The Cabrach Trust
Bridgend was once the bustling centre of the lower Cabrach. In the late 1800s there were eight tradesmen at Bridgend including two shoemakers, a tailor, a dressmaker, a merchant, a weaver, a joiner and the only resident blacksmith in the Cabrach. The Post and Telegraph Office was also located here which made it a centre for community news and communications.
The small shop attached to the Post Office sold a range of dried goods and in later years, a petrol pump outside provided a welcome stop for drivers crossing the Cabrach by road. The remains of several houses and buildings are still visible at Bridgend including the red telephone box located outside the old Post Office.
There were once two blacksmiths at Bridgend. The Blacksmith was a skilled job and played an important role in the local community. They were relied upon to produce tools, repair iron implements and shoe farm horses. Jimmy Kellas (pictured here) was the last blacksmith at Bridgend. Colin McBain grew up at Ardwell and remembers Jimmy and other folk who lived at Bridgend.
Brian McAndrew’s Grandmother Isabella Shearer was the last postmistress at Bridgend. Isabella came from Bowmans in the Upper Cabrach where Brians father, Gordon McAndrew grew up. Gordon moved away when he left school and raised his family in England but kept strong connection with the Cabrach. Brian spent many happy summers visiting the Cabrach, staying with his granny and her husband Charlie Shearer at Bridgend. In his interview, Brian talks about his visits to the Cabrach during holidays.
Isabella (Bella) Shearer (nee Gordon) was the Post Mistress at Bridgend for 11 years and was in fact the last postmistress in the Lower Cabrach.
The Post Office also sold food stuffs, and fuel from the hand-pumped petrol pump across the road and was a hub for the community.
Isabella Shearer was not only the Cabrach postmistress, but she also took part in many of the popular local amateur dramatics.
Isabella was pretty good as an amateur actress. She knew if she was in a play every word from first to last, they didn’t need a prompter.
My grandmother was Isabella but they called her ‘Bella’. She was always on the look for something so she bought the post office in the Lower Cabrach. She had a photographic memory really and she was pretty good as an amateur actress. She knew… if she was in a play… every word from first to last, they didn’t need a prompter. The problem with that was that once they started running coaches to the cinema, the nearest one was in Huntly, you daren’t say to her ’what was the film about?’ because she would tell you word for word through the whole film!
Gordon McAndrew
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