H IGHWAYS AND BYWAYS

NORTHUMBRIA

MACM ILLAN AND CO L IM ITEDLONDON BOM BAY CALCUTTA MADRAS

MELBOURNE

THE MACM ILLAN COMPANYNEW YORK BOSTON CH ICAGO

DALLAS SAN FRANC ISCO

THE MACM ILLAN CO. OF CANADA , LTD .

TORONTO

H igbwczys and Byways

N0Nbumém’

a

BY P. ANDERSON ORAHAM

W ITH ILLUSTRAT IONS BY

HUGH THOM SON

MACM I L LA N AND CO . , L IM I T E D

ST. M A RT IN ’

S S T R E E T ,LON D ON

TO ROS IE

IN SL IGHT ACKNOWLEDGMENTOF MUCH HELP AND SYMPATHY

PREFACE

THI S book deals chiefly with the modern County of Northumberland

,all that is le ft of the ancient Kingdom of Northumbria ,

but as the historical interests of the one are intertwined withthose of the other , it was decided to adopt the more comprehensiveterm . Northumbria casts a steady l ight on Northumberland .

The inhabitants of the most northern of our English countieshave always been famous antiquarians and historians

,and they

know the books on which knowledge of the local past must bebased . I think I have mentioned in the text all authors towhom I have been indebted

,but for the use of those who sti ll

have before them the pleasure of exploring this most interestingand most romantic county a few of the more important authoritiesmay be cited .

As a book of reference the monumental Hi story sti ll unfinishedand now edited by Mr . Crawford Hodgson stands first . It issafe to say that no living writer knows Northumberland in moredetai l than Mr . Hodgson .

For the northern part of the county the Proceedings of the

B erwz’

ckshzre Naturalz'

sts’

Club are invaluable . The club wasformed in 183 1 and from that time has lived up to the mottothen adopted

MARE ET TELLUS,ET QUOD TEGIT OMN IA

,CGSLUM .

I t has maintained the laudable custom of visiting places ofinterest and discussing them on the spot .The Newcastle Society of An tiquarians Is an equally celebrated

and energetic association,and its Archaeologia Ael zana IS a mine '

of historical and antiquarian information .

Dr . Collingwood Bruce’s Handbook to the Roman Wall has

s ince h is death been kept up to date and introduces the readerto the important authorities on this great monument of ImperialRome .

Two books very imperfectly known have recently been translated by Sir Herbert Maxwell and are very i lluminating in

PREFACE

regard to the li fe and history of our Northumbrian ancestors .They are The Chronicle of Lanereost

,12 72 to 1346 , and The

S ealaehronz'

ca of S ir Thomas Gray,who died in 1369.

Raine’

s Durham is still an unquestioned authori ty on theancient history of Norham

,Islandsh ire

,and St . Cuthbert .

All the important towns,Newcast le

,Alnwick

,Hexham

,

Berwick,have had their chroniclers

,from each of whom some

thing has been gleaned,but I would like to mention my special

indebtedness to Mr . D . Dippie D ixon for his full and painstakingbooks The Vale of t

'

tl z'

ngham and Upper Coqueta’

ale.

For help and advice from the distinguished and the obscureI would like to express an equal gratitude

,though I think the

former will forgive me for saying that the greater pleasure is inhearing a story of the immediate past from the lips of a witness .

Readers would think so too i f I could reproduce the burr and thedialect ! P . A . G .

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I

PHYS ICAL FEATURES

CHAPTER I I

CROSSING THE BORDER

CHAPTER I I I

HALIDON H ILL

CHAPTER IV

B ERW ICK-ON-TWEED

CHAPTER V

NORHAM

CHAPTER V I

THE BATTLEFIELD OF FLODDEN

CHAPTER VI I

ALONG T ILL SIDE

CHAPTER VI I I

CH ILLINGHAM ,FALLODEN AND CHATTON

CONTENTS

CHAPTER IX

FROM YETHOLM TO WOOLER

CHAPTER X

THE BATTLE OF HOM ILD ON H ILL

CHAPTER XI

TWEEDMOUTH , BELFORD , AND GOSWICK SANDS

CHAPTER XI I

THE LORDLY STRAND OF NORTHUMBERLAND

CHAPTER XI I I

ST. CUTHBERT AND H I S I SLAND

CHAPTER XIV

THE ROYAL CASTLE OF BAMBURGH

CHAPTER XV

THE RUINS OF D UNSTANB URGH

CHAPTER XVI

FROM CRASTER TO ALNMOUTH

CHAPTER XV I I

WARKWORTH CASTLE AND HERMITAGE

CHAPTER XV I I I

AMBLE TO CULLERCOATS

CONTENTS

CHAPTER XIX

TYNEMOUTH PRIORY

CHAPTER XX

NEWCASTLE -ON-TYNE

CHAPTER XX I

THE ROMAN WALL

CHAPTER XXI I

HALTVVH I STLE AND THE VVA I.L

CHAPTER XXI I IUP THE TYNE TO OV INGHAM

CHAPTER XXIV

HEXHAM

CHAPTER XXV

HEXHAM AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD

CHAPTER XXV I

REDESDALE AND ITS BALLADS

CHAPTER XXV I I

OTTERBURN AND ELSDON

CHAPTER XXVI I I

A LITTLE J OURNEY INTO NORTH TYNEDALE

x iiI

x iv CONTENTS

CHAPTER XXIX

CAPHEATON , WALLINGTON AND BELSAY

CHAPTER XXX

COQUET MOUTH TO ROTHBURY

CHAPTER XXXI

THROPTON TO HARBOTTLE

CHAPTER XXXI I

TO THE SOURCE OF THE COQUET

CHAPTER XXXI I I

THE V ALE OF WH ITTINGHAM

CHAPTER XXXIV

THE HOME OF THE PERCIE S

CHAPTER XXXVMORPETH , M ITFORD , AND KIDLAND

CHAPTER XXXVI

OLD CUSTOMS AND SUPERSTITIONS

INDEX

P AG E

L I ST OF ILLUSTRAT IONS

PAGENEWCASTLE FROM THE H IGH LEVE L BRIDGE Frontisp iece

LOOK ING UP THE COLLEGE BURN FROM HETHPOOLTHE DUN COW , DURHAM CATHEDRALCOLD STREAM BRIDGEBERWICK FROM THE PIERTHE G REENS E S , BERWICKROYAL BORDER BRIDGE , BERWICKA SKETCH ON THE NORTHUMBERLAND COAST '

BERWICK,FROM SP ITTAL

A BYWAY , BERWICK .

HOUSE IN EASTERN LANE , BERWICKTHE SALLY PORT , BERWICKS PI

’

I‘

TAL FERRY , BERWICK SIDETHE COW GATE , B ERWICKWALLS OF BERWICK , LOW TIDE SHOWING STORM DRUMBERWICK FROM THE SCOTS GATELOW GREENS ES ,

BERWICKAT THE END OF THE G REENS B S

NORHAMLADYK IRK CHURCHA CHEVIOT STREAMFORD CASTLEBRANXTONTHE FORD AT COLD STREAMTWIZ EL BRIDGETWIZ EL HOUSELOOKING UP TILL FROM TWIZ EL BRIDGEETAL V ILLAGE AND CASTLEFERRV OV ER TILL AT ETAL

xvi LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

PAG EDUDDO TOWERFORD CHURCHFORD CASTLE FROM THE ROADWOOLERAPPROACH ING WOOLER FROM ILDERTONWE HAE NAE SHOEMAKKER HERE , AND WE HAE TO GO TO

BELFORD FOR THE DOCTOR . THERE’S.

A LOT WE HAE NAE,

BUT WE CAN ALWAYS GET A B IT O ’ MEATCH ILLINGHAM CASTLETHE CLO I STERS

,CH ILLINGHAM CASTLE

THE MONARCH OF THE HERDcows AND A CALFA TYP ICAL FEMALEA TYP ICAL MALECHATTON BRIDGE OVER T ILLBRIDGE OVER THE BOWMONT WATERKIRKNEWTONLOOK ING UP COLLEGE BURN FROM THE RAILWAY

,K IRKNEWTON

YEAVERING BELLPELE

'

IN A FARMYARD AT DODD INGTONCOUPLAND CASTLEA B IT OF THE GLEN VALLEYTHE GLEN RIVER NEAR YEAVERINGTHE TWEED AT BERWICKBELFORDMOUTH OF THE TYNESEAHOUSESTHE FARNE ISLAND SRUINS OF THE PRIORYA STUDY IN DURHAM CATHEDRALTHE PARISH CHURCH OF ST . MARYTHE CASTLE FROM NORTH—WESTTHE POST CART CROSSING THE SAND STHE V ILLAGETHE CASTLE AND V ILLAGEHOLY ISLAND TO-DAY . A FAMOUS INN

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x v iii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

PAG ETHE ROMAN V ILLA , CHESTERSTHE NORTH TYNE , CHESTERSTHE ROMAN WALL AT B ORCOV I CU S

BARDON M ILLTHE TYNE FROM THE ROAD BETWEEN WALL AND HEXHAMHALTWH ISTLEFEATHERSTON CASTLE

,NEAR HALTWH ISTLE

AT HALTWH I STLEOVINGHAMB IRTHPLACE OF GEORGE STEPHENSONST . ANDREW ’S CHURCH AT BYWELLTHE VILLAGE CROSS AT BYWELLTHE TYNE AT BYWELLPRUDHOE CASTLEHEXHAM ABBEYTHE MARKET PLACE

,HEXHAM

THE STEPP ING STONESTHE BLACK GATE , NEWCASTLE .

HAUGHTON CASTLECH IPCHASE CASTLETHE COQUET AT ROTHBURYTHE COQUET AT WARKWORTHA SKETCH ON THE COQUETALNWICK CASTLESTREET IN ALNWICKTHE ALN IN THE PARKBETWEEN WOOLER AND ALNWICKOLD GATE STREET , MORPETHNEWM INSTER ABBEYM ITFORD CHURCHBUNKERED IN NORTHUMBRIA

MAP OF NORTHUMBRIA AT END OF VOLUME .

H IGH-WAYS AND BYWAYS

NORTHUMBR IA

H IGHWAYS AND BYWAYS

NORTHUMBR IA

ERAFIER' I

PHYSICAL FEATURES”0 ‘ 0 : o o : : 0

Area—Population —Islands—Rivers— Lakes -Gate to ScotlandBoundaries— D enes—a c rad le of Ch ristianity.

THE facts that the distance across Northumberland from apoint near Berwick-on-Tweed to Allenheads is seventy-one milesand that the length Of the coast from Lamberton to Tynemouth isseventy miles show that it is

,roughly speaking

,square-shaped

,

though the square is j agged and irregu lar . I t has an area ofmiles and divides naturally into East

,West

,and Middle .

The physical features conform In a general way to those of GreatBritain as a whole— hills In the west and an eastern slope to theNorth Sea. The populations vary in accordance with thephysical conditions . Pleasant little bays

,inl ets and harbours

have encouraged the formation of fishing villages on the eastcoast

,and the fishermen form a distinc t class , very clannish , and

inclined to marry only among their own folk . But they havenot proved Immune from the vulgaris ing effect of certain modernconditions . As the seaside habit grows among the industrialcommunities , such fishermen as have not taken to trawling tendto become Sophisticated . Th e coble is turned into a pleasure

E B

ISLANDS AND RIVERS CHAP.

boat,the owner hires h imself and it out to row and sail

,and he

begins to look for tips . But occasionally one meets with menof the old type . Not infrequently they are on the parish

,for the

merry sailor is apt to forget that there ever will be a rainy day .

But he does not lose heart,and remains to the last tough

,

weather-bronzed and ch eery,tell ing with gusto the adventures

and incidents of his past . From sailor he turned into a deepsea fisherman . When he could not go out for cod he becamea Tweed salmon fisher

,and as the end of a mail-coach driver

was often that Of keeping a toll-bar,so the last resource of the

aged sailor-man was often to work a ferry-boat . But the youngand enterprising men have forsaken the l ine for the steam trawl

,

and the experience of the war has shown that they have lostnothing in seamanship or courage by the change . Meanwhile ,the Northumbrian fishing villages have been transformed intoseas ide resorts . I f you wish to know what they used to be l ike ,cross the Border and go to Burnmouth or Eyemouth

,Where

there is no accommodation for gvisitOrs, the half-tame gulls areplaymates of the; amphibio

‘us chil dren,and the Old fashioned

fishing village I s unchanged .

Off the coast'1. ié if. Ruzriber oi

'

islands which have special attraetions of their Own. They cast a spell over the naturalist

,

especially the devout lover of b irds to whom an annual visi t tothe Farne Islands is a pilgrimage . In days when civilisationwas young

,they and Lindisfarne were famous as the abode of

holy and very abstemious hermits and saints,who prepared for

Heaven by starving themselves on earth . They loved the wildbirds too

,and the eider-duck were so fostered by the island saint

that they are often called Cuddy’s hens .

These are the chief islands,but Coquet Isle must not be left

out,as

,though small

,it sustains the

.general characterist ics of

the rest .Falling into the sea are the rivers of which Northumberlandis proud . Most of them are dark and sombre as they approachthe coast

,as though reluctant to be merged in the infinite waters

of the sea . That is a poetical way of putting it which the Tweedsalmon poachers deny . They hold the law to be an ass becausei t deems that

,as far as salmon catching is concerned , the mouth

of the Tweed extends along the coast three miles north andthree miles south . A legal subtlety highly inconvenient tothose intent on netting salmon in the off season The Tweed ,

TWEED AND T ILL 3

which only for a minute fraction of its course 13 an Englishriver

,proves our rul e by being an exception . After leaving Its

various dubs (word abhorred by the late Andrew Langit rushes madly under the arches of the old Border Bridge andat Spittal passes into the sea

,gay and smiling to the last . One

s ide is English,at Norham and Coldstream and Carham , but

for the upper part of its course the Tweed remains all Scotch .

”

It has one purely English tributary in the Ti l l, a slow and sinuous

~'

N\

L ook ing up th e Col l ege B u r n f r om [I eth/ool .

stream which creeps through a succession of low,green haughs

from Bewick Mill to Etal . After leaving the boat-house and theold mill-cauld at the latter village

,it splashes and dances over a

rocky bed past wooded and hazel-clad banks to Tillmouth . I t i smore of a j oy to the fiy-fisher than might be imagined by thosewho know it only by repute .

On its way,Tm r eceives many pleasant burns

,such as th at

at Sandyfords, associated with the name of St . Paul inus . It isinterest ing, but only a streamlet the breadth of a tailor’syard .

” At Ewart the Till receives the dashing and beauti ful GlenB 2

COQUET AND WANSBECK CHAP.

formed by the junction at Kirknewton of the rough and noisyCollege and the staider Bowmont . In the upper part of itscourse the Ti ll is called the B reamish . As an old rhyme has it

,

Foot Of B ream ish and h ead Of Til lMeet togeth er at Bewick Mil l .

And if you follow its winding course you find it rises in Scotsman’sKnowe

,not far from Cheviot Hi ll . In its upper course it passes

Ingram,Hedgeley

,Chill ingham and Chatton .

The Aln is a pleasant little seven-mile stream that rises nearAlnham and after pass ing Alnwick and Lesbury reaches the seaat Alnmouth

,famed for its golf course .

The Coquet is considered by enthusiasts,particularly fish ing

enthusiasts, to be the finest of all the rivers of Northumberland,

and whether it be granted or not that proud pre-eminence,i t

i s at any rate in the first flight . It rises in the Outer GoldenPot in the wild Th irlmoor Country, and after receiving nearLinsheels the waters of the Usway Burn from Cheviot, i t passessuch a variety of country and so many things of beauty andinterest that a good day in Coquetdale i s diffi cult to beatanywhere . Before the war it used every year to attract crowdsof anglers to the ancient and rugged village of Rothbury andwill do so again now . As a chapter 15 given to Coquetdale, therei s no need to say more about the river here . It may interesttrouting anglers to know that the source of the Coquet isnear that of the Bowmont

,which comes from Cocklaw Foot .

Cross the h ill and you are in the region of Windygates, whenceare drawn the burns that unite to form the Coquet . It flowsdirectly to the sea while the Bowmont j oins the Co llege .The gentle si lvery Wansbeck issues from Sweethope Lough

and takes its name in all probab ility from the huge neighbouringrocks at its source . They are called the Wannys

— GreatWanny

,Little Wanny

,Aird Law and Hepple Heugh . Mr .

Trevelyan suggests a different derivation in h is volume calledThe Middle Marches

,

”but Wannys Beck appears to be thesimpler and more natural . It Sings its way past many famousplaces

,Wallington

,Middleton Hall

,Mitford

,Morpeth

,Bothal

,

before it enters the sea at Cambois Bay .

At Belsay the Blyth Is a pretty river and at Ponteland wherei t is j oined by the Pont . This character is maintained throughthe Vale of Stannington and Plessey where are the

“ sounding

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6 THE NORTHUMBRIAN LAKES CHAP .

before i t reaches the outskirts of Newcastle the Tyne doffsromance and plays the part of a quiet water highway runningbetween a wilderness of buildings sealed with the mark ofcommerce and industry .

Northumberland,unlike its neighbours Cumberland and

Westmoreland,i s not very rich in lakes

,which it calls loughs .

Sportsmen,naturalists

,and lovers of wild scenery del ight in

that picturesque group situated close to the Wall adj oiningHousesteads. It comprises Greenlee Lough

,B room lee

Lough and Crag Lough . There i s another group,to one of wh ich

reference has already been made as the source of the Wansbeckthe others are reservoirs belonging to the Newcastle andGateshead Water Company . The largest reservoir is Catcleughand it has the additional merit of being well stocked with trout .It lies at the foot of the Reidswire among wild surroundingsfull of Border associations . In the country are many deli htfultarns and ponds that are called lakes

,but are scarcely

gl arge

enough to deserve the name . Some are interesting for the irfishing

,as that at Pawston ; some as breeding places of the

black-headed gull,as Pallinsburn .

Northumberland has no very high mountains . Cheviot,the

highest peak of the Cheviot Hi lls,has an altitude of only

feet . Coming near to that height are Cairn Hi ll,Hedgehope

,

Comb Fell , Windy Gate or Gyle , Cushat Law,The Schel

,Dun

more Hi ll,Black Hag, Newton Tors and Hungry Law . A glance

at any contour map of England will show how the Cheviots ex ercised an influence on history . Between them and the sea thereis from ten to twenty miles of lowland . That is the gatewayto and from Scotland . An army could march from Edinburghto London along the east coast without encountering a hill60 0 feet high till it came to the eas ily-surmounted North Yorkshire moor . Th e same route was followed naturally by thegreat North Road before and after the age of stage-coaches

,

and subsequently by the Great Northern and North Eastern Railway . Travell ing this way

,the passenger feels at po ints in

danger of tumbling into the sea the waves l ie at his very feet,

but he catches no glimpse of hil l scenery . In the centre of thecounty the steep hills interposed a formidable barrier . Theseconsiderations were taken into account in dividing the frontiers .

Save for the l ittle piece of land extending as far north as Lamberton

,which is adjacent to the Berwick Boundaries

,the March

THE CHEVIOT HILLS

follows the Tweed as long as it constitutes a d ifficult obstacle .

At Carharn, about eighteen miles from Lamberton, the courseof the river is left

,and the frontier

,after a short space in which

the he ights are inconsiderable,i s carried through mountainous

country . It is d iffi cult to follow,for the country is very wild .

Between the Vench en,which Is vis ible through the hotel window

at Yetholm in Roxbiirghsh ire, and Carter Fell many eminencesover a thousand feet in altitude occur .Northumbrian hills are not so high and rugged as

,for example

,

those in the Highlands of Scotland . They have a tendencyto be round

,smooth and green . Bracken i s as plenti ful as

heather . But they are cleft by deep valleys,glens and dales

,

down which the typical Northumbrian river, a purling streamin summer but a raging torrent in winter, chatters in thepleasantest manner imaginable . They l ive in my memory asthey were when I used to go fishing at the dawn of a June mom

ing,when cuckoos called on the slopes and the “ whaup ”

curlew swore at the intruder who came too close to his nestingplace in the slack or glidders, and the russet coat of the foxShowed by a gl impse now and again under the green fern as hechased the rabbit . He who was after the trout raged toowhen the ragged Cheviot ewes sprang nimbly into the water andsplashed across

,to the terror of the fish . Nowonder one grew up to

like the hills,always looking so far away

,mysterious and chang

ing,now wrapped in fog

,anon beheld in a bewilder ing twilight

when the wind blew the mist from rock to rock in trail ing veil s .The general character o f the land can be best understoodthrough its agriculture . For in the early y ears of last centurythe Northumbrian farmer

,like the rest of his tribe

,had wheat

fever badly. England was at war,and there were no controll ed

prices or ration books ! He grew seven and a hal f times asmuch wheat as he was doing before the German war broke out

,

and also far more oats . To-day Northumberland is the greatsheep county . I need not give figures to prove the metamorphos is . Whosoever has fished the College or Bowmontmust for ever remember the moum ful baa- ”ing of countlesssheep at night, when they were feeding thei r way to the highhills , and In the morn ing

,when the shepherds with the aid

of those wonderful clever little dogs of theirs drove them downto the fresh grass o f the valley . Another pleasant soundassociated with the hills was the lustily-blown cow-horn calling

8 THE LITTLE DENES CHAP .

the men to the foddering every night at eight o’

.clock It usedto sound more eeri ly from the farms In the dark nights of winter .In a book of wanderings it is not necessary to Say much about

the geology of the county— its coal,shale

,l imestone

,sandstone

and other sedimentary rocks , its igneous rock of which Cheviotis built up

,its basalt and Great Whin Sill . But at least one result

of the d isturbance of the earth’s crust I would like to notice,

because it has added to the charm of the county . This is theformation of numerous denes . A typical dene is a l ittle gorgewhich looks l ike the furrow made by some titanic plough . The

bones of one can be seen no t more than half-an—hour’s walk fromthe farm of Blink Bonny at the base of Flodden Hi l l . It wasstripped Of its wood and despoiled of its charm some yearsago, but that enables the formation to be seen all the more clearly .

At the top a ripple of water in late spring but a gush in wintertumbles down a rough rock ladder In a nook of which the nestof the r ing-ouzel may be searched for

,not in vain

,close to the

spray from the tumb l ing water. Numberless other nests maybe found lower down in the holes and crevices of the banks

,

on the higher parts of which primroses used to appear in myriads .There used to be a constant cawing from the rookery above

,

where often the squirrel might be seen close to the dark birds .Places l ike th is occur very frequently in Northumberland

,

some on a smaller,some on a larger scale

,but always with a

peculiar and happy charm . They are worth looking for bysuch as love a cool retreat under green boughs

,to sit on a log

and li sten to the voices of birds,the gurgling of water, and the

swish of summer wind .

Northumberland to-day is a great energetic county . The

mines,shipbuilding yards

,factories and workshops are the

admiration of the world,but as far as the spiritual transcends

the material,its past was greater still . Two great days stand

out in its history on account of the influence they exercise onsucceeding events . One was that on which King Oswaldraised the Cross as his battle standard and discomfited theheathen under Cadwal lon at Heavenfeld. Ti l l the fane erectedby Wilfrid was destroyed by the Danes the monks of Hexhamannually held a memorial service on the battlefield .

!

BeforeOswald the more Splendid Eadwine with Paulinus for gospellerhad Chri stianised on a great scale

,but the movement lacked

momentum and relapsed after hi s death .

LANDMARKS IN NORTHUMBR IAN HISTORY 9

The second great day was that on which Aidan crossed thesands at Lindisfarne from distant Iona and established there amonastery . We are apt to think of religious houses in thelight of what they became in later days— houses of luxury and

corruption . High ecclesiastics became grasping and ambitious,

differing little from the unscrupulous soldier barons . Friarswere too Often ignorant and immoral

,as Chaucer pictured them

in the fourteenth century . But Aidan,simple

,wise

,and Spiritual

,

belonged to the morning of the Christian faith . So did hisimmediate followers

,in particular Cuthbert whose fame was

to spread over the Christian world,become closely associated

with Northumberland,and shed a glory over Lindis farne .

Originally a Scottish “ herd laddie,

”he emerges from a cloudof myth and legend , a simple, pious monk implicitly believingthe truths of Christianity as they were accepted in his day .

Not questioning,not speculative

,be l i eving the Way to be through

prayer,fasting

,and the mortification of the flesh

,he appears

to the modern eye too intent on his personal salvation,as one

who had not altogether understood that whosoever would savehis l i fe shall lose it . He could never have guessed the truthunderlying the apparent paradox that Damn my own soulIS the first step towards grace . But his wise

,sober common

sense and the unaffected sincerity and homeliness of his conversation convinced those who heard him that his must be theright path . Under his gu idance and that of his successorsLindis farne became a fountain whence the civi lising waters ofChristianity

,education

,and art washed over the sea of the

country ? His was a doctrine of love which,l ike that of St .

Francis,extended to beast and bird as well as humanity .

Originating in Celtic sources,art as well as religion became

moulded to the English character already in the making .

Writing of the Lindis farne Gospels the Rt . Rev . G . F .

Browne,D .D . ,

shows unanswerably that “ the work ing out ofthe motive is Anglian not Celti c .

”

The Book of Kells,l ike ancient Celtic l iterature

,i s flawed with

impuriti es of taste,the art of the Lindisfarne Gospels i s as

English as a Shakespeare play or a Wordsworth Sonnet .Until the arrival Of the Danes

,Lindisfarne remained the

religious centre of Northumbria . I t did not again assume thatposition . Durham

,Hexham , Brinkburn , Tynemouth had the

advantage of being on the mainland and passed it in the race .

10 ART AND ROMANCE CH . I

After the Conquest the interest changes and the Borderbecomes the most famous place .

In Great Britain,for war and adventure

,i t supplied the

stuff out of which were made the romantic ballads which tothis day stir the heart like a trumpet .Behind them in time legend dimly adumbrates great figures

of the past like shapes that may be men or may be stones lookingthrough the fog on a mountain side . Glendale has yie lded theantiquary a rich store of prehistoric weapons and ornaments ,but the oracles are dumb when asked who wore them . YeaveringBell and the neighbouring hills carry traces that tell of a numeroushighly organised tribe of inhabitants

,but who is able to re

construct the ir l ives or tell their destinyFigures of later date are equally elusive . Was King Arthurever on the Roman Wall Was Bamburgh the Joyous Gard ofLancelot

Th e D un Cow , D ur ham Cafhed'

z'

a l .

CHAPTER I I

CROSS ING THE B ORDER

Lamberton’s great day—John de Raynton—B order marriages .

THERE are many ways of entering the modern county ofNorthumberland through what was once Lamberton Tol l

,

from Durham through Chester-le-Street to Gateshead,from

Jedburgh to historic Otterburn ; but I have a personal preference for the first mentioned .

Lamberton is about three miles north of B erwick-on-Tweedand in early days i ts tol-lgate used to separate Englandfrom Scotland . The gate i s removed

,but the house o f

its keeper remains . From St . Abb’

s Head it i s a lovelywalk to Lamberton by the wild rocky coast- l ine . Eyemouthand Burnmouth to be passed on the way will interest thosewho appreciate the primitive and picturesque . The associationsconnected with Lamberton form a contrast between the statelyand the comically grotesque . Its greatest day in history was theI st of August

,150 3 . The event was the arr ival of the Princess

Margaret,eldest daughter of King Henry VI I

,on her j ourney

to Scotland as the wi fe of the Scottish king James IV . AVivid account of this stately pageant was written by JohnYounge

,the Somerset Herald , who accompanied the party and

acted as its historian . How he delighted to enumerate the greatnames and the sumptuous trappings of man and horse . To-daythe Splendour o f the pilgrimage does not interest us so much asthe consequences

,only dimly foreseen by the wise and crafty

Henry VI I . Sympathy goes out to the child queen,a pawn in

the game of politics,sent to marry a prince twice her age

,who

did not come to take her away . Instead,he sent as his repre

sentative the Lord Archbishop of Glasco and the Count with a

12 THE JOURNEY OF QUEEN MARGARET CHAP

great retinue of knights , gentlemen and squires , and therewere five Trumpets or Claryons of the King that blewe at thecoming of the said Queen , the which Melodye was good to hereand to se . Her crossing of the Border was celebrated byHigh Mass at the great Kirk of Lamberton . Kneeling down tothe ground ,

“ they mayd the Receyving,” and when the cere

mony was over,the said Lord of Northumberland mayd his

devoi r at the departyng of gambades and lepps as did likewisethe Lord ScrOp , the father and many others that returned againin making their congé. The Lord of Northumberland referredto here is the Percy nicknamed the Magnificent . At the timehe was a gallant of twenty-four or five and Warden of the EastMarches . He had entertained the Queen at Al nwick

,to which

he returned after the receiving .

Margaret went on to Fast Castle,where she was suitably

enterta ined by its lord,while her retinue lodged at the Abbey of

Coldingham . Fast Castle at one time was thought to be Wolf’sCrag in The Bride of Lammermoor

,

”but Si r Walter Scott,

while admitting the l ikeness , declared he had never seen thefortress . No doubt he knew many like it out of which hefashioned a suitable home for his impoverished hero . Whenthe tragic story is read in its neighbourhood it i s felt

,as it cannot

otherwise be,how faithful ly he reproduced the character

,of the

rugged coast-line and the me lancholy or,to use a word of his

coining,the sombrous sea . Margaret became mother of

James V and grandmother of Mary Queen of Scots,

whose son,James VI

,united England and Scotland under one

king . But much water was to pass under the bridge beforethat happened . The Earl of Surrey was one of Margaret’sescorts to whom the King paid particular attention . Ten

years only were to pass ere they met in a death grapple , but theydid not dream of that in the summer days , when together theywitnessed tournaments held in honour of the marrIage, werespectators of the plays and moralities deemed appropriate tothe occasion

,l istened to the minstrelsy and rej oiced In the young

Queen’s dancing . No one could in 150 3 have foreseen the warof 1513 with its one renowned and melancholy battle when theFlowers 0 ’ the Forest were a’ wed awa’, and among them theKing himself .Will iam Dunbar, the King

’s Rhymer, may have p erished onthe same occasion . He was never heard of again after the battle

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14 THE RECEYV ING IN LAMBERTON KIRK CHAP.

th e sam a gren tre in th e manere Of a pyne , and maid th e sai d Lordpannades and th e weigh ted varey h onest ly.

After cam th e said Qwene varey rychl y arayde and enorned with

go ld and p recyous stones , sytting in hyr lytere rychly appoynted .

Her fotem en always my to h yr wel l appoynted , and m onted upon

fayr pal lefrys, and th eir harnays rych e in appareyll .

After cam h er char rych e ly appoynt ed , fournysch ed Of ladyes and

gentylwom en wel l appoynted, and after that sum oth er gentylwom en

on h orsebak h onorably appoynted .

Th e said Capp etayne Of B arrwyk and my lady hys wyffe aecompayned Of m any gentylm en and gentylwom en rych ly arayde and

c loth ed Of a l iv eray went with th e said Qwene to Edenburgh e .

Before th e said Qwene war by ordre Johannes and hys company

(of p layers)and Henry G losc ebery and hys company, th e trompetts,Officers of armes and sergeant s o f mac e , S O that at th e depart ing out

Of th e said B arrwyk and at byr B edwarde at Lamberton Kirke itwas a joy for to see and h eare .

In such stat and array th e said Qwene cam e out Of B arwyk , ich on

by ordre , th e Lords and Nobles three and th ree togeder to th e saidLamberton kirke , and th e company beh ind wel l appoynted and

in fair array, th at it was estem ed that thar war Of th e part e Of th esaid Qwene x viii C or two M Horsys wel l Appoynted .

Before th e said S cottysm en passed th e Lo rds knigh ts and gentylmen makynge Gambauds to th e grett Gowre . And wh en th e Qwenewas com e , th e said bysch op Of Mo rrey, th e said archbyschop (ofGlasc o)and th e said Gounte Of Northumberlaunde avaunc ed towardbyr , and th en knel ling downe to th e grounde mayde th e Receyvinge .

Th er was in p resenc e th e Archbyschop Of York , th e B isch op o f

Durham and th e Erle Of Surrey. After th ys sch e was brough t toth e Pavyllon ordonned for Recreacyon , and my to that sam e sch ewas h elp ed downe and kissed Of th e said Lords , and by th em sch ewas brough t to th e Pavyl lon wh er no body entered ex cep t th e Lordsand Ladyes . And with in th e sam e was a Lady Of th e Countre ,

c loth ed with Scarlatte,with G entylwomen appoynted after th er

gyse wh o had brough t sum new Fruyts .

Ny to that sam Pavyl lon war oth er th re . Th e one for th e Pannetry, th e toth er for th e Boutry, th e toth er for th e Kytch en ; Andth er ich on del ibered hym sel fe to m ake goo d ch ere and drynk e . For

th er was p lante Of Bred and Wyne SO that ich on was contente .

After th e Rec eyv ing doon , ichon put h im self agayn in ord re ,and th e Qwene m onted on Horsebak . Th e said Lord Of North umb erland m aid h is D evor at th e D epartying Of Gam bauds and Lepp s ,as did lyk ewyse th e Lord S c rop th e Fath er and m any oth ers wh oretorned agaym, in taking th eir Congies . And of th e Companieabydynge th e Qwene was conveyed to byr Lodgynge Of Fast Castel l ,wh er sh e was welcom ed by th e Lord Of th e said p lace and of th e LadyS ister Of th e said B isch op of Morrey

,h eir Of Queen El iz abeth .

Th e Companie was lodged at th e Abbay o f Codyngham and in

th e Towne , wh ere was o rdonned Mett and D rynk e for th em ,and

also L iv eray for th eir Horsys Of Hay and Otts , ych on to h is Quantyte .

Th e Nombre Of th e Scotts at th e Mettynge Of th e said Qwene war

I I LAMBERTON’S ANC IENT HISTORY I 5

by Estymacyon a th ousaund Personnes , wh ereof th er m igh t be v CHo rsys Of th e th ousand Of grett p rice and we l l appoynt ed . And

Of th e Companie passynge th orough with byr to th e Rylm e Of Sco tland war in Nombre betwix t v and V i C wel l h orsyd and appoynted .

Th e ij day of th e said m onneth th e said Qwene departed from th e

said Fast Cast el l nobly appoynted and accompayned . And at th e

D epartynge ,th ey sch ott much o rdonnance and had a very goo d

ch ere and soe that every man was cont ente .

1

From Fast Castle this prince ly train proceeded into Lothianby the Path of Pease

,and staid during the night at the nunnery

of Haddington . Next day they reached the Scottish Metropol is

,where the royal nuptials were completed amid the

din of wassail,rout and revelry .

”

Exactly a hundred years after this,Margaret Tudor’s great

grandson , son of Mary Queen of Scots and Darnley,heir of

George the Steward of Scotland who founded the line o f Stuartk ings as James VI of Scotland and I of England

,travelled the

same road,revers ing the steps of his progenitor

,but he had no

Somerset Herald to describe the pageant .Lamberton has lost its Old importance . In the th irteenth

century it was part of the Barony of Mord ington,and among the

family papers of Mr . Campbell Renton and in the charter chestat Wedderburn Castle there are a number of charters relatingto the lands Of Lamberton . One of Mr . Campbell Renton’sancestors , John de Raynton, a rich burgess of Berwick-on-Tweed

,

who was taken prisoner by the Scots just before th e battle OfHal idon Hil l (July 25, i s given the lands and tenements ofOver Lamberton of Agnes of Mordington . Another ch artermakes over to him the lands of Henry Cossar of Trebroun in thesame town . From it we learn they were prev iously in the

possess ion of Roger de Goswyc . Land in Kirk Lamberton wasmade over to him by Wi lliam called Brune Of the Borough Muir .Adam de Lamberton gave “ my whole land o f Lamberton inmeadows and pastures to Gelfrio de Hessurle .

Little is left to remind one of Lamberton’s h istory . A grave

1 Paper in th e second vo lum e Of Leland 's Co l lectanea , ent it led ,

Th e Fyancel les Of Margaret ,eldest daugh ter Of K ing Henry V I I ,

to James , K ing Of Sco t land ; togeth er with h er departure fromEngland , journey into Sco t land ,

h er rec ep tion and marriage th ere ,and th e reat feast s h eld on that account . Wr itten by JohnYounge , omerset Herald ,

wh o attended th e Pr incess on h er

journey .

I o TOLL WEDDING S CHAP .

yard and some fragments of ru in are scarcely enough to distractattention from the moor and the sea .

Lamberton was notorious in the early half of the nineteenthcentury for the uproarious race meetings held on the moor andthe Border marrIages celebrated at the to ll bar . Both werevigorously condemned by the righteous

,though there are

unregenerates who still cherish memories of the former andphi losophers who condone the latter . “ A Toll wedd ing is

Coldstr eam B ri dge.

better than none,said a comfortable-looking village woman

to the writer ;‘ they j ust used to gan thegither in m y young

days and if after they went sundry nobody cared .

” She wasa village pagan who did not greatly believe In the niceness andfancy Of the generation growmg up beside her !Lamberton and Coldstream Bridge were not gilded with the

same air of romance as Gretna . At one period writers of novelswere never tired of making the handsome young ensign run off

to the Cumberland Border wi th the rich heiress , pursued , as .

often as not,by the irate father in his chariot . Very few

u G INGER BEER AND MARRIAGES 17

adventures of this kind are staged at Lamberton . But in theearly half of the last century it was not uncommon for th eNorthumbrian yokel

,who sti ll i s very secretive about h is love

affairs, to steal out at one end of the village while h is nymphtook the opposite direction

,the two meeting at an appointed

place,whence they trudged together to the toll . At Coldstream

the priest was usually a blacksmith . His shop and shoeing forgecontinued to be used as a smithy up to a very recent date . AtLamberton Toll the ritual was performed by men of variou soccupations . In the Proceedings of the Berwickshire Natural ists

’

Club for 1857 the advert isement of one Of them is printed andruns as follows

BORDER MARRIAGES

ANDREW LYON

Begs respectfully to intimate that he can be found athis residence Coxon

’

s Lane adj oining WalkenWalker! Gate any time his services may be required

by any person vis it ing the Hymeneal Shrine on theScottish Border

I t was the simplest of ceremonies . Legal marriage inScotland did not require more than a simpl e declaration on thepart of the man and woman . Andrew Lyon’s HymenealAl tar led to many irregularities

,yet some regarded its

abolition as a mistake,because couples might ha’ done waur

Marriage was marriage,even when performed by a barber on

the open moorland . An irregular kind of register was keptand is still in existence

,although its interest diminishes as the

actors die and are forgotten .

A j eweller who i s now in a large way of business in anotherpart Of the county told the present writer that he served histime in Berwick-oh -Tweed and is , indeed , a freeman . Herecollected that on market days and hol idays the firm for whichhe worked would sell from twelve to eighteen wedding rings ina morning for use at Lamberton Toll . He also remembered thefamous notice stuck in the window of the toll-house Gingerbeer sold here and marriages performed l

Ber wick f rom the Pier .

