Meet the Researcher.... Peter Grant

retired and now living in West Sussex, England.

On my retirement I had fully intended to continue research into my own family line, I am descended from retainers of the First House of Ballindalloch, but this has yet to happen!

I had always been brought up to believe the "Norman" version of events and "The Rulers of Strathspey" being our family bible on these matters, so when I started to see statements pertaining to a Norse origin I wanted to know why, when and how. Almost before I was aware I was on board the team already deep [and I mean deep] into Norse history.

I soon realised that in order to catch up on this aspect I would need to go over ground already covered so I decided it was more profitable to track down some of the more elusive documents and approach the question from the Norman side. This has involved field trips to Nottingham, [East Bridgeford and Lowdham] absorbing vast tracts of early Scottish and European history and becoming competent on the internet where many new and helpful friends have been made.

In the early days I thought that there was little chance of being able to prove either of the two arguments of which I had a very open mind, I was happy to accept that the Grants came from planet Zog if it could be proved. I have spent a lot of time trying to make sense of the early Bisset family as they are common to both arguments, there is still more to unravel here but my Eureka moment came when I realised from my research that the Fraser argument did not stand up on chronological grounds and once I knew this all my other misgivings about the Anglo-Norman origin were relatively easy to resolve.

In recent months my position has moved toward the Norse side, a close analysis of the texts showed that however muddled some aspects are, large parts were based on historic fact and could be proved - this led to why fake it, to the acceptance that the story of a Norman origin was of a relatively recent date and did not stand the test of new research. It has been a bit like saying that Oppositions don’t win elections Governments lose them, I had to conclude that in the end the Norman argument was so weak as to not stand up. I do not see our research as final, it still goes on there are still many aspects which need further investigation - we as a team have not always agreed - we have never met, we only know each other my e-mail or phone maybe one day we will and get a shock!