a missionary Priest. He built a church at Dumbarton and another at Greenock, where, afterwards, the late Reverend William Gordon, the last chief of the clan Gordon of Glenbucket, was so long the zealous and popular pastor.

The following account of the missions of Cabrach, Achendoune, and Abuline Speyside, from 1770 till 1856, has been kindly furnished by a worthy member of the family so long resident at Tullochallum. The priest or missionary for the time had his home mostly at Shenval, parish of Cabrach, one of the wilds spots in that poor country. A very humble thatched cottage served as a church—long ago levelled to the ground.

The Catholics in Cabrach were few and poor, but, like some of the other missions, were protected by the powerful Duke of Gordon.

At Achendoune in those days they had no church. Mass was said there at intervals at the farm of Tullochallum, then occupied by John Gordon, a cadet and near relative of Gordon of Clastirum in the Enzie, already mentioned in these sketches, and still in the possession of his grandson, George Gordon. No room in the modest house of Tullochallum was large enough for the few Catholics, so that mass was celebrated in the “kiln.” A complete set of hangings to cover the temporary altar were kept at Tullochallum; and one of the sons, principally the late Alex­ander Gordon, had the honour of carrying the altar stone and chalice, with other requisites for mass, from Shenval to Tullochallum and thence to Abuline, his duties further consisting of serving mass, the priest as a rule visiting each place in succession.

There were few Catholics in Abuline, but the family, a cadet branch of the Letterfourie Gordons, were firmly attached to the old faith.

In addition to this, Bishop Hay, when on his journeys between Aberdeen and Scalan, invariably spent some time at Tullochallum, resting occasionally a few weeks, his episcopal Palace for the time being what in the language of those days was termed “the guest chamber,” a room or rooms apart from the main house. Here in quiet and solitude he used to write part of those works so long famous in Scotland; and forming to this day what his worthy successor, the late Rev. Bishop Kyle, justly styled “The Layman’s Theology.” When on his journeys, always performed in his later years on horseback, the bishop was accompanied by a man servant. This was neces­sary as well for assistance as protection, as they carried all the baggage, including the bishop’s vestments and everything necessary for celebrating mass, in two immense saddlebags.

The bishop, his man, and horses, were welcome at Tullochallum so long as they chose to remain. It was mainly to the charity and generosity of John Gordon, ably supported by his pious spouse, a near relative of Gordon of Glenbucket, that the mission of Achendoune owed its life and existence.

Both from the fact that it was frequently the temporary home of Bishop Hay, as well as the resting place of every priest travelling that way, the name of Tullochallum was so well known at Rome that some of the students on their return to Scotland as priests, having heard so much of it and the family, were astonished to find it was only a modest farm house.

The late John Gordon was often heard to remark (he was himself a very early riser, never in bed after four o’clock) that on going to visit the bishop—the first thing he did every morning—he never found His Lordship in bed or asleep, but on his knees at prayer.

When times became less intolerant, and it was considered more convenient for priest and people, the headquarters of the mission were removed from Shenval to the farm of Upper Keithock in Achendoune, possibly about 1799. To help the priest to live the Duke of Gordon rented him the small farm; and a little church was built, one story and thatched roof. The priest then was a Mr. Davidson, a native of the Enzie. John Gordon of Tullochallum took upon himself the cost of cultivating the priest’s farm, seed and labour—never doing a thing for his own till the priest’s crop was laid down.

Rev. Mr. Davidson was removed from there to Greenock and was succeeded early in this century by the Rev. George Gordon, a native of Garioch, Aberdeen-shire, in many ways a remarkable man. Educated at the Scotch College in Valladolid he was a thorough Spaniard to the end of his life; a born musician, as his masses and hymns testify; composed and arranged for the use of small choirs as their title sets forth, they are to this day the standard music in many missions in Scotland, as much as Bishop Hay’s works were the theology of the people.

Mr. Gordon, not satisfied with the thatched chapel, set to work and erected a comfortable two story stone building with slated roof. The lower story served as the presbytery, and the upper flat, having a vaulted roof, made a very respectable chapel—a great improvement on the other with the mud floor.

In 1817 the village of Dufftown on the property of the Earl of Fife, a very liberal nobleman, was begun. It is situated about two and a half miles north west of the farm of Upper Keithock, and besides being more central was on the highway to Glenlivat and the upper missions. Mr. Gordon got a grant of a few acres of land from the Earl of Fife, and in 1825 he built thereon a very neat stone church with gothic facade, in dressed sandstone, as well as a compact and comfortable presbytery, also in stone, and enclosed the whole property with a stone and lime wall, all of which remain to this day a standing memorial of his zeal and energy.

With his taste and his musical talent he got an organ for the new church, and trained several members of his choir, male and female, to play and sing. Some years before his death in 1856 he, out of his private means, purchased a magnificent organ, costing; about one thousand pounds sterling, and presented it to the mission, the smaller organ going to another place.

This good and pious priest lies buried at the side of the altar in the church, his zeal was the means of erecting, and a marble tablet in the hall records a fitting tribute to his memory. How little many now alive, and in this over-busy century, think how much they are indebted to the zeal, piety and self-denial of their ancestors who in sad days of trial kept for them the inestimable gift of the Catholic faith!