CHAPTER I II

HAL IDON HILL

From Lamberton to Hal idon Hill— Th e loveliest c liff-walk inth e countV—Th e Batt le .

FROM Lamberton the road goes its wide,spacious way towards

Berwick . The sea lies h idden beneath the high but flat fieldsbeyond the railway . At Marshall Meadows , a house in a clumpof trees

,a path may be made to the sea by following a hedge,

or,better still

,at the farm further on called Steps of Grace, a

l ittle burn glides through a gentle valley dotted with gorse bushes .A fence must be climbed , the railway crossed— all trespassingbut pleasant . In front the sea i s spread and over a strip of landare the cliff tops . Where a tiny stream has found its way apath drops down to the shore

,and on a green mound a deserted

salmon-fisher’s shiel looks to the beach and the sea .

The burn falls over the steep bank behind , and down its coursemeadowsweet and herb willow in high summer decorate thes lope . But when May flings i ts sweets , the primroses thick asstars lighten the banks and the violet too

,for this bay i s

Sheltered from the north . In June the sea pinks clothe the sward18

CH . I I I A F INE SEA WALK 19

where i t runs down to the rocks,and through a deep natural

harbour the green water rushes to steal up the golden slip ofsand . Far out are the brown sail s of the fishing-boats or thestreak of a steamer’s smoke . Only the seagulls fly over to feedbehind the plough on the uplands beyond . One always fanciesthat here the rock pigeon might murmur unmolested in cranniesl ike the grey pipi ts which chatter on the patch of sand below .

I t IS hardly possible to walk along the shore to Berwick , thoughthis can be done when the tide i s back

,but a coastguard’s

The Greenses , B er wick .

path on the brink of the cliffs makes to Berwick a finer sea walkthan can be had on any other part of the coast to Newcastle .Below are caves not very large

,but still sufficient to suggest

smugglers . When the tide comes in through narrow gulliesand straits i t has cut in the rocks

,and dashes with clamour and

fury into the caves , and hollow Splashings and gurgles of ris ingand withdrawing water ascend to the l istener on the green headof the cl iff

,there are some wonderful scenes . In one p lace

the sea has hollowed a deep chasm in the land and on either S idedark cliffs drop precipitously down into the turbulent water

,and

at high tide the inlet is full of the sound and fury of meetingwaves . I t is known as Maggie’s Leap or some similar name

,to

C 2

20 THE AFFA IR OF 1558 CHAP.

recal l where a girl in some black hour jumped . Then thereis the Needle’s Eye

,where the sea bursts through a slit In the

prominent cliff . At the “ Greenses”Harbour the cliffs Stop .

Greens,

”oflicials write

,but Greenses

,

”say the people . Abov e

are wide pastures that stretch to the Bell Tower,and curving with

emerald green the crumbling sandstone heights drop towardsBerwick Pier . At Greenses Harbour

,besides artificial bathing

places when the tide i s back,are beautful pools in the rocks

known to generations of schoolboys as the Poddlers and theNarrow Way . This is the way by the cliffs . I f the highway bepreferred it goes past a number of little farm-places . A shorttwo miles

,and rising to the right of the main road is seen the

long,upward road that leads past Conundrum

,a farm curiously

named,to the wide romantic View that unfolds from the top of

Halidon Hi l l . Here history was made . Before that fatedbattle Berwick was the greatest ' seaport of Scotland and itscommercial centre . Awel l-known writer says : Berwick-uponTweed

,the capital

,took rank with Ghent

,Rotterdam

,and the

other great cities of the Low Countri es,and was almost the rival

of London in mercanti le enterprise .

”The English indeed got

their revenge for Bannockburn,and

,except for a brief period,

never again did the Scots ho ld that fair and thriving town undertheir rule . Th e Scots Gate was closed to their hungry fingersand they hammered vainly on its i ron-studded doors . The

Scots,of course

,could still annoy until the Union . In 1558 the

French and Scottish soldiers at Eyemouth Fort fell on theBerwick garrison

,who were on Halidon Hil l protecting the towns

folk,who were mowing— far to the north of the town lie the

freemens meadows even to this day . The English were outof their armour to shoote

,boule

,coyte and exercise such lyke

games of pleasure,

”with the haymakers , no doubt, j oining in

happily . Under the hot sun from one ti ll four they skirmishedwith considerable loss on both sides .After the battle of Hal idon Hi ll, Berwick never again regainedthe prestige of her ancient name . Her fighting days passedaway with the stronger government of England seated withinh er grey walls .

Th e trumpet’s silver sound was still

Th e warder S ilent on th e hi l l .The formidable English bowm en soon to humble the pride o f

France at Cressy carri ed away the honours from the Border town .

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22 THE HERO IC SETONS CHAP .

on the Tweedmouth side . Here he declared would be hung oneof the hostages

,a son of Alexander de Seton

,a new warden of

the town , i f i t did not capitulate . The heroic Setons refused tosacrifice the town . A tradition says that Lady Seton relented

,

but that is not borne out by Andrew Wyntoun, who lived closeto the time, was related to the Setons , and wrote the well knownChronicle Of Scotland .

”

Wyntoun says that they had already lost two sons in thedefence, but did not shrink from sacrificing a third .

Th en sayd th e lady that sh e was youngAnd h er lord was young also

Of power t il l have bairns mair

And al low that th ey twa deid were thereYet of their bairn s som e l iving were .

From the Water Tower,part of whose strong walls the high

tide still washes,to which descend the broken flight of

'

steps nowcalled the Breakneck Stairs

,the Setons must have witnessed

every detail o f the heartrending scene . The knoll on which thegallows stood is sti ll called Hang a Dyke Neuk . The impressionthat this poignant tragedy made actually lasted for over 50 0years . Almost within living memory a skull was shown inTweedmouth reputed to be young Seton’s . This stern measureovercame the relatives of the other hostages . The Englishgave them fifteen days in which to surrender or give battlein the Open and demanded three more hostages . Sir WilliamKeith with a safe conduct galloped after the Scottish armyinvading Northumberland and overtook them at WaltonUnderwood . They found on reaching Berwick that the Englisharmy was arrayed on Hal idon Hi ll about one and a half milesabove the town . The Scots moved forward in four columns .Over the first floated the banner of John , Earl of Moray, and withhim two notable veteran knights

,John and Simon Fraser .

Sir James Stewart rode at the head . The Regent Douglascommanded the third

,supported by the Earl of Carrick . The

reserve,the fourth

,column was led by the Earl of Ross . I t was

July , when, even on that bleak coast, the richness Of summerdescends . From the height o f Halidon the English hosts hadon their right the s ilver winding Tweed , with the harbour at itsmouth full of shipping

,for Berwick was known then as the

Alexandria of the North . On the southern s ide the ris ing moorss tretched in the treeless solitude of that much-forayed land to

i n THE BATTLE OF HALIDON 23

the wide s ides of noble Cheviot . On the left was the shimmeringblue o f the sea

,calm in the brief Northern summer, and in front

the huddled towers and roofs o f Berwick that covered the suspense and suffering of the gallant townsfolk . On the flatNorthumbrian coast sat the bold rock of Holy Is land withits sacred edifice

,and still further south the faint outline of

Bamburgh . The Scots came forward to the foot of the hilland had to dismount . In front of them was marshy land

,and

above them the hill gleamed with the pennons and spearsof English chivalry and

,most terrible of all

,the

'

kneelingbowmen . The Scots sent their horses to the rear whilstthe English array watched them m otionless . A huge Scot

,

called Turnbull,accompanied by a fierce mastiff

,invited the

English to produce a champion . A Norfolk knight,Robert

B enhale,came forward . With one stroke he disabled the dog

and then sliced off one arm of Turnbull and finally slashed off hishead . I t was an evi l omen , and foreboding seized the Scots asthey saw how closely knit stood the foe above them on theadvantageous position

,the sun glinting on their serried spears .

The gallant Scots struggled through the marsh whilst into thempoured sheaves o f arrows . The ground was strewn with woundedand dying

,and over them their comrades advanced and superbly

drove with their long spears right into the thick formation of theEnglish ranks . The unarmoured Irish slaves or mercenaries ofthe English army were thrust down and trampled on in the bloodyclamour and the first rank s of the English were pushed backin disorder . Such was the onset o f the Scots delivered with therenowned dash and valour which stil l to-day make the k iltiesthe most dreaded opponents in a charge . Balliol and Darcy sawwith dismay the wavering ranks they commanded . With thedecision of desperation they rall ied the firmness of the troopsand hurried up the reserves and poured the unceasing

,deadly

shafts into the panting Scots who,hurling themse lves up the

steep,weighted with armour

,bathed in blood and sweat

,strove

to gain a footing on the level crown of Halidon . Shouting ,fighting, resist ing with unsurpassable bravery, they were rolleddown the hill . The flower of the knights were perishing

,fall ing

,

trodden on , cruelly smashed as thei r companions were thru stover them towards the marshy base . In despair they refusedto fly, strik ing down with wrath and vengeance their betterplaced foe . At last

,in total disorder

,they rushed to thei r

24 US ING IRON-SHOD MACES CH. in

horses . But the servitors in charge of them had fled . En

cumbered in mail,the Scots could make no headway . A fearful

,

s laughter followed . Edward,coming up from Berwick walls

,

which he had been attacking,followed the fugitives for five miles

with Darcy’s Irish troops and English bowmen . The chroniclerof Lanercost says : The English pursued them on horseback,felling the wretches as they fled in all directions with iron-shodmaces . The figures given of the slain are unreliable

,as the

English exaggerated and the Scots minimised their losses . As

was characteristi c of these Border battles the Scots lost a greatmany of their nobi lity

,among whom were six Earls

,Carrick ,

Ross,Athol

,Lennox

,Sutherland

,and Menteith . The Regent

Douglas also fell . It was a p iti ful slaughter . Unhappy Berwickopened its gates to Edward . Near to the field of battle an altarwas erected in a convent by the King

,dedicated to St . Margaret ,

and £20 a year was granted to the nuns that they should for everon the anniversary yield thanks to God .

A S k et'

c lz on th e Nor t/zumber la nd Coast.

B erwick , f r om Spitta l .

CHAPTER IV

BERWICK -ON-TWEED

BERWI CK-ON-TWEED i s the most romantic of the Northumbriantowns . Its history no less than its position entitles it to thatd istinction . It seems to have come into existence after theBattle of Carham and the cession of the Lothians to Scotlandthat would be early in the eleventh century . From that timeuntil the Battle of Halidon Hi l l i t was the scene of recurrentconfl icts between the English and the Scots

,remaining on the

who le a part of Scotland . Indeed i f it was not the greatesttown of that country it was at any rate the leading borough .

Its pos ition is as strik ing as its histo ry . Those who know itonly from the map think that it is low

,as it stands close to the

sea at the mouth o f the Tweed,but that part of the coast i s high

and rocky , and as a matter of fact Berwick-on-Tweed alwaysgives the feeling of height . I t is seen to greatest advantage bythe traveller approaching from the Etal road . There is a riseabout two or three m i les from the town from which a fine view

25

26 BERWICK ANOTHER ALEXANDRIA CHAI’.

may be obtained of the bay,the curving pier

,Spittal with its

sands on the south side of the river,and the town itself

,a mass

of red pantile roofs clustering round the town hall,an e igh

teenth century build ing standing where the old Red Hall ofthe Flemings used to stand . But looked at from the north itis sti l l more interesting . At the back of the spectator is thatsemi-moorland country which merges into the Lammermuirs

,

and far away to the south are the shadowy ranges of Cheviot,

blue and dreamy in the d istance . At the foot of Berwick,so to

speak,and reached by a precipitous descent

,i s the Tweed

,and

when the tide 15 back flowing as s i lvery as it does at Melrose orColdstream . Thomas Hodgkin

,the h istorian

,who lived at

Bamburgh before he went to Barmoor,once drew attention to

a kind of duplication of everything in Berwick . It is a walledtown and it has two sets of walls , one Edwardian and the otherElizabethan . I t has two bridges

,a fine

,tall

,many-arched

railway bridge which comes with a splendid sweep over fromTweedmouth to the place where the castle once stood . Indeedalmost the whole of the ancient masonry was removed in orderto bui ld the station . The other is the famous Border Bridge

,

built at the instance of King James,who seems to have had

some difficulty with the old structure on his march south totake possess ion of the English Crown . It is a quaint and beauti ful bridge pass ing over the river about a quarter of a milebelow the railway bridge . It is narrow

,with curious little

refuges at the arches,where i f a passenger did not seek safety he

would be in danger of being jammed whenever two carts met,

so narrow is the roadwayAccording to the Lanercost Chronicler Berwick was in the

thirteenth century so populous and of such trade that it mightjustly be called another Alexandria

,whose riches was the sea

,

and the water its walls .” But I think the best description of i tin its ancient glory is to be found in the poem attributed to

Dunbar , called The Freiris of B erwik . Critics are agreed thatwhether this be Dunbar or not i t cannot be later than thefourteenth century .

As it befell , and hapnit into deidUpon ane rever th e q uh ilk I S cal ht Tweid ,

At Tweidis mouth thair standis ane noble toun ,

Qubair mony Iordis h es bene of grit renowme ,

And mony wourthy lade is fair o f fac e ,And m ony ane fresche lusty gal land was :

IV FOURTEENTH CENTURY DESCRIPTION 27

Into this toun , th e q uh ilk is call it B er wik

Apon th e se thair standis nane it lyk .

For it is wal lit weil l about with stane ,And dowbil l stank is cassin mony ane

And syn th e castel l is so strang and wich t ,

With stai telie touris , and turatis h e on hi ch tWith k irnal is c losit most c raftelie o f all ,Th e portcul is most subtil lie to fal l ,That q uh en thay l ist to draw tham vp on hi cht ,That it may be into na mannis m ich t ,To win that hons by c raft or sub til tie .

Thairto is it mo st fair alluterlieOnto my sich t , q uhairevir I haue be in ,

Most fair , most gudl ie , and al lth er best beseh eTh e toun , th e wal l , th e caste ! , and th e landTh e val ayis grein vp on th e toth er handTh e grit croc e kirk , and e ik th e Mason Dew .

Th e freiris of Jacobinis q uhyt o f h ew ,

Th e Carm el ites , Augustins , Minors e ik ,

Th e four ordouris of freiris war noch t to seikThay war al l in th is wourthy toun duel l ing.

In Spite of Berwick’s antiqu ity there are,practically speak ing,

no old houses in the town . The ancient dwellings have beendestroyed in the long success1on of battles that have taken place .The bridge— as we have said —dates from the reign of James I .

On his process ion southward no doubt the dignitaries of Berwickwho welcomed him with pomp and enthusiasm took care thathe should thoroughly understand the deficiencies of the bridgethen standing . One cannot but wish , by-the-bye

,that some

successor of the Somerset Herald had accompanied James andwritten an equally picturesque account . The Narration ofthe Progresse and Entertainment of the King’s most excellentMajestie, with the Occurrents happening in the same Journeywas obvious ly written by a courtier and a flatterer . . It i s verycertain that the wisest fool in Christendom ” said and didmany odd things in the course of this pilgrimage

,especially

as his hopes and vanity were equally inflated by it,but i f so

the recorder took care not to set them down . All that is interesting about his stay at Berwick is the description of the companywho attended or met him . Everywhere the Lords Wardensof the border of England and Scotland received him

,attended

by the Lord Governour of Barwick with all the Counsel !of Warre ,

” the Constables with the ir Cornets of horse,and

divers of the Captaines, the Band of Gentlemen Pensioners ,with divers Gentlemen

,

”and when he came near the gate in

28 VISIT OF GENTLE KING JAMIE CHAP.

the c learnes of wh ich faire time issued out of the Towne Mr .

William Selbie,Gentleman Porter of Barwick

,with divers

Gentlemen of good repute .

” Before that the guns had roaredout a welcome

,and this the chronicler describes with great zest

for from the mouths of dreadfull engins not long before fullfed by moderate artesmen that knew how to stop and emptie

the brasse and iron panches of those roring noises came such atempest

,as deathfull

,and

sometimes more dreadfullthan thunder

,that all

the ground thereabouttrembled as in anearthquake

,the houses .

and towers staggering,

wrapping the wholeTowne in a mantle ofsmoake

,wherein the same

was awhile hid from thesight of its RoyallOwner .” He venturesthe opinion

,or rather

he says he heard itcredibly reported

,

” thata better peale of ord inance was never in anysouldiers memorie (andthere are some olde KingHarrie’s lads in Barwick

,

I can tell you)dischargedin that place .

”

For centuries BerwickA Bfl uay ,

Em u“ ,has had no suburbs oroutlying districts . The

tradition that safety lay within its walls has long surviveda strange an

‘

achronism handed down from the miseries of Borderwarfare ! Even yet the children play the game of Scotchand English in fierce realism . One consequence of the congestion of the town within its stone boundaries is the scarcityof gardens

,the only gardens being attached to the houses within

the vicinity of the Walls where grassy spaces still invite thewasherwoman to dry her l inen in the strong air from the sea .

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30 A VISION OF THE PAST CHAP .

gotten inhabitants of this crowded town passionate with raceantipathy . Suddenly the houses break

,and in the gap the setting

H ouse in Eastern L ane, B er wick .

sun illumines the upper stories in the Sallyport , and below a seafaring man lurches over the cobbles towards the dark entry to

THE SALLYPORT 3 1

the quaycwith the peculiar swav of the fishermen .

.

I t is only afleeting impression

,but gathenng twi light and so litary figure

T/ze S a l lypor t, B er wick .

and the dark passage receiving it conjure up some of the unknowntragedies enacted beneath these forbidding walls .

32' QUAY , OLD BRIDGE , AND GATES CHAP

Not far from the entrance to the Sallyport in Bridge Streetthere used to be a very o ld hostelry which had some fine carvedwood , a haunt once of the sailors who used to frequent Berwickwhen there was a larger sea trade . The quay in summer isbusy

.

with the herring boats—S ilver Queen, Two B rothers, theM ertenne

, etc .

, but the white fishing has declined owing to thetrawlers . Close against the quay, rising very gradually and

strongly,the old Bridge

,the pride of Berwick

,Spans the Tweed

,

and the masts of the fishing boats seem to overtop it .The unsubdued past of Berwick speaks in its enduring gates .

The nail-studded oak , tife massive keys , the archways’ gloomy

strength,are no uncertain tribute to the marauding Scots and

Border hate .

On a summer day, to pass from the glittering Parade , flankedby its handsome barracks

,and the shadowless wall of the old

churchyard where no citizen is buried now,beneath the Cowgate

is to find a strange coolness,a li feless quietness . The sun

ceases for a minute,the past claims its due

,the spear of the

1v MAGDALENE FIELDS 33

shadowy warder drops some antique salute,and the distant

voice of the s ergeant dri lling his awkward Scottish Borderers,

IS but the echo of the Captain of the Guard three hundred years

Tlze Cowga l e, B en vz'

ck .

ago . We pass beneath the sh adow, and before us lies the sunbathed buttercup meadows of the Magdalene Fields (where stoodthe Hospital of St . Mary), and on the rim of the sky the quiveringblue

,the unforgettable blue of June on the North Sea . Another

D

34 NESS GATE AND NESS STREET CHAP .

sea gate,the Ness Gate

,frames a picture as sudden

,but with the

noble pier and lighthouse dividing river and sea . The NessStreet is a narrow grey thoroughfare where even in high summerthe air is keen . It has some entries where lurk attractive cottages that receive the sun denied to the street . At the end isan entrance to the Walls

,where one day in the year a sentry

stands forbidding entrance,thus preserving the rights of the

War Office . Just in front is the dark archway,not so wide as

the Cowgate,sandy Spittal Point straight beyond

,with the

I'Va l l s of B erwick ,low tide , s limui/zg storm a

’r um .

restless Bar narrowed by the long line of the pier,and the light

house,a strong tower often in winter white with the spray of the

terrib le storms which sweep down the coast . The pier is a greatpromenade

,and owing to the changeful character of the sea and

river mouth it never becomes monotonous .The encircling Walls also provide a unique walk . Cannonstil l stand on Meg’s Mount

,and there used to be cannon placed

against the loopholes opposite the Carr Rock where the stormdrum hangs . From the top of the Scots Gate we look down on

the busy High Street,and from the he ights above

,on the river and

its two bridges,Tweedmouth and Spittal

,and the sea beyond .

IV THE PARISH CHURCH 35

But the whole area of theWalls is de lightful , w1th sea and town .

The fortifications , grass-grown now,have been the playground

of generations of children .

It is a walk almost devoid of trees but always bracmgw1th theclean salt air . Only in one hollow is a me lancholy grove of treesthat rustle continually above the families who once walked the

B emw’

ek f rom t/ze S cots Gate.

pavements of the old town and now surround the parish church .

The trees grow so thickly beneath the shadow of the fortificationsthat gloom invades the wanderer who meditates there . The eyecannot pierce the sighing leafage

,but li ttle imagination is needed

to see the grassy mounds and mossed headstones of citizens andfreemen of Berwick . The church was bui lt during the Protectorate

,and on the same spot David Bruce was married to

Joan,sister of Edward II . She

,poor thing

,was called Make

D 2

36’

I IIE ETYMOLOGY OF STANKS AND DOVER” CHAP .

Peace,a bone flung amid st the emb ittered rivalry of the two

nations . John Knox preached for two years in the church nowstanding

,and later in the s ixteenth century James Me lville

,who

in exile wrote his famous diary .

Not far from this point in the Walls l ie,on the outs ide of them

,

against the Magdalene Fields, the grounds called the Stanks,

”

used for skating in winter . As B erwickers use many perversionsof speech

,outs iders have supposed that the word was tanks

with a superfluous But it i s probab le that “ stanks”isderived from the Gael ic stong, a ditch with stagnant water . We

know water ditch es surrounded the walls . Another word of per

plex ing e tymology whose use has aroused the curiosity of vis itorsis Dover

,

” the water in which salmon is boiled and which isalways served in Berwick with the fish . It is poss ibly from theold Celtic word which would be pronounced dovor, from which isderived the modern Welsh word dwr (pronounced door), water .This derivation poss ibly links us to the remote times in whichthe luxury of sauces was introduced .

At the north end of the town,stretching towards the Magdalene

Fields,parallel with the rums and ditch of the Edwardian wall

and the Bell Tower,l ie the fishermen

’

s quarters,known as Low

and High Greenses. Here generations of a stalwart race ofBurgons, Manuels , Buglasses, Pattersons , Jamiesons , etc .

,

pursue the hereditary calling of toilers of the deep . They arenot so numerous now

,as since the advent of trawlers the l ine

fi shermen have not pro spered notwithstanding a benevolentGovernment’s assistance . The young men

,i t is to be feared

,in

creasingly seek land occupations , though happi ly the navy foundmany recruits from their ranks

,for the sea is in their blood .

The comfortable are apt to talk of the laziness of fishermenwhen they hang about the sti le at the Fields watching for s ignsof the weather and discuss ing its endless vagaries . The townsman sees perhaps the sun shining

,or a sweet grey gleaming sky

arching the wide meadows to the edge of the circl e that touchesthe distant moving water gi rdling the Fields . He thinks ashe takes his easy constitutional or proceeds to his quiet offi ceor shop that the fisherman is neglecting h is duty of riding thewaves and procuring his breakfast fish . He may not reflectthat the baccy-chewing

,spitting

,j erseyed figure may have put

out at 4 am . and had to return owing to heavy seas . Perhapshe may have got only a few fish in the clinging damp or biting

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HOO DEAR’S IT ? C I IAP.

old Eppie,a Spittal wife who used to protest volubly with many

an “ eh,hinny‘

,it’s dirt cheap

,

”as she smacked the scaly codlingor haddie on the sl ippery board . But never for an instant didshe expect or perhaps desire that her original price should not

A t the end (y’

t/‘

ze Gr eenses.

be well beaten down by the wary customer who usually prefacedher haggling interview with the belligerent inquiry Hoo dear’sitScratch a Russian and find a Tartar

,and a fisherman of

board schools is kith and kin to a remote ancestry who readthe stars and feared the supernatural in every form ,

and found

I V SEA SUPERSTITIONS 39

it in detai ls of li fe so trivial that it is imposs ible to work outthe origin of their superstitions . Yet a di ligent student mightperhaps find out here and there some reason behind their blinddread . A typi cal example is that of a fisherman who traced astring of mis fortune s to meeting a woman going boatward inthe morning . As a first mishap he will tell you he slippedgoing down the cobbled way and his lines got tangled . Afterinfinite trouble this would be rectified

,but getting into the boat

he would twist his leg,then an oar would ClI‘Op overboard , the

wind would rise and the sai l refuse to be adjusted . Then at seahe cast his l ine but it got fastened to another man’s or caughtby a trawler or among the rocks

,and after los ing a good part

of i t the remainder was pulled up to exhib i t as his catch a fewstarfish . He may cast it again

,but the result is only what

he expected— nil . D i sheartened,he thinks he will go and pull

up his crab pot which was set a few days ago . He finds themark of its whereabouts gone and cannot trace it anywhere .

Finally,after having cut his fingers somehow and be ing knocked

over by the mast and sworn at by his mates,he gets to harbour

through a heavy sea,having just escaped with his li fe . One

l istens to all this ci rcumstantial tale,which cannot be told in

less than an hour,with many references to the signs in the sky

,

and the boats that were passed,and the wisdom with which his

mates foretold disaster,and wonders at the chi ldlike credulity

from a man who i s full of natural wit and shrewdness .

CHAPTER V

NORHAM

From Berwick to Norham—Hornc l iffe G len —Th e Castle—Origin of! Robin Adair -Mons Meg at No rham— Will iam Marm ion ’s

adventure .

NORHAM i s eas ily reached by train from Berwick,but the

walker or cyclist will get a finer impress ion of the country oneither s ide of the Tweed as i t widens out towards Spittal . I tis not easy to follow the river

,as there is no continuous path .

About two miles above Berwick on the north side the Wh itadder,

a lovely Berwickshire stream falls into the Tweed and can onlybe crossed by following its banks to Canties Bridge , which issti ll wi thin Berwick bounds . But the Bounds road is passedbefore reaching Paxton . The village of Paxton lies to theright and the road goes past the pol icies of Paxton House .I f instead of keeping to the road the pedestrian about onemi le from Canties Bridge tak es any of the field gates thatlead to the river

,he will walk to the Chain Bridge where the

Tweed,s i lver and gracious

,flows past Paxton Woods . A

path skirts the edge of the river along the grounds of PaxtonHouse . On the opposite side are green haughs

,and

,beyond

,

the ris ing farm lands . Here Charles I had a large camp on hisway to Scotland to meet the Covenanters . The pleasantest wayto reach the Chain Bridge from Berwick is by boat

,which can be

hired at Berwick . The idea is to go up with the tide and afterpicnicking

,return with its ebb . Above the bridge

,high on a cliff

can be seen the roofs of the pretty village of Horncliffe— sti ll bythe rustic called Horck ley as it u sed to be written— and about aquar ter of a mile beyond it

,where the Mill waters run into the

Tweed , one of the loveliest glens in this part of the world,40

on v .HORNCLIFFE MILL 4 1

Horncliffe Glen is noted on the Borders . I t is a deep ravine ,woods on one s ide where the primroses in spring are wonderful ,bracken and Whin on the other . A path runs up the burnside ,and as there is no particular obj ect in visiting Hornclif

’

fe ,unless to see the low thatched cottage that i s said to havesheltered Cromwell when the army crossed the Tweed , the visitorcan e ither follow the stream that way or take the path on theprecipitous bank above and thus reach Horncliffe Mill . There

Afar/mm .

i s no more exquis ite scene in North Northumberland . The

moss-grown mil !,with a quaint vane and an outs ide stone

stair,stands under an overhanging sandstone cliff

,the water

babbling at its base,ferns peeping from every crevice . The

complete seclusion,the protection of the high banks which

allow ferns and many a flower not usually found in the ne ighbourhood to adorn the rocky sides of the stream here , suggestDevonshire’s mild and humid air . By clambering across thestream behind the mill a path will be found right through thewoods for possibly two miles , when it emerges on the Norham

42 PAXTON AND “ ROBIN ADA IR” C l lAP.

Road . No vis itor to Berwick would,seeing the scarcity of

woodland in its neighbourhood,guess the existence of such a

love ly, wild , remote glen in which the March sun always feel sl ike May

,so perfectly has nature sheltered it . Keeping to the

right on emerging on the Norham Road,which is reached either

by a stile or a fence,the traveller finds himsel f on a pleasant

highway which leads from farm to farm til l suddenly,after

pass ing the park wall of Morris Hall on the left,he sees the

bare grey ruined keep of the famous Castle over ninety feethigh and the strong remains of the outlying curtain walls .

Be fore giving a slight sketch of Norham ’

s histori c past i twil l be as well to describe the route which the cyclist whodid not strike off the main road beyond Canties Bridge to theTweed would take . The road lined with trees passes a fewsteps from Paxton village . The song of Robin Adair

,

”withits haunting regret, Sprang from a rude bal lad written in Paxtonearly in the eighteenth century, of which one verse runs

Pax ton ’

s a fine snug p l ace , Robin Adair ,

I t’

s a wondrous c outh ie p lac e , Robin AdairLet W h itadder rin a spat eOr th e wind blow at ony rate ,

Yet I ’

l l m eet th ee on th e gait , Robin Adair .

The concert room for generations has made us familiar withthe refined pathos of the later vers ion :

What ’s th is dul l town to m e ? Robin ’s not near .

What was ’t I wish ed to see , what wish ed to h earWh ere ’s al l th e joy and m irth

Made th is town h eaven on earthO th ey

’

re al l fled with th ee , Robin Adair .

Some of us prefer the homelier but not less tender words ofthe original .Whatever words are sung to it

,the anci ent air so simple in

construction,so full of power and pathos

,

”is a gem of purestbeauty .

The local saying that Paxton was famous for Drunken oldwives and salmon sae fine

,

”evidently originated in the mindof some misbegotten knave who lived on the other s ide of theTweed . Paxton belonged to the Paxtons of that Ilk who wereamong the unfortunate Borderers who in early times heldland in both kingdoms and experienced the usual difli culty of

A KIRK TO OUR LADY 43

serving two masters . The Paxtons were forfe ited both byEnglish and Scottish Kings . Paxton was burnt by the Dukeof Gloucester in 1482 and by the Duke of Norfolk, who laidthe neighbourhood waste in 1540 . At the Union the Paxtonsonly had a few acres le ft . Sir Joseph Paxton

,who built the

Crystal Palace,came of that stock . Paxton House li es to the

left,the policies bordering the road . It was built by the Adams

in 17 7 7 for Ninian Home , who bought the estate .

A very pleasant road continues to Hom dean,a tiny vi llage

,

and thence , studying the fing er-posts,to another hamlet famous

for its small church,Ladykirk

,once called Upsettlington .

Be fore its name was changed one sunny day in Augu st , 1497 ,James IV sat playing cards in the shade with the SpanishAmbassador . The s ix horses who were drawing Mons Meg tosubdue Norem were doubtless t ired and

,l ike their masters .

glad to rest in the cool air above Tweed ’s serene flood . I twas through James that the modern name of Ladykirk arose .

The story is that James IV ,returning from a raid into England

in those days when Flodden was sti l l unfought,found

just above Norham that the river had risen at the ford .

He made a vow that,i f h e and his men got safe ly over

,on

the high bank on the north s ide he would build a Kirk to OurLady which fire would not burn nor water destroy . Thus rosethe grey stone chapel roofed and seated with stone on the precipice overlooking Norham . It is modernised now with woodenseats

,but by its walls we seem stil l to hear beyond the murmuring

Tweed the shouts of horsemen and the rattle of harness and swordas the weary steeds and heated driven men scramble up thesteep s ides of Tweed ’s north bank . It was home to them

,even

as to this day it is north country to the English wayfarer who,

coming from the pleasant burr of the Norham villager,meets on

the Ladykirk Road the broad accent of the Scottish hind .

The l ittle graveyard of Ladykirk has , or had , s ixteenth centurystones with cross-bones and skulls sti ll spe ll ing out their hieroglyphic comment on the final destiny of k ings and churchbuilders and knights and rustic man and maid . The church isbuilt of pol ished freestone in the form of a Latin cross and isGothic with the exception of the steeple

,added two hundred and

forty years after the original building . The roof is very noticeable

,being covered with wrought ashlars j ointed and overlapped

so that the rain is carried off as i f the roof were in one p iece.

CROSSING TIIE TWEED TO NORHAM CHAP .

The walls have bullet marks . Ladykirk was one of the lastpre R— eformation churches erected in Scotland .

To approach Norham (North Town,on account of its

pos ition) from the Scottish s ide is far more arresting to theimagination than reaching i t from the Berwick Road or fromthe railway road

,the only other two entrances . From

Ladykirk bank the high road between woods descends to

L adyk ir k C11u r elz .

Norham bridge . In autumn it is singularly beauti ful to look onthe coloured trees down the slope below which rolls the Tweedwith leaves dancing on the flood of brown waters . Beyond

,

the sunshine lingers in the long neutral t inted village that seemsto lead right up to the woods around the grey castle . The

ancient church of Norham is hidden away to the right not farfrom the banks of the river . Here on the English s ide Tweed runs

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46 FROM “ THE SCALACRONICA” CHAI‘.

person), there was a Saxon church built by Bishop Ecgred about830 in which was buried saintly King Ceolwulf, his shrine beingtransferred from Lindis farne by the Bishop who dedicatedthe church to St . Ceolwulf

,St . Cuthbert and St . Peter . Bede

dedicated his History to Ceolwulf the Most Glorious .

”

The present building was contemporary with the Castle,

and is supposed to have been built by Flambard . Edward I .

met in the church the Scottish nobles at the famous arb itration when the claims of John Balliol were discussed . Inthe reign of the Conqueror Earl GOSpatric was buried in thechurch porch . Built up into a pi llar in the churchyard are anumber of stones dug out from the foundations of the Saxonchurch

,and in the Opinion of D r . Raine they are of the same date

as the cross at Bewcastle . They are ornamented in beautifulninth century style . One of them has an inscription P . Anz

’

wa

zElfa, meaning, probably, Pray for the soul of ZElfa. Fromthe churchyard a short, narrow path runs between hedges tothe river

,and turning to the right a beautiful View of the Castle

is in sight . Valiant, i t looked forth in its youth , fresh and fearfulfrom the masons’ final touches

,with watchful eye on the

menacing north . TO-day its brave age has seen from north bankand south bank men who have marched past its walls to die fora higher cause than Border feuds . Would the NorthumberlandFusiliers have fought as wel l in France and Flanders i f theirancestors had not listened often for days to the tramp of hostsand Opposing cries

,or the clatter of late forayers returning at

nightThe famous epi sode of Sir William Marm ion’s vis it to Norhamis fully related by Thomas Grey in The Scalacronica.

”The

Thomas Grey mentioned in the story was his father . It will beremembered that the author when himself Captain of Norhamwas captured and taken to Edinburgh Castle

,where he wrote his

book . The following is his spirited history of Marmion’sadventureAt which time at a gr eat feast of lords and ladies in the

county of Lincoln a young page brought a war helmet, with agilt crest on the same

,to William Marmion

,Knight

,with a letter

from his lady-love commanding him to go to the most dangerousplace in Great Britain and there cause this helmet to be famous .

Thereupon it was decided by the knights present that he shouldgo to Norham as the most dangerous and adventurous place in

v HOW SIR WILLIAM MARMION FAMED H IS HELM 47

the country . The said William betook himsel f to Norham,

where,within four days of his arrival

,Sir Alexander de Mowbray

,

brother of Sir Philip de Mowbray,at that time Governor of

Berwick,came before the Castle of Norham with the most

spirited chivalry of the Marches of Scotland and drew up be forethe Castle at the hour of noon with more than eight score menat-arms . The alarm was given in the Castle as they were s ittingdown to dinner . Thomas de Grey

,the cons table

,went with his

garrison to his barriers,saw the enemy near drawn up in order of

battle,looked behind him

,and beheld the said knight

,William

Marmion,approaching on foot

,all gl ittering with gold and s i lver

,

marvellous finely attired,with the helmet on h is head . The said

Thomas,having been well informed of the reason for his coming

to Norham,cried aloud to him : Sir Knight

,you have come

as knight errant to make that helmet famous,and i t is more

meet that deeds of chivalry be done on horseback than afoot,

when that can be managed conveniently . Mount your horse :there are your enemies set spurs and charge into their midst .May I deny my God i f I do not rescue your person

,alive or

dead,or perish in the attempt

The knight mounted a beautiful charger,spurred forward

,

and charged into the midst of the enemy,who struck him down

,

wounded him in the face,and dragged him out o f the saddle to

the ground .

“ At this moment,up came the said Thomas with all his

garrison,with levelled lances

,which they drove into the bowels of

the horses so that they threw their riders . They repulsed themounted enemy

,raised the fallen knight

,remounting him upon

his own horse,put the enemy to flight

,of whom some were left

dead in the first encounter,and captured fifty valuable horses .

The women of the Castle then brought out horses to their men,

who mounted and gave chase,slaying those whom they could

overtake . Thomas de Grey caused to be ki lled in the YairFord a Fleming named Crym

,a sea captain

,a pirate

,who was

a great partisan of Robert de Brus . The others who escapedwere pursued to the nunnery of Berwick .

”

Norham Castle,built in 1 122 by Flambard , Prince Bishop of

Durham,that upstart

,pushing

,mediaeval ecclesiastic

,full of

craft and wile,

”was the most important fortress on theBorders and the scene of not only great exploits but greatmee tings between the rival countries

, and many times i t changed

48 NORHAM CASTLE CHAI’.

hands . King John me t Wi lliam the Lion here to make one ofthe many treaties intended to secure peace on the Borders.

The latter’s son , Alexander I I , stayed here ; Edward I met theScots camped at Upsettlington, on Holywe ll Haugh , a meadowfacing the Castle on the oppos ite s ide

,and discussed the ir d iffer

ences,and the result was his selection of the i ll-fated John Balliol

as King of Scotland,who swore fealty to Edward in the Castle .

After that the story of s ieges and surprises goes on withoutceas ing . One unfortunate sovereign who tried to secure it wasHenry VI

,and Queen Margaret after the battle of Hexham .

