Havercroft

( hay-ver croft )

 

During a trip to England and Scotland in 1997

I was taken with the common practice in the U.K. of naming one's house, and wanted to think of a meaningful name for my own house. While in Caithness in the north Highlands of Scotland, I had the good fortune to find the remains of a stone house believed to have been the home of my great-great grandparents.

In the Highlands, a small tenant farm is called a "croft." And Neil Henderson Gunn was one of many "crofters" in that region during the last half of the 19th century.

 

  The Gunn crofthouse as it appeared in 1926 when my great grandfather "Big" John Gunn lived there following his retirement from the Glasgow Police Dept.

  Notice the kale and potatoes growing in the front garden.

 

 

 

 

 

          The crofthouse as it is today.

 

 


Haver (or Haiver) is a Scottish word
meaning to talk nonsense, pretend to be busy,
putter or lounge about.


Return to