Clachtoll Things to Do

The large white marble rock was unveiled on 2nd August 1994.
TO THE MEMORY OF
THE REVEREND NORMAN MACLEOD
BORN HERE ON 29TH SEPTEMBER 1780
DIED WAIPU, NEW ZEALAND ON 14TH MARCH 1866
LEADER - MINISTER - TEACHER
He led his people over 14,000 miles of ocean
To Nova Scotia, Australia and New Zealand

Norman McLeod was born on 29th September 1780, to David and Margaret McLeod of Stoer. He went to Aberdeen University to study for a Master of Arts degree. On graduating in 1812,he went to Edinburgh to complete a theology course. Before going , he married Mary McLeod, his sweetheart .
In 1817 he found passage for the family to go to Nova Scotia,Canada on the barque 'Frances Anne" where there were mostly emigrants from Loch Broom; another 150 followed the following year,escaping the Highland Clearances.
There he found a community waiting on him to establish a church. Here he preached , and his fame spread,. His followers were called Normanites. By 1820, he and his flock moved to St Ann's, Cape Breton Island.
He travelled to New York State in 1827 to be ordained at a Presbyterian Church there. Thus, at last, he was a sanctioned minister to his flock. In 1829, he built a school, which to this day is the centre of Gaelic learning in Canada. When potato blight struck in 1847-48, the hardships were too much . .At the age of 68, Norman decided to pack up and go . Norman and Mary with seven of their children, and 150 other Normanites set sail. They arrived in Adelaide in April 1852. He lost three sons to typhus.
In early 1853, he wrote to the Governor of New Zealand asking for a grant of land for his people. They purchased a schooner and set off. On 21st September 1833, their group landed in North Island. They settled on the far North east coast, between Auckland and the Bay of Islands.Here the Normanites had found a permanent home. Others followed and , It is reckoned that by 1860 there were 883 people there representing 19 Scottish clans.

Norman lived happily in Waipu until his death on 14th March 1866.