James IVbrought th e famous cannon Mons Meg(so called becausemade at the Mons renowned now as the point from which theContemptibles made the ir immortal retreat

,and as the

spot where the Great War ended with the defeat of Germany)from Edinburgh for the attack

,and there are still preserved near

the Castle some of the missiles discharged from it . When Jamesmade his last sally from Scotland on his way to Flodden

,Norham

held out for five days . The Scots’ last attempt to secure it wasin 1530 , and after that , the power of Norham gradually decliningwith the union of the kingdoms

,i t fell into decay . In Camden’s

time the Castle had “ an outer wall of great compass with manyl ittle towers in the angle next the river

,and within

,another

circular tower much stronger,in the centre whereof rises a loftier

tower .” The complete decay of the Castle now is due to theundermining of the river .It stands on an almost perpendicular bank rising above the

Tweed,and i s protected like so many Northumbrian strongholds

on one side by a precipitous climb from a ravine where a threadof water runs into Tweed . The stranger entering through thecurtain wall that skirts the road by an ancient archway seesoutlined against a half circle of trees the bare walls of the keepseated on a cons iderable mound . The grass runs up to it overmasonryand ditch , banks and hollows all green now above thestrength and splendour which Scott’s romantic eye saw soplainly . Perhaps he only saw it once in his unforgetting fashionwhen autumn had painted the encircl ing trees and the redOctober sunset was staining the broad bosom of his belovedTweed . As a recent writer 1 says of his description

,the close

succession of minute touches neither oppresses us nor distractsus in our enj oyment of the complete effect .”

1 Scottish Literature , by G . Gregory Sm ith . Macmi l lan .

WHAT SCOTT SAW IN THE RUINS

Day set on Norham ’

s cast led steepAnd Tweed ’s fair river

,broad and deep

And Ch eviot ’s mountains loneTh e battled towers , th e donj on Keep ,

Th e loop -h o l e grates wh ere cap tives weep ,

Th e flanking wal l s that round it sweepIn yel low lust re sh one .

Th e warriors on th e turre ts h igh ,

Moving athwart th e evening sk y,

Seem’

d form s of giant h eigh tTh eir armour as it caugh t th e rays ,Flash

’

d back against th e western blaz eIn l ines o f daz z l ing l igh t .

0

S t . George’s banner , broad and gay

Now faded, as th e fading ray

Less brigh t , and less , was flungTh e evening gale had scarce th e powerTo wave it on th e donjon towerSo h eavily it hung.

A Ck ev z’

ot S tr eam .

CHAPTER VI

THE BATTLEFIELD OF FLODDEN

THE FORD

So that th e N igh t Watch o f R

dyddysdail l shal l jo inth e Nigh t

Watch of Tyndail l at th e S toneyfor

LEG Es MARCHIARUM .

FIRST WATCHMAN .

O watch er at th e ford, your stream s run low,

D id any r ider c ro ss D id any go

Your way beneath th e m oo n

SECOND VVATCHMAN.

Th e m oon is young I saw th e c resc ent stoopTil l im aged in th e poo l h er silver loo pNO m ore . S h e set too soon .

FI RST VVATCHMAN.

O watch er ,h eard y ou at th e strait no sound

Of feet that stumbled on th e stony ground ,

Wh ere one m igh t take th e h il l

SECOND W'ATCH MAN .

I h eard th e water wash among th e weeds ,A h unt ing o tter rust led in th e reeds

,

Naugh t e lse . Th e nigh t was st il l .

FI RST WATCHMAN .

Th e nigh t was st il l , I rode beside th e streamHeard you no c ry I saw a lanth orn gleam ,

For what search ed you th e wood P

SECOND WATCHMAN .

Th ere sc ream ed som e verm in tangled in a snare,I t was a thieving fox th at I found th ere ,And flung h im to th e flood .

50

CH . v 1 THE WELL OF SYBIL GREY 51

FI RST WATCHMAN .

O watch er ,wh ere you m arked th e dr iftwoo d r ide

Th e flood— saw you naugh t el se go down th e t ideAt dawn th e spate rose h igh .

SECOND WATCHMAN .

Above thi s ford you know th e h augh s are gr een ,

And m any catt le graz e . I may h ave seenA foundered steer go by .

MARNA PEAS E .

FLODDEN FIELD was the greatest battle fought in Northumberland . But it i s one of the Old unhappy far-off th ings overthe detai ls o f which there is endless discussion. There was noFroissart In 1513 to describe the battle and the deeds of heroes ,and desperate men fighting for life know only what happens tothemselves . Stil l the main facts are well establ ished

,and to

piece together a coherent picture of the battle adds to thefascination of a fine Border landscape . Glendale is an angler’sParadise

,and the disciple of Father Izaak

,i f he puts a few books

about Flodden into his bag,will even i f alone enj oy his Pastime

with Good Company . First place should be given to Marmion,

the best battle piece out of Homer . Sir Walter with sure instinctseized upon the salient facts

,and his account is as true as an

imaginative picture need be . A curious effect of h is poem wasto cast a new glamour over the name Sybi l , and that by meansof an inexacti tude . A very lovely inexactitude When Clare

,

a ministering angel to the dying Marmion , in answer to hisagonised cry for water

,took h is casque and

stOOp’

d h er by th e runnel ’s side,

B ut in abhorrenc e backward drewFo r

,oo z ing from th e m ountain ’s side

Wh ere raged th e war , a dark red-tideWas curdl ing in th e stream let blue ,

her eyes caught sight of a little fountain cell where water,

clear as diamond—spark,in a stone basin fell . As long as I

can remember it was a delight to croon over the legend printedIn old English letters in the editions of Marmion

EBtink imam pilgrim. Iitt'

nk .anu ptap .

f oa tba kmu suul ef . 5: 9b1LQBtep .

w an built this . cross anti lnel l .

E 2

52 A LADY’S SCRUPLE CHAP .

For long this well was identified with a l ittle spring on FloddenHi ll

,and Louisa

,Marchioness of Waterford . about the time when

she planted the strip of conifers stretching from the hill downto the Wooler road

,erected a little fountain for vis itors

,who

could drive in a straight line from Ford Castle to Flodden.

At the well they might drink cold water and meditate the scene .

But she was a very Protestant lady who did not believe in pravers

Ford Cast l e , Nor th um ber land.

for the dead and therefore substituted an invitation to rest forthe second line

D rink ,weary p ilgrim drink and stay

Rest by th e wel l of Sybil Grey.

The well,now called Marmion’s Well

,that Scott evidently

had in his mind,is close to Branxton

,the real battlefield .

In Sir Walter Scott’s time the county was bare as may bejudged from his phrase

,Flodden bent

,

”meaning it was covered

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THE TWO ARMIES CHAP.

Oft hal ts th e stranger th ere ,Fo r th enc e may best h is curious eyeTh e m em o rable field desc ryAnd sh eph erd boys repair

To seek th e wat er-flag and rush ,

And rest th em by th e haz el bush ,

And p lait th eir gar lands fair .

The scene o f the battle was Branxton Hi ll,not Flodden

Hi ll . Indeed,by many old writers i t is called the Battle of

Branxton . By a coincidence,i t was the Rev. Robert Jones

,

Vicar of Branxton,who in the early part o f the nineteenth

century,making a study of the battle the hobby of his l ife

,

worked out something like its real h istory . This account is aswe l l written as i t is we ll informed

,and i s published in pamphlet

form for the convenience of those who like to study the landscapewith the written history before them . I t is excellent read ing .

With it the studious angler should put in his bag the clear andconcise account Of the late Captain Norman— whose obsequies

,

alas ! are taking place as this is being written— and the carefulstudy by Dr . Thomas Hodgkin .

Imagination finds i t diflicult to reconstruct the landscape asi t must have appeared at four o’clock on the mi sty

,drizzling

September afte rnoon when the battle began . The main features,

however,are unchangeable . Behind Flodden are the Cheviots

,

scrub-clad on the ir lower slopes,grass and bracken and heather

further up . A little nearer and you would hear the bleatingo f their countless sheep . Far away to the north rise theEildons cleft in three

,

”romantic in the distance . Coldstream,

where James crossed into England,i s not visible from the hill .

“Auld Wark upon the Tweed,

” which he assailed and took,

has disappeared . Etal Castle is but a home for owls and jackdaws . Ford Castle stands restored among its trees . The

sullen Ti l l serpentines through its green haughs .Surrey ’s army had been assembled at Pontefract , whence

the soldi ers were shipped to Tynemouth . There they werereinforced by soldiers sent by Henry VIII from France .

Surrey advanced northward by Alnwick,making his camp at

Bolton,a village about s ix miles from that town . In the chival

rous manner of the time,he had offered to meet James in

pitched battle at the vi llage of Bolton or on Milfield Plain .

But James declining to leave his fastness . Surrey crossed theTi l l at Weetwood about two miles from Wooler, and the night

V I SURREY’S GENERALSHIP 55

before the battle camped behind Barmoor Wood . Lookingdown at it to-day one sees a fertile

,highly-cultivated district .

This part o f Glendale stands high agriculturally . I t is laidout in fields hedged with quick in the usual Northumbrianstyle . Stone-built farmhouses are dotted over i t , the redgleam of their panti led roofs showing pleasantly through thegreen leafage of sheltering trees . But in the raiding times thescene was different . Unti l we ll on in the eighteenth centurythe land was practically unenclosed and undrained . Broomwas a predominant plant . I t covered Milfield Plain

,and a

broad belt stretched from Flodden almost to Wooler . Thatwas the state of things unti l the time of Matthew Cully ofCoupland Castle

,a famous agriculturist

,who both by precept

and example taught the advantage of growing turn ips . Onlya few patches of broom remain here and there to suggest a stateof things to which writers on farming only make brief allus ion .

You must see Belford Moor in late Spring when the unprofitablygay broom and gorse are in their glory to realise what the countymust have been in the old time .

From the eminence o f Flodden Hi l l the movements o f thearmy may be puzzled out i f the day be clear . Critics of Surrey’sgeneralship

,however

,do not take sufficiently into account the

fact that the afternoon was drizzly and misty,o f low vis ibi l ity

,

in the language of the most recent warfare,following a period

of rain that had fi lled the Ti l l to overflowing . James must haveexperienced great difliculty in obtaining knowledge of his enemy

’smovements and Surrey enj oyed the military advantage o fapproaching under cover of the haze . His plan was to sendHoward with the artillery across the s ingle-spanned bridge atTwize l , which is still standing . and so interpose between theScottish army and the Tweed . No doubt that movementwas the first of which James got wind

,and he correctly divined

its intention . Scott represents h im as setting fire to his campand rushing downhill

,but it is four mi les from Flodden to

Twizel . What James actually'

did under cover of the smokecaused by burning the camp refuse was to change his pos itionfrom Flodden Hi l l to Branxton Hi l l , a mile northward . Meantime Surrey himself was leading the rearguard across the Ti llat two fords which are stil l known by the names they then bore.One was Sandyford

,also called the Cradles

,where the Back

Burn— the burn of Paulinus— enters the Ti l l . I t no‘

doubt

56 THE CHARGE DOWNHILL CHAR.

w as the brook a tailor’s yard wide of the old chronicler.

The other was the Willow Ford,a little down the stream nearer

Etal . In that neighbourhood the Ti l l 15 sti ll l ined with willows,

as i t probably was in the s ixteenth century. The obstacle

that the rearguard had to get over was a great bog or morass,

most of which has now been drained . Parts of it remain,

however, between Mardon Hi l l and the Blue Be ll Inn on thePallinsburn estate . Unti l very recently the remains of the

B ranx ton

bridge existed,by which it was crossed at its worst part . When

James,who was not without leadership

,saw what was happening

,

he prepared to charge down the hill,and this was the beginning

of the battle . The extent of the forces engaged is not easi lydetermined now . The army originally brought together bythe Scottish king was said to have numbered aboutbut in those days an army did not grow on the march

,and

certainly does not mean anything like that number of effectives .Captain Norman estimated that the Scots might have had

soldiers,but those

,be it remembered

,were the flower

v i THE CONFLICT 57

of the army . Then the followers of Huntly and Home shortlyafter the beginning of the fray withdrew from it, perhaps forplunder

,or it may be for reasons connected with precedence

,so

Often a bone of contention with the proud Scot . The relativepositions of the armies have been made clear by the cannon ballsfrom time to time turned up by the plough . Those used by theScots were leaden

,while those of the English were of iron . But

the feature of the day was the fearful hand-tov hand fighting ,and no description of i t has ever been or is ever likely to bewritten equal to that of Sir Walter

B ut as th ey left th e dark’

ning h eath ,

Mo re desperate grew th e st rife o f death .

Th e Engh sh shafts in vo l leys hafl’

d ,

In h ead long ch arge th eir h orse assail’

d

Front , flank , and rear , th e squadrons sweepTo break th e Sco tt ish circ le deep ,

That fough t around th e ir K ing.

B ut yet , though th ick th e shafts as snowTh ough charging knigh ts l ike wh ir lwinds go ,

Th ough b i l l m en p ly th e ghast ly blow ,

Unbroken was th e r ingTh e stubbo rn spear-m en st il l made goodTh eir dark impenetrable wood ,

Each stepp ing wh ere his com rade stoodTh e instant that h e fe l l .

NO though t was th ere o f das tard fligh tLink’d in th e serried phalanx tigh t ,

Groom fough t l ike noble , Squire l ike knigh t ,As fearless ly and we l l ;

Till utter darkness c losed lier wingO

’

er th eir th in h ost and wounded King.

Th en skil fu l Surrey’

5 sage commandsLed back from strife h is shatter ’

(1bandsAnd from th e charge th ey drew ,

As mountain waves , from wasted lands ,Sweep back to o c ean blue

Th en did th eir loss h is foem en know,

Th eir King, their Lords , th eir m igh tiest low ,

Th ey m elted from th e field as snow,

Wh en stream s are swo ln and south w inds blow,

Disso lves In silent dew .

Tweed ’s ech oes h eard th e ceaseless p lashWh ile many a broken band ,

Disorder ’

(I , th rough h er current s dash ,

To gain th e Scottish landTo town and tower to down and dale ,To tel l red Flodden s dismal tale ,And raise th e universal wail .

58 RELICS OF FLODDEN CHA I’.

Tradition , legend , tune , and song,

Shal l many an age that wail p ro longS til l from th e sire th e son shal l h earOf th e stern str ife , and carnage drear

Of Flodden ’s fatal field ,

Wh ere sh iver ’

d was fair Scot land ’s spear,And broken was h er sh ield

Little remains to be added . The.spot at which King James

fell i s now marked by a great gran ite monolith with the dateof the battle on it

,and an inscript ion as terse and appropriate

as could poss ibly be imagined . To the Brave of Both Nations .”

The Old legend that fixed upon the great stone on a level fieldnear Crookham West Field has no bas is in fact . The stone is avery ancient one and had stood there for centuries before thebattle was fought . The field was part of Crookham Moor

,the

gathering place of the local clans when a Scottish foray was tobe resisted or an English foray made into Scotland .

Of the poetry to which the battle has given rise the finestbeyond question is The Flowers Of the Forest .” Sir Walter’sprophecy has been fulfilled to the letter

,but no other tradition

,

legend,or song describes “ the end of the hunting with a home

lier or more sincere pathos than the ballad of Jane Ell iot .

I ’ve h eard th em l ilt ing, at our ewe -m ilkingLasses a’

l ilting before dawn Of dayB ut now th ey are m oaning, on ilka green loaning,

Th e Flowers of th e forest are a’

wede away .

D OO1and wae for th e o rder sent our lads to th e Bo rder ,

Th e Engl ish for ainee by gu ile wan th e dayTh e Flowers of th e Fo rest that fough t aye th e foremost ,Th e p rim e o f our land are cauld in th e c lay .

We ’ll h ear nae mair lilting at th e ewe-m ilking,

Wom en and bairns are h ear t less and wae ,

Sigh ing and moaning on ilka green loaning,

Th e Flowers o f th e Forest are a’ wede away.

Of the relics the most poetical are the famous banner carriedby the Soutars of Selkirk

,now preserved in the town

,and the

other scarcely . less famous borne by the Seven Spears ofWedderburn and now preserved , torn and frayed , in the Castleof Wedderburn .

The following description of the memorial is by CommanderNorman

,who was mainly . instrumental in collecting funds for

v i A FINE MEMORIAL 59

i t . I t stands on a piece of ground generous ly presented byJohn Carnaby Coll ingwood

,Esq . (one Of the Club members), as

cons isting of a Celtic Monolith Cross of Grey Aberdeen granite,

12 feet 6 inches high,and 3 feet 9inches across the arms , raised

on a rustic base or cairn,6 feet high

,Of rough-hewn granite

blocks upon a solid concrete foundation,the whole being

enclosed with a fence of massive granite posts connected by galvanised iron bars . The inscription—bes ides which there is nolettering of any sort— is

FLODDEN 1513TO THE BRAVE OF BOTH NATIONS .

ERECTED 1910 .

in incised letters on a Slab on the north side of the cairn . Accessto the Memorial is through a wicket-gate in the hedge at thenearest point of the road

, 99 yards dis tant, and by no otherway.

”

The Ford a t Coldstr eam .

Many a broken bandD iso rde red through he r currents dash

To gain the Sco ttish land.

CHAPTER VI I

ALONG TILL S ID E

A p rimaeval lake—Til l rhym e and legend—Pack h orse m il ls—EtalV I Ilage and ruins— A subm erged br idge—Pal l insburn and its

gu l l pond—Crookham and D orothy Forster—Fo rd in LadyWaterford ’s day

—A h unt ing anecdote—TO Milfie ld andWoo ler .

FOLLOWING th e course o f a river is a pIeasant but long busIness,and Ti l l i s a meandering stream . Often as a boy I listened toa rustic but highly intelligent native arguing that the flat greenhaughs above Etal and Milfield Plain must at one time havebeen submerged by a gigantic lake . Mr . G . G . Butler

,in an

address del ivered in 1904 , set forth a s imilar idea and supportedit with geological data . One of his points was that beds of claynot mixed with stone and boulders as i t i s when of glacial origin

,

but deep and continuous,are formed by the deposi t of the finest

river sand in sti ll lake water . Thi s condit ion is fulfilled at thet ile- sheds of Flodden and Ewart . Borings by Sir Horace St .Paul produced even stronger evidence . On low haugh landnear Humbledon Buildings

,where clay is at the surface

,he bored

seventy feet without getting through it . At another place hebored first through twenty-five feet of dry sand and gravel,then through soft and wet sand and gravel

,after which he came

to a bed of clay,which he bored to a depth of a hundred feet

,

when the rods broke . It is at least imaginable that the Til l atthat epoch found an outlet through the now dry gorge of HaidenDene and flowed directly Into the North Sea .

When Sir Walter Scott characterised the river as the deepand sullen Ti ll he had probably been looking at it from FloddenHi ll . Primitive man gazing on the same prospect would

,accord

ing to the hypothesis,have seen a great sheet of still water on

60

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TWIZEL BRIDGE CHAR.

the name Willow Ford is as old as the battle of Flodden suggeststhat the industry is as old too . But the willows are neglectednow . If a typical one were photographed it would s ignificantlyi llustrate the line in Hamlet

,

” a willow grew athwart thestream .

” Untended, they are more picturesque than ever .But where Ti l l is prettiest the sky is shut out with the foliage

of trees . They are of sorts which vary from the hazel to the oak .

Tw iz el B n’

dge .

Recent plantings have been mostly of Conifera . Soft woodsare the fashion just now both for use and beauty

,but they give

a certain park-l ike and artificial appearance which spoils thes imple primitive charm of the timber trees beloved of ourforefathers .It makes very little difference whether you walk up or down

the bank of a river but up used to be convenient when benton a walking tour

,because there is a railway station at Twize l

and it makes a good starting point .The famous bridge is the best place at which to leave the high

V I I AN UNFIN ISHED MANS ION 63

road .

’

One is glad to omit the short section of the river betweenit and Til lmouth where the chapel fair referred to inMarmion has been hopelessly restored . Once a castleof note stood at Twizel

,but it was destroyed during the war

which followed the espousal by James IV of the cause of PerkinWarbeck . A ruin vis ible from the railway carriage representsan effort at build ing made in the eighteenth centurv by the

Tw iz el House.

Sir Francis Blake of that period . It was never completed,or

indeed used,except as a quarry for stones when the present resi

dence of the Blake family was bui lt .The grey Tudor bridge can never be seen too often . Create

and strong and of one bow ,

”as Leland described it,i t i s a good

example from a good period . But were i t a cast iron CountyCounci l bridge of to-day it would be interesting because of itspast (I hOpe the bull wi ll not obscure the meaning). Over i ton the fateful

.day of Flodden passed Surrey’s vanguard and

arti llery .

TI—IR BANKS OF TILL CHAR.

The walk up-stream discloses l ittle of antiquarian interest .

It i s impossible to go anywhere in Northumberland withoutcom Ing across remains Of fortified buildings . From the twelfthto the seventeenth century Border people had always to keepwatch and ward against the foe . The owner of a few cows anda na

‘

g or two had to have a place to drive them when a foray

L ook ing up Ti l l f r om Twiz el B r idge.

was on . One can realise the li fe they led from what happenedin London when an air-raid was always a poss ib ility .

The pleasure of this walk is mainly derived from nature .Under the leafy shade it is cool on the hottest summer day ;cool too are the very colours of running water

,here showing a

million reflections in its brown depths,there gleaming fresh

and white as it foams over a boulder whereon alights that energetic companion of your walk . the water ousel

,ever like the

V I I THE VILLAGE POKER 65

village idiot nodding his head . The heron and the kingfisherlove the shallow streams

,and often the brown owl mistakes the

gloom of the forest for the passing o f day .

Old mills,mostly ruined

,occur frequently between Twizel

and Etal . They are generally approached by bridle paths only,

and so recall the time when yeomen took their corn to be groundon the back of a packhorse and brought home the meal less themillers moulter or multure . The miller continued to be thestout carle depicted by Chaucer up to the time of Thomas

Eta l V il lage and Castle.

Bewick.Later it became more usual for the meal to be delivered

by the poker— the word was probably connected W Ith pokes ,’

as bags or sacks were called . Much cheat lng went on Over thatindefinite levy on the ground corn , the multure , pretty much asChaucer described in the Reeve’s Tale .

Etal V illage,embowered in trees

,with thatched houses and gay

little gardens in front of them,i s one of the prettiest v IIIages

in the county .

Etal Castle was in very great decay when the BorderSurvey of 1542 was made . It never recovered from the hammering it got be fore Flodden and is now ruinous . Bowes described

F

66 ETAL’

S RUINED CASTLE AND BRIDGE CHAI'.

i t as being of the Erle of Rutland’s inheritance,and it was a

Manners who bui lt it in the twelfth century . His arms may yetbe seen above the entrance gate . There remains also the wallof stone and lime ”built by Sir Robert de Manners in 1342 ;when what seems to have been originally a mansion-house wascrenellated and fortified .

In the time of Queen Bess it was held by the Collingwoodsunder a lease of three lives . Afterwards it passed into thehands of George Home

,Earl of Dunbar . a Scottish favourite of

the wisest fool in Christendom . Dunbar sold it to the Carrs,

from whom Lady Fitz c larence was descended . She was marriedin May

,182 1

,to Lord Fitzclarence

,son of William IV and Mrs .

Jordan . Hence the portraits of that famous actress and thesouvenirs of William that used to adorn the interior of EtalHouse before it was sold on the death of Lady Fitzc larence .

The river,held in check by the mill—dam

,i s here like a pond .

It is crossed by a ferry which starts at the bottom of a declivityon the summit of which the castle is placed . Up stream on theright bank a footpath goes . Follow it and before crossing tothe green haugh look into the stream

,and if the water be clear

you may see the ruins of a bridge . Where they reach the others ide there is an avenue of trees showing where the main roadused to go . What would one not give to be carried back on aTime Wishing Carpet to Mid-September

,1513 ! for over that

bridge and along the road, grass for four hundred years , were

drawn the Scottish guns captured at Flodden and the Englishartillery . One looks

,ti l l the oaths Of the teamsters

,the orders

‘

Of ofli cers,and the j abbering of victory-flushed men seem to

rise above the clamour of the jackdaws on Etal Castle .This was the brigge at Etay le the decay of which islamented by Bowes . It afforded ready passage when theriver Tyl l i s waxen greate and past the rydinge upon horseback .

”

So he calls out to have it re-edyfi ed,”and during the last four

centuries this has been suggested again and again . The verylast time I was at Etal an Old inhabitant dwelt upon the advantages

,and showed how without a bridge at Etal the way is very

roundabout to places on the main road between Cornhill andWooler . But no one has yet re—builded the bridge .

The ferry used to be kept by an old man who had in h iscottage two fine pictures o f a Peregrine Falcon and a HenHarrier

,

both from Henhole near Cheviot . Every time he showed them

V I I AN UNWORLDLY ARTIST 67

he told the same story of the painter who,burn ing with enthu

siasm,took these and other pictures to an Edinburgh publisher .

What surprised the unworldly artist was that the Scot,though

acknowledging the merit of the drawings,asked

,

“ But would itpey P He was struck dumb for a moment by a question whichwas the last he would have thought about then , with a It’ll

Fer ry over Til l a t E ta l .

take a langer shot than me to tell that,he folded up his

possessions and took his departure . How t imes and mannerschange The artist of to-day would put that query first.There is no trace of a road now except a footpath across thegreen haugh with a rush-covered bog in the m iddle of it

,while

to the right of it is a declivity still called the Balks , an interestingsurvival of the open-field system of cultivation . The names ofmany hamlets are reminiscent of the same system . Such are

F 2

68 ASKEW’S HENS CHAR.

Crookham East Field,Crookham West Field

,Ford West Field

,

and so on . The common field was divided into what are variouslycalled ridges or riggs

,selions or stitches . A three-course

rotation prevailed . Autumn-sown wheat or rye one year,

spring-sown corn the next,or

,as an alternative

,peas or beans .

Every third year the land was fallowed .

Above the Balks is a hamlet named Keek Out, where watchwas kept for the marauding Scot . Not far off i s PallinsburnHouse

,with a fox-cover at the back and in front a wooded park

mping gently down to the edge of the gull-pond,a famous

breeding resort of Law s rz

'

dz'

bundus . The gulls used to becalled Ask ew’

s Hens , from the name of the family , one of whombuilt the house . Watson Askew forbade his guests to shootthere— a severe trial for a sportsman

,s ince wild duck come to it

in considerable numbers,as well as water-hens

,coots

,grebes

and their kind . Often Colonel Askew ,a fine o ld sportsman

who used to be a frequent vis itor,was heard to mutter as the

duck came flying over in the dusk : Damn you,I ’l l shoot

you Damn you , I’l l shoot you But he never d id . Tradition

says the gulls came from Morebattle about 17 50 , when theKale, then a tributary of the Bowmont , broke its banks andflowed to Teviot

,the water of the lake escaping too . But

Marden Bog must have attracted rz

'

dz’

bundus in the dark ages ,and the pond was a part of it .It 15 beautiful In sprIng to see the pond , which 13 set with wild

flowering shrubs and trees,such as gorse and broom

,the white

thorn and the laburnum . The no i sy birds make a Babel of theplace

,and as they fly to and fro their white wings flashing among

the tree shadows of the adjacent old plantation and theclamour of their voices bring a touch of the sea inland . Theyusually come when March is blustering out the last two or threeof its days

,and go away when the harsh note of the corncrake

rises from the fields of waving corn and clover .Seven miles from Berwick

,on the way to Etal

,i s the hamlet of

Duddo— from Dod,a round-topped hill

,and hoe, a height .

On a rocky eminence which rises unexpectedly from the surrounding cornfields are the walls of an ancient pele of the Lords ofTillmouth

,which was destroyed by the Scots a few days before

Flodden . It was further ruined by the working of the neighbouring coal seams . There are only a few cottages by theroadside

,called the village . On Grindon Rig, in the direction

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KING JAMES AND LADY HERON

There is a ruinous stone building'

which tradition asserts to havebeen a tavern at the Battle of Flodden .

Leaving it and going along the river bank one passes FordForge, which was one of the last places in Great Bri tain wherespades and shovels were forged by the agency of water-power .Ford Castle s tands in a well timbered park on ground which

rises from the north bank of Ti ll at a distance of about a mile

Ford C/mre lz .

from the river . It was a strong Border tower til l partiallydestroyed by James IV before Flodden . The legendary talethat the royal squire of dames lost the battle through dallyingwith Lady Heron is not in accord with fact . Ford Castle is wellplaced for watching what takes place in Glendale

,a fact i llus

trated by a pleasant anecdote . For more than half a centurythe vicar of Ford was the Rev . Thomas Knight . Old inhabitantssti ll remember him In an old age “ frosty but kindly —the frosti s purely an allusion to his snowy hair

,a warmer-hearted man

never lived Mr . Knight In his young days was a bit of a sport

V I I A HUNTING ANECDOTE 7 1

ing parson,but

,becoming involved in the Oxford Movement , he

thought it best to give up every form of sport except fishing,to

which he remained addicted to the end of his l i fe . But heceased to shoot or hunt . Nevertheless e’en in our ashes glowtheir wonted fires though he would not ride to hounds anymore

,he mounted the old rectory tower part of the castle

,from

which he could follow almost every run,thus at the same time

enj oying the hunt and salving his conscience .

This was in the day when the Old Earl of Wemyss was M.F. .H

Of him many a good story is told . Once at least the laugh wasagainst him . He hated the music of wandering minstrel s witha mania almost . One day the meet was at Ford Bridge . As thefield began to gather

,a man appeared on the scene with a barrel

organ . It happened that Captain Gooch,brother to the Rev .

Harcourt Gooch,then curate to Mr . Knight, was present . He

did not lessen the M .F .H.

’s annoyance by his question : I say,

Wemyss,do you always have music at your meet .

P

Ford Castle was bui lt in 1282 by Odinel de Forde . His

daughter married Sir Will iam Heron , who thu s becam e ownerof Ford . Since his day it has been in the possess ion of Carrs

,

Blakes,Delaval s and Beresfords . From one of the last-mentioned

it was purchased by Lord Joicey.

As a military stronghold,Ford ceased to have importance after

the battle o f Flodden . Sir Robert Bowes,in the “ Book of the

State of the Marches,says it was burnt by James IV a little

before he was slain . The antiquarian interest was fatallyinj ured by Sir John Hussy Delaval

,who

,in 1761

—4, rebui lt much

of i t in the sham Gothic of the period . LadyWaterford, a hundredyears later, tried to undo the mischief, but the feat was imposs ible . The church is o f the thirteenth century

,but restoration

and improvement have obliterated many of the most interestingfeatures .Ford’s pleasantest time occurred when Louisa Lady Waterford

was in her early widowhood . Thomas Knight was rector andLady Fitzclarence was at Etal . Lady Waterford was a Stuart

,

the third daughter of Baron Stuart de Rothesay . At LordEglinton ’s famous tournament

,a revival due to the influence of

Sir Walter Scott,she had been chosen Queen of Beauty

,and

retained her charms to the end— a countenance that one wouldnot call maj estic only because of the vivacity with which it wasso frequently relaxed , mobile l ips , large grey eyes set wide apart

A LADY BOUNTIFUL CHAR.

and shining with native kindness and candour,won friendship

at a glance . The only fair criticism I ever heard passed uponher was that of a lady belonging to a neighbouring family who

t/ze Road.

called her an organisation for relief of the undeserving poor .The hit did not imply that the poor were undeserving, but thatLady Waterford , in her role of Lady Bountiful , was at the mercyof every knave who could fabricate a pitiful story— a weaknessno doubt

,but a lovable weakness.

V I I PICTURES IN FORD SCHOOLROOM 7 3

Lady Waterford was one of the many Northumbrian friendsof Rossett i and the Pre-Raphael ite Brotherhood , and no inconsiderable artist herself . The school at Ford is decorated with aseries of frescoes illustrative of B ible scenes and characters ,such as Adam and Eve

,Cain and Abe l

,Jacob and Esau , Moses

among the bulrushes,etc . Local interest used to be stimulated

by the fact that Lady Waterford used a number of the villagers

as models for her figures , but as these characters d ie or leavethe dIStrict the IdentIfication tends to become lost

.

Mr. Knight, the rector, l ived several years after the celebrationof h Is j ubIIee, and h is personal ity is sti ll affectionately remembered , not least by the large proportion of English PresbyteriansIn the ne ighbourhood .

The village of Ford has been highly extolled for its beauty.

AS a matter of fact Lady Waterford trimmed it up so that itlo

g;some of the most typical characteristics of a Northumbrian

v i age .Let i t not go unchronicled that the Castle used to have i ts

74 THE ILL ROAD CHAP.

ghost . It was firmly believed in the countryside that theancient and stately shade of Lady Delaval used to parade certainof the rooms and had been seen by countless vis itors .Milfield is a village on the high road about a mile from the

river . In that i l l-conce ived incursion of the Scots called theIll Road ,

”j ust before Flodden,Sir William Bulmer was able to

conceal his horse,archers and bowmen in the tall broom between

Wooler and Milfield,so that he surprised Lord Hume and his

horsemen,killing 40 0 and making 20 0 prisoners .

There is a pleasant l ittle house of the Greys at Milfield Hi l l .Ewart House

,where Sir Horace St . Paul

,a famous worthy of

Aper oac lzing lVoole r f rom I lder ton .

the nineteenth century,l ived

,is a little higher up still . Internally

i t is interesting,with its pictures , tapestries , and old nicknacks .

Near i t is the interesting hill called Yeavering Bell . It isworth climbing if only for the fine view from the summit

,which

gives you at a glance the typical features of a fert ile Northumbrian landscape in Glendale . Streams meandering throughneatly hedged and well tilled fields

,rows of hind s’ cottages ,

farmhouses with a warm glow of red pantiles,and far away the

Eildon Hi lls in one d irection, Holy Island in another .

Farther on is Wooler,beloved of anglers

,who from this

centre can fish the Ti l l and easily reach the Glen,the College ,

and the Bowmont if their taste l ies in the direction of burnfishing and Cheviot air . Wooler used to have the distinctionof being a market town with no railway station near it , but thiswas changed with the opening of the Alnwick and Kelso line .

To-day it has added golf to its other attractions,and indeed must

vu WISHING -WELL AT WOOLER 75

be a place of healing to the busy who come in to rest and reinv igorate nerves worn out by the strenuous life of the localmetropolis .

Henry I granted the barony of Wooler to Robert desMuschamps, and the name in a variety of spell ing crops upcontinually in the deeds relating to its wide territory . Muschance

,

Muscynes, and Musceyne are Northumbrian renderings of it .Wooler has a wishing-well which is sometimes described as a

monument of dead superstition,but the last time I was there

the number of crooked pins dropped into the wel l and lyingunder its clear water indicated that the old beliefs had not yetdied out .

We kae nae,

skoem a leker h er e and free lzae to g o to B elf ord f or tlze doctor .

Ther e 3 a lot we Izae nae, ou t we can a lways get a bit o'

m eat.

CHAPTER VIII

CHILLINGHAM,FALLODON AND CHATTON

“

To add to my satisfaction , we are amidst p lac es renowned by th efeats o f form er days each h il l is crowned with a tower

,o r camp ,

o r cairn , and in no situation can you be near more fields o f batt l eFlodden , Otterburn , Ch evy Chase , Ford Cast le , Ch il l ingham Castle ,Coup land Castle , and many anoth er scene of blood , are within th ecompass o f a forenoon

’s ride .—Wal ter Scott in a letter toWil liam

Clerk dated 26th August , 1 791 .

THAT part of the English Border in which stands ChillinghamCastle is the most romantic Spot in the British Islands . Natureon the county has lavished her treasures

,such as fertile fields

,

running streams,d ivers ities of hil l and plain

,a coast well deserv

ing Swinburne’s line The lordly strand of Northumberland .

”

Romance dwells by its rivers and in its valleys and peers outfrom its fortress ruins

,which fancy easi ly fi lls with the stern

faces that must often have watched from the Ioopholes . Evenits waste places

,its moors and commons

,hags and mountains

,

are delightful to the eye . But the past of this fair demesnewas more favourable to the development of romantic balladsthan fine build ing . In those days of ffra and foray

,which

began nobody knows exactly when and lasted ti l l the beginningof the eighteenth century, the Borderer had ever to look out forthe reiving Scot who issued forth to burn and steal . Besides ,he was kept in a state of poverty as a net result of these attacksand reprisals . Thus , i f we except the great places built so stronglyas to defy the marauders , there are few,

i f any,fine old houses

in the neighbourhood . Castles and towers there were in abundance

,as Sir Walter Scott was quick to notice when, as a young

man,he soj ourned in the Cheviots to breathe the mountain air

7 6

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78 BORDER LIFE IN FOURTEENTH CENTURY CHAR.

day’s doings at Chill ingham in the last days of th e fourteenthcentury

,which stirs the historic imagination . Margaret was

born on January 14th , 1395, and on the day of her christening,which took place in Chill ingham Church

,Nicholas Heron was

married , and John Sergeant at the same time wedded Alice deWyndegaltes. At the castle

,Sir Henry de Heton

,the baby’s

father,bought a white horse from William Cramlington

,and

sent Wyland Mauduit to Newcastle to buy wine . John B elsiserode to Alnwick with a letter to the Duke of Northumberland

,

William Cotys killed a doe in the field of Chillingham . JohriHorsley was captured and carried Off by the Scots

,and John

Wytton caught a Scot, Thomas Turnbull, and clapped him intoChill ingham gaol . On the same day Robert Horne wascaptured by Sir Thomas Grey of Heton and thrust into NorhamCastle . The day was no extraordinary one . Its events havebeen recorded and handed down by chance . Yet how vividlyit calls up the l ife of a Northumbrian gentleman Of those days .He slays venison and buys wine , adds to the horses which hekept ready for rid ing, has a follower captured and himse lfcaptures a prowling enemy

,and is apparently engaged in a

family feud . These were the commonplace occurrences of dailyl ife ; what would it be l ike in really stirring times ? Besidesformal invasions , such as the expedition to Flodden , when thearmy was encamped for a long space of t ime in the neighbourhood ,the Scots kept the English Borderers perpetually on the alertby their raids . Watchers waited at the fords through the autumnnights and beacon fires

‘

were ready piled on the hills to warnmen that the Scots were riding .

”The habit of Violence was

ingrained in the Borderers . Blood - feuds and private warswere carried on from one generation to another, and religiousquarrels added to their bitterness . In the history of theseembroilrnents the masters of Chill ingham sometimes figure .Several of them held oflicial posts ; one was Warden of theWest March

,another Deputy-Warden, a third a frequent

correspondent of Robert Cec il and recommended by a Wardenas the perfectest I knowe ”to be on the March Commission .

They had no blood feuds with the Scots . Their name , atleast

,does not figure in a long l ist of Border feuds in 1595 .

But they had their troubles at home with the neighbouringfamilies of Selby and Widdrington . Sir Ralph Grey the fifthwas at feud with Henry Widdrington . He and hi s brother

VI I I A DUEL BETWEEN NEIGHBOURS 79

were involved in an affair with the Selby family,which epito

mises a whole chapter of Border li fe . An old grudge was sti rredto a blaze by a tenant of Ralph Grey bringing an accusation

The Cloisters , Ck il l ing/tam

against a Selby . Challenges passed , and Edward Grey agreedto

.meet Wi lliam Selby in Berwick churchyard . They met andadj ourned their conference to the backside of the church

,

while the partisans hung in two small groups at the east and

80 A SUNDAY MORNING AMBUSCADE CHAR.

west ends . Grey’s friends came up offering no stroke tooffend .

