Genius Fan

I took a photo of my family recently, a quick snap on my mobile phone after lunch, and there in the background…YES! YOU GUESSED IT: The Eighteenth century, right there, waiting for someone to notice. We were in Auchtermuchty, we’d stuffed our faces at The Boar’s Head, and were saying our Goodbyes. Or ‘See you laters’.

“Wait! Everyone stop there and I’ll get a photo of you,” I shout. Only five out of the eight heard me, they turned and I snapped my shot. Click. And when I looked at the picture I’ve snapped…there, behind the five figures, on the wall of the house in the background, is a sort of concrete strip which has the following engraved into it: ‘17 IR 32‘.

That’s gotta mean the Eighteenth century is here. In 1732 Robert Walpole was the British Prime Minister. The German George II was on the British throne. The country was half way between the two Jacobite uprisings of 1715 and 1745. My favourite character James Boswell was not yet born, and on this day his friend James Oglethorpe was granted a Royal charter to found the British colony of Georgia. Most importantly, it would be 176 years until the birth of the great Scottish accordianist, Jimmy Shand (born in nearby East Wemyss, but moved to village shortly after) forever associated with Muchty – even with his own full size statue.

We get home and I looked up on the internet this sign from the past. It’s Brae House, 25-27 High Street, Auchtermuchty, described as a Category B listed building according to Trove.Scot (part of Historic Environment Scotland). But no mention of the date engraved on the brick on the wall. Historic Environment Scotland defines Category B as follows:

Buildings of special architectural or historic interest which are major examples of a particular period, style or building type.

It’s hardly the Traitors Castle, but it’s great knowing the architecture around and about has some Eighteenth century pedigree. And Auchtermuchty appears to have a lot of listed buildings according to this Wikipedia page. Still no info on the engraved brick (I’m doing this all from my dining room table…on the internet. Very lazy.) So next stop: the Muchty Heritage Facebook page. And there in a Remembrance Day photo from 14 November 2021 you can clearly see the engraving on the wall. Then a tiny scroll down and there’s another pic, this time 100 years older, looking like it dates from 16 October 1920. But on this photo there’s no sign of the engraved brick. Perhaps the engraving was added sometime in the Twentieth century. Nostalgia?

Well, it’s an Eighteenth century building according to the Historic Environment Scotland experts. Check out my other posts on the Eighteenth century popping up: See Hyndford Bridge and Carluke memorial.