Hollin or Holland or Holly?

Fiona Grant

Message 42730 · 23 Oct 2005 15:38:18 · Fixed-width font · Whole thread

hi Richard

Many thanks for your comments on the historic source for the title Hollin
Buss.

I'm interested in your suggestions:
In 1689 Parliament declared that James had abdicated by deserting his
kingdom. William (reigned 1689-1702) and Mary (reigned 1689-94) were offered
the throne as joint monarchs. Not sure if this would have gone down well in
Scotland unless only among Hanoverians, as the abdication of James meant in
effect the end of the Stuart dynasty.

But I am tempted to hang on to the link with "Holland" which has over the
centuries and until recent decades been the preferred name of the low
country now known as The Netherlands.

What I really would like to find out is where, and from whom did the Society
collect the published dance. How do I go about discovering this?

I remember too my grandmother telling me that as a young woman, she followed
the herring fishing up and down the East coast, and that when they were not
gutting and salting the newly landed catch, they went to dances everywhere
from Aberdeen to Grimsby.

I've also discovered the following info on the East Lothian Council's
resources for learning in Scotland (historyshelf.org):
Early Scottish fishing boats
Scottish fishing boats of the 1700s and early 1800s were mainly small, open
boats. They fished in inshore waters. These early boats were wooden and
clinker-built, which means they were made with each plank overlapping the
one below. They were all powered by sails, and most used lugsails. The boats
were shallow, so that they could be used close to shore and they sat low in
the water. However, they gave no shelter to the crew and were easily swamped
in a storm. These early boats were usually family-owned, and were launched
off beaches or from small harbours.

In the 18th century, the Government tried to encourage the use of the
'buss'. The herring busses were very large boats, of up to 80 tons with
large crews. The Dutch has been fishing in the North Sea using this method
since the 16th century. These boats fished in deeper water and stayed at sea
for several weeks. The herring were caught using drift nets. The Dutch also
perfected a method of preserving herring in salt, known as curing. They
carried out the curing onboard their busses.

To encourage Scottish fishermen to fish using the 'buss', a bounty system
was introduced. To start with, money was paid to fishermen who used boats
over a certain size, but this law was soon changed so that money was paid on
the amount of fish caught. This meant that fishermen fishing from small
boats could also claim the bounty.

More fishermen began to catch herring, and they were able to buy new and
bigger boats. Most ports along the East Coast had their own boatbuilder, and
regional styles of fishing boats began to develop during the 19th century.
The first of these were the skaffie and the fifie.

But, except RSCDS shared rumour, I have not been able to find any link -
conceptual, literary or historical, between holly bushes and hollin buss....

Best wishes
Fiona
back in Bristol having returned from the GP&Finance committee mtg at Coates
Cres in Edin yesterday. Time now to look forward to the RSCDS AGM, and the
election of new committee members.

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