” But somehow old Will iam Selby had presently fallendown upon his back , the minister was out of the church , andwomen were screaming . Reinforcements came upon the scene

,

called by Selby certaine of my friends in the towne,

”but,

accord ing to Grey, s ix or seven of the most notorious commonfighters in Berwick . Edward Grey was wounded and his man

,

Bryan Horsley, was run through with a rapier . Then,in a cloud

of recriminations and letters to the Secretary of State in London ,the story passes out of s ight . Another picture is of a Sundaymorning in March , when Queen Mary was reigning . The masterof Chill ingham is rid ing with a cavalcade over to Ford Castle .

He i s a Justice of the Peace and Deputy-Warden with him arethe mayor and treasurer of Berwick . Suddenly an ambuscadesets on them . The treasurer dies with fifteen wounds in him

,

and the mayor after his stroke never spake a word . Morefollowers came up on Sunday afternoon and the fight went on .

The quarrel was over the possess ion of Ford Castle,which lay

in dispute between the Herons and the Carrs . To fil l up thepicture we must add Chillingham

,with watchmen on the towers

and women looking down from the deep windows and waitingfor news .In these parts

,said a sheriff

,almost no person rideth

unarmed,but as surely

'

upon his guard as if he rode against theenemy of Scotland .

” In England it was an age of splendour,in which luxury and civi lised arts flourished

,and Northumberland

felt the new influence . The fifth Earl of Northumberlandearned his t itle the Magnificent and was among the heroeso f the Field of the Cloth of Gold . A mistress of Chill inghamCastle in 1581 left her son si lver bowls and spoons and a silverand gilt salt-cellar

,and to a daughter gold bracelets , my best

velvet gowne, and a kirtle of velvet embroidered .

” Coalbegan to be burned in gentlemen’s fireplaces and glass was usedin their windows . In the south

,the days of the castle were

over ; defens ive precautions were no longer studied , and themansion and manor house were built for domestic convenience .

But within sight of the Scottish Border a home was still a stronghold first . Strong walls arms and horses formed the bases ofc ivi lised life

,and the bowls and spoons and ve lvet but a veneer .

So the Tudor builders who put Chillingham in measurab legood reparacions added corridors and bui lt larger s tate room s ,

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CH . V I I I THEIR WILD HABITS 83

moment . Thus when the cows calve they h ide their youngjust as such a wild animal as the hare does , and if the l ittlebeasts are taken by surprise they cower down on the ground toconceal themselves in the same way as rabbits do

,or like hares

in a forme . Another writer,Mr . Hindmarsh , writing in 1839,

dwells on the same wild characteristics . He says Theyhide their young

,feed in the night

,basking or sleeping during

the day they are fierce when pressed,but

,generally speaking

,

very timorous,moving off on the approach of anyone , even at a

great d istance .

”The late Lord Tankerv ille enlarged the same

point . After dwelling on these traits to which we have alluded,

he said They are fierce when pressed,but

,generally speaking

,

Co ws and a ca lf

very t imorous,moving off on the appearance of anyone even at

a great d istance yet this varies very much in different seasonsOf the year, and according to the manner in which they areapproached . In summer I have been for several weeks at atime without getting a sight of them— they, on the slightestappearance of anyone

,retiring into a wood which serves them

as a sanctuary . On the other hand , in winter, when comingdown for food into the inner park , and being in constant contactwith people

,they will let you almost come among them , par

ticularly i f on horseback . But then they have also a thousandpeculiarities . They will be sometimes feeding quietly, when , i fanyone appears suddenly near them

,they will be struck with

a sudden panic and gallop off, running one over the other , andnever stopping till they get into their sanctuary . It is observ

G 2

84 LORD TANKERVI LLE’

S DESCRIPTION CHAR.

able of them,as of red deer, that they have a peculiar faculty

of taking advantage of the irregularities of the ground,so that

A Typica l f ema le.

on being disturbed they maytraverse the whole park

,and yet

you hardly get a sight of them .

Their usual mode of retreat i s toget up slowly

,set Off at a walk

,

then a trot,and seldom begin to

gallop til l they have put theground between you and them inthe manner that I have described .

” Lord Tank erville gavea description of them whichcould scarcely be bettered . He

said : “They have short legs

,

straight backs,horns of a very

fine texture,thin skin

,so that

some of the bulls appear of acream colour ; and they have apeculiar cry

,more l ike that of

a wild beast than that of ordinary cattle . With all the marksof high breeding

,they have also some of its de fects they are

bad breeders , and are much subj ect to‘

the rash —a complaintcommon to animals bred in-and-in

,which is unquestionably

the case with these as long as we have any record Of them .

When they come down in to the lower part of the park,which

they do at stated hours,they move like a regiment of cavalry,

in s ingle file,the bulls leading the van and when they are in

retreat the bulls bring up the rear .”

Lord Ossulston was witness to acurious way in which they tookpossess ion

,as it were

,of some new

pasture recently laid open to them .

It was in the evening about sunset .They began by lining the front ofa small wood

,which seemed quite

alive ' with them,when all of

a sudden they made a dashforward all together in a line , and ,charging close by him acrossthe plain

,they then Spread out , A Tm“ ; m a le.

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86 FALLODON AND THE GREYS CHAR.

century,and it remains to-day probably very much the same as

it was thenAbout six or seven miles from Chill ingham is Fal lodon

,which

is l ikely to be remembered in history because it is the countryhome of Lord Grey of Fallodon

,who

,as Sir Edward Grey

,was

Minister for Foreign Affairs when the Great War broke out .The house

,one of the few notable brick houses in Northumber

land , was accidentally destroyed by fire while the war wasgoing on

,but is being rebuilt in the same style .

Lord Grey is very much attached to the place,where he

spent his boyhood . It su ited his taste for natural history .

The estate consists of about two thousand acres of clay lands ituated between the sea-shore and the moor

,and it has a little

stream where the statesman in h is boyhood learned to fish .

Nowhere could he have obtained better facil it ies for acqu iringhis unique knowledge of the birds of the moorland and thoseof the sea .

fl propos of the latter accomplishment , Lord Grey told me astory worth repeating . The previous owner

,from whom his

grandfather,General Grey

,bought the property

,was ex cep

tional ly keen on hort iculture and had built the brick-walledgarden which stil l remains . But Sir Edward Grey

,as he was

then,put it to a d ifferent use . It formed an aviary for his well

known collection of birds . These suffered greatly from theprivations of war . Originally they were fed mostly on wheat,but when the food s ituation becam e crit ical the use Of good grainwas discontinued and the birds suffered from the low diet .Teal versicolor, one of the rarest of the teal family, showedthe effect of this by breeding only male birds

,and extinction was

threatened . At only two other places,Hamburg and Kew

,

were they kept,and the former being of course imposs ible

,the

last of the race were sent to Kew in the hope that breedingwould take place there . But

,alas a bomb from Hun aircraft

descended on Kew,and male and female alike were exterrninated.

Fallodon was the birthplace of Earl Grey of the Re formBill

,but h is name is more generally as sociated with Howick ,

where he lived with his large family during his mature yearsand unti l he passed away .

A mile and a half north of Chillingham on the Ti ll i s thepleasant agricultural vi llage of Chatton

,which had two old peles .

In one of them Edward I stayed in 1291 and 1292 . A writ

V I I I CHATTON 87

i ssued from Chatton by him begins : To the Barons Of theExchequer, Health ,

”and arranges with minute accuracy payments for the annual dress for two Welshmen and a boy at

Bamburgh Castle . The frequency with which Welshmen appearin the annals of Bamburgh is due to the political and mil i taryconnection of the Percies with Wales and the Welsh border . In1368 the manor was ru ined , as appears from an Inquisition ofEdward II I , In which it mentions a park with wild animals

C/za tton

called Kelsowe . It may be that these animals are the same asthe Chi llingham wild cattle .

In 1634 the tenants o f Chatton complained that Sir RalphGrey was taking and enclos ing land on Chatton Common intohis park of Chillingh m . Robin Hood’s bog , where the wildcattle resort when disfurbed, i s at the point o f the park ‘whichproj ects into Chatton Moor . I t is conj ectured that this mayhave been the Kelsowe enclosed at that time . About the samedate are entries recording the penalties imposed upon twooffenders . Ralph Hebbom e for stealing wheat was pronounceda thafe

,amerced for his fault 3/4d. and his wife being a scold

3/4d As she was probably only volubly defending her husbandshe seems severely punished . Chatton must have been hard

88 A FORGOTTEN BARD CH . VI I I

on its poor women,for in 1650 Jane Martin

,the millar’s wif

was executed for a wich .

”How could the millar’s sonsy wife

have fallen into the miserable web of rural superstition and

calumny and cruelty ? She was dragged in a cart to NewcastleAssizes to answer their absurd charges

,paying dearly for some

fancied skill in i llness or eccentric ity of conduct .

Chatton had a poet called James Service,who at the beginning

of the nineteenth century published several volumes . He hadgone to sea

,had been schoolmaster of Chatton

,and h is

'

poems

are mostly retrospective of his loved Northumbria .

No mo re I gaz e upon my native Ch eviot ’s peaksBreaking th e soft blue o f th e summ er sky.

His achievement was not very great, and , l ike John Clare , hetasted to the dregs the bitterness of failure and poverty . One

of his principal poems dealt with the legend of DunstanburghCastle

,The Wandering Knight .” The last record Of his l ife

,

written by an unimaginative pen,needs no added word of pathos .

He was far from the sound of Ti l l’s subdued murmur and thewatching hills above the village he loved . From JamesService I had a letter about a year ago wishing me to assist him .

He was then in the poor-house at Sunderland , and sometimesattended the shop of a bookseller there . I called at the shoponce

,but could not see h im

,as he was at the workhouse . The

bookseller told me he had a wooden leg and disl iked extreme lythe confinement of the poor house . Very likely be i s there still .Northumberland has few poets

,and poor Service loved this

land between the mountains and the sea where he passed h ishappy boyhood and

,growing up a social soul

,had many convivial

hours with the roll icking farmers of the day . Some last l inesto Northumberland we rescue

O’

er al l thy wilds from Tweed ’s remotest vergeTo wh ere th e Tyne ro l ls blith e to oc ean ’s surgeNO son of th ine , how rude S0 e

’

er h is h eart ,

B ut feel s it swel l at what thou wast and art I

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90 THE MUGGER’S THUMB CHAR.

The place used to have an ev11 reputation in Glendale as thecentre of Gipsydom . A terrace of extremely bad cottages isstill called Gipsy Row .

”The inhabitants are tame compared

with what they used to be . I knew a patriarch there whoclaimed to be more than a centenarian

,and his memory of the

manners of the people in Old time was summed up in the phraseIf a stranger showed in Yetholm it was oot aik sticks and bullpups I can tell ye .

” Every Spring,at the time when our fore

fathers used to go on pilgrimage,an irregular procession passed

out of Yetholm and swarmed over the lanes and farmlands .They were not called gipsies

,but muggers

,because they sold

from their carts or baskets mugs,plates

,cups and saucers

,

all those articles in fact which the hind’s wife called her playgins .” Some tried to sell baskets and some were horseCOpers,and all were thieves

,rascals

,poachers

,and dangerous on the

road . I remember how the late Mr . George Grey of Milfieldused to laugh as he told the story of h is grandfather who camein late for dinner one night from a ride on the road from Milfieldto Scotland . He apologised and explained that he had beenset upon by a Yetholm mugger . Then he went on with hissoup . Some member of the family asked if he did noth ing toh is assailant . Oh yes, I cut off his thoomb . Here it is,

”wasthe unexpected reply

,as he extracted the thumb from his

waistcoat pocket .But the road is peaceable now . Practically speaking

,the

gips ies have melted into the rural population . Commercialtravellers have ousted the packman and the pedlar . Fairshave given place to markets and auctions

,and the horsecoper

who battened on them finds his occupation gone . On a summerday you may walk or drive from Yetholm to Wooler withoutseeing a human being

,unless it be the farm workers in the fields

or the zealous fisherman plying h is rod on the Bowmont . The

charm of the road comes from the bracken-covered hills above itand the glancing river below .

You are in England when you leave the farm called YetholmMains and ascend the rise to Pawston . The house encloses anold pele-tower built by Gerard Selby in 1542 . Selby is the nameof an ancient Northumberland family

,and though the branch

to which the present owner belongs only goes back to 1512 , thelands were held by the same house at a far earl ier date . Alake has been formed by damming a little stream . It is well

I x CARR OF CESSFORD’

S INCURSION 91

stocked with perch,and at times the b lackheaded gull comes

here to breed .

A little further on is Mindrum,the nearest station to Yetholm

,

on the Alnwick to Kelso line . Mindrum,under the name of

Minethrum,is mentioned among the stedes or hamlets included

with the land on the banks of the Bowm ont,or Bolbenda

,which

King Uswy bestowed on .Lindisfarne . In the time of Edward Iand Edward II Bolton hospital for lepers had two carucatesof land and the mill at Mindrum . Scraps of history these

,but

they appeal to the imagina tion . The written chronicle tells ofkings and armies

,the great men of the Church as wel l as those

of the State,but it affords only an occasional glimpse of those who

sowed and ploughed and ground corn under the shelter of thesehil ls in remote time .

A little mention of the place in Raine brings up anotherpicture . Sir John Carey

,on June 13th , 1595, wrote to

Lord Burghley that Carr of Cessford had twice enteredEngland to murder certain of the Stories

,but after lying in

wait for them in vain about Akeld and Humbledon,th inking

they would take that way to Weetwood Fair,he went to a

town called Newton wh ere he did drinek and to Pawston wherehe did also drinek and talked with the leird ; and no man askedhim why he did so .

” Carr of Cessford probably knew everyfoot of this country . Cessford Castle , now in ru ins

,i s just across

the Border,almost within walking distance .

Ari oft recurring scene at these places so close to the Bordercan easily be realised from oflflcial documents of the s ixteenthcentury . They were almost defenceless

,for at d ifferent times

the Scots had rased and casten downe the most part of thefortresses , towers and peles, and they had not been repaired ,which is much pittye to se ,

”reported Sir Robert Bowes . He

instances the cast le of Heton belonging to Mr . Grey, the towneof Twisell belonging to the heirs of Heron of Foorde

,the tower

of Houtel be longing to one Burrett,the tower of Shoreswood

belonging to the colledge of Durham,the tower of Barmor

belonging to Edwarde Muschaunce,the tower of Duddo belonging

to Robert Clavering .

All the more important was it that watch and ward shouldbe kept . The order of the watch for the neighbourhood ofMindrum is set forth in 6 Edward VI (1551 The placesare eas i ly recogn ised

, Pawston,Pytmyers, Rye-hare Ford ,

92 WATCHING THE FORDS CHAR.

Shotton-burn-mouth , Turnchester—bogg : Northside of Myndrum-bogg, Tenersheughe . These were to be watched “ withfourteen men nightly of the inhab itors of Langton

,Mylnfield,

Edderslaw,B rangestone, Heton, Howtill , Pawston and Myn

drum . Setters and searchers were Ol iver Selbie, baylif ofMyndrum ,

and William Selbie the Elder .” Lanton,Milfield

,

Heatherslaw,Branxton

,Heaton

, Howtel , Pawston and Mindrumare not far apart for men who travelled on horseback

,and

between them cover the Glen and Bowmont and the Ti ll . Daywatchers were set to watch the passes through which the Scots

Kir k newton .

were likely to advance . Hethpool watched Hetheugh , Howtel

watched B lacklaw,Pawston watched Pawston Hill , and so on .

In The Ford,

”a poem by Mam a Pease (Mrs . Howard Peaseof Otterburn) printed in the Flodden chapter, the watchersheard only the water rushing in the weeds

,a hunting otter, a

trapped fox,but what happened when an alarm was signalled

can be guessed from the brief notes of Sir Robert Bowes in theSurvey .

Presson-Grey of Chillingham’

s inheritance . No fortressthe toun left desolate . Myndrome-Grey of Chil lingham

’

s

inheritance . In war left to the enemy .

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94 YEAVERING AND ITS ARTHURIAN LEGENDS CHAR.

the outer face of the church tower are interesting carvedstones .At Old Yeavering is a bui lding described as the palace of

Edwin , now a shepherd’s house . It has walls of great thickness

and may poss ibly have been a rude pele . At the north of theGlein

,or Glen, the legendary Arthur is said to have achieved a

great victory over the Saxons . Yeavering is first mentioned byBede

,as Adgehrin, the royal country seat of Edwin . The town

was abandoned by later kings for a place called Melmin, sup

I’

ea zre r ing Bel l .

posed to be Milfield, and at Ewart a Saxon fibula was found ;but there are no other remains

,as , having been in constant

occupation,the past has been obliterated . Yeavering Bell and

the surrounding hills formed the principal,and possibly the last

,

stronghold of the Cymric Kingdom where the advance of theSaxon strangers from the eastern seaboard was opposed .

The Bell commands a wonderful range of country, even northpast the Eildons.

Arthur and his knights clung tenaciously to this vantage

ground from whence alarms and signalling could issue to all

1x A VANISHED RACE 95

the surrounding tribes . Wonderful forts,pastoral enclosures ,

hut circles,with lines of roadway and the ev idences of a very

large population,are to be seen on Yeavering Bell and the

adjacent hills . Especially interesting are the forts on HarehopeHi ll and Homildon Hi ll . An enclosure on the Bell

,which has

had a wall measuring 440 yards by 200 yards,was poss ibly a

camp of refuge for women and children from the low-lyingdistricts dur ing invasion . On the east summit the hut circlesare less frequent

,as it had evidently been kept clear for the

beacon fire,the presence of which exca vations have proved .

Every shelf or platform on the Bell and the surrounding hillsshows remains of dwell ings . On the lower slopes the cultivationof centuries has removed them . Traces of road tracks stillexist to show that a pastoral race wandered over these valleysand plains

,and in time of danger drove the ir flocks and herds

to the hill forts . They seem to have been able to commandthe support of a considerable army . Yeavering Bell is conical inshape and separated from the other hills by deep ravines . Itssteep ascent from the low flat Milfield plain gives it a soli tarygrandeur . Below

,the Glen winds its way past the bas e to the Til l

,

which it enters at Ewart . The Doddington hil ls rise near athand

,and in the dis tance are the Eildons

,Duns Law

,and the

Lammermuirs,with towns

,towers and churches scat tered on the

intervening landscape . In the field north of the Bel l li es a hugemonoli th blown down in 1890 . It is over nine feet long andfive feet broad .

About a mile south of Yeavering Bell is Tom Tallon’s Crag,which is an outcrop of porphyry on the crest Of a ridge . Nearto it on a hill looking to the Newton Tors stood a large cairncalled Torn Tallon’s grave . It is the largest cai rn in the district

,

and on the stones being removed to build a wall,a cist was

discovered with bones . The name is supposed to be derivedfrom the Celtic Tomen,

a tumulus,Tal

,a forehead or promontory,

and Llan, an enclosure .

Nearly three miles from Wooler is the vi llage of Doddington,

at the foot of Dod Law . It is now only a few cottages,but was

once large enough to hold a weekly cattle market and able,

according to tradition,to supply forty local lairds to attend the

funeral of a neighbour at Be lford . It has a wonderful ancientspring

,called the DodWell

,which y ie lds seventy gallons a minute .

It is now enclosed and surmounted by a cross . The Old song of

A RUINED PELE CHAR.

the bonny Dod Well and the yea-pointed fern has not beenpreserved . The chie f obj ect Of interest is the castle bui lt in1584 by Sir Thomas Grey of Chill ingham,

in whose family it

Pele in a f a rmya rd at Dodding ton .

sti ll remains. These fortified dwe ll ings were more comfortable

than the ancient Border peles and this one was among the lasterected as the Union made them unnecessary . It 15 about

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98 A FAMOUS LINN CH . I x

On Gled Scaur, a platform of rock on the south west of DodLaw

,there are more of these cryptic symbols drawn on the

rocks by the unknown race who so thickly populated the district .On the bank s of the Glen , a mile from Ewart , is Coupland Castle,a place of remarkable strength to be built in the Border in 1619,which is the date carved above a fireplace . The walls are fiveor s ix feet thick . At the corners of the castle are pepper-potturrets and there is the original corkscrew stone staircase .

Lanton Hi ll,with an obelisk on it

,is a conspicuous landmark

to the west .Three miles from Doddington is Routin Linn

,a picturesque

glade on the borders of Ford Moss,through which runs the

B roomridge Burn and falls thirty feet over a precipice into thel inn

,with sandstone cliffs and lovely woodland making a picture

of idyllic beauty . There is another prehistoric camp over theroad cross ing the glen . On the huge sandstone boulder at thecamp is the largest number and greatest variety of sculpturedemblems in the ne ighbourhood . Sixty figures have been tracedon it

,and very curious it would be to have them explained by

an ancient Briton,as it is quite imposs ible for anyone e ls e

to do so . A mile north-west on Hunter’s Moor are otherincised rocks near which are several barrows .A thousand years or twenty thousand pass h ere

,and leave as

little trace as the shadows of the c loud that rest a moment onthe shining s lopes and are gon e . Unchanging they remain

the h il ls of sh eepAnd th e h omes o f th e silent vanish ed rac es .

CHAPTER X

THE BATTLE OF HOMI LDON HILL

FOURTEEN years had to pass be fore Hotspur obtained hisrevenge for Otterburn . The latter was fought in 1388, thebattle of Homildon Hil l in 140 2 . Humbleton

,or Homildon ,

i s ahamlet close to Wooler

,and the famous h ill o f the same name

lies to the West Of i t . The Scots had been long preparing forwar

,but this encounter was a chance one . The Scots had

ridden a foray nearly as far as Newcastle . They were ledby that Douglas who was nicknamed the Tine-man

,

”and hehad with him a band of fire-eat ing young nobles and famouswar-worn veterans .

Among the latter was Sir John Swinton of Swinton,concerning

whose family one would like to make a little note . During thewar with Germany few names were more widely known thanthat of his descendant

,General Swinton . It had long ceased to

be a secret that he was the author of some remarkable mil itarystori es published after the Boer War

,and for a time he was the

Eyewitness who described our battles in France and Belgium .

He does not himself l ive at Swinton,but has for it the fee ling

of its being home,the place where his forefathers lived for eight

centuries . In 1829 it was sold to another branch of the samefamily . The village of Swinton is w ith in twelve miles of Berwickon-Tweed by way of Norham and Ladykirk

,and Swinton House

is a good mile beyond it . Situated in the Merse o f Berwickshire and within a short ride o f three formidable Englishcastles

,twelve miles from Berwick

,four from Norham and

s ix from Wark,the original home of the Swintons was burned

99 H 2

10 0 TIIE SWINTONS OF THAT ILK CHAR.

again and again by the raiders . Its walls never had a chanceof growing old .

Berwick had a tank given it as a war memorial in recognitionof the valour and publ ic spirit of its inhabitants

,and naturally

General Swinton,as a neighbour of the old Border Town and

as the military originator of tanks,who had raised and

commanded the first tank unit,was asked to take a leading

part in the ceremony of placing it in permanent quarters . His

discourse on tanks was highly interesting, but for my purposenot so much so as his reference to Border l i fe and part icularlyto the part played in the battle of Homildon Hi l l by one ofhis ancestors . It was natural that a sold ier should talk ofwar at Berwick

,which of al l c ities except Jerusalem

had borne the record for sieges . The Swintons of Swintonplayed a shrewd part in Border warfare . Colone l Summers

,

who was present,in a speech full of humour recited a few

impromptu lines about the Swintons . They ran :

Of Old along th e Scottish BorderTh e Swintons kept us in disorder .

Th eir martial ardour th ey revealedB y p inc hing cows from many a field .

Now to th e changing m oo d of tim eCom es to our ears a nobler c h im e .

I t’

s mainly due to Swinton ’s skil lThat we h ave beaten Kaiser Bil l

On a day in mid-September, five centuries ago,Douglas

and his raiders,laden with booty

,were hastening back from

the Tyne to the Tweed and had crossed the Glein,or Glen

,

were in fact within an hour’

s ride of the ir native land,when they

heard that the Percies were waiting for them at Milfield. Theyhad believed the Earl of Northumberland to be following themand were surprised to find Hotspur barring the road home .

Th en th e Percy out o f BamburghWith him a m igh ty m any.

With fifteen hundred arch ers bo ldTh ey were c h osen out of Sh ires th ree .

The Scots decided on a defensive policy and took up a strongposition on the slopes of Homildon Hi ll, and the Engl i sh quicklytook ground on a s imilar position on the hill oppos ite

,cal led

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10 2 ENGLISH ARCHERY AT HOM I LDON CHAR.

Gordon famil ies that now belong to the North and arerepresented by the Duke of Gordon

,the Marquis of Huntley

,

and Lord Aberdeen . He was one of the greatest fighters of histime . In his hot youth

,the Borders being too quiet for him ,

he had signed on with John of Gaunt,and legend says he was

the hero who,according to Froissart

,leaped the barrier gates

at Noyon and for love of the fray fought the chivalry ofFrance for more than an hour alone against them allgiving many grand strokes with his lance .

! When thearmy began to move and he had to rejoin it

,be cleared the

way with a thrust or two,sprang back

,and mounting

,

with his page in front,cried : Adieu

,adieu

,Seigneurs

,

grands mercis and spurred away .

At Otterburn he had fought a good fight, and now at Homildonmust have become a grizzled warrior of about fifty . It was hewho refused to be a pass ive resister when in the words of theso-called Chevy Chase ballad

Yet bides th e Earl D ouglas upon th e bent .

The line obviously refers to Homildon and not Otterburn .

Adam Gordon must have been born with the fighting spiri tstrong within him . The founder of the family was ki l led withhis sovere ign and friend Malcolm Canmore at the disastrouss iege of Alnwick Castle In 1093 , and three other heads of the housemet with a sim ilar fate a! . different times and In different battles .He had been at feud With Swinton , but forgot the personalquarrel inal l rnirat io

‘

n. He kneeled before Swinton and beggedthat h e would bestow on himthe honour of knighthood . Th isbeing done

,the two

,with as many as cared to come

,rushed down

the hill to get to grips with the foe . But the relentless Englisharchery made their bravery of no avai l . The li tt le band was wipedout and there followed a complete rout of the Scottish host.Of the ten thousand originally composing it eight hundred wereleft dead on the field

,five hundred more were drowned in their

heavy armour as they tried to cross the Tweed , and the l ist ofprisoners was long and distinguished . It included Douglas withfive arrow wounds and a lost eye

,Montgomery

,Murdack of

Fife,the eldest son of the Duke of Albany, and eighty other

notabilities .

English archery was at its best in this battle the chroniclesrelate that the English arrows sticking In the bodies and armour

“ NOT HERE BUT ON THE FIELD ” 10 3

of their adversaries made the Scottish army look like a gigantichedgehog with its spines sticking out but the victory was thebeginning of the end for Hotspur . The Government demandedthat Douglas and the other distinguished prisoners should besent to London

,not in order to deprive the victors of such

ransom as they might impose,but that they should have pawns

in hand when arranging the long contemplated peace withScotland . But the Percies

,father and son

,considered Henry IV

,

the King whom they had made, a stingy paymaster, and theyhad not been recompensed for the i r outlay as custodiansof the marches . Henry p leaded an empty treasury. GoldI have none ; gold thou canst not have .

”He and the fiery

Hotspur nearly came to blows in the palace . Percy demandedthe release of his brother in- law Mortimer

,then in captivity .

The King retorted that Mortimer was a traitor . And thou tooart a traitor for shielding him

,

”he added fiercely,unsheathing

his dagger . Not here but on the field ”was Hotspur’s challenging answer . The quarrel ultimately resulted in the battleof Shrewsbury

,where Hotspur was slain . Shakespeare does

justice to his fame and his valour in the play of Henry I V,

although it is his obvious intention throughout to make PrinceHal outshine that hero from the North who with a little guidingand management would have become one of the most usefulas he certainly was the most valiant of subj ects .Lord Archibald Douglas cut a figure in this battle which i f

it stood alone might lead to misapprehens ion . His nicknameTine-man was not meant to carry the imputation of cowardice .He had only struck one of those runs of ill-luck which come toall . In the battle of Shrewsbury

,where Hotspur fell

,he was

taken prisoner,but not being an English subj ect was honourably

entreated as a prisoner of war. Sir Walter Scott has drawn avirile picture of him in “

The Fair Maid of Perth,

”wh ere hefigures as a rugged

,domineering soldier who ends by winning

the admiration of the reader,but to the Wizard ’s great and

kindly and patriotic mind every member of that house wasglorified by the memory of the Dowglas Dowglas tender andtrue .

” In a note,however

,he shows that there were good

historical reasons for assuming that Douglas shared with theDuke of Albany the guilt o f murdering the Duke of Rothesay

,

his son-in- law,Albany’s nephew and heir to the Scottish crown

then worn by his father,the weak

,amiable

,i rresolute Robert

104 SCORNING A WOMAN ,AND THE CONSEQUENCES CHAR.

the Third . The cause of h is feud with George Dunbar, Earl ofMarch

,is an integral part of this the most exciting of the

Waverley novels . After a marriage between Rothesay andMarch’s daughter had been consummated

,Douglas forced the

weak monarch to bring about a divorce so that Marj ory ofDouglas should take the place of Elizabeth of Dunbar .Rather than this woman had been scorned i t were better

that the Scots had given her a dower of two hundred thousandpieces of gold . After quoting this passage from John Major

,

the Pursuivant of the Easter Marches , Captain G. C . Swinton,

Tlze G len River nea r Yeaver ing .

adds To the son of Gospatrick the Douglasses, thoughvaliant men

,were mushroom upstarts

,while the Earl was a

bastard at that .”

Scott was weaving a romance,not writing history . He s inned

in good company,since Shakespeare had already set fact at

defiance when he made Hotspur fall to the sword of PrinceHal . After reproducing the Remission or Pardon issued bvKing Robert and first printed by Lord Hai les , he remarksLord Hailes sums up his comment on the document withwords which as Pinkerton says leave no doubt that he considered

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The Tweed a t B erwick .

CHAPTER XI

TWEEDMOUTH,B ELFORD

,AND GOSWI CK SAND S

Crossing th e Tweed southward Ancro ft and th e Broom ie HutsG riz z y

’s Clump and a Scottish h ero ine—Bel ford and a story o f

m edieval justic e— Go swick and Ch eswick sands and th e fish eryOf Sandstel l Smugglers and fi sh poach ers—Wh ere K ing Ch arlescamped In 16 39.

THE romance of ancient Northumberland unfolds before usas we pass over Berwick Bridge . Many bridges have spannedthe Tweed and led the trave ller from the south among the highpitched houses of the crowded town that rise above the riverbank . Even now the mouldering pile can be seen in the mudof a bridge a few yards above the present one

,perhaps that

which James VI crossed in 160 3 when he found it unstable andgave orders for a new one to be built . An annual sum forupkeep continues to be paid from the Exchequer to this day .

Perhaps the stakes are those of the bridge swept away in the106

CH . X I TWEEDMOUTH AND ORD 10 7

reign of King John when he built the malvois in or tower tooverlook and intimidate Berwick . The memoryof th is tower,which was soon pulled down again by the Scots

,is sti l l preserved

by the name of Tower V i l la on the high bank overlookingTweedmouth Dock . A constant bone of contention was theferry which crossed the river here . It was of great importancein times when the bridge was destroyed

,as the Scots claimed

the whole of the river and prevented the English boats touchingthe northern bank .

Berwick from the Tweedmouth s ide must from earl iesttimes have given an impress ion of strength . At high tide theriver washed against the walls

,and the sh ips of the busy seaport

rocked in the quay . Higher up the river,on ground now

partly occupied by the railway s tat ion,menacing

,the castle

stood,an integral part o f the great Walls of Edward’s day

which sti l l crumble mass ively among gras s and ivy on thehigh river bank that faces the flats of Tweedmouth . Fromthe castle walls the west end OfTweedmouth

,with small huddled

houses,looks dull and low-lying . Beyond it miles of cornfields

shine ye llow in summer weather where the Low Road leads toOrd Village . But during the last two hundred years Berwickmust have gained in colour

,for that is about the date when the

red roofs that enchant the traveller coming by train or roadrose steeply around the eighteenth century town hall . Nearwhere it is bui lt once stood the Red Hall of the Flemings

,

which Edward burnt with its prosperous Flemish m erchantswhen his wi ld sold iery reddened with the townsfolk’s bloodthe gutters that ran to the Tweed .

In Tweedmouth churchyard is buried John Mackay Wilson,

who wrote The Tales of the Borders,

” and a we ll-knownce lebrity, J immy Strength or James Stuart , noted for hisstrength ; he lived to be 1 15 . A stone figure of him by Mr .Wilson , a former keeper of Berwick lighthouse , s tands in theold bowling green in the Palace at Berwick .

The south road leads from Tweedmouth over SunnysideHi l l, past Scremerston

,a little mining village

,the manor of

which be longed to the unfortunate Earl of D erwentwater andpassed into

tD

th e possession of Greenwich Hospital . The slagheaps which border parts of the roads after passing Scremerston

were planted about thirty years ago with firs and are now quiteornamental plantations . But the need of p i t props caused many

108 GRIZ Z EL COCHRANE’S ADVENTURE CHAR.

inroads to be made on the trees during the war . A road to theright be fore reaching the Cat Inn

,a little bare hostelry

,stretches

into middle Northumberland past Lowick andWooler . Ancroft,

a desolate- looking village,stands on the high ground about

one and a half miles above the turning,and a long

,lone ly

road through agricultural land leads to Lowick . At An croftis a fie ld called the Broomie huts . There is a curious and

pathetic legend connected with this pretty name . The prettynam e has anything but a pretty origin . In the re ign ofAnne a colony of cloggers l ived there who made boots for thearmy . The plague vis ited them on i ts devastating j ourneyfrom the south . Those who took the disease were carried outto the high field where the broom grew

,and little bowers were

made over them . When they d ied,but and body were burned .

Doubtless they were never vis ited by the l iving before deathclaimed them

,and hunger and thirst would hasten the end of

their pains .

The excellent main road we are on now turns sharply tothe left at Haggerston Castle , where once stood the ancienttower of the Haggerston family . Le land calls it “ a towreupon the south syde of Lindis ryver .

” A mile further ona road branches to the left for Holy Island . The KyloeHi l ls are on our right

,and the rugged crags near Belford are

very fine,with trees and heather and many rare plants . On

the he ight is a British camp with a double rampart,and the

foundations of St . Mary’s Chapel of uncertain date and history .

A we ll near the roads ide is called St . Mary’s We l l and a centuryago still had two ladles fastened by chains to the s ide to refreshthe th irsty passers-by. From the crags on a clear day the Viewof Holy I s land and the Farnes and Bamburgh is very beauti ful .On the roads ide by the hamlet of Buckton is a plantation calledGriz zy

’

s Clump,where Grizzel Cochrane robbed the mail of

the warrant for her father’s execution,who was in prison for

taking part in a rising against James I I . A girl of e ighteendressed in men’s clothes

,she rode out from Tweedmouth and

awaited the clatter of th e postboy’s horseTh e warlo cks ar e danc ing th reesom e reelsOn G o swick

’

s h aunt ed l inksTh e red fi re sh oot s by Ladyth orne ,

And Tam wi’

th e lanth o rn fa’

s and sinks .On Kylo e ’s h il ls th ere ’s awfu ’ soundsB ut th ey frigh t ed not Coch rane

’s G riz z y.

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110 A STORY OF THE PLAGUE CHAR.

As at Ancroft and many other places,a gruesome tale of the

visitation of the plague in the eighteenth century i s stil l remembered . The dead were shovelled hastily out of sight in the ir

B e lf ord

wearing apparel on Belford Moor . Afterwards greed recollectedthe latter fact

,and fragments were dug up of dress in the hope

of finding money in the pockets of the hapless vict ims . Th iswas a grimmer body-snatching than that o f Burke and Hare

,

but the ways o f our ancestors were not as our ways,as witness

the following example of just ice that Jeddart might envy .

X1 MED IEVAL JUSTICE—THE HAZ ELRIGG BROWNIE 1 11

Cadwallader Bates te ll s the story as happening near Be lford inthe thirteenth century . A Scot called Gilbert of Nithsdalewas coming over the moor with a hermit called Seman .

Why a freebooting Scot,as his name seems to indicate

,should

be wandering fifteen miles over the Border with a harmlessNorthumbrian of pious l ife seems to cal l for some explanation

,which we are unable to-day to give . Gilbert

,the

stalwart rogue,robbed Seman of his clothes and one penny

and beat him soundly . But he had not gone far with his i l lgotten gear when Ralph of Belford

,a king’s ofl‘icer

,met h im

,

and,j udging by appearances in the hasty medieval way

,arrested

him and took him to Alnwick . Here arrived Seman bleedingand naked to confront the barbarous Scot . The bailiff andtownsmen heard the tale of the injured holy man . The s in

gularly.

appropriate custom of the country makes the heartwarm in these days of cold justice by process of law . The

inj ured person must act as his own executioner . So the meekhermit beheaded Gilbert and rece ived his clothes for so doing .

He was thus revenged and su itably rewarded in a fashion wecannot he lp feel ing was both original and satisfying .

One other word is gleaned of Be lford before the Union of160 3 , when it was sti ll a collection of clay-daubed hovels . The

Earl of Hertford in one of his retaliatory expeditions against theScottish borders— the one indeed in which he cruelly burnt thenunnery at Coldstream— was near ly captured as he lay atBelford , but the Scots managed to l i ft ” his chaplain .

Whether he was ransomed or d ied on the spears o f j eeringScots is not recorded .

The local folk- lore preserves a fantastic rhyme which withits hint of a finer poetry is worth remembering

In Co l l ierh eugh th ere’s gear eneuch ,

In Coc k enh eugh th ere’s mair

B ut I ’ve lo st th e keys of Bowdon Doo rsAnd I

’

m ruined for ev ermair .

Thi s occurs in the lament of the Hazelrigg Brownie . AtCock enheugh Crag ,

about two miles west of Belford,i s Cuddie’s

Cove,a traditional resting place of St . Cuthbert . Bowdon

Door Crags i s the name of some rocks on Lyham Moor betweenBe lford and Chatton .

Lying adjacent to the sands over which one crosses toLindisfarne , and indeed a part of them ,

are the sands o f Goswick

112 GOSWICK FISHERIES IN EIGHTEENTH CENTURY CHAR.

the picture is easy to make in the imagination— a low and level

waste of wet sand with l ittle ridges In it such as the tide alwaysleaves behind and a kind of stipple-work made by the excavations of the lugworm

,a wash of little waves far off on the edge

,

a wreck held fast in the grip of those tiny morsels of sand whichseparately count as nothing

,but when acting in union bury

and create .

You see them in the act of engulfing what was once a goodship, and close to the cultivated land arise the dunes which thewind has fashioned

,blowing the particles In a stinging shower

on dry summer days and heaping them up til l the tu ssock andother wild weeds began to hold them compactly together .Far away to the southwards the hills look down on the sea andare themse lves a wall to the horizon .

