Naming of Ravenswood
The Landgate website states:
RAVENSWOOD Latitude 32° 35' S Longitude 115° 50' E
The townsite of Ravenswood is located in the south west region, 83 km south of Perth and 8 km south east of Mandurah. It is located on a bend in the Murray River, and was originally the name of a property taken up in this area by Adam Armstrong in the 1840's. Armstrong's property was known as "Ravenswood Farm". Ravenswood was known as a locality as early as 1895 and following private subdivision in the area in the 1960's the Shire of Murray requested the declaration of a townsite. The townsite of Ravenswood was gazetted in 1970.
The Armstrong Family Story - Provided by Shellie Cummings 4 x Great Granddaughter of Adam Pearson Armstrong.
My ancestor, Adam Armstrong named Location 16 on the banks of the Murray River, “Ravenswood”.
In researching the naming of Ravenswood, I heard a common story from the various family lines of Adam’s descendants. All said that Adam named his property of the banks of the Murray River after a location in Scotland in Melrose known as “Scott’s View” where there is a bend in the Tweed River similar to that on the Murray River.
In late 2019, my husband and I travelled to the UK to fulfil a lifetime dream of retracing Adam Armstrong’s life prior to coming to Western Australia on the ship Gilmore in 1829.
One of our many stops was at “Scott’s View”. While we were sitting admiring the stunning view when my husband asked why Adam had named his property Ravenswood after this view. I responded that I didn’t know. Sitting next to us were two local gentlemen. They had overheard me and one asked if we were Australian and what was our interest in this location. I told them Adam’s story and that I was retracing his life prior to coming to Western Australia and just had to see this view for myself but as to why “Ravenswood” I didn’t know. The two men smiled and then one said, “Lass can you see the smoke between the trees on that bend in the river’. I could see the smoke. He then went on to say that the smoke was coming from an historic house which was called “Ravenswood”. How Adam knew of this property we will never know, but it is possible he had visited this property when travelling or read about it or seen images, no matter how he knew , we now know conclusively where the name Ravenswood came from. He would not have seen Ravenswood House as it stands today but rather an earlier version, as the current building was commenced in 1824, 9 years after Adam had moved his family to Cheshire, England.
The family mystery had been solved, knowing that the historic Ravenswood house stands on a bend on the Tweed River at “Scott’s View” explains where the name Ravenswood came from. The property obviously created a lasting impressing on him, so much so that when Adam saw Loc 16 on the Murray River he named his property “Ravenswood”.
I have included some relevant details below relating to Ravenswood, Scotland.
Below: Map of Melrose, Scotland 1921-1923, showing Ravenswood.
Research tells us that the “Ravenswood Estate” at Melrose has existed since 1775. Below is details of an early Ravenswood Deed.
Ravenswood Deeds, 1775, Bundle 17 number 1 Ext Disposition of the Lands of Old
Melrose, Gilbert Laing Esq to Walter Elliott, dated 25th May 1775 regd 1 May 1777.
Sasine heron in favour of Walter Elliott dated 6th recorded at Edinr 7 June 1777, held
by Turcan Connell Solicitors, Edinburgh
Ravenswood House, Scotland as it stands today.
It was originally built for Major John Scott, cousin of the playwright Sir Walter Scott who made his fortune in the East Indies.
The image and write up above was sourced from a Real Estate advert produced when the property was last on the market in 2015. Source: www.knightfrank.co.uk/properties/residential/for-sale/ravenswood-melrose-scottish-borders-td6/edn130115
