TODAY we look at the Parish of Moy and Dalarossie, writes the Highland Archive Centre's Jennifer Johnstone.

Covering over 105,000 acres, the parish is 30 miles long and, on average, five miles wide. It is completely surrounded by the parishes of Daviot and Dunlichity, Boleskine & Abertarff, Laggan, Kingussie & Insh, Alvie, Duthil & Rothiemurchus, Croy & Dalcross and Cawdor.

With quite a low population and no towns or major villages, the main concentration of residences are found at Tomatin. In 1927 the safety of those living in the Tomatin area was the responsibility of PCs DH MacKenzie and Fullarton, who recorded their work in the Daily Occurrence book. These books are a fascinating resource which are part of the Inverness-shire Constabulary Collection and this is the only one that we have for Tomatin Station.

Each day the police officer on duty would report the goings on in the area, writing in black ink for general events and red ink for notable events and incidents. The first week of February 1927 was a fairly quiet week, with daily patrols of the neighbourhood revealing nothing out of the ordinary. However, on Tuesday, February 8. the daily report read as follows:

“Received information that Booking Office, Tomatin Railway Station had been broken into during the night. I proceeded there and found that the said office door had been forced open by some instrument and that a cash drawer containing the sum of £4.2/6 had been prised open in a similar manner and the said sum of money extracted. £1.18/0 of said amount, consisting of £1 British Linen Bank note and 18/0 in silver was contained in a sealed leather cash bag; which was later found torn open with contents missing in a railway van on siding together with a parcel of cycle accessories which had been taken from Booking Office and left torn open in van. After making local enquiry I proceeded by way of Slochd and Carr Bridge with a view to tracing the thieves. Phoned from Carr Bridge to Police at Kingussie and Aviemore giving full particulars of case. Finding no trace of thieves I returned to Station at 4pm.

“I took statements from James MacIntyre, 34, married, Station Master, Station House, Tomatin, Donald MacKay, 38, married, Porter Signalman, Railway Cottages, Tomatin and Robert Hugh Munro, 28, single, Porter Signalman, Distillery Cottages, Tomatin.

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“At 5pm was joined by PC Macauley, Daviot with whom I proceeded to Slochd, Carr Bridge, Boat of Garten and Aviemore making further enquiry for the thieves and kept watch on the road till 5am on 9th [February] but got no trace.

“Off Duty 5am, 62 miles; on duty 20 hours.”

The thieves were not at large for long as, on Thursday, February 10 PC MacKenzie received word from the Chief Constable that the accused were in custody.

– Due to the current Covid-19 outbreak the Highland Archive Centre is closed. However, it is offering a series of talks for all ages on its Facebook page and YouTube channel at 11am each Thursday. The ‘Learn with Lorna’ series covers topics including Family History, World War Two and Crime and Punishment, among others.

Related news: From the Archives: Flood put Inverness in a state of emergency

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