Goswick and Cheswick were fair game for the Scottish forayersin the old raiding days

,and the houses belonging to them were

frequently emptied of gear and the harvest fields devastated .

In those old days no mention is made of fishermen,and it is

doubtful i f the craft was carried on there before the days ofSir William Crossman

,although in the eighteenth century

the coast was haunted by great shoals of salmon . In an accountwhich has been preserved of the produce of the fishery ofSandstell , near the mouth of the Tweed , we get some evidenceof the enormous quantity of salmon that must have workedtheir way along the edge of the coast to the mouth of the river .The accounts were kept by the family of Waite and publishedin 1831 by William Waite . The accounts begin in 1 736 and arecarried on to 1818. The best years are those beginning in 1760 ,which has this N.B Believed the most plentiful season everknown in the Tweed , a great quantity of salmon sold at ninepence

,eightpence

,and one day at fourpence per stone . One

flood on a Monday supposed to produce salmon . N.B .

In all these years very few trouts .

” But the account-keeperhad to note on the very next year a new record . It is describedas the greatest year that ever was at Sandstell , no fewer than

salmon being taken,and trout . No account was

kept of the gilses. Please note the Spelling, the r ” is amodern interpolation .

In 17 72 a note is made which throws light on the occupationvery generally pursued in that quarter of the world .

“ Aboutthis period

,the hole in the Meadow Haven began to increase

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114 CHARLES I ON NORTHUMBRIAN COAST CH . x i

Charles I , with an army, camped here on May 25th 1639,previous to his abortive Scottish campaign . He lay in

a little house belonging to the widow of Sir Robert Hamilton .

The camp was pitched neare the sea shore,upon a plain heath

ground most part of it , and of a spungie turf which would havebeen very discommodious to the souldiers had they continuedthere in rainy weather .” Under their vacillating leader

,however

,

they did not stay long anywhere . But one woo

uld l ike to recall,

i f poss ible,the s ight that must have presented itse lf to the

traveller of those days . There is no old castle or very old housein the ne ighbourhood . The Scots took care that none survived .

Their constant raidings kept the countrymen very poor,and

cottages were put together of mud and plaster that would havebeen fl imsy i f they had not been made so thick . An old travellersays that the usual roofing of these cottages was not even thatch ,but sods of earth laid flat . Indeed

,some cottages of this kind

survived till comparatively late in the nineteenth century .

They had scarcely any walls to speak of,the back one being

not more than two or three feet above the ground and the frontone perhaps s ix feet . The doorways were not high enough toadmit a man of middle height unless he bowed his head . Th e

windows were ve ry small and the hearths very large . Fuel,

at any rate,did not need to be economised

,as not only were

the coal pits near,but the sea continually heaved up driftwood

from the ships that had been engulfed . Some of the cottagesto-day are not beautiful but those who find fault with themusually know very l ittle of the hard condit ions that prevailedon the English Border up to within a very recent period . Notthat on the sands cottages obtrude themselves . There are oneor two set back among the dunes but the eye rests not on them

,

but on the wide expanse of sand , with its fringe of white waveletsbreaking gently on the shore

,the dark rocks of basalt that at

low tide thrust themselves up out of the water and at high tideshow their pos ition only by the waves that curl and break overtheir tops . A wreck is always to be seen

,and , when the

circumstances under which it was lost are forgotten, i t becomesa forlorn though picturesque addition to the landscape . Windand water have cleared away all that was superfluous

,and only

bare ribs or a broken hull and mast stand as a monument ofman’s daring and Nature’s strength .

lVout/z of tlze Ty ne .

CHAPTER X I I

THE LORDLY STRAND OF NORTHUMBERLAND

Th e mo st interest ing part Of th e coast— An unspo iled Sh oreCrossing th e sands at Ho ly Island— Loo king over Bamburghshi re—Th e Joyous Gard o f Lanc elot—Tristram of Lyoness ,th e great h unt sman—Th e Farnes and th eir birds —In th e

m iddl e of last c entury—Th e scene to -day—North umberland’

s

h eroine , Grac e Darl ing.

THERE is not in Great Bri tain a more interesting stretch ofsea shore than the seventy miles of Northumbrian coast lyingbetween a point near Lamberton Toll in the north and Tynemouth in the south . And to the lover of nature and wild li fe

,

as well as to the historian,the most fascinating part of it is

that which stretches from Berwick to North Sunderland . Itembraces Holy Is land

,Bamburgh and the shore off which lies

a group of black rock is lets,the Farnes

,in summer gleaming

with the plumage of multitudinous sea birds,in storm almost

lost among the crashing waves,and always with turbulent water

boiling through the narrow channe ls,rushing when the tide is

flowing and rushing again when it is ebbing .

1 15

116 AN UNSPOILED COAST CHAR.

This portion of the coast retains its ancient and naturalcharm . No polluted river flows into the sea

,no commercial

town is near it . Its wild beauty has not been exchanged forthe sophisticated attractions of a popular watering place

,nor

is there any bungalow town erected on its clean sands . Itremains exactly what it was in pre-civi lised days . Hi storygave it many a crowded hour of glorious life in England’s mom

ing ; but the long day passed and Nature re-asserted her Oldcalm mastery and assumed the relics as her own

,adding her

charm to those it had inherited from the ages . Therei n l iesa something peculiar and supreme belonging to this portion ofthe coast and this only .

This i s not said in disparagement of the rest . Viewed fromanother angle

,the commercial achievement of Newcastle and

its neighbourhood commands unstinted admiration . ModernNorthumberland is a great energetic county of which not onlythe inhabitant but the nation is proud . But Tynes ide has p aidfor material prosperity by the sacrifice of natural beauty . To

realise what has been lost,imagination must rebuild the scene

as it was when the Venerable Bede was alive . Shorthose had

not yet bui lt the firs t wooden fortress,anterior to that of

Henry I I,which gave the town its name of Newcastle . On its

s ite was a settlement of monks,but it was sti ll Pons E l l i close

to the end of the Roman Wall . Tyne,not the murky smoke

and-mist-shrouded waterway of to-day,but a pure and limpid

stream,

flowed between wild banks of heather,bracken and

scrubby wood . It ran past the Wall,too— that eloquent relic

of imperial Rome . Bede could see it from his cell at Jarrow,

and his accurate measurements Show that he pondered over itand wondered .

What does the very name

\

Wal lsend suggest to-day ? Notthe end of the Wall

,but coal

,the mother of industry, indeed,

but mother,too

,of smoke and soot and huge factories and

general squalor . What beauty is attached to Newcastle andthe mouth of the Tyne is what be longs to the useful and efficient,the beauty of an engine or a battleship . Newcastle and its

mighty business extensions form a Ti tanic workshop .

What a contrast between all this and our eighteen or twentymiles of coas t ! Look at it from Halidon Hi l l . You can, on aclear day

,follow the coast from Spittal to the Farnes . There

is Berwick still engirdled with walls,but carrying little to suggest

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118 “ THE RICHEST COONTIE IN ENGLAND ” CHAR.

a new charm of mystery is added as the cloud of fog Opens andcloses over the scene .

It has been proposed more than once to make a bridge acrossthe sands , but it is to be hoped that such a proj ect will neverbe carried out . It would reduce a romantic feature of theisland to commonplace

,and there is no excuse of commercial

necessity for this undertaking . Every crossing,whatever be

the season of the year,is new. On a summer night when the

sky 15 flecked with clouds and the moon is sail ing through them,

now obscured , now brightly shining on the dimpling water andthe far-reaching sands , patterned with castings of the sand ee l ,one thinks of the far countree to which Kilmeny was carriedor repeats such lines as

On such a nigh t

Stoo d D ido with a wil low in h er handUpon th e wild sea banks , and waft h e r loveTo c om e again to Carth age .

Did the meek-,

eyed sandalled monk ever turn his thought tothe exquis ite and tender loveliness revealed by his island motherin her intimate moments No

,i s the probab le answer . He

was but a soj ourner here,Who preferred the hardships of l ife

because through them alone might he win eternal happiness .The external features of the Island are eas i ly apprehended .

At the south are rocks of black basalt,part of Northumberland’s

great Whin Sill,hardened lava

,formed when Cheviot stump

was a volcano . On the top of one of them sits the castle , l ike abird on its nest . Away to the north is a barren , but beautiful,region of blown sand

,wind-woven into dunes and hollows .

Between these two are lands of great ferti lity and a little lake ,much haunted by the wild birds indigenous to the Island . Letthere be added a hag or moss where grow many beautiful wildflowers

,among them the grass of Parnassus

,of which so many

poets have sung . In order to Obtain a satisfactory view of theneighbourhood it is best to mount to the castle battlementsfrom which Bamburghshire, the richest coontie in England ,

”

as the natives used to call it,stretches out . Its county town is

Bamburgh,shorn of its ancient importance

,but with a castle

which,by the lapse of time

,has become more Interest

ing than ever it was before . King Ida’s castle hugeand square sti ll bears the maj est ic appearance it must have

x 11 JOYOUS GARD AND ITS ROMANCE 1 19

presented when rebuilt in the twelfth century . Ida,

first ofthe Saxons to become King of Bernicia

,is said to have noticed

the strength of the basalt ic rock and built a tower and surrounded it at first with a hedge and then with a Wall . But itmust have been a modest edifice in comparison to what it becameafterwards . It is interest ing as a royal palace, and, in Freeman

’sphrase

,the cradle of Northumbrian history ; but the l ight of

romance falls on it too . For surely it was the Joyous Gard ofLancelot du Lake . Some say it was Alnwick and some sayit was Bamburgh

,Mallory remarks when tel ling how Lance lot

came hither to die . What a de l ightful express ion that of theBishop I saw the angels heave Sir Lancelot up to HeavenOn a sunny day, when the cloud shadows chase one another

over the wide ly divers ified country which stretches from thesea to the Cheviot ranges

,one likes to think of Tristram of

Lyonness and La Beale Isoud riding out with hawk on handfrom the gateway of Bamburgh . If the Northumbrians of thatday were the true progenitors of those who inhabit its districtnow

,they must greatly have delighted in Tristram . He was a

master of venerie,who hunted the deer with as much zest as

the members of the North Northumberland hunt the fox .

Mallory says he was the noblest blower of the horn of allmanner Of measures .” It is not altogether an idle or an imposs ible fancy that the thanes and villeins of Bamburgh , of Woolerand Milfield, of Mindrum and Yetholm ,

knew the sound of hishorn as he blew the uncoupling

,the seeking

,the rechate

,the

flight,the death , the strake , and many other blasts and terms .

King Arthur and Lancelot and Tristram,Guinevere and La

Beale Isoud may have been famil iar figures,and there are many

legends connected with the shadowy company .

The Farnes lie almost direct east from Bamburgh . In oldtimes they were closely connected with Holy Island , as theyformed part of the patrimony of the church in Lindis farne ,passing afterwards to the Priory and Convent of Durham . Inthe troubled times of Border fighting every island was lookedupon as being safer than the mainland . Until the middle oflast century there was a population on the is lands and a certainamount of agriculture carried on . TO-day they are tenanted byb irds only

,since the modern lighthouse does not demand the

constant presence of a keeper . It is remarkable that thecurious names of the islands were<nearly the same in the twelfth

120 A SANCTUARY FOR SEA-BIRD S CHAR.

century as they are to-day. In all there are over a score at lowwater and fifteen in all t ides . Northumberland is a county richin bird life and nowhere richer than on the coast . The Farnes ,under the care of an association

,are now kept as a sanctuary

for sea-birds . The nesting species are e ider-duck , pufl‘in , razorbill,gui llemot, cormorant , roseate tern , Arctic tern,

common tern,

Sandwich tern,lesser black-backed gull , kitt iwake , herring gull,

ring dotterel , and oystercatcher . The orn ithologist finds hereone of h is best hunting grounds , and the lover of nature coulddes ire to see no more del ightfu l p icture than is presented by thefeathered nat ions in the middle of the breeding season

,say,

early in June . Tern,soaring and dipping into the water,

guillemots crowded on the rocks so that they can scarcely findstanding room

,the gulls in their swinging fl ight , odd-looking

puffins and a black crowd of cormorants make a l iving pictureof b ird life such as can be seen in very few other places .It is not necessary here to dwe ll on the indiv idual is lands,

though the mind l ingers over the quaint old names— the Knoxes,the Wawmses, Megstone, Longstone , Crumstone Fam e , andthe rest . The most delightful way of exploring them is bysailing from Holy Is land .

That was how Miss Turner, the famous photographer offlying birds , went, and no words can describe the vivid , wildbeauty of bird and breeze and rock so graphical ly as her p ictures .She was on a first v is it to Holy Island , and both s ides Of herpersonal ity were k indled to enthus iasm— the orn ithologistd iscovered an ancient yet fresh and fair world teeming with thel i fe in which she is most interested : the artist found the seabirds in a natural and most picturesque setting .

Before cross ing to the Farnes she had been engrossed in thequieter but perfect loveliness of the larger island . She hadmade pictures of the winged vis itors to a l ittle fresh water poolnear the sand dunes . In photographing the V is itors to it— a

common tern standing on one of the stones and talking to hisown reflect ion

,

” an eider duck al ight ing,a ringed plover

,a

stockdove,a sheldrake— she contrives to get into the picture

the mounds of sand and the scanty vegetation slowly beginningto appear on them

,ti ll those who know and remember almost

exclaim Here is all the charm of all the Muses flowering ina photograph It carries us at once to the wind-swept shore .

The l ittle island lake, changing from its winter aspect of

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122 GULLS ’ EGGS CHAR.

j oy . And on the s ides of the cliffs on little projections sategulls, looking very wh ite and s i lvery against the dark arch .

”

He ascended “ wrinkled h ills of black stone and descended intoworn and dismal dales of the same into some of them when thet ide got entrance , it came pouring and roaring in raging whitenessand churning the loose fragments of whinstone into roundpebbles .

” And over our heads screamed hundreds of hoveringb irds , the gull mingling in hideous laughter

,most wildly .

He goes on to say that between May and July thousands ofeggs are collected and sold , many be ing sent to London .

Gathering samphire on Dover Cliffs was child ’s play in comparisonwith egg-collecting on the Farnes the fowlers pass from cragto crag over the roaring sea and even from one to another ofthese perpendicular isolated rocks

,the Pinnacles

,by means of

a narrow board placed from one to the other,and forming a

bridge over such horrid gaps that the very sight of it stills onewith terror .”

No sights such as this harrow the visitor of to-day. Peacere igns except for the internecine bickering of the b irds

,the ir

rivalry,thieving and revenges . On the rock, in the sea and in

the air,fowl in multitudes innumerab le hatch the ir eggs

,hunt

their prey,and disport themselves without molestation . The

v is itor wat ches in the same spirit that inspired Cuthbert whenhe surrendered to them the l ittle crop of barley grown for hisown use . In each he finds a separate grace to admire— as thetern or sea-swallow for the elegance of its fl ight and the skillof its fish ing

,the puffin for his oddity

,the eider duck for her

tameness and confidence,the gulls for their wild shriek born of

the ocean and its thunder . Even the ghoulish cormorant,despite its noisome

,insanitary home

,evokes reluctant admiration

when,with wide dark wings

,i t floats rather than fl ies above the

surface of the water .

An advantage of Holy Island is that frequent vis its may bemade to the Farnes ; the bird lover and the natural ist , indeedall but the mere Sightseer

,will want to go again and again .

You want to see the Crumstone covered at high water, but aresort of seals at ebb to study the uproarious channels betweenthe islands . It was in Staple Sound

,where there is a deep

passage between the Ox Scaurs on the north and the Crumstoneon the south , that the Pegasus struck .

Northumberland’

s heroine,Grace Darling

,is associated with

x 11 THE STORY OF GRACE DARLING 123

the Harcar Rocks,on which the Forfarshire struck at three

o’clock on a wild tempestuous September morning in 1838.

Nine people escaped in a boat,which dri fted miraculously through

the only poss ible passage . The stern,quarter—deck and cabins

were swept down the furious channel called the Piper Gut, whilethe other half of the vessel remained on the rock . Such of thepassengers as survived clung to the sway ing vessel as the wavesdashed over it

,threatening death at every crash . On the Long

S eahouses .

stone Lighthouse Grace and her father heard their cries,and the

rescue has often been described in prose and verse .

After a sunny, windy day on the Farnes one returns to HolyIsland with a mind surcharged . With in it there goes on a reverberation of colour as we ll as sound

,flashing white wings

,birds

speeding across the water and the air,screaming fowl and beating

wa’

ve commingled . There is added an intense longing to realisethat past of which we know so little . Something of it is revealedon the land , but the sea carries no outward mark of its history,and its worst tragedies can only be surmised . How much

124 A CENTRAL POINT OF INTEREST CH . X I I

romance lies buried under the waves of that coast betweenBerwick and the Farnes . Some hint Of it may be disclosed bya study, however 1mperfect, of the records preserved no less instone than on sheepskin

,by which we can piece together a story

of the central part,Lindisfarne . It will carry us through the

noblest period of Northumbrian history and cast a ray of lighton that of Early England .

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126 FOUNDING THE SEE OF LIND I SFARNE CHAR.

try to look through his eyes to understand why his choice lightedupon Lindisfarne . Probably the greatest consideration wasthat it reminded him of Iona . A modern writer has describedthe latter in words that might almost be applied to Holy IslandIt is but a small isle , fashioned of a little sand , a few grassessalt with the Spray of an ever-restless wave

,a few rocks that

wade in heather and upon whose brow the sea-wind weaves theyellow lichen . But s ince the remotest days sacrosanct men havelived here in worship . In this l ittle isle a lamp was lit whoseflame lighted Pagan Europe .

In Lindisfarne the evangel ist monk beheld a new Iona likethe old one , but with one or two different and remarkable features . It lay closer to the mainland , from which it is dividedby a tract of flat sand that the flowing tide conceals and theebb lays bare twice every day, an occurrence first described bythe Venerable Bede and afterwards by nearly all subsequentwriters who in prose or verse have recorded their impressionsof the famous isle . Aidan must also have seen a great barehump of basaltic rock that formed a centre round which therest Of the island landscape Is naturally grouped .

There was more to see . We can imagine the young Bishopclimb ing this bare crag— it is that on which the castle nowstands— and gazing at the Objects which interested him ashe listened to the water sobbing among the rocks or watched itflowing over the sands . On the friendly shore with in an hour’ssail rose the Royal vill of Bamburgh , not as we know it , but asit was built by Ida and dwelt in by Oswald . Further off werethe Farnes

,dark and, according to the belief of the time , devil

haunted rocks rising ominously from a dangerous sea . The

monk of that period was convinced that the way to Heavenlay through se l f- imposed penances . For such austeritiesNature might have purposely brought forth these b leak andmelancholy isles .

In this spirit the See of Lindis farne was founded , and withlittle essential change it existed for two centuries and a half .Were it possible to form a picture of the primitive church bui ltupon the island

,it would help us to realise the l ife of that early

monastery . No vestige of i t remains to-day, but from chancehints and allus ions it is known to have been first built of woodand roofed with thatch

,made most likely of the reeds that still

grow plenti fully in the island mere . AS preachers of the Word

X I I I FROM HERD LADD IE TO BISHOP 127

the early monks of Lindis farne soon became famous , and greatcrowds came across the sands to hear them . They were alsoactive missionaries . Boisil

,from Iona

,had founded the monaste ry

of Mailros, or Old Melrose , very shortly after Aidan’s establ ish

ment .There were in all s ixteen B ishops of Lindisfarne , and of these

the most famous was Cuthbert . He was a shepherd boy on theLammermoors when Aidan died , and the Venerable Bede saysthat on that n ight he saw stars fall ing . Behold a servant ofthe Lord ! ”exclaimed B oisil when the comely herd laddie

,

”

spear in hand,rode up to the monastery door of Melrose . In

those lawless times even the godly dared not go unarmed .

Comely in appearance,thoughtfu l in habit , and of an inborn

piety,Cuthbert soon attracted the notice of great ecclesiastics .

Joining the monastery of Melrose,he rece ived the tonsure from

Eata,and quickly surpassed the other monks in prayer and

labour,reading and discipline . He subsequently ac companied

Eata to Ripon,at which King Alchfrith had built a monastery .

This was when the great struggle was tak ing place between theCeltic and the Romish parties . At the time of Bata’s appointment

,King Alch frith was on the s ide of the Irish miss ionaries ;

but under the influence of his mother , Eanflea, he passed tothe s ide of the Romans and made Wilfrith Abbot of Ripon . In

consequence,Cuthbert and the other Melrose monks were driven

out . He returned to his old home at Melrose,and , after recovery

from an attack of plague,gave h imse lf to preaching the Gospel ,

visiting places so wide apart as Coldingham and Nithsdale,and

everywhere making converts and Winning renown as an e loquentand persuas ive preacher . The struggle between the Romishand the Celtic monks was brought to a close by the victoryof the former in the decis ion of the Synod held at Whitby in664 , and Cuthbert obediently followed h is leaders . Eata

,

now Abbot of Lindis farne,made him prior in order that

he might teach the Romish usages to those monks whostill persisted in following those taught at Iona . It was agreat step upward when the erstwhile shepherd lad was madeprior ; but humil ity was of the very essence of the man . He

cont inued to wear the s imple garment, made of undyed wool ,which was that of the ordinary brother

,and in chapter was

distinguished for the sweetness Of dispos i tion with which hesubdued the wrangling that was ever breaking out between the

128 CUTHBERT’S ASCETICISM AND HIS CELL C I IAR.

new school and the old . For twelve years he seems to haveshared fully in the activities of the monastery

,which continued

to send forth preachers and teachers to the wild places of Northumberland, while many individuals , as we shall see , kept al ivethe tradit ion of art and beautywhich they had acquired with theirCeltic origin by way of Iona . No doubt a worthy fane had beenreared for worsh ip ; we hear incidental ly of vesse ls of silver andgold

,of treasure accumulated through the offerings of the

Th e Fam e I s lands .

faithful,and there Is vis ible proof that among the monks were

artists skil led to produce the beautiful . At first he shut himselfin a natural hermitage which tradition associates with a caveat Howburn ,

near Lowick,and then

,as if his hope of ultimate

glory depended on intens i fying his suffering, he , as Aidan haddone

,turned his eye on Farne

,the name island of the Farne

group,which is now identified with House Island . A reference

to it by Hutchinson , who wrote in 1 7 76 , is worth quoting as anexpress ion of the older View of such scenery : He built a cel lwith a small oratory and surrounded it with a wall which cut

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130 FLYING BEFORE WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR CHAR.

and Reginald it is said that the body was found unchanged andthe j oints still : flexible . Even the clothing had suffered no

decay. The obj ect in opening it had been to place it in a smallercoffin, on the assumption that it would have been reduced todust . The body was reverently replaced

,and when Bishop

Eadbert died,a fortnight later

,a burial place for him was found

beneath that of Cuthbert . It must have been Opened again atthe death of Bede , whose remains were placed bes ide those ofthe saint . So Cuthbert Slept in that island church

,with the

voices of the choristers s inging round him and mingling with thenoise of those sea waves over which were to come the Vikings todisturb the peace of the quiet

,re ligious settlement . Cuthbert

died in 687 and Lindisfarne was laid waste by the Danes in 793 .

But they did not disturb the tomb . In 875, however, they cameover again and the monks fled in alarm

,carrying with them the

remains in a temporary wood coflin . They took away also thefamous Gospel of Lindis farne and j ourneyed to Cumberlandwith the intention of crossing over to Ireland, but they wereturned by a storm

,during which the precious Gospe l was

swept into the sea,which miraculously returned it to the

land .

It would take too long to recite in detail the further adventuresof the body

,which

,after many wanderings

,rested in Chester-le

Street,where it remained for a hundred years , until under the

terror of another Danish invas ion it was carried to Ripon . Afew months later an attempt was made to bring it back toChester-le-Street

,and thus occurred the legendary incident

which is said to account for the image of a cow familiar to allwho have ever looked at the main entrance to Durham Cathedral .Supposedly by the saint’s directions

,they followed a cow until

it stopped . Then they first erected a chapel made of boughsand afterwards built a little wooden fame to cover the coffin ,and on September 4th , 998, it was removed to Ealdhun

’

s Churchof stone . But when William the Conqueror swept over thenorth like a devastating storm

,in 1069, the monks of Durham

fled back to Lindis farne,where they concealed Cuthbert

’

sremains for a year

,after which it was carried again to Durham

and placed in the new church built by Bishop WilliamMany interesting and valuable rel ics of Cuthbert are still

_

in

existence.There i s first the Lindis farne Gospel , of which

something will be said anon . Then when the tomb was Opened

X I I I THE MOST INTERESTING RELICS OF CUTHBERT 13 1

in 1 104 i t was found to contain , among other things , a s ixthcentury manuscript of St . John’s Gospe l . This is now atStonyhurst . In 1827 the coflin was opened for the last t imeby the cathedral clergy

,an imated

,it has been assumed

,by no

higher motive than that of curiosity . They found in it,among

other things,a little Pectoral Cross of dull gold

,with a loop

,at

the top,of bright pure gold . It we ighs fifteen pennyweights

and twelve grains . There was also a little portable altar madeOf embossed silver, attached by s ilver nai ls to a s lip of oak abouta third Of an inch in th ickness and about 6 ins . by 5 ins . in area.

But perhaps the most interesting of all are the robes found onhis body. Among them was a stole and maniple

,with an

inscription wrought in to them : E lfla’dfi erz precepit pt’

o epz'

seopoFrzthestano fElflaed caused to be made for the pious Bishop

[Elflaed was the queen of Edward the Elder ,Alfred’s son

,and Frithestan was the contemporary Bishop of

Winchester . Dr . Browne suggests that after the death ofFrithestan his robes might be at the disposal of anyone whowished to make a special gift

,or they might be Palace property .

Athelstane,after h is success fu l invasion of Scottish territory

in 933—4 , made rich gifts to the body of Cuthbert , then lyingin Chester-le-Street , among them a stole and maniple . Dr .

Browne,the authority already quoted , says both the stole and

maniple,now at Durham

,have the inscription given above

worked into them in worsted work . The substance of theserobes is narrow gold tape

,woven with sel f-edges for the insert ion

of the lettering,the prophets

,the floral ornamentation , and all

parts of the subj ects,in worsted . It is a marvellous piece of

work , just a thousand years old , with an unusually clear andconvincing ped igree .

”

There Is a strange ironic contrast between the living Cuthbert,

abjuring luxury In dress during l ife and choos ing to go about ina cloak of undyed wool , skin leggings and boots that were nottaken off from year’s end to year’s end

,and the same body after

death, sheathed in a royal garment that has not wholly lost itsbeauty after a thousand years , and furnished with rich andprecious religious symbols , making the splendour of the tombutterly unlike the sirnplicity of the man . On each occas ionwhen his sepulchre was changed

,magnificent clothing was

found for t he poor remains . It was all in keeping with there ligious spirit of the age which attached miraculous power even

K 2

132 ROBES FOR THE GRAVE CHAR.

to the bones of a saint ; and the belief was widespread that hisbody was incorruptible .

When the time came for the body to be removed from itsisland resting-place to Durham

,new robes were provided . They

were after the fash ion of the gorgeous presents which Leopold II Imade to Charlemagne, describ ing them as two robes of Syrianpurple with borders of cloth of gold wrought with elephants .”

A circular medallion of s ilk was found in the tomb of Charlemagne when it was opened in the presence of William II . The

elephant , which is their outstanding feature , may possibly beconnected with the Emperor’s favourite elephant Abulabas,which accompanied h im In his great progresses . Expert opin ionis that these robes were woven in Syr ia and Mesopotamia .

Cuthbert’s robes , Dr . Browne writes in his Li fe of Bede,

”

were presumably made between 1085 and 1 104 to be readyfor the translation of the saint’s body to the new CathedralChurch of Durham . I f the conj ecture that they were producedby women of Syria and Mesopotamia be correct

,the monkish

artist from Lindis farne must have sent to the Arab weaversketches and verbal directions for giving the local colour . Of

the more beaut iful o f these robes Dr . Browne says it was ofstout s ilk, ornamented with circu lar medall ions two feet across ,containing a vase symbol ic of an is land floating on the sea .

The floating vesse l was laden with fruit and the whole was enclosed ih a circular border of fru its .

”The rippling sea

,the

fish and fowl,indicate Lindis farne clearly

,and the fru its may

represent those of a holy li fe .

Of the portion of another robe of th in s i lk the same authoritysays the medallions were less artistic . They had a very richborder of incurved octagons fifteen inches across enclosing a

man on horseback with hawk in hand and a row of rabbitsbelow .

”He suggests that the falconer may be intended for

King Ecgfrith , who was at the head of the Synod, all the membersof which

,on bended knee

,besought Cuthbert to accept the

Bishopric of Hexham . There was no anachronisrn . Falconrywas already a sport in Anglo Saxon England . Alch frith ,Ecgfrith

’

s brother, 15 represented,hawk on fist

,on the con

temporary memorial cross at Bewcastle .

The story of the Lindisfarne Gospe l as told by Sir EdwardSullivan was that

,

“ having reached the West Coast , they

(the monks) took ship for Ireland ; but the frai l vessel In which

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134LINDISFARNE A HAND -MAYDE TO DURHAM CHAR.

places in that part of the realm now became , in the”

wordsof Flambard

,a hand-mayde to Durham .

”In 1082

, Bishop

Rreins of the P r iory .

Will iam Carileph by charter bestowed on his neW Iy

establ ished cell of Benedictine monks , inter alz'

a,

The

ChurCh of Lindisfarne which had been originally the Ep iscopal

X I I I BUILD ING OF THE PRIORY 135

See,with its adj acent vi l l of Fenham

,and the Church of

Norham,which had been rendered illustrious by the body of

St . Cuthbert , with its vil l of Shoreswood .

” Unti l now theisland had been known as Lindisfarne

,but under Benedictine

rule it was called Holy Island,in consequence of the sacred

b lood shed upon it by the Danes .” The Benedict ines cleared

A S tudy in D urham Cathedra l .

(Compare with The Priory, Lindisfarne. )

away the decayed remains of the Old cathedral and builtupon its foundation the priory whose ru ins still remain.

The foundation was probably laid in 1093 or 1094 . Reginald ,the Durham Monk , records that it was built by one ofthe monks

,named Edward , whose main anxiety was to

increase the possess ions and imptove the bu ild ings of the

136 THE OLD CHURCH AT HOLY ISLAND CHAR.

church , and that i t was new from its foundation . Hemodelled it on the l ines of Durham Cath edral .The ruins are the most beautiful and picturesque in Northum

berland . Anyone looking at them to-day must share in the

The Pa r ish Chur ch of S t. .Ma ry .

admiration so eloquently expressed by Sir Walter Scott .Elsewhere

,ru ins might in themselves be as lovely

,but nowhere

have they a setting so appropriate . In other cases decay hasgone so far as to obliterate the outline of the original ; or shOp andfactory have invaded what were once the garth and precincts of a

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138 BATTLESH IPS IN THE HAVEN CHAR.

and geese,malt for strong ale and store of wine for the solace

of the brethren and strangers formed the diet of those whofollowed .

The Lindisfarne Gospel appears in eve ry new inventory aspart of a very small l ibrary but there is nothing to indicatethat the monks gave their time to making other i lluminatedworks . In these same inventories are included a few guns andpieces of rusty armour

,and we know that the priory was crenel

lated or loop-holed and had other defensive fort ifications,but

the monks never were assailed . Yet of “ ins ight,as the Border

robbers named household gear,there was more in the priory

than in any of the vil lages . The last inventory enumeratestreasures and embroideries

,c loths of “

whitte and rede sattin

and cloths of go ld,images and pictures

,robes and relies and

altar-cloths .It was not ti ll after the dissolution of the religious houses that

the need of a fortress in the is land was urgently felt . The

castle owed its existence to the Order in Council (1539)that“ all

havens should be fensed with bulwarks and blockehouses.

But the work was not immediately begun . What forced thei s land upon military attention was the preparation for Hertford’stremendous raid in 1543 . Things had not settled down afterFlodden . Surrey

,instead of carrying his advantage home by

an invasion,had disbanded the army

,and hosti l it ies were con

ducted by riding forays into the Merse and Lothians— a pol icythat had the effect of exasperating the Scots

'

to the last degree .

In 1543 they had renewed the old all iance with France, and thisaccounted for the expedition under Edward Seymour

,the Earl

of Hertford .

The main embark ation took place at Berwick , but on the wayto it two thousand two hundred troops were landed on HolyIsland

,and in October 1543 ten English line of battlesh ips were

in the haven . In the previous year was made the first attemptat a serious fort ification of the i sland

,under the direction of

Robart Rooke of Barwik . The plan was to make two bul~

warks,the one to be set in such place as would command the

roadstead,the other in the most favourable s ituation for de fend

ing the i s land . In the report of the master mason and RobartRooke

,i t was said that there is stone plentie and suffi cient

remayning of the olde abbey lately dissolved there to make thebulwark that Shal defend the eland all of stone if i t maie so

x i i i THE FORT OF BEBLOWE 139

stand with the good pleasure of the k inges said majestie . Wefind the castle mentioned for the first time in the Border Surveymade by Sir Robert Bowes in 1550 . He writes exactly in themanner of one looking at a newly-bu ilt fortress The Fort ofBeblowe, with in the Holy Island, lyeth very well for the defence

The Castle f r om Nor th -West

of the haven theire and if there were about the lowe part thereofmade a ring

,with bu lwarks to flancke the same , the d itch there

about might be easily watered towarde the land . And then Ith inke the said forte were very stronge , and S tood to great purp ose, both for the defense of the forte and annoyance of the

140 QUEEN ELIZABETH’S SURVEY CHAR.

enemies,i f they did arrive in any other parts of the Island .

Later,in 1675, a second fort was bu ilt upon the east end of the

Heugh , but it was soon allowed to fal l into ruins .For obj ects of her own

,which we need not go into here

,

The Po st Ca r t c rossing,r the S ands .

W i th the ebb and fl ow its styleChanges from c ontinent to isle .

Queen Elizabeth had a survey made in the third year Of herreign . It gives a vivid p icture of the Holy Island of that time

Th e Holy Hand is scituate within th e sea, and yit at everytyde of lowe water men may passe into th e sam e on h orseback or

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142 LATER H ISTORY OF THE ISLAND CHAR.

The Elizabethan surveyor paints a scene of desolation .

Only a few emb lems and remnants remain to tell of theimportance of Lind isfarne during days when it was a famousseat of learning and the home of a powerful monastery .

St . Cuthbert’s shrine,not only in ruins

,but abased into the

uses of a storehouse for the garrison ; the market of theisland town stil l c laiming precedence

,but little used the main

houses decayed,but stil l showing the tofts and crofts ,

”theland set with fishers very poor the castle armoured with

The Castle and Vz l lage.

culverins and demi-culverins,sak irs and falcons

,but never

assailed— its history s ince Aidan’s day is being obl iterated . Inthe reign of Elizabeth’s successor

,when Scotland and England

became united under James,the island lost importance even

from the military point Of view . The castle,it is true

,remained

a Government fortress,and the parish register shows

,by the

frequent entry a soger d ied,

” that a military garr ison wasmaintained

,the sold iers be ing probab ly strangers to the fisher

community . During the tragical reign of Charles I we obtain

11111 IN THE TIME OF CHARLES I 143

an unexpected peep at it . This is to be found in the diary ofJohn Aston

,a younger son of the ancient family of Aston

,of

As ton in Cheshire,who was attached to the su ite of Charles I

on his expedition through the counties of York , Durham andNorthumberland

,in the first B ishops’ War of 1639. His d iary

is published with fiv e others by the Surtees Society, under theeditorship of Mr . J . C . Hodgson of Alnwick . On May 25th ,1639, the King

’s Army was encamped at Goswick,the p lace being

H o ly I s land to A Fam ous I nn .

chosen because i t should seeme the king’s designe was to haveset downe with his army heere

,i t beeing neare the Holy Island

,

and to have had the command and pleasure of his shipps for h issecurity upon any exigent .”

Charles d id not,as a matter of fact

,j oin the camp at Goswick

,

but Aston went to the place,and from it made an expedit ion

,the

account of which shows exactly what the island and fortress werelike in 1639

Henc e wee went to view th e Ho ly Island , and about 10 a c lock ,

wh en th e tyde was out , wee rode over to it and divers walked on

foote into it . I t is about 5 m ile in com passe , a level ! ground with a

short greene swade upon it , noe part o f it t ill ed no r affoo rding anything but conies . Just at our comm ing those shipp s wee sawe last

AN OLD SUPERSTITION ABOUT THE SANDS CHAR.

night , beeing 20 sayle under th e command o f Marq uisse Hai i im il ton(hav mg beene with him at Dum Fryth with land souldiours),h eere landed 2 regim ent s of foo te . S ir Simon Harecourt

’

s, and

S ir Tho . Moreton ’s 24 ensignes , who in th e island stood to th eirarm es and musterd , and so e soone as th e tyde was a l itt le m orewithdrawne , march ed away towards Barwick . In th is islandis a smal l v il ladge , and a l itt le chappel l . Th er e is yet remainingth e m ines of a faire church very l ike th e cath edral l at Durham

,

both for th e stone and manner o f building. I t was consec rated toS t . Cuthbert , wh o ,

for h is h o ly life , obtained a miracu lous gift to th eisland, that about 9a c lo ck every Sonday th e water sh ould bee soe

l / '

A H o ly I s land Fisherman .

lowe that th e inhabitants of th e c ountrey that paris to that Churc h

may com e dry sh od to p rayers and retoum e befo re it fiowe againe ,

and it happens so e no e day o f th e weeke besides but upon enquiryI was tou ld it was but a sup erstit ious t radition , and noe truth .

Thi s ch urch and buil dings were demo lish ed by th e Ear le of Sussexsinc e th e beginning of King Jam es h is reigne , to wh om th e governm ent of th e isle was given . Th ere is a p retty fo rt in it , wh ich upon

th is occasion was repaired and put into form e . Th ere are 2 batterieson it

,on th e lower stood m ounted 3 iron p eec es and 2 of brasse ,

with carriadges and p latform es in good order . On th e h igh er was

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B adle Poin t.

CHAPTER XIV

THE ROYAL CASTLE OF BAMBURGH

Royal Cast le o f Bamburgh—! From B el ford to BamburghTh e Laidley Worm of S p indleston Heugh—Ear ly History of

Bamburgh -From Ida to Eadwine , th e first c ivilised Kingof No rth umbria—D esc r ipt ion of Pau l inus, its first m issionary-Oswald of th e Fair Hand

,its first Ch r istian King—Th e greatPenda : his rise

,reign and overth row—Later Sax on kings

Th e tragedy of Nech tansmere—Ath elstan ’s visit to Northumb ria-Th e last King of North umbria—Rufus , Edward I I , Mar

gar et of An jou—Henry’s nine m onth s ’ reign at BamburghTh e Batt le o f Hedgeley Moo r—Forster o f Bamburgh—Cast leand Church in modern tim es—Joyous Gard and Lanc elot .

