Corehead

The Devil's Beef Tub

Here at the head of Annandale in Dumfriesshire and where the River Annan rises, is the natural glacial feature known as the Devil's Beef Tub. Close to here is the farm of Corehead where Tom Halliday met his uncle, William Wallace. Together with a small band of followers they captured Lochmaben Castle from the English. This incident is recorded by "Blind Harry" about 1477 in the famous poem written in Scots, "The Wallace". The deeds of Tom Halliday and his famous uncle took place about 1296 and thus Tom Halliday is the earliest recorded Halliday in Scotland. "The Wallace" contains many historical errors and records events which never happened. Was Tom Halliday a real person or a fictitious character in "Harry's " composition?

John Holliday,A Forthright Man - OnLine

A full copy of Clarence Halliday's book is available on line at

http://www.magma.ca/~leprecha/john_halliday_forward.html


Enjoy.

Books Refering to Halliday History

There are very few books about Halliday history in Scotland. The pioneer in this field was Clarence Halliday from Canada who came over to Scotland in the 1960's. He wrote two books:
Halliday,C.(1962)  John Holliday;A Forthright Man. Coburg,Ontario
Halliday,C.(1963) A Halliday Family Tree .Coburg Ontario

These give an introduction to the family roots in Annandale and exceptional research for those descended from this John Halliday from Berryscaur,Hutton Parish whose family moved to Canada and spread all over North America.

Halliday, C.A.T. Col (1980) Hallidays  Portia Press Ltd,Hampshire
This book covers the early history and follows those descended from John Halliday of Kirkcudbright and Antigua,who made his money from slavery and Plantations. They sold their estate in Scotland and returned to England where they married well and changed their name to Tollemache.

Both books have errors but encouraged me to research our history and expand on the knowledge both these writers took the time to compile.

Welcome to the Halliday of Scotland Blog

Hi fellow clansmen and women

I hope this blog will become an interactive site for Hallidays with roots in Scotland to exchange family history information and learn more about the role members of the family played in Scottish and world history. I have been researching the name for almost forty years and think blogging is a great way to get the information out there. The name also occurs in England especially Cumberland,Yorkshire and Gloucestershire but the evidence so far is although they share the same surname they are not connected to the Hallidays of Scotland.
Please enjoy and contribute to this your family history blog.
Many thanks

Chris Halliday