http://www.siol-nan-gaidheal.com/battles.htm

Year Place Location

977 Skida Moor, Caithness - local battle

100*? Skidhamyrr, Caithness - Norsemen attack Scots
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb..../bbattles.html
977 Skida Moor - Caithness - Liotr beat Magbiodr

10th Century Skidhamyrr - Skitten, North West of Wick, Caithness - Two battles between Norsemen of Orkney & the Scots of Moray. Results & Dates unknown
So, I dig up Caithness info, inter alia, here: http://www.scotland-inverness.co.uk/caithnes.htm, and here: http://www.frayston.demon.co.uk/genuki/cai/index.htm, and here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caithness

and I finally track down "Liotr"..... but ARGH! There seems nothing to be found via google for "Magbiodr" (whether it be a place-name or a person name). I even hunted through endless sites online pertaining to Scotland-relevant definitions, all manner of relevant dictionaries, and so on.

I've all but given up hope finding out where (specifically in Caithness) "Skidhamyrr" or "Skida Moor" were.... and there's a total dead end trying to attack it from the "Magbiodr" angle. *sigh*

Why, one might ask? Well........... maiden surname is "Skidmore".

As kids we were told by my father (Skidmore) that those ancestors originated from "English criminal(s)" exiled to Australia, and my mother's side of the family (Anderson) were determined to be decended from [UK/British] "sheep herders"

The immediate Skidmore family was "Protestant". My mother's parents and all the way up the immediate line on her side were Catholic. (And no, NEITHER sets of my grandparents could tolerate each other or my respective parents - go figure ) Kinda fits the scenario.....

I have fleeting memories of either my great-grandmother or one of my great-aunts singing Irish lullabies (AND of being told, "Shush. We don't talk about the Irish in the family, dear.")

I actually found online documents indicating a George Skidmore, a "plumber's " labourer" came to on the "Clara", at age 18 having been sentenced in 1852 in "Lewes" (East Sussex) to 7 yrs. incarceration for "Larceny from the person" and arriving in NSW/Western Australia in 1857. But, whether I am of his line, I can't establish yet.

Which takes me all 'round the circle to wanting to know more about the location "Skida Moor"/"Skidhamyrr" - cause the similarity between those place-names and my maiden surname is just too close to leave a mystery.

*searches for a :crazymaking: smilie *