BAMBURGH CASTLE is without doubt the noblest in Northumberland

,its huge dimensions

,crowning the cliffs

,making an

instant impression of grandeur . The level sands below,where

the waves curl and break along the spacious bay,with the Farnes

ris ing darkly in front,complete a picture of unassailable dignity .

The village,with its sweet Auburn air of peace and prosperity,

stands probably where Ethelfrid strengthened Ida’s ci tadel and

called it fondly after Bebbah,his wife . Proud Eadwine rode

out and in here in royal state,pious Oswald offered his almost

hourly prayers beside the mocking voices of the sea, humble146

CH. X IV ON THE WAY TO BAMBURGH 147

Cuthbert walked among the country folk teaching them byexample as much as by precept . Then was the golden age ofChristianity

,when the tides o f faith beat full around

rocky Bamburgh . Robes of magnificence,too , rustled here— to

contrast with the humili ty of Cuthbert— when Wilfred,after a

simple training on Lindisfarne,became Bishop of Northumber

land . The world called to him,and his fortunes fluctuated

between York and Hexham,where he founded the glorious

church . But robe of noble and prelate at this , the greatestperiod perhaps of Bamburgh

,can be seen in the i lluminated

wonderful gospels of Lindis farne,and the high state of Bam

burgh’s civi lisation is shown in the furniture drawn by theartist from what he had seen in the palace .

On the road from Belford to Bamburgh there are severalplaces tempting one to linger . Budle Bay

,a large sandy

stretch of coast,i s two mi les from Belford , and the

Budle Hi ll s ri se above the l ittle ham let of thatname . Where the Waren stream runs into the bay stood atown called Warnmouth , long s ince covered by the sea . I tmust have been a port of some size

,for a charterwas granted to i t

by Henry II I,but l ittle else is known of it . About a mile inland

to the south lies the wel l-known Spindleston Heugh , the scene ofthe ballad of the Laidley Worm (loathsome snake or serpent)

Word went east and wo rd went westWord is gone over th e seaThat a Lai dley Worm in Sp indleston HeughWou ld ruin th e North Countree .

This was a princess of Bamburgh Castle who,by a wicked step

mother,had been transformed into the worm until her brother

,

“ the Ch ildy Wynd ,”should come from oversea and rescue her .

On hearing of his s ister’s misfortune he embarked in a ship “ withmasts of the rowan tree

,and fluttering s ilk so fine .

”Th e queen

,

see ing the ship approaching,sent her witch wives to destroy it .

This turned out to be beyond their power,as the rowan tree of

which the masts were made was charmed . There is an oldnorth country saying “Witches have no power where there isrowan tree wood .

”Then the sorceress tried a boat of armed

men , who were likewise unsuccessfu l in the attempt to breakthrough the rowan’s spell . Ch ildy Wynd landed on BudleSands after pass ing the banks of Bamburghsh ire .

”

148 THE LA IDLEY WORM OF SPINDLESTON HEUGH am p .

Wh en h e m et th e Wo rm

He sh eath ed h is sword , and bent his bowAnd gave h er kisses th reeS h e c rep t into a h o le a wo rmAnd stepp ed out a ladye .

So he wrapt her in his mantle and hastened to King Ida’s castle,

where the queen grew pale as she watched their approach .

In j ust wrath he addressed the trembling queen and,with three

drops from the well,turned her into a most horrid toad .

Th e virgins al l o f B amburgh townWil l swear that th ey have seenTh is sp iteful toad of monstrous siz eWh ilst walking on th e green .

The cave where the Worm lived and the trough out of which shedid sup the mi lk of seven stately cows ’’ were shown at Spindleston sixty years ago

,but were destroyed in the making of a quarry .

An isolated pillar of whinstone sti ll standing 15 said to havebeen used by the brother to throw the bridle of his horse overwhen he went to meet the Worm . I t is unreasonable perhapsto ask why he needed a horse for the short distance from hisship to the cave . I t i s a wild and rugged spot where this strangeadventure is placed

,with the Cheviots to the west

,a beautiful

view . To the north are lonely sands,with a number of

streams winding slowly and circui tously to the shin ing sea .

Over Beal Sands is that li ttle thread of a riv er,the Low, where the

Celtic King Uri en was treacherously killed when he had almostsucceeded in wresting Bernicia from Ida’s son . Urien was kingof a Celtic State called Reged, afterwards probably Redesdale .It was in the moment of triumph

,when he had driven the

English across the sands to Holy Island , the Celtic Medcaud, thathe fell on the banks of the Aber Llen . His heroic exploits andthose of h is son

,called “The Chief of the Gl ittering West ,

”wassung by the bards .To the south

,dunes of blown sand lead the eye past the Hark

ness Rocks to Bamburgh .

From remotest times its pos ition must have made itdesirable

,and the eyes of the early English invaders

turned to i t as the most promis ing fortified place for securingthe domination of the country . Ida

,in 547 , in his appo inted

task of uniting under one rule the scattered States , seized and

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150 EADWINE AND PAULINUS c a n ».

Northumoria had been growmg rapidly as the various newlyfounded States oi the English battled for power

,and to Eadwine

,

who mounted the throne in 6 17 on the death of Ethelfrith ,Bamburgh became the chief City in a kingdom which extendedfrom the Humber to the Forth . He succeeded in defeating theEast Angl ians , East Saxons , and West Saxons , and the southcountry became subj ect to Northumbria

,now at the height of

her greatness . Eadwine was a ruler whose talents were notableas much in peace as in war

,and in his kingdom of Northumbria

began a settled and civi l ised government embodied in theproverb : “ A woman with her babe might walk scathless fromsea to sea in Eadwine ’s day.

”He was the first great Northum

brian . His northernmost city was cal led Eadwine’s burgh

,the

romantic Edinburgh of later days . As he rode through thevi llages of h is domain a standard of purple and gold floatedabove him

,and a banner formed of globes of feathers

,the Roman

tufa, preceded him . Thus he is said to have ridden,in imperial

pomp,through the wild northland . In places where he

saw clear springs near the highways,he caused stakes to be

fixed,with brass dishes hanging from them for the refreshment

o f travellers,and so strongly were Eadwine’s laws administered

that none inj ured the dishes . He married Ethelburg, a Kentishprincess

,who brought with her Paulinus

,a fol lower of St .

Augustine . The Venerable Bede,who died in 804 , has preserved

an impression of the first great missionary of Northumbria,

given to him by a monk who had talked with an old manbaptised by Paulinus in the presence of King Eadwine . He

remembered the tall,stooping form

,slender aquil ine nose

,

black hair round a thin,earnest face— a picture truly of the

resolute man whose pilgrimages have left a trai l of legendacross the north country . As no mention i s made of anyinability to make himself understood by the Northumbrians ,i t has been suggested that Paulinus may have been among thoseEnglish slaves in Rome who

,according to the famous story ,

attracted the notice of the benign and punning Gregory andwere Chri stianised by him in order to return to their nativeland to convert their pagan but handsome brethren . Paul inushad a struggle to convert Eadwine

,who , although abandoning

idols,hesi tated about the worship of Christ . A wise and thought

ful man,he debated long the new rel igion . The Pope wrote him

an able letter and sent him a shirt,a gold ornament and the

X IV THE WISE EALDORMAN’

S FAMOU S METAPHOR 151

blessing of Peter . Also , with worldly guile , he wrote Ethelburga ,pointing out her peculiar opportunities to influence her husbandand supplementing his advice with a si lver mirror and an ivorycomb inlaid with gold— wonderful intuition in femininity ina celibate But it was years after this that the king

,evidently

an obstinate,questioning

,cautious north countryman

,made the

great decis ion that throws glory on Northumbria . Bede’saccount of this acceptance of Christ ianity has surely no equal forbeauty and wisdom in all the stories of conversions . The wisemen of Northumbria gathered together to hear the doctrinethat was to replace the pagan worship . We would like to thinkthat i t was in the hall at Bamburgh

,the waves whitening the

giant rock amid all the pass ionate declamation of winds’

andclamorous sea-birds— the voices perchance of Thor and Wodenthat the voice of an aged Ealdorman broke on their ears .

SO seem s th e l ife o f man , O king, as a sparrow’s fligh t th rough

th e h al l wh en you are sitting at m eat in winter-t ide , th e fire on th e

h earth, th e icy rainstorm with out . Th e sparrow flies in at one

door and tarries for a m oment in th e l igh t and h eat of th e h earthfi re

,th en flies forth into th e darkness wh enc e it cam e . So tarr ies

for a m oment th e life of man in our sigh t , but what is before it .

what after it , we know no t . I f this new teaching tel ls us augh t

of th ese let us fo l low it .

”

A wholesale conversion and baptising of the Northumbriansfollowed . Seven years after

,Eadwine’s wonderful reign ended

,

when he was only forty-seven . Penda,King o f Mercia

,the

champion of the deserted gods,allied himself wi th Cadwal lon ,

the Welsh king,and slew Eadwine at the battle of Hatfield

,in

Yorkshi re .

Oswald , who succeeded h im ,became a champion of Chris

tianity and won the great battle of Heavenfeld. Cadwal lon fe llin fl ight where the Rowley Burn runs into Devils Water

,near

Hexham . Oswald may be regarded as the first great Christianking who inhabited Bamburgh . Paulinus had fled from Northumbria after Eadwine’s death

,although his memory sti l l surv ives

in a few place -names .It was at Bamburgh that the king and bishop

,one Easter

day,were at dinner when the thane whom he had set to give

alms to the poor came in to say a great multitude sti llfasted outs ide . Th e king at once ordered the untastedmeat on the table to be carried out and the s ilver dish to be

152 THE WHITE HAND OF OSWALD CHAP .

distributed among them . Aidan seized the royal hand andb lessed it . May this hand ,

” he cried,never grow o ld.

Oswald received the surname of Langwyn or Fair Hand , andafter his death and mutilation In a battle against Penda

,in 642 ,

his “ white hand remained uncorrupted . Bede saw It stil lfresh in a silver case at Bamburgh . As Oswald died heprayed

,and the memory of him was preserved in an old couplet

G od have m ercy upon th eir sou l sQuoth Oswald as h e fell to th e ground .

Thus died the greatest and gentles t king of Northumbria .

The country was given over to the savage Penda forthe next few years . All England bowed before him

,and the

Christian faith was almost overthrown . Only the dour Northumbrians refused to yield . Once he even reached royal Bamburgh

,

impregnable and steadfast on its rock . Assault would not takeit,so he pulled down the surround ing cottages and

,piling the

wood against the walls,fired it

,and Bamburgh seemed doomed .

Aidan,on an isle of the Farnes opposite

,saw in anguish the

coming triumph of the barbarian . See,Lord , what i l l Penda is

doing . The wind changed and the smoke lifted from the fairc ity and drove the flame in the faces of its persecutors . But inspite of Penda’s v ictories , when the rest of England was swithering in its new alliance with Christianity, in Northumbria theCross stood firm

,held up by the brave band of missionaries who

wandered on foot from Holy I sland all down the coast . The

gentle Aidan died leaning against the west end of the woodenchurch in Bamburgh

,and that night a vision came to the shep

herd boy Cuthbert,who saw Aidan’s soul carried heavenward

by angels as he lay praying on the hills . On him descendedAidan’s mantle . Oswi, brother of Oswald , was now king, butPenda stil l l ived

,old and indomitable

,to disturb the peace of

the harried Christians . His son became converted,and this

perhaps aroused the wrath of the great pagan,who

,indeed

,said

he hated those whom he saw not doing the works of the faiththey had received .

”The Northumbrians offered him costly

gifts Oswi offered his son as a hostage at Penda’s Court butthey were contemptuously refused . Penda laid waste Bernicia

,

and all that was left of the church and Village of Bamburghwas the wooden stay against which Aidan had leant inhis last hours . It was probably on the banks of the

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154 THE DECAY OF BAMBURGH a p .

campaign in the rhyming grant he is said to have made of Roddanand Heddon to Paulan

I Kyng Ade lstangifi s h ere to PaulanOddan and Roddan ,

als gud and als fair ,as evyr thai myne war ,and thar to wytnes

Mald my W ifi e .

In 954 Eric Bloodaxe , the last king of Northumbria ,perished by the hand of a traitor on the wilds of Stainmoor . Itwas now weak and open to attack from Scots and Danes

,and

the latter sacked Bamburgh in 993 . The k ingdom had shrunk toabout the size of the modern county and become an earldom .

Bamburgh continued to lose prestige . From the ru ined churcha monk of Peterborough stole the right arm of St . Oswald

,.and

nothing could mark the degradation and the neglect of Bamburghmore completely in medieval eyes . Reginald of Durham thuslaments its fall : The city renowned for the splendour of herhigh estate is in these latter days burdened with tribute and

reduced to the condition of a handmaiden . She who was oncethe mistress of the cities of Bri tain has exchanged the glories ofher Sabbaths for shame and desolation . The crowds that flockto her festivals are represented by a few herdsmen . The pleasuresher dignity afforded are turned to naught .” When the NormanConqueror received the fealty of the great nobles of the North

,

Earl Oswulf of Bamburgh was the only one who d id not bend hisknee

,and his earldom was given to a henchman of William ’s

,

who never enj oyed it, as at the feast of welcome, at Newburn

Oswulf managed to k i ll the intruder . However , a few monthslater he himself was killed in pursuing a robber

,and thus obscurely

perished the last descendant of the great house of Bamburghwhose forty kings had re igned . When William came north toquieten the rebellion against him

,he left a desert from the

Humber to the Tweed , the lurking—place of wolves and robbersonly . York

,Durham

,and Bamburgh were the only inhabited

towns left,and for nine years cult ivation ceased . Later on

Northumberland was parcelled out amongst William’s friends ,

and only the native proprietors continued on the small estates .

In 1095 Rufus marched north to Bamburgh to chastise thecomparatively new Earl

,Robert de Mowbray, who refused to

x 1v RUFUS AND HIS MALVOISIN 155

appear at Court when commanded . The Earl had taken re fugein the Castle with his young bride . Finding it impossible totake the castle

,William built a Malvo isin . The nobles in his

army Who had promised to ass ist Robert’s ris ing,William

maliciously bade help in the erection of the Bad Neighbour.

B amburgh Vil lage.

Mowbray, from the ramparts of the castle , shouted taunts tothem on their broken oaths

,and their confusion and shame

greatly amused Rufus . However,the s iege was unsuccess ful

and William returned south . A promise from Newcastle thatits gates would be opened to him induced the Earl to escapefrom Bamburgh . It turned out false . He had to fly to

156 A BLACKMAILING CONSTABLE CHAP .

Tynemouth,where the castle and monastery made a brave

defence for two days but he was at last taken prisoner . Hisbrave young countess continued to hold out in Bamburgh

,

which was stil l bes ieged . William ordered that Mowbray shouldbe taken in front of the castle

,and the lady was told that his

eyes would be gouged out unless she submitted . She saved himthat torture but little light he saw,

poor rebel,in those adamant

days,for a dungeon held him for the rest of his li fe .

Another unfortunate,Edward II

,after Bannockburn

,arrived

in a small boat at the gates of Bamburgh . A miserable timefollowed for Northumberland after that battle . Safety wasonly found under the shadow of a castle— and that was dearlybought at Bamburgh

,for the Constable would only allow

them to purchase a truce from the Scots i f they paid him asimilar amount of blackmail . He also charged them heavilyfor storing their goods in the castle

,while the porters would not

let their chattels out or in without more payment . In additionthe garrison robbed the villagers of their provisions . For yearsthe country suffered unspeakable misery

,and the land even

down to the Tyne was desolate except where the owners paidblackmail to the raiding Scots . For instance at Dunstanburgh Castle only one horse was lifted from the gam iture

a piece of fortune due to Thomas of Lancaster’s dealings with theScots .

At Berwick three little boys who had gone out to play in theMagdalene Fields were coming back through the Cowport , whenone found he had forgotten his song—book and went back tolook for it . They were immediately seized for trafficking withthe Scots . The suspicion and fear were terrible . It was Northumberland

’s blackest hour . A century or more earlier it wassaid that Northumber land was then so renowned that rightdown to the Pyrenees there was no country so we ll providedwith the necessaries of l ife nor inhabited by a race more universally respected .

”There is litt le to record of importance after

those years unti l the Wars of the Roses sent the tumult ofopposing factions against the grey walls of Bamburgh . Itwas seized in 1463

o

by the Lancastrians . Margaret of Anjoutried vainly to take Norham

,but it proved too wary . In July

of that year the royal fugitives at Bamburgh were in suchstraits that for five days they lived on one herring . On St .Margaret’s day

,the 20 th

,her namesake had no thing to offer at

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158 SIR RALPH GREY’S DEFENCE OF BAMBURGH CHAP .

vain . In a small enclosure of trees , now fenced , on the side ofthe road near Wooperton Station , can be seen two large stones ,twenty—seven feet apart

,which are said to mark the leap of his

dying fall . Further down the road on the way to Alnwick,but

on the opposite side,behind some cottages half hidden by sombre

trees- they seem melancholy— i s the Percy Cross,weather

stained and carved with the arms of Percy and Lucy. An ancientgrief surrounds the spot

’

Tis of th e Percy’s death less fam eTh at dark grey c ross remains to tel lI t bears the Percy’s h onoured nam e ,For near its base th e Percy fel l .

The only place Henry was safe at was Bamburgh for atBywell Castle , shortly after , he was nearly surprised by EarlMontagu . How and whither the King himself escaped

,

”

says the chronicler,God only knows

,in who se hands are the

hearts o f kings .

”

Bamburgh,bes ieged by Warwick

,was valiantly defended by Sir

Ralph Grey ; but Henry , alarmed at the fall of Dunstanburgh , hadescaped . With the courage of despair, for he was exempted fromthe general pardon offered

,Grey replied to the heralds who

demanded its surrender that he had determined to live or die inthe castle . The heralds then laid the blame of further bloodshedon Grey

,and said that , i f it took seven years to win, they would

capture it . If ye del iver not this j ewel the .which the King ourmost dread Sovere ign Lord hath so greatly in favour see ing itmarcheth so nigh his ancient enemies of Scotland , and especiallydesireth to have whole

,unbroken with ordnance i f ye suffer one

great gun to be laid unto the wall and be shot, to prejudice thewall

,it shall cost you the chieftan’

s head and the lasthead of any person within the

‘

place . From the batteredcastle Sir Ralph was taken and executed at Doncaster

,and

Bamburgh never more had her walls assai led in al l the sub .

sequent rebellions and invasions that swept over Northumberland .

In Elizabeth’s reign the govem orship of Bamburgh passedinto the hands of the Forsters

,and in 17 15 the name of Forster

became notorious through the incompetence of General Forster,who was chosen to lead the Northumbrian Jacobites from themistaken idea that a Protestant would rally many more to the

x1v THE FORSTERS AND LORD CREWE 159

cause . He was taken prisoner, and according to tradition hiss ister Dorothy rode up to London in the company of JohnArmstrong (whom she afterwards married), and , obtaining animpress ion of the key of his ce ll in Newgate

,contrived h is escape .

The whole story is to be found in Sir Walter Besant’s romance ofDorothy Forster .” Her beautiful aunt married Lord Creweas a second wife . He had long been enamoured of her . He wasBishop of Durham

,and after her death , when the Forsters were

ru ined through extravagance,he bought the estates and Bam

burgh Castle . He left a large sum of money in the hands oftrustees to found the Bamburgh Trust , the most eminent ofwhom

,Dr . John Sharpe

,Archdeacon of Northumberland , con

ceived the idea of restoring Bamburgh Castle and adapting itfor the famous Crewe Charit ies . He repaired it at his own expenseand left a sum to maintain it

,and founded the library and

collected the tapestry and pictures . The humane archdeaconWise ly interpreted Lord Crewe ’s desire to benefit the manorand coast to which his loved wife belonged . He u sed to spendhours by her grave at Stene

,where she was buried in 1 7 15,

comparative ly young woman,and when he followed her

,in 17 22 ,

he was nearly ninety .

The castle occupies an area of eight acres,enclosed by great

battlemented wal ls . At the south-east angle are the remainsofSt . Peter’s chapel

,which was d iscovered in 17 7 3 when the sand

was removed under which it had long been buried . At the northfront is the castle windmill . The castle is entered through thebarbican on the south-east and through the sally-port on thenorth-west approached by a fl ight of steps .The Norman keep is within the bailey and the walls are ofgreat strength . The original roof was only the height of thesecond storey . I t is now raised to the height of the battlements .There are no signs of chimneys at any early date

,and the room

believed to be the guard room has burnt stones on the floor . Inthe large vaulted room on the ground floor IS the ancient well thev irtues of which have been already quoted . I t was rediscovered ih 17 70 . It is 145 feet deep , cut through the sol id rock .

At the bottom is said to lurk the queen of the ballad of theLaidleyWorm in the form of a great toad . I t is of unknownantiquity, perhaps the work of Ida . In the entrance hall hangtwo huge chains formerly used for rais ing sunken vessels

,

now facetiously known as King Ida’5 watch chains .

160 THE BURIAL OF LANCELOT CHAP.

The passages in the upper part are very narrow gulleys in thethickness of the wall just wide enough to pass .There is a Court Room and Armoury, Banqueting Hall (nowpartly used as a kitchen), and a library that contains many interesting relics and portraits of the Forsters and others . Noth ingremains of the Saxon church , and the fine Norman church thatsucceeded it

,ded icated to St . Aidan , is large and Impressive and

has been often subj ect to alteration . In the chancel is a recumbent effigy of a cross-legged knight locally called Sir Lancelotdu Lake . The name reminds us that Bamburgh Castle , the only

B am burgh Cbur e ll

pre Conquest castle in Northumberland,i s supposed

,as has

already been said, to be the Joyous Gard of Mallory, whereLancelot came home to die . So

,when he was housled and

eneled, and had all that a Christian man ought to have , he prayed

the bishop that his fellows might hear his body urito JoyousGard .

And riow, I dare say, said Sir Ector,that Sir Lancelot

there thou liest , thou were never matched of none earthlyknight

’

5 hands , and thou were the courtliest knight that everbare a shield and thou were the truest friend to thy lover that

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CHAPTER XV

THE RUINS OF DUNSTANBURGH

Barony and Manor Purchased by Simon de Montfort—Building byTh omas of Lancaster—Queen Margaret at D unstanburgh

Saddl e Rock and Rumbling Churn— Dunstan and D uns Scotus .

LEAVING North Sunderland,we pass the fishing village

of Beadnell,with afine sandy bay

,and the rocky shore of Newton

by-the-Sea

,and

,turning the bold headland of Newton Point,

Emb leton Bay,two miles in extent

,stretches be fore us . At its

southern extremity magnificent basaltic cliffs are seen crownedby the ruins of Dunstanburgh Castle , the most impos ing inNorthumberland . I t rises a hundred feet above the shore

,and

Turner’s genius was hardly needed to idealise a pos it ion where inthe grandeur of nature is added to the romance of human history .

On the north and east the sea dashes against the frowning cliffand in stormy weather batters it with gigantic waves . Waterand wind have comb ined to wear a way the walls . In thethirteenth century the Manor of Dunstan and the adjacentBarony of Embleton were bought by Simon de Montfort

,

doubtless attracted by the extraord inary fitness of thispart of the coast for a fortress

,as he was anxious to extend his

influence in the north . After his death,at the battle o f Evesham

,

his forfeited lands were given by Henry I II to his own son

Edward,Earl of Lancaster . Thence they came to Edward ’s son

Thomas,a grand nephew of Simon de Montfort

,who had married

Hen ’ry s s ister and succeeded in 1294 . He began to build thecast l e in 13 13 , and In 13 16 the earl obtained a licence to crenellate it . It IS interesting to note here that many of the masons’

marks are the same as those at Alnwick Castle , which about that162

CH . xv A STRONGHOLD OF THE RED ROSE 163

time was being rebuilt by the first Lord Percy . In 1322 the earlwas executed at Pontefract

,either for dealings with the Scots

or for organis ing rebellion against the weak favouritism ofEdward II . ‘ Later on

,his forfeited estate was restored to his

brother Henry,and in the deed of gift it is remarked that Earl

Thomas had gone the way of all flesh He was,however

,

regarded as a martyr and was canonised the hill on which he wasbeheaded was called St . Thomas’s Hi ll . Later on

,Dunstanburgh

came again into the possess ion of the Crown , as Henry Wryneck ,son of Earl Henry

,had a daughter

,Blanche

,his heiress

,who

married John of Gaunt and became the mother of Henry IV .

During the Wars of the Roses the castle was a great stronghold of the Red Rose in Northumberland . After the battle ofTowton

,when the Lancastrians were defeated , Queen Margaret

attempted to retrieve her fortunes in the north,which was wel l

disposed to her,and in 1462 seized Dunstanburgh , but had to

surrender it after a short siege . In 1464 Margaret , stil l benton restoring her husband to the throne , again captured it . Butafter the battle of Hexham

,and her total de feat

,the castle was

del ivered up to the Earl of Warwick . The chronicle says heslept in it on the Feast of St . John the Baptis t in June 1462 , amonth after the fatal field of Hexham . Warwick took the captainof the castle

,John Gosse , to the King at York , where he was

beheaded with a hatchet . The south-eastern tower is calledSt . Margaret’s Tower, as tradition says the Queen occupied i twhen she stayed there . But it is loosely called either St .Margaret

,after the Scottish saint

,or Queen Margaret tower.

A creek below it is called Queen Margaret’s cove where she i ssupposed to have embarked in a fishing-boat for Scotland whenher hopes were ruined

,but this is an unconfirmed tale . We

know she retired to France after Henry’s death,where she died

after many sorrows .Dunstanburgh had been much injured by the artille ry in these

s ieges,and its strength was gone for ever . Henry VI I ’s survey

in 1538 pronounced that it was a“ very reuynus howsse and of

smaylle strength ,”and in 1550 Sir Robert Bowes in his

“ Bookof the State of the Marches

,said it was in “

wonderfull greatdecaye . It was never repaired

,and its further ruin was aug

mented by the stones etc . , being used for other bui ldings in theneighbourhood . Sir Ralph Grey became its owner in 1625, andit remained with his descendants ti ll it was sold by the late

M 2

164 PLAN OF THE FORTIFICATIONS CHAP .

Earl of Tankerv ille to the Eyres trustees of Leeds . It hasbeen sold again recently .

The ground plan of the castle covers about e leven acres . Therewas no wall on the north side as the perpendicular cliffs supplieda natural defence . On the east was a wall about six feetthick ; on the west side a wall and towers and also a deep

D unstanbu rgk Castle f rom the Nor th .

ditch eighty feet broad . On the south there were walls , towers ,and a great gateway

,and the traces of a rough stone rampart

which show that it was probably fortified in prehistoric times .A recent writer (J . E . Morris)says Its military engineering ishardly more ingenious than that of the neolithic Britons whoconstructed the existing ramparts round the top of Yeavering

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166 A REPUTED BIRTHPLACE OF DUNS SCOTUS CH . XV

Norman , was rebuilt in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuriesand has much to interest the antiquar ian . In the entranceporch are several grave covers ornamented with crosses andswords , and one has shears , which indicate the tomb of afemale .

The Vicarage has a pe le tower after the manner of Elsdon andWitton , mentioned as existing in 14 15 .

About a mile and a half from the castle,near to Craster

,is the

interesting hamlet of Dunstan,near which is a Jacobean build

ing called Proctor Steads,with an ancient pele tower attached .

The lowest storey of the tower is much older than the two above,

and was probably built at the same time as Dunstanburgh , asthe masonry is

,of similar character . The walls are four feet

thick . The mansion beside i t was probably built by the ownerof the tower when he wished a more comfortable dwelling . The

dismantled castle of Dunstanburgh evidently supplied most ofthe stones . The name of the original owner is unknown,but on the lintel of the doorway are the letters J P. and the date1652 , very indistinct .Dunstan has long been the reputed b irthplace of Duns Scotus ,the great medieval schoolman and theologian . But

,equally

with Duns in Berwickshire,it sues in vain for fame

,as there is

no proof existing of his b irthplace . As Embleton was and is inthe gi ft of Merton College at Oxford

,i t is believed that he went

there from Dunstan . But h is name is not mentioned in the rollsat Merton either as student or professor

,and the apocryphal

manuscript often quoted as in the library at Merton College,which states that “ this is the lecture of Duns Scotus of the hamlet of Dunstan in Embleton

,sometime known as the Subtile

Doctor,

”has never been verified at Merton .

CHAPTER XVI

FROM CRASTER TO ALNMOUTH

Howick and Howick Haven— Th e Longhough ton copyho ldersB ondagia and Bondager A curious burial custom An

irasc ible 18th -c entury vicar and his register— Boulm er and its

smugglers—Old importance o f Al nmouth .

FOLLOWING the coast from Dunstanburgh’

s cavem ed shores ,fine cliffs continue ris ing from the sands for two miles ti l l wecome to the l ittle fishing vi llage of Craster . Crab fishing isvery prosperous here

,and there is a large herring-curing business .

Craster Tower,the seat of the Craster family

,is a short distance

from the Vi llage . In it are incorporated the remains of an ancientpele tower which has been from Norman times in the possessionof the Crasters . The station for Craster is Little Mi ll

,25 miles

off,so that at any point the pedestrian can get the convenience

of the railway . About 1% miles from the station is HowickHall

,bui lt in 1 782 for Earl Grey . Originally it was a pe le

tower .A mile from Craster

,Cul lernose Point shows again the magni

ficent basaltic cliff 120 feet high . The Whin Sill,the great

igneus rock that bestows the wonderful grandeur on Dunstanburgh Castle

,here cuts the coas t for the last time . Its

columns do not occur again on the'

coast,but we shall see how

the practical ingenuity of Rome turned,

i t to account .

About two miles further on is Howick Haven,with sands

,

fine rocks and caves,where there is another Rumbling Churn .

A high tide in 1849laid bare near Howick boathouse a submergedforest which revealed remains of oak

,hazel and alder , both

rooted and lying prone .

168 SMALL HOLD INGS IN THE I 6TH CENTURY CHAI‘.

Before reaching Boulmer we can turn inland and Vis itLonghoughton , now a small agricultura l village , but aplace of importance in the Middle Ages . In 1569it had no fewerthan forty-seven copyholders . It may be interesting to-day

,when

so much is said of small holders,to give their standing and estate .

Thirty of them were the old Bondagia, for which we have no

equivalent word,although the word “ bondager,

”now meaning

Cr aster .

female out-worker,ls probably derived from it . These holdings

are described as containing a house and a husbandland of thirtyacres of arable

,meadow or pasture land and paying the lord

thirty shi llings yearly. In Longhoughton,at a very early

period,the villan’s services on the baron’s land had been

commuted to a money payment— abG reat stride from the times

when he had to work a certain number of days on thelord’s demesne . The remaining seventeen holders

, called

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170 THE VICAR’S WAY WITH D ISSENTERS CHAP .

Morton is a gross , ignorant and wicked herd of Scrablees ” ;another herd is very wicked and obstinate

,hardened . This

plays havoc with the i llus ion entertained by literary people of theblameless pastoral lives led by the man of the crook as he followsin solitary ways his bleating flock I In a later register it is a reliefto this dark picture to know that in 1 723 he buried Barbara ,the serious

,good wife of James Gustard

,an old and good herd .

Another Gustard was also a knowing good man .

” NicholasDavison is “ a serious and re ligious herd .

” In 1 7 1 1 he buriesMary the wife of a very honest herd and an old and long oatmeal maker .”Belief in darker powers is evinced when he recordsthe burial of Jinie, wife of William Grey, a quack and warlockdoctor .” The fishers of Boulmer and Seaton get very badCharacters . They are all very ignorant

,obstinate

,profane

,

careless and brutish people . At the ir marriages these terms areemployed . but he notes , at the burial of a bachelor, GeorgeGrey

,an old innosent and fortunate fisher . He shows a natural

elation when a dissenter is brought to reason , no doubt by hisown efforts . Buried John Egden,

a very dissenter in his l ife,

and yet (note the yet)very good charitable man he was someyears before his death brought to be a s incere member of theChurch

,

”and his wife is called the good widow of the gooddissenter .”

But dissenters are badly treated indeed by the vicar . Awebster of Longhoughton is called a wicked knave and adissenter

,

”and a dissenting herd is called a tergiverse Janus

Whig .

”D issenters in Northumberland are sti ll j eeringly called

whigs . To the eccentric vicar we owe a debt for a littlelight on the occupations and hab i ts of the past

,but his lack of

humour led him mostly to fasten on the shortcomings of hisflock . When the labourer’s task was o’er, the vicar acidly reciteswith a b lack recording pen the sins that kind oblivion wouldcover . I f only the maligned villagers had left a retort in theircandid and j ocular Northumbrian style it would be deeplyappreciated now . But

,alas few among their busy hands ever

held pens,and the Vicar’s j udgments are written above the s i lent

dust .About a mile from Longhoughton Station is Ratch eugh

Crag,the grand basaltic columns e ighty feet high and finely

overhung with trees . An observatory crowns it,from which

splendid views of the coast are seen . Two miles to the south

XV I A FAMOUS SMUGGLER OF G IN 17 1

is the beauti ful Cawledge Dene, which can be followed southtill coming to the road which leads to Alnwick .

Returning to the coast we reach the old fishing village ofBoulmer

,notorious once for smugglers

,very pretty now with old

cottages and the cobles on the sands and the fine background ofcliff scenery and its old-fashioned fisherfolk , the descendantsof those whom the irate vicar found so troublesome . He doesnot mention smugglers

,but many a cask of spiri ts was landed

in his day . The Border and all parts of Northumberlandpatronised Boulmer. An old rhyme discloses the dis tances

A lnm outlz f rom the Golf L inks.

trave lled by farmers . The Forest is the ancient Forest ofRothbury °

Awd B ob Dunn 0’

th e Forest,

He’

s ridin’ te Boom er for gin ,

W i’

th ree fam ed h orses fra’ Bushy G ap lonnin ’

,

B ut Kate 0 ’

th e West is th e queen 0’

th em aa’

.

BushyGap farmhouse had a double gable,and in the space between

the walls the gin was concealed ti ll distributed .

Three miles further south we come to the sand-dunes ofAlnmouth , standing at the mouth of the river Aln , the ancientport of Alnwick . It is called Alemouth

,and has undergone much

A CHANGE OF FORTUNE AT ALNMOUTH CHAP .

Change in its spelling, but has always kept the soft ae sound .

Standing at the mouth of a river that was navigable by the smallcraft of the day

,i t was early of importance as a seaport . The

bailiff of Alemouth had by royal command in 1316 to sendships munitioned and victualled to Gascony

,and in 1333 he had

to give up all ships capab le of carrying fifty tuns of wine for thedefence of th e realm . Two years later the town was actuallyrequired to send three or four trustworthy men to Norwich totake counsel for further measures . Before the Union a beaconwas maintained on the Watch Hill or Wallop Hi ll at the west end .

During the eighteenth century and the early nineteenthAlnmouth was a very flourishingp lace

,exporting corn

,which was

kept in large granaries now usedas dwel l ing-houses . But it didnot evade the fate of many similarplaces on the east coast . Thesehigh

,gaunt buildings with small

windows look very curious . The

export trade declined after the endof the French wars and becameextinguished with the growth ofthe railway. Now the trade ofAlnmouth has depart ed

,and only

the fishing industry remains . Inrecent days it has been best knownfor its famous golf course .

The mouth of the Aln is interesting owing to the Change of itscourse . Formerly the Aln reachedthe sea south of the Church

Hil l , which was united to the town, and the Cheese Hi l l by alow sandy ridge . Current and storm bore on it so stronglythat in 1806 a breach was made, and since then the river hasrun into the sea on the north side . The tide flows up for a mile ,sometimes going as far as Lesbury

’

s beautiful old bridge . On

the Church Hi l l was an ancient Saxon chape l dedicated to St .Waleric , but wind and wave and wanton spoliation hastened itsdecay

.Probably the remains

,which were blown down by a

great gale in 180 6,were of an early Norman building . That there

was a Saxon foundation is proved by the discovery in 1789of

A n A lnmoutlz Caddy .

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CHAPTER XVII

WARKWORTH CASTLE AND HERMITAGE

A romantic vil lage with a 14th-century bridge— Early h istory

Ownersh ip o f Perc ies— D esc ription of Cast le— Medieval dom esticarrangem ents—Th e Herm itage— A path etic insc ription— Itspopu lar legend—Warkwo rth Church and Wil l iam th e LionMorwick stone inscriptions .

THREE miles south of Alnmouth,within a short distance of the

sea,stands Warkworth . Its Hermi tage is far famed and equally

so its Castle . We enter i t from the no rth by the well-knownfourteenth-century bridge over the river which almost encirclesthe l ittle town . At the southern extremity are the remains of atower where gates had guarded the bridge . Passing over, onthe left i s the church

,and we come to the ancient village cross

,

round which in the Middle Ages great markets were held.

Facing us is the wide main street with its high irregular pavements climb ing up to the proud ruins of the castle which crownthe he ight . The village is thus hidden

,and only the intimida

ting tower of the castle surveys the immediate surroundingcountry .

We first hear of Warkworth in 737 , when Ceolwulf, Kingof Northumberland

,granted his manor of Wercerwode to

Lindis farne,to which he himself retreated

,tired of wars

and of de fending his country. A hundred years later itwas se ized from the monks by King Osbert . The nextnotice is about 1 145, when Henry II granted it to Roger

,

son of Richard,the Constabl e of Chester . This Roger is supposed

to have been the first builder of the castle,but there is cons ider

able uncertainty on the point,as in 1 174 William the Lion did

not deign to stop there,for weak was the Castle

,the wall

,and

17 4

CH . XVI I HOW WARKWORTH CAME TO THE PERCIES 175

the trench and Roger,the son of Richard

,a val iant knight had

it in ward but could not guard it .

” But Earl Duncan,with a

divis ion of the Scots,burned the church and did much damage .

So that it is probable the castle is of a later date,as one would

judge by the present s trength of the ru ins . The manor continuedin th e same family until the re ign of Edward II . It is to be notedthat at this time surnames appeared

,and John Fitz Richard

took the name of John de Clavering, Clavering being the name ofa property acquired earlier by the family . He

,i t seems

,was no

believer in blood be ing thicker than water,for to the discom

fiture of his relatives , being chi ldless , for a li fe estate of £40 0per annum he made over to Edward II I the revers ion of Warkworth . Thus it was that the Perc ies became owners of Warkworth from 1329. The King granted the barony to Henry dePercy in lieu of the hereditary custody of Berwick and anannuity of 50 0 marks from the port customs . I t was thoughtthat the strong castles of the north would protect the royalinterests there and be a wall against the Scots . But when thePercy influence grew strong

,Alnwick and Warkworth

,instead

of sustaining the peace in the north, grew to be centres

of ambition and intrigue . In 140 3 Hotspur fell at theBattle of Shrewsbury

,and Warkworth

,with other castles

,

was ordered by Henry IV to be placed in safeguard and goodgovernance .

” Warkworth and Hotspur’s father refused to bereduced to submiss ion

,and Sir Henry dared to imprison a

royal messenger . After further fru itless orders the Kingcame north

,and Warkworth capitulated after a brief siege.

The unfortunate Sir Henry was k i l led at Bramham Moor in1408. In 14 15, after having been in the possession of both SirRobert Umfraville and John

,Henry IV ’

S son,i t was restored to

Henry Percy,the son of Hotspur . He fell at the Battle o f St .

Albans , on the s ide of the Red Rose . His dust rests there in thenoble abbey that rises on the he ight above the sluggish Ver

,far

from the love ly banks of Coquet .The next owner died on the field of Towton . None of the later

possessors seems to have died in bed . I do not know if fate waskinder to the fifth earl

,surnamed the Magnificent

,who was so

remarked upon by the chronicler of the marriage of PrincessMargaret, Henry VI I I

’

S sister,to James of Scotland .

In 167 0 , on the death of Josceline, the eleventh earl , withoutmale issue , Warkworth , with the other estates , devolved to

176 THE RUINS IN SHAKESPEARE’S TIME CHAP .

Algernon,e ldest son of the Duke of Somerset through his marriage

wi th the heiress,with remainder to his son-in-law

,Sir Hugh

Smithson,who in due course succeeded and whose descendants

are the present family . The castle appears to have fallen intodecay about the middle of the S ixteenth century . The lead wasremoved from the towers

,and permission was obtained by a man

Coquet amt Wa r kwor th Cas tle.

called Clarke to take the materials from the keep to bui ld himselfa mansion at Cherton . Clarke actually employed 27 2 waynes ,and the forced labour of the tenants at Warkworth and elsewhere ,to carry out his wanton spoliation . It is only by the lovinglabour of later possessors that the ruins still retain part of theirmagnificent original effect .

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178 AN ANCIENT METHOD OF WATER SUPPLY CHAP .

may be traced on every stone and are worth observing. On theright hand

,on the east of the curtain wall

,the most distant tower

is called the Grey Mare’s Tail . A brewhouse and bakery on theeastern gable are connected with it . At the south-east corner isthe Montagu Tower . On the south-west is the Lion Tower

,with

mutilated b lazonings of Percy, Lucy, and Herbert, and the fragment of the grim lion which has given the name to the tower .To the west of the gatehouse are the remains of a chapel whichadj oins the Crakefergus Tower . I t had been part of the defens ive system of the first builder . but in later times was used as a

place of res idence . From the chape l a stairway leads to what isknown as the Great Chamber

,and thence by a passage to

Crakefergus and to the adjoining pantries and kitchen .

Thi s range of buildings l ies between the l i ttle postern gateand the gatehouse . But the chief obj ect of interest is theremarkable keep

,which is regarded as a perfect model of

architectural skill,particularly in i ts domestic convenience . It

is s ituated on rising ground considerab ly above the level of theother buildings . Freeman finds it “ a good study of the progressby which the purely military castle gradually passed into

,the

house fortified for any occasional emergency . Its value i s ini ts unaltered contour and the internal domestic arrangements sointeresting to the mind that would construct the pastand the figures that peopled it . The interior is a mostwonderful example of medieval domestic architecture . On

the ground floor is the dungeon,and cel lars with stone

tanks for collecting water,which was led from the roof

by conductors fixed in the impluvium,which an ancient

survey calls a lantern which both receyveth and hath conveyance from the same

,and also giveth light to certain lodgings in

some parts . From this the staircase then leads to the greatchamber and the chape l and banqueting hall, forty-one feet longand ris ing to the top of the keep . At the west end

,doorways

lead to the k itchens and pantries . A c entral s lender turret orlook-out rises th irty-two feet above the roof

,cons isting of three

floors and is a noticeable feature in distant views . From othersources

,particularly the minute description of Mr . Bates in the

History of Northumberland ,”the vis itor can reconstruct the

interior of this marvellous “ donj on .

” I t was probab ly built bythe first Earl of Northumberland when Warkworth became thefavourite res idence of the Percies. Several scenes in Henry

xvn THE HERMITAGE AND THE HERMIT 179

IV are laid at IVarkworth Castle , which Shakespeare calls thisworm-eaten hold of ragged stone”— probably a true descriptionof it in his day

,but inappli cable to the castle as Hotspur must

have known it .Half a mile up the river

,on the north side

,is the famous

Hermitage . It is a lovely walk . Crossing by the ferry,a

flight of steps,roughly cut out of the sandstone

,leads into the

rock-hewn retreat,which is entered by a little porch with stone

seats . Above the entrance is a weather-beaten scu lpture of theCrucifixion . Just inside

,looking up

,is the worn inscription

Fuerunt mihi lacrymae meae panes nocte ac die Tearshave been my bread day and night .” Ineffably poignant thesewords always are

,but doubly so when we picture the solitary

grief immured thereTh e long mechanic pac ings to and fro .

Th e set grey l ife and apath etic end .

The first decoration the eye rests upon is an altar with twocrosses and an aperture in the wall above for the pyx

,and on the

wall is also the faint outline of a head surrounded with an aureole .

In the recess is a three -quarter length figure of a man withupraised hand kneeling at the feet of a reclining female figureand separated from him by a rudely des igned bull’s head . To

the left of her is a cherub or child . Facing them is a traceriedwindow of the fourteenth century which l ights the inner apartment

,to which we pass through a doorway over wh ich

,onashield

are the emblems of the Passion,th e cross

,the crown

,the spear

,

and also nails and a Sponge . The inner chapel is mere ly a tunnelled chamber with steps to an altar now demol ished . It hasa recess for a seat or bed . The chamber was probably a dormitory, but the use of the three rooms must be conj ectural . The

two altars may be accounted for by the suppos ition that one wasused as a private oratory and one as a pub l ic chape l

,and the

traceried window may have been for purposes of confession .

Outs ide are a mil l and an orchard,and in modern times

fruit trees have been said to have grown in it . But the onlyearly record about the Hermitage is in 153 1 , when the Earlof Northumberland made a grant to George Lancastre

,a priest

,

of myn Armytage belded in a rock of stone within my Parke ofWarkworth .

”The story which has popular favour on its side

is that told by Bishop Percy . Bertram of Bothal (who was a friendof Hotspur’s father)loved Isabel, daughter o f Lord Widdrington .

N 2

180 A ROMANTIC LEGEND CHAP .

The lady wished to test hi s devotion,and sent him a helmetwhichhe had to prove “ where sharpest blews are tried .

”He of course

rode out with Lord Percy to make a raid on their ancient enemiesover the Border . Being wounded

,cle ft through the precious

casque,he was taken to Wark to recover. Isabel

,possibly

reflecting that ’twas not love but vanity dealt Love a blow likethis

,

”hastens to nurse him . Near the Cheviots she is takencaptive by an enamoured Scottish chie ftain and carried to hisstronghold . Bertram ,

quickly recovering,starts with her brother

to rescue her,they taking different d irections . He finds the place

,

and,waiting for an Opportun ity to enter

,he sees one night his

love descend a rope ladder with a youth in Scottish garb . He

shouts out and,rushing forward

,confused with j ealousy

,attacks

the youth . The lady calls out,recognising his voice but too

late . Flinging herself forward to avert the blow she also isfatally wounded

,and he hears from her dying lips that she had

been rescued by her own brother . So,filled with penitence and

grief,he hews out the Hermitage to pass his remaining days .

Warkworth Church was founded by Ceolwulf. During excavations a Saxon cross was discovered

,which is preserved in the

chancel . The present building dates from the twe lfth centuryand stands on the south bank of the Coquet . Later a towerwas added which was finished by a stone Spire

,the only other

medieval example in Northumberland of one be ing at Newbiggin .

The porch also was an afterthought,and the room above was used

until a century ago as the vi llage school . The vestry is worthinspecting . I t was probably once the habitat of an anchorite,as a window was opened out which may have been a confessional .In the south aisle lies the figure of a knight with hands clasped,clad in armour of mai l and plates

,probably fourteenth -century.

He is supposed to be Sir Hugh of Morwick,who gave the

common to Warkworth .

In 1 174 a division of William the Lion’s army burnt Wark

worth and,with shocking barbarities

, put to death three hundredmen

,women

,and children who had taken re fuge in the church .

An excess ively large number of human bones,thought to be

those of the victims,were found inside the building during

alterations . The chron icle of Fantome records the intention ofthese northern Huns .

L et us al low our Scots to waste th e sea-coast .

Woe to th em if th ey l eave standing a h ouse o r a church .

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CHAPTER XVII I

AMB LE TO CULLERCOATS

Th e Song o f Amble— Coquet Island—I ts ec centric h erm it—Haux ley-D ruridge B ay -Widdrington -Hero o f Ch evy Chase—W id

drington Tower—A French landing—Chibburn Prec eDtory-Newbiggin -Seaton Sluice and th e D elaval s .

THROUGH fertile fields the Coquet pursues its course to the seafrom Warkworth . On the south of the wide estuary stands thebusy town of Amble

,and at high tide the gleaming waters and the

shipping make a fine picture,whilst beyond on the heaving sea

is Coquet Island with its conspicuous whitewashed lighthouse .

Amb le is of ancient origin as a township . On the links havebeen found a prehistoricburial place , andat Gloster Hill , adjoining,some traces of Roman occupation . The Priory of Tynemouthwas endowed with the tithes of Amble in 1090 , one of the earliestrecords of its existence . I t possessed a Benedictine monastery,and the remains of the interesting pre-Reformation manor houseare sti ll to be seen . Now it is encircled by coll ieries , to which itowes its prosperity and shipping . The town claims a song whichis usually associated with Falmouth

,but the reference to the

north certainly gives Amb le a strong claim to it , and the tune iscalled a characteristic Northumberland one

,although

,apart from

Tynes ide and its many ballads,we are not aware of much tune

fulness in our northernmost county . The first verse goes

Oh , Amble is a fine town,with sh ip s upon th e bay

And I wish with my h eart I was only th ere to-dayAnd I W ish with my h eart I was far away from h ere ,A-sitting in my parlour and talking to my dear .

And it’

s h ome , dearie , h om e Oh ,it

’

s h om e I want to beMy top sail s are h o isted and I must out to sea .

For th e oak . and th e ash , and th e bonnie rowan treeTh ey

’

re al l a’

growing green in the North Countree .

Oh I t’

s h om e , dearie , h om e .

182

CH .xv111 COQUET ISLAND AND ITS VAYNE OFSECOLES 183

Amile off shore is Coquet Island,sixteen acres in extent

,where

from very early times had been a cell for Benedictine monks .Some Saxon relics have been found on it

,which point to remote

civilisation— a coin of the Emperor Valerian,a ring with an old

English rune,possibly ninth century

,a bronze buckle

,and an

enamelled ornament . In Elizabethan days it became the resortof lawless folk and money-coiners

,and during the Civi l War was

taken by the Scots . Leland says that The Isle of Coquetstandeth upon a very good vayne of secoles and at the ebbe

,

T/1e Pier a t Amble.

men digge in the shore by the clives and a writer in 1747describes it Coquet Is land lies at the mouth of the River ofthat name where was anciently a castle with a Monastery butboth have been long demoli shed

,and here are no hab i tat ions

but Hutts for the D iggers of Sea-coal . Vast flocks of wildfowl continually harbour and lay their eggs on this island

,by the

sale of which the fishermen make great advantages as well as bythe fish which they catch here in abundance

.

” After storms coalis often washed up on Amble shore . At the bui ld ing of the light

184 THE ABBESS OF WHITBY’S V IS IT CHAP.

house (in which is incorporated the vault of the old tower) theterns and eider duck disappeared and the seals which used toinhabit the north end of the island were Shot down . The lighthouse is e ighty feet high and the intermittent light is visible fourteen miles ofl

,whilst an explosive fog Signal warns the mariner

in thick weather on this dangerou s coast . Two picturesqueincidents Bates records about Coquet Island . In 684 Elfled,Abbess of Whitby

,asked St . Cuthbert to meet her on the island

Coquet I s land , fl ow Amole.

to discuss her brother King n red’

s affairs . He told her thatthe King had only a year to live and would be succeeded byanother whom she would also regard as a brother . Thou seestthis great and broad sea

,how it aboundeth in islands . It is

easy for God to provide someone out of one of these to be setover the Kingdom of the English .

”Elfled thought he referred

to a reputed son of her father,Oswi.

At a later date Robert Fitz-Roger ,atWarkworth,had a curious

dispute with an eccentric hermit of Coquet Island called Martin .

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186 AN UNCHRONICLED FRENCH DESCENT CHAP .

Sq uyar of Northumbarlonde Ric . Wytharyngton was hisnam .

”

It shall never be to ld in So th e Ynglonde ,h e says

To kyng Henry th e fourth for sham .

T. Wat yone byn great lordes twanI am a poo r sq uyar o f landeI wyl l never so my captayne fygh t on a fyldeAnd stande m vselfe and looc k e on .

Fo r Wytharyngton my harte was wo ,

That ever h e s layne sh u lde be ,Fo r wh en bo th h is leggis were h ewyne In to

Yet h e k nyled and fough t on h ys k ni.

The splendid tower o f Widdrington,built in 1341 , with lofty

battlements , was ruthless ly levelled in 1 7 7 7 , and the shooting boxwhich replaced i t has also been demol ished. The Widdringtonswere devoted to the Stuarts

,and taking part in the i ll-fated

rebel lion of 1 7 15, their estates were forfeited to the Crown .

Robert Carey,in his hasty ride to Edinburgh to take the news of

Elizabeth’s death to the least admirable of the Stuarts,stopped

at Widdrington and proclaimed K ing James . He had le ftLondon after n ine in the mornmg and reached Widdrington thenext night . It was the first place the King drew rein at afterleaving B erw1ck in Apri l 160 3 , and he was entertained there bySir Robert Carey and his virtuous ladye .

” Less than a hundredyears ago there was a cur10us tradition that Widdrington hadat one t ime been devastated by a foreign invasion . It has beenproved that the French landed on the coast by the fol lowingextract from the parish book of Bill ingham

,in the county of

DurhamJu l y 3 I st 1692 . Co l lec ted in ye par ish c hurch of Bil l ingh am in

ye Count ie pal latine of D urham ,for a briefe fo r ye inh abitants of

D ruidge ,Widdrington , Ch ibbo rne ,

for a lo sse by ye French landingth ere , th ree sh il l ings , seven penc e .

No history book refers to this,and it would be interesting to

know if any remembrance of a two-centuries-ago panic in thesehamlets was awakened with the threat of the German invasionrecently

,and i f particular precautions were taken at Druridge

Bay. The l ieutenant and his blue jackets at Whitehouse sandsmust sure ly have hastened to the assistance of Widdrington .

What a pity no local chronicler or letter-writer mentions i t, orthe garrulous pen of Longhoughton

’

s vicar,a century later,might

have preserved some story of this historic and unnoticed incident .

XVI I I THE FIRST HISTORIAN OF NORTHUMBERLAND 187

Widdrington Church stands on a knoll within the same fieldwhere the tower once was

,and dates from the latter part of the

twelfth century . The chance l and south aisle and south doorare fourteenth-century

,and in the wall is a piscina of a date no

later than 120 0 . On the north s ide of the chancel are two re

cesses which have evidently contained efligies of the Widdringtons over the arch of one is the Widdrington arms . There aretwo old grave covers with crosses engraved in the church . The

learned John Horsley,the first historian of Northumberland , was

the Nonconformist minister of Widdrington at the beginning ofthe eighteenth century . The romance of the name Widdringtonis attached sole ly to the family of that name . After hundredsof years’ possess ion they lost al l through loyalty to the Jacobitecause . The Village is not very interesting .

About a mile from Widdrington is Chibburn Preceptory , ahouse of the Knights of St . John of Jerusalem

,s tanding

in rich meadows where the Chibburn runs to the sea abouthalf a mile off. This Order originated in the twelfthcentury, and Chibburn was probably founded by a Widdrington in the fourteenth . The buildings originally encloseda courtyard and were defended by a moat

,of which there

are remains on the west and south sides . Part of the interior,

which was the chapel,i s now a stable

,and beh ind the manger

at the east end are the traces of a piscina . On the west s ide isa block sti l l inhabited . This had been u sed as a dower hou se bythe Widdrington family . There is much speculation about thedates of the various parts and the uses of the buildings

,and it is

all o f extraordinary interest . There are several ornamenteddoorways , and some old woodwork . I t is unfortunate that it hasbeen adapted now for labourers to live in ; but even so , the chantso f the Knights Hospitallers

,antique

,pious figures

,sti ll echo for

the sol itary listener across the fie lds .Towards the southern extremity of Druridge Bay is the

fishing village of Cresswell,and looking out to sea from

among the trees is the old pele tower of Cresswell. Druridge

Bay terminates in the reef at Snab Point,a dangerous

rocky coast and the scene of many shipwrecks and braverescues . Walking along the coast to Newbiggin we pass theLyne sands , where is a smal l hamlet cal led Lyne , and a streamof the same name enters the sea . The large fishing vi llage ofNewbiggin, now also a popular watering-place , i s only interesting

188 COURSE AND MOUTH OF THE R IVER BLYTH CHAP.

for the prominent position on the promontory of NewbigginPoint of the Church of St . Bartholomew . It is the sailor’snotable landmark here . Part of the churchyard has beencrumbled away by the waves and the bones of the dead scatteredmuch in the same way as the sea has undermined Dunwich onthe Suffolk coast . South of the mouth of the Wansbeck ,with Cambois and North Seaton on either Side

,the sandy coast

s tretches to the busy town and harbour of Blyth,where the

Blyth enters the sea after a short course of twenty miles . It

B lyt/z Ha roou r .

flows past Be lsay and then,uniting with the Pont

,winds through

the love ly vale of Stann ington and the sounding woods ”ofPlessey referred to in Marmion . A stretch of sand dunesswept and torn by the wind continues to Seaton Sluice . Afeature of the coast between the Blyth and Tyne is the commonoccurrence of landsl ips

,usually after heavy rainfall . Seaton

Sluice used to be an important harbour and bears witness to theenterprise of the De laval family in the past . One of themplaced large Sluice gates on the burn which the incoming tide

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190 THE SEA-FRONTASSUMES A SUBURBAN ASPECT CH . XVI I I

The l ittle chapel to Our Lady,near it . poss ibly buil t in the

twelfth century,has a claim to be cons idered of Saxon origin .

This is the opinion of J . E . Morris , who calls i t the most interesting eccles iastical structure in Northumberland . Anotherauthority regards it as a pure and perfect specimen of Normanarchitecture . Abovethe west door are s ix shie lds with the armsof the Delavals, and the walls are decorated with armour,tattered banners

,and escutcheons . There are two recumbent

figures,one of a knight in armour

,the other a female figure

,each

with a dog at its feet,Delavals

,possibly

,of the fourteenth

century .

High cl iffs from Seaton Sluice continue past Hartley, a quaintvi llage with red-ti led roofs

,and beyond it is a continuous

stretch of popular coas t resorts .

At Whitley Sands,a great resort of trippers

,are fine table rocks .

All the sea-front here has assumed a suburban aspect,

although at Cullercoats the picturesque fishwives strike a primitive note . I t is s ingularly refreshing amidst the bustle of Newcastle Station to see one of these brown- faced

,hatless women

,

largely petticoated,with her creel giving out as she passes the too

distinct smell of fins and se es .

Cu l ler coa ts.

CHAPTER XIXD

TYNEMOUTH PR IORY

Early h istory—Danish marauders— Peace o f S t . Oswin and h is

m irac les—Later h isto ry -Revenue at D isso lution— Th e CivilW ar—St . Cuthbert at North Sh ields—Th e Rode Stane and

its quaint inscript ion .

SEVENTY miles stretches the changing, picturesque . historiccoast from Lamberton to the mouth of the Tyne

,where , on a high

cliff , stands the last goodly tower of Northumberland . The

Magnesian Limestone which forms the headland here ri ses ahundred feet . The arrangement by which castle and prioryadj oin speaks tod ay of ancient invasion , the wild pillagingNorseman

,the frightened Saxon monks , and the j oy with which

after much tribulation they saw rising the embattled walls o fwarrior protectors . The ir thankful praises may also have risenmany times when another potent ally

,the sea

,pounced in

wrath on the pirates’ galleys . B etween them and the fishermen’s shiels (now the black coal district , North Shields) laythe treacherous ree f of the Black Middens

,where many a

brave ship has met its doom .

I t was in 627 that Edwin selected this bold promontory fora site for a timber chapel

,and his daughter

,who had the sweet

name of Rosella,took the veil . Oswald rebuilt i t with stone about

ten years later,and here was buried the body of King Oswyn

who became the patron saint in 651 . The Danish maraudersburnt it in the re ign ofn rid

,who restored it Thenin 865 they

appeared again . The terrible rumours of their doings drovehither the poor nuns from St . Hi lda’s Convent at Hartlepool in apanic , hoping for refuge . They

,alas I were ”translated by mar

tyrdom to Heaven .

”But the monks clung to the sacred spo t .191

192 THE PEACE OF ST. OSWIN CHAP .

I t proves no common test of courage to l ive de fence less insuch a conspicuous pos ition

,for it was devastated again in 87 0

and 876 . During the next two centu ries it was probablyunused . In 10 75 i t was given by Earl Waltheof to the monks ofJarrow

,and the monastery was rebuilt some years later . How

ever,Robert de Mowbray

,the succeeding Earl

,quarre lled with

them and travelled to St . Albans for monks to fill it,a signal proof

of the high-handed methods of the Norman barons . Unti l theD issolution in 1539the Priory of St . Mary remained a cell of St .Albans monastery

,which caused much dispute and annoyance

to the great Durham establ ishment . The principal ruins now areof the church

,for

,after the dismantling, the monastic buildings

perished with the exception of a part that was e i ther the prior’sor the gues t house . Apparently the church was allowed todecay, and this neglect has deprived us of one of the finestexamples of eccles iastical architecture in Northumberland . Itwas used for service as late as 1668. In it was buried

,in 1093 ,

Malcolm Canmore and his son Edward,killed at the s iege of

Alnwick .

In a previous raid into Northumberland In 1091 , Malcolm soreduced the country that

,even when he was driven over the border,

the lack of provis ions continued acute,and the Victorious force

had to hasten to Tynemouth,which was the storehouse for the

unfortunate Northumbrians,as it enj oyed the Peace of St .

Oswin . The monks went out to meet their countrymen bearingthe shrine of St . Oswin and praying them to respect his Peace .

One of the knights,piously conscientious , called Nige l de Wast,

was in the act of vowing he would not eat of the rich store ti ll hewas assured of the saint’s forgiveness

,when another

,annoyed at

his scrupulousness,cannoned into his horse

,and both it and the

rider vanished over the steep cliff . B ut St . Oswin was watchingfor they both miraculously escaped unhurt . That he was a dan

gerous saint to trespass against had been also proved in theprevious year

,when the Conqueror was returning from Scotland ,

where he had forced Malcolm to do him homage . The newcastle was not then built further up the Tyne

,but he stopped at

Pons Aelii,the old Roman fort where now Newcastle hums .

The river was in flood . There was l ittle food , for Malcolm neverleft much behind him . Fodder was urgently required and a bandof warriors was sent to pillage Tynemouth , to which , as usual , thestores had been removed . But by the time the leader saw the

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A LEGEND OF NORTHUMBERLAND’

S SAINT CHAP .

garrison . The defence of the Tyne is a different matter now .

At Tynemouth during the war one wondered what Haldanethe Viking would have done had he come up against the wirenetting er ected to stop the landing of Germans .OldTynemouth with its wide o ld-fashioned street is a pleasant

countrified village and in great contrast to the towns withwhich it is surrounded . I t looks like the cool green spacesamidst the roar of London . Over seventy years ago HarrietMartineau lived and wrote there for a time . Behind the SpanishBatte ry and looking acros s the terrible Black Middens is amonument to Lord Coll ingwood with four guns of the RoyalS overeign,

one of Northumberland’s great sons and Nelson’sfriend . There is a lso the fine monument to him in St . Paul’sand in St . Nicholas’s Cathedral in Newcastle .

There are two magnificent piers,four hundred yards apart

,with

two lighthouses . One hundred and fifty years ago a coal fireburned In Tynemouth’s old lighthouse instead of a lamp . The

north pier is nearly a mile long and the south pier ratherlonger . There are three other l ighthouses

,the Groyne on the

Herd Sands,visible for s even miles

,and the High and Low

Lights of North Shields,vis ible for th irteen miles . They

show the danger -to Shipping at the Tyne entrance . It is related that St . Cuthbert, as a lad , had wandered to North Shields

(in early times a collection of fish ing shie ls,hence the modern

name) and had the courage to rebuke the heartless heathendwellers there who were hi larious at the spectacle of five boatsmanned by monks who had almost got to the opposite bank ofTyne being swept to sea by a sudden westerly gale . OppositeTynemouth , where stood a smal l oratory belonging to thepriory

,is St . Mary’s Island . There is now a magnificent

l ighthouse,120 feet high, built on the site of the old chapel,

from which it is said the monks showed a light to guidemariners . We can fancy the offerings made at the shrine ofSt. Oswin by the grateful seamen who had navigated in badweather this dangerous river mouth . Whils t the rude pOpulation that dwelt on these shores even entreated the Deity withraised hands to send them wrecks

,the monks ceaselessly

preached love and mercy . On this bitter coast they musthave led a hard

,toiling life in the days before riches and ease

came to enervate them . The population would be apt to behostile

,and they were defenceless against alien foes . On that

XI X THE MONK’S STONE AND THE “ HORRID DEDE 195

cliff those noble walls must often have sheltered the wet,exhausted sailors escaped from the icy sea that beats againstthe last massive cliff of Northumberland’s changeful coast .The legend of the Monks’ Stone near the Priory would give

scoffers another picture of monkish li fe . This is a sandstone

D oorway at Tynem outh P r iory .

pi llar , the remains of an ancient cross , at the base of which usedto be the words so fami liar in the neighbourhood

O horrid dedeTo kil l a man for a p igg

’s h ede .

The explanation is as follows . A monk from Tynemouth wentonce to Seaton Delaval

,and in the kitchen a pig was roasting

,the

favourite food apparently of the master . The monk wanted thehead and

‘

the cook represented the imposs ibi lity of his desi re .o 2

196 THE MONKS GET THEIR OWN BACK c u . XIX .

When his back was turned the monk cut off the head— was notthe sme ll and crackling irres istib le

,as Ho-ti found out when he

had to burn his house to get it He ran off with it,h0ping to

get to the monastery,Six miles away

,before the theft was known

to the master . At Monkseaton a house i s still shown wherehe rested . Delaval came home from the hunt and was furious atthe loss of his titbit . He mounted his horse

,and

,galloping

,

came up to the monk,whom he belaboured so hard that he could

not reach the monastery. The brethren going in search foundhim half dead . He was carried

,poor lover of good things

,to

the Priory,and his death taking place within a year and a day

,

it was asserted that the beating caused it . Delaval was chargedby the monks with the murder

,and before he could receive

absolution,was obliged to make over certain lands to the monas

tery and to set up this cross , always known as the Rode Stane ,in expiation of his violence . Thus the holy men got their ownback

,and this curious stone remains for posterity to ponder on

the frai lties that linger in the dedicated soul .

i emout/z P r zory f rom Cu l lercoa ts.

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198 THE KEELMAN GOES , BUT H IS SONG REMAINS CHAP.

possible and indeed imperative . Before that was the hour ofthe keelman and his local anthem

Oh weel may the keel row,the keel row

Oh weel may the keel rowThe boat that my lad’s in .

The keel was a barge used for loading ships where there werefew docks and the quays lacked the mechanical facil it ies .

To-day the occupation o f the keelman is gone . Until 1850 orthereabouts the Tyne retained much of its ancient character .Wilderness and moorland had given place to agricultural landon its banks

,but the stream itsel f was shallow and in other

respects unfit for navigation . The magnificent harbour ofTynemouth with its Black Middens remained as dangerous asi t was when

,according to Bede

,Cuthbert performed the miracle

of saving the men on a sinking ship . The North Pier was begunin 1854, completed in 1893 , destroyed in 1897 and S ince rebuilt .During the same period the channel was deepened

,the banks

straightened,docks built

,the first being the Northumberland

and Albert Edward Dock,and the difli cult

,dangerous river mouth

was transformed into a magnificent harbour in which a navycould ride in safety . Newcastle at lengt h was in a posit ion totake full advantage of the ill imitable resources which naturehad provided on e ither bank of the Tyne . Men

,my brothers

,

men,the workers had conquered the apparently insurmountable

obstacles to progress . I t was regrettable but inevitable thatmuch of historic value should be swept aside in the process .Many traces of the Roman Wall and even of the City Walldisappeared . Yet much remains to recall the c ity’s dramaticand stirring history .

Newcastle i s a pleasant town for a ramble . Long ago when Iused to go there from the country it impressed me only as awelter of streets full of people in a hurry . Then during a prolonged visit there came an understanding of the reason why theinhabitants are so proud of it . By the by

,i f any reader

wishes to explore it methodically he will find an abundanceof l iterature to ass ist him . The local gu ide-book publishedby Reid is excellent

,and so is the chapter on it in

Tomlinson’s Guide to the county . I must be content torecord a few personal impressions . One of them is that themanners of the p lace have changed much and for the better

xx THE SANDGATE AND JOHN WESLEY’S REMARK 199

s ince the time of John Wesley . In his Journal he says of the

p opulation of the Sandgate : So much drunkenness , cursmgand swearing even from the mouths of little children do I never

The Fr z'

a rjy,

remember to have seen or heard before in so short a compass oftime .” It is getting on for two hundred years s ince that waswritten, and it holds good no longer . North country people

200 NORTHERNERS’ INTEREST IN LOCAL HISTORY CHAP .

have not the polite manners of the south . They do not S iryou or ttouch their caps . With them the hob and curtsey havelong gone out of fashion . But they make up for it in genuinekindness and intelligence . I remember once asking a Lincolnshire rustic i f Oliver Cromwell had not fought a batt le nearSomersby, and his answer was that he d id not know thename— it must have been afore my time .

” But along theRoman Wall

,any day

,labourers can talk to the point about

the Romans in Britain , and in the slummiest part of Newcastle

I have been astonished at the knowledge of local history . Once,

indeed,a tatterdemal ion showed me to the old stone steps leading

to‘the upper story of the Guildhall in the Sandhill,and spok e of

John Wesley’s V isIts to Newcastle . Nor did he hangabout afterwards for a tip . One can go nowhere in Newcastle

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202 THE MONASTERY OF THE BLACK FRIARS CHAP .

the shore . In a street called the Side—a real Northumbrianname— is the house in which Lord Collingwood was born . Onlya public-house now

,it is remembered for the sake of Nelson’s

friend and a national hero . In Low Friar Street is a building

D oorway amt .Fr z'

ary , Newcastle.

of the greatest historic interest . It is the Smiths’ Hall, andbears over a door the motto

By h ammer and h andAl l Artes do stand .

XX THE “ CHARES”OF NEWCASTLE 20 3

John Ballio l, in 1334, as King of Scotland , did homage hereto Edward I as his overlord . For this was part of the famousmonastery of the Black Fr iars .As interesting as the Wynds and closes of old Edmburgh are

the corresponding chares of Newcastle . They are a lastIngj oy to those who like to dawdle where chance leads In the

Cas tle and Ca thedra l , Newcas t le, f r om Gateshead.

knowledge that they must inevitably hide something withthe charm of antiquity or interesting association attachedto it .The church of St . Nicholas was made a Cathedral in 1881

when the B ishopric of Durham was divided in two . I t is certainfrom internal evidence that it stands upon the S ite of an olderchurch , perhaps on that of the Saxon monks of Monkchester .

204 ST.‘ NICHOLAS CATHEDRAL CHAP .

The previous edifice was destroyed by fire in 1216 . In alll ikelihood

“

its replacement began immediately,since there i s

S t. Nicholas Cathedra l .

a,

thirteenth—century capital of a pillar embedded in part ofthe masonry, and there are other relics of the ancient bu ilding.

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206 VANDALISM IN THE I STH CENTURY CHAR.

the lantern spire stands on a well-built tower . It was erectedin

‘

1435 and was imitated in succeeding churches such asSt . Giles in Edinburgh

,the church at Linlithgow

,and

the College Tower in Aberdeen . Wren copied it also in St .Dunstan

’

s-in-the East .History records many dramatic scenes in St . Nicholas

,but

they ' are too we ll known to bear repetition . Some of themShow that war has always been very much the same . Sir JohnMarley

,who was Mayor in 1644 , when Newcastle offered so

sturdy a defence to the Scottish under General Les l ie,was the

prototype of those gallant mayors of Belgian towns whom theGermans could not intimidate . When Leslie threatened toblow the lantern steeple to bits he retorted by putting hisScottish prisoners under it . Newcastle’s motto refers to hergallant de fence at that s iege . It was originally Fortiter defendendo triumphat she glories in her brave defence

,

”but i twas watered down

,or at ~ least changed

,to the present form :

Fortiter defendit triumphans.

Another scene,that between King Charles and a Scottish

minister,must ever find a place in the records of the church .

The i l l-bred minister,insulting the captive

,gave out the fifty

second psalm

W hy do st th ou tyrant boast thysel fThy wicked works to praise

Whereupon the King rose and called for the fi fty-s ixth

Have mercy , Lord , on m e, I p ray,

For m en wou ld m e devour .

This the congregation sang with fervour . A regrettableincident in the history of the church occurred in 1784 and1785, when , in pursuance of a plan for turning it into a sortof a Cathedral

,much that was ancient and venerable was

destroyed . Such tombstones as were not claimed , or belongedto families then ext inct

,were sold by the churchwardens to a

postmaster who was bui lding a house in Hew Street,in the

foundations of which they are buried . It was an outcome ofthe time rather than of the local ity

,and could be paralleled

with very s imilar occurrences in other parts of the country .

Only in recent times have people come to value such survivalsand monuments of the past .

THE EYE OF THE NORTH

On the other hand the tow-

n has always been proud of its

great church the eye of the North,

”as Grey called it in hisChorographia. It has been enshrined in a very popularTynesidesong, one that used to be sung over the whole county .

Div you m ind of St . N ich o las Church ma pet

And th e c lock with th e fiery fyece .

The B zgg Market.

This is a variant due probably to a lapse of memory. A correctversion will be found in “ Allan’s Illustrated Edition of TynesideSongs and Readings .” The southem er who can give the properpronunciation of fyece has advanced a long way to the

understanding of English as she is spoken at Newcastle . The

A SCOTTISH SAINT’S KIRK IN NEWCASTLE CHAR.

origin of the song is explained in the followmg note to itThe dial of the clock in St . Nich olas Church first lighted bygas Dec . 5th 1829. The dial blown out by a violent storm of

The B lack Gate.

wind October l gth 1862 relighted November 1sth 1862 .

Other ancient churches in Newcastle are those of St . John andSt

.Andrew

. The former stands at the foot of Grainger Street

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210 BUILD ING THE CASTLE IN THE 13TH CENTURY CHAP .

Two heri tages from antiquity tower above all others inNewcastle . It owes its name to one of them ,

the Castle .

“ Andso the said vill from that time began to be called New Castle

,

says Simeon of Durham ,referring to the fortification put up by

the Conqueror’s son Robert Curthose in 1080 . But probablynothing remains of th is structure . It has indeed been surmisedthat it was of wood . William Rufus began the building of the

Th e Old Town LVa l l .

great Norman Keep,and the work was concluded by Henry II

between the years 1 172 and 1 1 7 7 . The purpose in x iew istersely explained by the old metrical historian Hardyng

He buylded Newcastel l upon TyneTh e S cottes for to gaynstande and to defende .

The circumstances are very we l l known . Within two yearsof the Battle of Hastings the Conqueror was taken unawares

XX THE VENGEANCE OF THE CONQUEROR 211

by a revolt in favour of Edgar Atheling and the Slaughter ofNormans at York . His vengeance was delayed but terrible .He bribed the Danes to withdraw their navy, he dealt with

Old Town

his enemies in the west,and then with fire and sword so devastated

the county that for more than half a century it lay bare anddesolate for sixty miles north of York . But even this didnot end the terror . Malcolm Canmore of Scotland had married

R2

2 12“ THE BRIDLE OF SCOTLAND AS A WINDMILL CHAR.

the Athelings’ sister Margaret , and he again and again attemptedthe conquest of England till he met his death before Al nwick in10 7 1 .

The castle occupied an area of three acres,enclosed by a curtain

wall through which the chief entrance was by the Black Gate.

This was built or renewed by Henry I II in the year 1248, and is amost interesting and impress ive piece of late Norman . The

upper portion was restored by the Newcastle Society of Antiquaries, and is now very appropriately u sed as a Museum ofAntiquities , most o f which are Roman and from the Wall .In a county so full of historical associations as Northum

berland it would make a notable advance in education i fa museum exclusively devoted to local antiquities wereestabl ished in each local centre . There are already manymuseums in the smaller towns

,but they are too miscellaneous

,

and often contain articles brought home by travellers thatwould find a more appropriate habitation in a great centralmuseum . Northumbrians are born antiquarians

,and young

people especially delight in that kind of history which enablesthem to compare the village or town in which they live with thesame place as it was in the days of their forefathers .From the historical po int of view the most important part

o f the castle is this entrance gate to the bailey— it gets thename of Black Gate from an occupant in the t ime of James Inamed Black— one of the three postern gates

,and the great

Norman Keep . Like the rest of England in the eighteenthcentury

,Newcastle was careless of her antiquarian heritages .

After the castle had been put to many mean uses,when it was

no longer needed as the bridle of Scotland,

”i t was in 1782

advertised to be let as a windmill . Here is the noticeTo be l et, the old Castle in the Castle Garth , upon which

with the greatest convenience and advantage,may be erected a

wind-mill for the purpose of grinding corn , and bolting flour,or making oil

,etc . There is an exceeding good spring of water

within the Castle,which renders it a very eligible situation for

a Brewery,or any Manufactory that requires a constant supply

of water . The proprietor, upon proper terms , will be at aconsiderable part of the expense . Enquire of Mr . Fryer , inWestgate Street , Newcastle .

”

It was not till 1848, or fifty-s ix years after this , that theNewcastle Society of Antiquaries succeeded in obta ining a

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2 14 GRAINGER CLAYTON’S SERVICE TO NEWCASTLE CH.

may best be seen between Westgate Street and S t . Andrew’sChurch

,a distance of about a quarter of a mi le . They bring

an air of antiquity into busy Newcastle . So do the names ofthe old streets . PI lgrim Street, High and Low FrIars Street

,

The Close,and many similar names point to a time when monks

formed an important part of the population . Jesmond,

the Mount of Jesus,forms a natural centre to these

surroundings .Modern Newcastle owes i ts reconstructed streets almost

wholly to two men . Richard Grainger,who was respons ible for

the building of Grey Street,and Grainger Street

,as well as many

other scarcely less important parts of modern Newcastle,was a

self-made man of a type not uncommon among the Novocastrians. Born of poor parents

,educated at a Charity

Schoo l and afterwards apprentice to a carpenter and builder,

he succeeded in attaining a high posi tion and securing the

respect and affection of his fellow townsmen . His dispositioncan best be described by the kindly old Northumbrian phrasea canny man .

” Shrewd but good-hearted and unassuminglyreligious without ostentatIOn

,persevering to the h Ighest degree

but no hustler,he seems to have satisfied his ambit ion without

making enemies . Grey Street and Grainger Street form hisbest monument . Thei r solid

,substantial stone houses wi ll

compare favourably with those of any other provincial Englishtown . The monument to Lord Grey— the Reform Ministeris not unworthy the memory of Northumberland’

s most distin

guished statesman . Grainger’s most ardent desi re was theimprovement of his native town and the realisation of hisproj ects

,the buildingof Grainger Street and Clayton Street ,

Nun Street,Nelson Street

,Hood Street and so on

,in whicli

he had the assistance and advice of Mr . Clayton,who came of

good substantial Newcastle stock and had the welfare of thetown as much at heart as his friend .

Apart from banks,theatres and other buildings devoted to

business or amusement,the greatest interest attaches to the

Museum of the Natural History Society at Barras Bridge . The

county has a bird list of exceptional length,and every Northum

brian town and village possesses a naturalist or two . Conse

quently the work of the brothers Hancock is known far andwide . John Hancock took a prominent part in getting thismuseum built

,and In i t are housed the great collection of bird

XX NORTH COUNTRY ORN ITHOLOGISTS 2 15

Skins made by him and his elder brother,Albany Hancock .

They afford the very best material on which to build upa knowledge of Northumbrian ornithology .

John Hancock l ived from 1808 to 1890 . His greatest predecessor in the same field had been Prideaux John Selby

,of

D ean S tr eet,

Twizell House,who was born at Alnwick in 1788. A careful

observer and voluminous writer not only on birds,but trees

,

he was a great friend of Sir Walter Scott,who used to send him

each of hi s books as i t was published . Those first edit ionswere in Twizell House during the time of Lord Redesdale

,not the

Lord Redesdale who died a few years ago,but the previous

2 16 ENGLISH AS SPOKEN IN THE NORTH CHAP .

holder of the title . Afterwards birds and books were scatteredand the house passed into other hands .

The founder of the Berwickshire Natural ists’ Club,Dr .

Johnstone, did not specialise on birds as much as on some otherbranches of natural hi story ; and James Hardy, for many yearsi ts secretary, had equally wide tastes , but he wrote many interesting papers on migration and kindred topics .These are the outstanding names

,but i t would be possible to

find in any Northern hamlet someone whose special del ight itis to watch and remember the proceedings of the feathered folk.

It must be very difficult for a stranger to get into the atmos

phere or recognise the true spiri t of Newcastle . The firstbarrier in the wayis the dialect, and the dialect is more formidablein print than in speech . The late Mr. Swinburne gave up allhope of writing poems in it

,and used the braid Scots tongue for

his Northumbrian ballads . To take a S imple example,i t i s

easy to indicate the pronunciation of stone,

”by spelling it,for a

southern ear,or stane for the Scott ish

,but the equivalent in

Northumbrian defies the alphabet . If spel t as i s usually theway

,styen, few except natives would recognis e i t was

pronounced as a monosyllable which,roughly speaking

,rhymes to

gin .

” But for this diffi culty,any stranger could l earn much

about the manners and traditions,habits and humours of

Newcastle by reading Tyneside Songs .” They take you intowhat may be called low company

,but it i s a company of real

men and women. Though they are closely akin to the dramatz’

s

persona of the Jolly Beggars of Robert Burns , a very cons iderableportion of the poets were ne’er-do-weels

,eccentrics , wastrels of

one kind or another ; and here a peculiari ty of Northumberlandin general and Newcastle in part icular may be noted . In otherparts of the kingdom the rich are the leisured class who findtime to write verses

,and the poor are the horny-handed who

have no leisure . But in Northumberland these conditions arereversed . The city merchants have always been too much

'

immersed in the great proj ects of their generation to cultivatethe Muses . But the poor sprang largely from the raidersof Reedsdale and the like

,men who closely resembled that

Robson who,like a good canny man , depended for his l ivelihood

on li fting cattle . There is something of the outlaw lingeringstill in the families of those who form the characters ofNewcastle . One consequence is that they break into rhyme

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2 18 SONGS OF TYNESIDE CHAR.

Sair fail’

d hinney is an old favourite,but the pathos is too

much accented for modern taste . A new song made on AliceMarley, an alewi fe at Pictree near Chester-le-Street

,has been

sung for the best part of two hundred years at sheep—shearinggatherings , harvest suppers , and barn dances , where the chorusresounded among the bare roof j oists

D id ye k en E lsie Mar ley . h oneyTh e wife that sel ls th e barley, h oneyS h e wont get up to serve h er swineAnd do you k en E lsie Marley,

h oney.

Canny Newcassel i s a ce lebrated song which sings the trueglories of the Tyne by contrasting them with those of the Thames .

The chorus runs

Bout Lunnun then divn ’

t ye m ak’

sic a rout ,Th ere ’s mouse th ere m a winkers to daz z leFor a

'

th e fine things ye ar e gobbin about ,We can marra in canny Newcassel .

Naturally the glories are sung of the various pub lic houseswhere these characters disported themselves

,and the way to

the i r haunts carries us into many a curious chare and streetSince destroyed by the improvements of Mr . Grainger .Ma canny hinny is a good example of this kind of ditty .

It i s too long to quote , but begins

Aw went up th e Butch er Bank and down G rundin Chase,

Call’

d at th e Dun Cow , but aw cuddent find th ee th ere .

The wanderings end where they ought to end— at home and in amanner very distinctly Northumbrian

H ing on th’

girdle , let’s h ev a singin

’

h inny.

How often in the traditions and songs of old Northumberlandwe find a reference to the s ingin’ hinny . It is sometimescalled a knead cake and is a product peculiar to the countyThe pitman and his dog are inseparable, and many dogs appearin these songs . Here is the first verse of one about Cappy

In a town near Newcassel a Pitman did dwel l ,W iv h is wife nyem ed Peg, a Tom Cat , and h im selA D og,

cal led Cappy,h e doated upon ,

B ecause h e was left him by great Unc le Tom .

Weel bred Cappy,fam ous awd Cappy,

Cappy’

s th e D og,Tal l io

, Tal lio .

XX BLIND WILLIE’S DEATH AND THE LAMENT FOR H IM 2 19

In the list of eccentrics already given there is one calledBlind Willie . He was an unfortunate but happy soul who spentthe last days of his life in the poorhous e of Al l Saints , but eventhen travelled the streets

,which he could do as well as many a

man who had the use of h is eyes . There is a song about hissinging of which one verse may be quoted for the sake of thelocal colour

I t’

s fine to h ear wo r Bel lman talk,I t

’

s wond ’

rous fine an’

ch eerin

To h ear B et Watt an’

Euph y Sco ttSco ld

,figh t ,

or bawl fresh h eerinTo see th e keel s upon th e TyneAs th ick as h op s , a

’ swimm inI s fine indeed , but stil l mair fine

To h ear B l ind Wil l ie singin ’

.

Blind Willi e appears in the Lamentation on the Death ofCaptain Starkey

,

”another of the worthies . He,with Cuckoo

Jack,Bold Archie

,and others make an unconventional elegy of

their departed comrade in which occurs this serious question

Then what ’

l l poor Newcassel dee , deprived of al l h er

ornam entals

When poor Willi e’s own turn came,the gri ef was expressed

with the same genuine feeling and dis regard of the ordinaryproprieties . Whatever the faults o f this company therecan be no doubt o f their affection for one another .

As aw was gannin up th e Side ,Aw m et wi

’ drucken Bel laSh e rung h er h ands , and sair sh e c ried ,He

’

s gyemat last , poor fel lowO h inny, Bel la wh e is

’t that’s gyem

Ye gar my blood run chil ly ;Wey, h inny, deeth h es stopt th e b reethO

’

canny awd B lind Wil lie .

Although only one or two of these rhymers touch the highwater mark of poetry

,they are homely and friendly

,they are

full of spiri t and they reproduce with good humour the pri zefights and cock fights

,the drinking habits

,the racing

,the

practi cal j okes and quips of the tap and bar . In this waythey make themselves essential to a sympathetic understandingof that old Newcastle out of which the present one came .We cannot take leave of them in terms more fitting than are

220“ THUMPING LUCK TO YON TOWN ” CH. xx

to be found in William Watson’s Thumping Luck to yonTown

Th ere ’s native bards in yon townFor wit and h umour seldom be

’

t

And th ey sang so sweet in yon town,

G ud faith ,I th ink I h ear th em yet

Such fun in Th ompson’s Voyage to Shields ,

In Jemmy Joneson ’

s wh errie fine

Such sh aking h eels and danc ing reels,

Wh en sail ing on the coaly Tyne .

Here'

s thumping luck to yon townLe t’s have a hearty drink upon’

t,

O the days I'

ve spent in yon town,

My heart still warms to th ink upon’

t .

7 la: S ta r t (f the H igh L evel'

B us the Newcastle side.

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222 AN ANCIENT “ HINDENBURG LINE” CHAR.

Wall on the line both of Watling Street and the Maiden Waywhich can be proved to have been garrisoned by Roman troopsuntil near the end of the Roman occupation

.

0

An anc ient Hindenburg l ine may serve as a rough descriptron . The reader wi ll readily make a liberal allowance for thed ifferences in fortification rendered necessary by the substitution

The Roman Vil la,Chesters .

of poisonous gas and high explos ives for the arrows,catapults

,

balistw,and other engines employed by the Roman legions .

It may be regarded as a series of fortifications linked togetherso as to enab le the occupants to assemble promptly at any givenpoint either for attack or defence . Those wishing to explore i tcannot do better than take Dr . Collingwood Bruce as a mentor .His famous Handbook has

,s ince his death

,been edited and

kept up to date by a most competent successor,the well-known

archaeologist,Mr . Robert Blair, one of the secretaries of the

XXI TYNE WHEN THE WALL WAS BUILT 223

Newcastle Society of Antiquaries . Dr . Bruce was very farindeed from being a Dryasdust . He was a charming and ver

satile writer with many sympathies as we ll as great learning,

who had the gift of explaining a difficult subj ect s imply andlucidly . There are few more agreeable ways o f spending aNorthumbrian holiday than with his book as company

,exploring

the Wall from start to finish . Between Wallsend on the Tyneand Bowness on the Solway is rather less than seventy-four miles

,

so that the pilgrimage along it presents no formidable task toa moderate pedestrian who is able to take his ease at his innwhen fatigued with the rough going . He will see more thanone interesting aspect of the country .

It is not easy for fancy to reconstruct the country roundWallsend as i t must have appeared to the guardians of theWall . The houses

,wharves

,offices , stores , must give place to

moor and forest,and the dark

,sombre Tyne bearing endless

traffic on its bosom make way for a pellucid sparkl ing river soshallow as to to be no defence from attack . The reason whythe building started at Wallsend— the Segedunum of theRomans— was probably because here the river widens to itsmouth and forms a natural frontier . Little has been left o fthe Wall in the neighbourhood of Newcastle . The VenerableBede

,who lived at Jarrow

,has left a record of what it was like

in his day . He,the most accurate of ecclesiastical writers

,gives

the height as twelve feet and the breadth eight feet,but the

dimensions probably varied with the locality,and Dr . Bruce

reckons that the average height was about twenty feet and thebreadth eight . Jarrow is almost Opposite Wallsend

,so we may

assume that Bede measured the portion which daily met his eye .

Newcastle-on-Tyne had not come into existence when the Wallwas built . There was only the Pons [Ell i Station

,oppos ite the

Pons l Elius, so called by Hadrian in commemorat lon of hisfamily . Coal must have been known and used by the Romans,as cinders have been unearthed in the works

,but its paramount

value as fuel was not realised till the thirteenth century . Therewere no pits

,so the town and the buildings and the tall chimneys

of the mines must be wiped out in order to get a picture of thelandscape as it appeared to Roman eyes or to those of the Venerable Bede .

There was a third station at Benwell,about two miles from

Newcastle, but the development of the colli eries has caused

224 THE WALL AN EASY QUARRY can .

this also to be obl iterated . Where the first three stationsof the Wall were , you see to-day the busy industrious side ofNorthumbrian life . But the Wall has a long way to go

, and

presently there will be unfolded to the pilgrim who perseveresall the wild beauty of the Northumbrian moors . And thewilder the region the more complete and interesting become theremains of the Wall . Where the scenery is tame the Wall wasan easily access ible quarry. Roman workers had hewn thestones at a time when the building art had undergone temporaryoblivion in Great Britain . Few things are more startling inhistory than the completeness with which ancient civi l isationshave passed away. In what appears to have been a sun-templeat Avebury

,and in the stone circles of which that at Stonehenge

is the most important,we have evidence that building and means

of transport had existed in Britain many centuries before theRoman invasion . Northumberland is rich in prehistoric fortsthat had been erected with ski ll and judgment by racesinhabiting land that now is l ittle better than desert . But therehad been a great retrogression

,and in troublous times old arts had

been forgotten .

When wandering about the Wall during the World War andobserving the myriad proofs i t suppli ed of organised government and organised labour

,of intel ligence and enlightenment

,

i t was impossibl e not to muse over the chance that humanprogress might poss ibly have reached its cu lminating pointin the twentieth century and be fol lowed by a Dark Age . Idid not think it would come from the victory of one S ide oranother

,but from the break-up of nations into warring divis ions .

The worst law is better than anarchy , but it is at least imaginablethat no fraction would remain united . Subdivis ion into groupswould go on ever growing smaller like the family . The individualwould become the unit . Then it would be wolf to wolf’sthroat . No longer would there be property

,no longer education,

every generation growing more ignorant than its predecessor ti llany ancient who told of a people who could navigate the air andtravel under the sea

,who could chain the lightning and converse a

thousand miles apart,would be regarded as a dotard . A gloomy

Vision,but not altogether fantastic ! Some such process must

have checked human progress more than once .

But the clouds have li fted and the sun is again shining .

Whatever the future may hold,the Wall affords a light on the

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226 ROMAN SOLDIERS AND THEIR LEISURE CHAR.

Britain . Its obj ect was t o tel l where the military and civilnotabilities were stationed . From it we learn the nationalityof the troops at each station .

Wh en in a camp now cal led Housesteads many altars are foundbearing th e nam e of th e first cohort of th e Tungrians , a bo dy o ftroop s whi ch th e No titia p lac es at B orcov icus , th e inferenc e isnatural that Housesteads is th e B o rcov icus of th e Roman s ; and

th is p robability becom es a moral c ertainty wh en th e stat ions on

either side o f it yield tablets insc ribed with th e nam es o f th e firstcohort of th e Batavians and th e fourth cohort o f th e Gaul s , th etroop s which th e Notitia p lac es in th e stations imm ediately to th eeast and west o f B orcov icus—The Handbook .

The works were evidently intended for security againstthe population of the conquered South as well as againstthe wild races of the unsubdued North . Many a thorny questionhas arisen about them . Did the Emperor Hadrian originateand conceive this fortification as a single plan

,as the Hindenburg

Line,as we may assume

,was prepared and constructed Are

they all of one period ? What previous defences existed,and

i f so were they util ised ? Matters these for historians andarchaeologists to argue about for ages . Here it will be better toconfine ourselves to such things as carry us back to the buildingof the Wall . Roman soldiers in their leisure did things similarto those of our own troops . Anyone wandering over the Wiltshire or other Downs on which soldiers were trained will discoverthat

,emulating the artists to whom we owe the white horses

,

they have drawn on the turf the badges and names of theirregiments that

,i f they are cleaned regularly as the white horse

is cleaned,may be seen with interest a thousand years hence .

Roman soldiers told off for fatigue duty at the quarries in likemanner wrote on the rock at times who they were and whatthey were doing . It gives us a sens e of human continuity tolearn how

,in the year of our Lord 20 7 , a squad of the second legion

were on quarry work,as is duly set down in the Written Rock of

the Gelt near Brampton . On the face of one of the ancientquarri es in Chollerford are the words (R)ETRA FLAv1(I)CARANTINI ,the rock of Carantinus. Similar writings have been foundin other quarri es . Thus we realise in a little way how operationswent on . We may assume the skilled work to have been doneby the regular soldiers

,while the hard labour was allotted to

enslaved natives answering to our prisoners of war. In the

BONNIER SHINE THE BRAES OF TYNE ” 227

course of a vis it to France during the war I was witnessof a scene that seemed to recall the very sp irit of antiquity.

It was that of a very small soldier from the Far East,who with

a switch in his hand and the most insolent smile on his lips wasby gesture

,

directing a great blonde barbarian to remove the lastmicroscopic bit of ordure from the road . He was obeyedsullenly

,after the captive’s eye had given a rebellious fl icker that

Chesters.

died down at sight o f the loaded rifle . War does not changeW Ith the ages .

_

A most exquisite s ituation has been chosen for the camp atCI lurnum

, or Chesters . It was garrisoned, as inscriptions prove ,

by the 2nd Ala of Asturians,and the Rev

.John Hodgson said

the Astures in exchanging the sunny valleys of Spain for thebanks of tawnyTyne might find the c limate in their new situationworse ; but a lovelier spot than Cilurnum all the Astures couldnot give them .

” Green fields,woods and hills would j ust i fy

h im, even If

.

the North Tyne did not flow past in its perfectbeauty, S IngIng as it sang to the Roman legions . To the lateMr . John Clayton , who owned the mansion and the estate , mustbe accorded the highest credit for adding to these naturalattractlons. He was a most liberal as well as enlightened

Q 2

228 THE FAMOUS CHESTERS CHAR.

archaeologist and possessed of will-power equal to his enthusiasm .

He and his collaborator,Dr . Collingwood Bruce

,excavated

the ruins,laid bare the famous camp

,and gathered the

relics which make the Museum the best of its kind in thecountry.

The station at Chesters i s very nearly as large as thatat B irdoswald in Cumberland

,which the Romans called

Amboglanna. Cilurnum covers an area of 5% acres , Am bo

glanna 55, so there is only a quarter o f an acre difference .Lesser stations are

,l ike Cilurnum

,rectangular in shape

,but

whereas they have usually only four gateways,this has s ix .

One great portal opened to the south,one to the north

,but

there are two,a greater and a lesser

,on the west and also

on the east . The l i ttle gates would have been called posternshad they been in a Norman castle . We are reminded by theworn stones

,worn by war chariots and war horses

,the trample

of so ldiers’ feet,the passing of civilian crowds

,that the Roman

occupation was not for a year or two but for centuries . Ifwe date effective occupation from the defeat of Galgacus in8 A.D .

,and the withdrawal from 4 18 A.D .

,the year in which

according to the Saxon Chronicle the Romans collected theirtreasure and hid in the soi l what they could not carry away,they lived with us for more than 30 0 years , and the Wall washeld for more than two centuries . Even in that long period itis doubtful if they exercised the slightest influence on the raceof Englishmen . The reasons are irresistible . First the Romanarmy was not Roman . That did not matter much in regardto their efficiency so long as the organisation

,the discipline ,

and the command remained in Roman hands , but it was allimportant as regards influence . Asturians

,Thracians

,Moors,

Gauls,Fris ians

,could have had very little in common .

The Wall is not carried through the camp,but comes up to

the eastern gateway on one S ide and to the correspondingwestern gateway on the other . To the north of the road conmeeting them are what appear to have been the Sleeping apartments of the soldiers

,and to the south is the Forum where justice

was administered and business transacted . East of that is thePraetorium

,the quarters of the C .O. as we should call h im .

It has an ingenious contrivance for heating the room by hotair . Out of the dry stones

,with the aid of the altars , inscriptions ,

and miscellaneous remains collected in the excellent museum

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230 THE SACRED WELL AT PROCOLITIA CHAR.

first-class engineers , and these engineers would have done creditto any period .

B orcovicus,the camp at Housesteads

,occupies a s ituation

very different from that at Cilurnum . Here the wall was carriedalong the desolate jagged hill-tops that rise above the onlyapology for a lake district that Northumberland possesses .There are many ways of reaching it . A sturdy

,resolute pedes

trian can do so on foot by following the l ine of the wal lfrom Chesters . He would thus secure the advantage of seeingthe best preserved part of the stone wall , the turf wall , andfosse

,and would pass Carrawburgh , the ancient Procolitia where

the Romans had a sacred well,a

.

sort of Fons Bandi‘isiaeof which a goddess named Coventina was presiding genius .There is at Chesters a carving of her with an inscribed dedicationby the prefect of the first cohort of Batavians

,and one of

her three water-nymphs .When the well was opened out by Mr . Clayton

,hidden under .

huge stones was an amazing and miscellaneous assortment oftreasure and coins

,stones

,altars

,vases

,Roman pearls

,old

shoes,fibulae

,and so on . Mr . Clayton himself obtained sixteen

thousand co ins,four gold , the others S i lver and bronze, ranging

from the time of Mark Antony to that of Gratian . Dr. Brucecounted 3 18 examples of the second bras s coin of AntoninusPius . He says

Th is coin was struck in the fourth consulsh ip of th e Emp erorA .D . 145 to c omm emorate th e exp lo its o f Lo l lius Urbicus in Britain ,

a p eriod in wh ich th e country was reduc ed to its lowest state of

depression . Britain p ersonified as a disconso late female sits upona rock . Sh e h as no h elmet upon h er h ead

,no sword o r spear in

h er hand . Her h ead droop s , h er banner is lowered , h er shi eld isidly cast away. Th e legend is Britannia.

B orcovicus occupies five acres,so that it is not much smaller

than Cilurnum . The Roman masonry has stood the ravages oftime wonderfully well .The country over which the Wall passes is very wild . Icannot better give an idea of it than by quoting Mr . AbelChapman’s Bird Life on the Border .” Mr . Chapman does notwrite as antiquary— indeed he ignores the existence of the Wallbut as a sportsman and naturalist . He i s altogether againstthe drawing of imaginative p ictures

,but is content to be very

xxx A NATURALIST ON THE WALL 23 1

thorough and exact . Of far more concern to him are thehabits of wi ld-fowl than the look of forlorn and wistful beautypeeping out of the desolate scenery . Probably the Tungrianconscripts who kept watch and ward on the Wall were verymuch in sympathy with his point of View . Mr . Chapman saysof the loughs :

Many lying high out on th e h il ls have scarc e a vestige o f cover ton th eir banks , not even a sc reen o f rush or reed

,nor any bush or

sh rub h igh er th an h eath er or bog-myrt le . Oth ers are simp ly open

p eat -h o les , th eir surfac e no t a foo t below th e general l evel o f th e

dead-flat h ogs and m o ss-bogs which surround th em . Som e occupybasins am ong th e h il ls wh ere th e h eath er slopes down unbroken to

th e water ’s edge th e syke or gul l y at th e outflow may,however

,

enable one to app roach th e water at that point . Th eir bo ttom s areusual ly fi rm—e ith er p eat o r gravel , and deep to th e edge . Th ere isseldom any ex tent o f foresh ore wh ere fowl can sit dry,

though insome , as at S t . Mary’s Loch

A fringe o f S ilver sandMarks wh ere th e water meets the land .

Where th e p eat-format ion is ex posed in sec t ion t runk s and roo tsof anc ient oaks , p ine , and oth er trees—up to el evat ions o f feetor more—a tt est a period Wh en th ese Open moors were c lad withforest .

Mr . Chapman’s remark about finding tree stems in the Loughis very suggestive

,especially when taken in connection with the

many other remains found on the land as well as under thewater -in the North of England . It makes it poss ible that theWall through parts o f its course ran through rough woodland

,

some of mere scrub,some consisting of high trees .

A lifetime might be Spent in studying the Roman remainson the Wall

,and after all it would be difficult to picture the li fe

of the soldiery there . In some respects the men appear to havebeen very like our own— careless of danger and even deathand always merry . It would be a great mistake to fancy thatthe foreign conscripts who composed the army of occupat ionspent all their time in dril l or mourned their exile unduly.

On the contrary, we have evidence that amusements o fvarious kinds were carefully planned and the merriment wasuproarious .One of the most interesting relics on the Wall at Housesteads

is the Temp le of Mithras,a little to the west of Chapel Hi ll .

A PERS IAN SUN GOD IN NORTHUMBERLAND CHAR.

It affords one of many evidences that the Roman soldiers hadcarried the worship of the ir favourite god to this

'

wild and fardistant frontier of the Empire . Mithras i s a god of easternorigin

,the Sun God of Persia . It is believed that Mithras worship

in Rome was started partly to counteract the teaching of theChristian faith and partly because its doctrine harmonised withthe claim to absolute power put forward by the Roman Emperors .

Li e.

B ardon

(Bardon M il l S tation is best for Borcovicus .)

In Rome little caves had been made to imitate the secludedmountain caves in which Mithras worship was conducted In

Persia and the rites were performed at night ..

They Included

such atrocities as the offering up of human sacrificesand otherrepuls ive barbarities

.Several altars inscribed to M ithras were

found on the Roman Wall,and Mr . Kipling has A Song to

Mithras in Puck,

” He calls it a Hymn of the 3oth Legion and

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CHAPTER XXI I

HALTWHI STLE AND THE WALL

Th e Moor and th e m ines—History of Haltwh istle—Its pel e towersand c hurch—Two ep itaph s —Th e o l d pronunc iat ion preserved

-A Hal twh ist le poet—From Cumberland to Haltwhist leMumps Ha and Meg Merrilees—Th e Spa and Wel l worsh ipAn anc ient wrong— From B irdoswald to Thi rlwal l and th e NineNicks—A Roman Wal l at Wal ltown .

Ha’ ye h eard how th e Ridleys , and Thirlwal ls, and a

’

,

Ha’

set upon Albany Feath erstonh augh ,

And taken his l ife at th e D eadmanshaugh

Th ere was W il l imo teswick

And Hard-riding D ick ,

And Hughie of Hawdon,and Wil l of th e W a

’

.

SURTEES ’ BALLAD .

HALTWHI STLE stands so beautiful ly on the Tyne, here abroad

,shallow river dancing and singing over a rough bed

,

with a great sweep of moors billowing round it,that not even

the squalor attendant on coal mines has destroyed its charm .

Since the pits were opened the population has increased fromfifteen hundred to three times that number. The mines do notdisfigure the landscape as much as might be imagined . Inthe embrace of the huge moor they are reduced to insignificance.

Even the chimneys are inconspicuous and the smoke but wispsof cloud , neither as black nor as large as the trai l of an oceangoing steamer . The ugliest feature of a mining locality is therow of pit houses . During a half-century of great prosperitythe men themselves have improved immensely. I rememberwhen the periodic outbreak among them was a thing to bedreaded . Literally and truly their attitude to the traveller

234

CH . XX I I NORTHUMBRIANS AND THEIR MANNERS 235

was : Here’s a stranger,Bill ; let

’s ’eave a brick at ’im .

Dark and true and tender is the North, but it never has been ,probably never will be

,poli te . Yet a vast change for the better

has taken place in the habits of the miners . They may sti llhave a day out occas ionally

,and

,i f you think of the character

of thei r work,that is not surpris ing . At Haltwhistle you see

a vast number of greyhounds and lurchers,showing that the

Ha l twh istle.

pitman does not neglect h is ancient amusement . For all that,

he has turned into a thrifty and provident citizen,and withal

has become civil and obliging. But sti ll he is content withthat hideous row of cottages with not a scrap of garden in frontor rear. Much may be forgiven the miners because they havescared away the tourist . There are practically no boardinghouses

,the hotels are useful without being showy. Yet the

236 THE TOWER OF HAUTWYSEL CHAR.

place has almost every attraction but the sea . It has manylovely streams near— such as Tyne

,the much fished I rthing,

noted for the qual ity of its trout the well-stocked HaltwhistleBurn, and the Tipalt. They are all available for the angler .In the town there are two build ings of interest— the church

and a pele-tower , the latter a fine example of a Border fortress,

now partially inhabited by peasants and still offering a grandopportunity for anyone interested in restoring and preserving .

The fol lowing account of it is from a privately printed andcircu lated pamphlet by the Rev . C . E . Adamson

,rector of

Houghton-le-Spring , under the t itle of“ A History of the Manor

and the Church of HaltwhistleThe Tower of Hautwysel i s first mentioned in the list of

towers and castles that existed in Northumberland about theyear 1416 , and is probably the same as that described in 1542

as the inheritance of S ir Will iam Musgrave and in measurablegood reparation . It is (as it now stands) a plain build ing witha loop-holed turret built on corbels . The old roo f , wh ich wasremoved some twenty years ago , was formed of flags lai d onheavy oaken beams and fastened thereto with sheep shank bones.

The floor also consisted of flags laid on j o is ts formed of theroughly squared trunks o f oak trees . A winding stone stair-caseleads to the upper part o f the tower. As Haltwhistle cannothave had a res ident lord during the tenure of the Musgraves,the tower was probably the oflicial res idence of the bailifiswho seem to have exercised considerable authori ty in the town .

In 1279Roger le Taill eur was bailiff . In 1473 Robert Stevenson,Vicar

,i s named as seneschal . In 1552 Nicholas Blenk insopp

was bailiff (Nicholson’s Leges March iarum John Ridley

,

bail iff of Haltwhistle,by his will dated 1616 bequeaths his best

ox as a herryate to Lord Will iam Howard , and another JohnRidley and Nicholas Ridley held the office in 1634 . (LordWilliam Howard’s Household Book .)There was another pele-tower

,but its remains are engulfed

in the Red Lion Hotel .In its way Mr. Adamson’s monograph is a model of its kind

,

tracing the history of the Manor o f Haltwhis tle—o r Hautwysel ,the watch on the mount

,as it was originally call ed— from the

time when it was given with Bellister and Plainmeller by Will iamthe Lion as a dowry to his natural daughter in 1 191 . The

Kings of Scotland were Lords Seigneur during parts o f the

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238 OLD SPELLING AND LOCAL PRONUNCIA’

I‘

ION can ».

The other is on the tombstone of John Ridley,cousin

of the martyr

IHON REDLETHAT SUMTIM D ID BE

THEN LORD OF THE WALTONGON I S HE OUT OF THESE VAL OF

“855 “

HI S BONS LES UNDER THES STON

INTO THES WORLD GAVE HI S SO

THEN FOR TO REDEM AL CHRESN

AL FAETHFUL PEOPLE MAY B E FAENWHEN DATH COMES THAT NON CAN FLE

THE B ODE KEPT THE SOUL IN PAENTHROUGH CHRI ST I S SET AT LEB ERTEAMONG B LESSED COMPANE TO REMAE

N

To SLEP IN CHRI ST NOWE I S HE GON

YET STEL B ELEVES To HAVE AGAEN

THROUGH CHRI ST A IOYEFUL RESURRECCIONAL PRENDES MAY B E GLAD TO HAERWHEN HES SOUL FROM PAEN DID GO

OUT OF THES WORLD As DOETH AFFERIN THE YEER OF OUR LORD

A : 1562

It is the mis-spelling that interests here . Although thereis only one dialect in Northumberland

,it is spoken with accents

and other peculiarities that belong to separate localities . The

Western Northumbrian is much softer and sweeter in speechthan the Eastern

,Where most commonly voices are harsh and

loud . Canon Lowe expressed the Opinion that the mistakesin spelling were most likely due to the ignorance of the villagemason, but I cannot agree with him . Listen to a native Whenhe says not gate

,but gay-et not faith

,but fay-eth

not death,but dath not here

,but hee-er not remain,

but remay-en not misery and liberty, but meesery

”

and leeberty,” and it becomes evident that the spell ing,

l ike nearly all the other spelling of the time , was phonetic.

xxn ADA SMITH A PORT OF HALTWHISTLE 239

It follows as a normal and indeed inevitable deduction thatthe manner of speaking prevalent tod ay was also that Of thegeneration which saw Bishop Ridley burnt at the stake .

Whether the spelling is due to the composer or the printer,it

probably renders accurately the sound of the language as

spoken at the time and as i t is spoken by the ill iterate of to-day.

I cannot leave Haltwhistle without a little note about AdaSmith . She was born here and is buried at St . John Lee .She had l ived much abroad , chiefly at Vi enna , and returnedto England with the hope of making a literary career . But itwas not to be . She died in 1898, before atta ining her twentysecond birthday

,and left behind a memory of what she might

have done and one or two poems instinct with love of natureand thecharm Of youth . I Copy out one partly for the sake Ofher who wrote it , but still more for its delightful rendering of thevery spirit of the moorland .

When she wrote it , says Mr . Garvin , who at the time wrotea very sympathetic In Memoriam notice for The Academy,she must have been th ink ing all the t ime of BlanchlandCommon and its wide

,cool

,purple si lence .

”

Yonder in th e h eath er th ere ’s a bed fo r sleeping,

D rink for one ath irst, ripe blackberries to eat

Yonder in th e sun th e m erry h ares go leap ing,

And th e poo l is c lear for travel -wearied feet .

So rely th rob my feet , a-tram ping London h ighways ,(Ah th e springy m oss upon a north ern m oo r

Th rough th e end less streets , th e gloomy squares and byways,Homeless in th e City

, poo r among th e poo r 1

London streets are gold—ah, give m e l eaves a-

glinting’Midst grey dykes and h edges in th e autumn sun

London water ’s wine , poured out for al l unstintingGod l For th e l ittle brooks that tumble as th ey run l

Oh , my h eart is fain to h ear th e so ft W ind blowing,

Sough ing th rough th e fi r-top s up on north ern fe l l s lOh , my ey e

’s an ach e to see th e brown burns flowingTh rough th e p eaty soil and tinkling h eath er-bel l s .

There is a very interesting walk from the western borderof the county into Haltwhistle

,mostly along the Wall

. ThePoltross Burn , as i t runs into the Irth ing, i s the divi s ionbetween Northumberland and Cumberland . On the Cumbrian

240 TO HALTWHISTLE FROM CUMBERLAND CHAP .

s ide 15 the famous or infamous hostelry Mumps Ha’ or Beggars’

Hotel, now much enlarged and changed since Scott describedit and Meg Merri lees in Guy Mannering . It had a very badreputation in his time

,and the Border farmers coming from

fairs who stopped to refresh themselves were Often waylaidby the robbers and highwaymen who were harboured thereby the notorious Margaret Carrick . Those who came fromScotland had to traverse the evil-reputed and dangerous wasteof Bewcastle . The background in Cumberland is the chain ofmountains , the most prominent of which , Skiddaw and Saddleback, can be seen from the wooded height above Irth ing on aclear day . At Upper Denton

,about one and a-half miles from

Gilsland , i s buried Margaret Carrick, the original OfMeg Merrilees ,who lived ti l l She was a hundred . South of the railway stationis the farmhouse called The Gap

,where the Wall is said to

have been broken down . The Wall can be seen in the Vicaragegarden . There is also

,to the west

,a mile-castle which seems

to have been very extensive . A local tradition gives it the nameOf the King’s Stables . The Poltross had a Roman bridge nearhere

,mentioned by Camden as an arch over the rapid brook .

”

Gilsland Spa has long been a noted resort,and an account is

given even With in recent times of the yearly pilgrimage tothe chalybeate and sulphur waters as a modern survival of wellworship .

“On the Sunday after Old Midsummer Day, calledthe Head Sunday

,and the Sunday after it

,hundreds i f not

thousands used to assemble from al l directions by rai l whenthat was available

,and by vehicles and on foot otherwise .

From North Tynedale and the neighbourhood for many milesround these unconscious adherents Of heathen rites visitedthe wells .” In the introduction to The Bridal of TriermainSir Walter Scott describes the POpping Stone said to be thescene of his own courtship and now a greatly-visited spot onthe Cumberland side . The large hotel called The Shaweswas a farm originally in the manor of Triermain . An ancientstory of an ancient wrong is commemorated in the name ofG ilsland . Robert de Vaux , the Norman lord,had ousted an earlierproprietor who had the Saxon name of Gilles Bueth . He naturallyattempted to regain it

,and was invited by the Norman to a

friendly meeting where he was treacherously murdered . Thistradition was corroborated in 1864 by the discovery of a RunicInscription some distance from Bewcastle Church thus translated

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242 THE NINE NICKS OF TII IRLWALL CHAP .

provide the building material for the cottages standing by thestream . The ancient fami ly of Thirlwall probably built thecastle in the fourteenth century

,or they took their name from

the manor . Edward I stayed at Thirlwall on one of hislast vengeful visits to quiet the Borders . A Thirlwall wasthe slogan of the family

,the last of whom

,an heiress

,married

a Swinburne of Capheaton . From the castle can be seenthe village Of Glenwhelt

,which has a very Celtic sound

,and

Blenkinsopp Castle,near Greenhead Station

,built originally in

I 3S9~

The plough has gone over Carvoran,which had been a very

strong station built to command the valley Of the Tipalt . The

Stanegate, the direct Roman road , came in front of this station ,the Magna of the Romans

,and the Maiden Way coming up

from Cumberland passed near . In the fa rmhouse and gardenadj oining can be seen numerous memorials of the imperial race .

TO fol low the Wall here climb the steep hill above the Tipalt,now crossed by a bridge . Unfortunately a turret on the crags

,

which here start to form isolated peaks called the Nine Nicksof Thirlwall

,to which we ascend

,has been destroyed by quarrying

operations that have spoiled the Wall in this part . The turretwas only discovered in 1883 , and on the north were ninecourses Of stone . Nowhere are the picturesque features of thebasaltic Whin Sill more impress ive than along the Roman Wallat the Nine Nicks . The Wall has been built along the marginsOf the cliffs . The Whin Sill at this point attains its maximumthickness of about 180 feet

,and is loftier and more continuous

and its outline grander and more broken than in any otherpart of the county . It is after Thirlwall and the disappearanceof the basaltic heights which decline away towards Glenwheltthat the Wall became weak

,although between Thirlwall and

B irdoswald five camps existed at a distance of half a mile fromeach other . Near the pleasant litt le village of Greenhead oneis easily traced where the Stanegate passes . The Wall

,after

clinging to the Nine Nicks,to which it has with great skill

been adapted,now descends towards Walltown

,where once

was a village and a tower which belonged to John Ridley, arelative of the martyred Bishop . It adj oined the presentfarmhouse . A Spring called The King’s, or King Arthur

’s Well,where Paul inus is supposed to have performed one of hislegendary bapt isms, is near here , the convert being a Saxon

xxn MEDICINAL HERBS ON THE ROMAN WALL 243

King,e ither Egbei t or Edwin . One strange and intimate touch

of the Roman soldier’s predilections sti l l Springs here from theunconscious bosom Of earth . In the crevices of the whinstonerock near Walltown House

,chives grow in abundance . I t is

said that this pungent,savoury herb was planted by

'

the Roman

Feat/tension : Ccu tie, nea r Ha l twh istle.

and has pers isted,as one Of its flavour would pers ist

,ever s ince .

All the earliest writers on the Wall have referred to its existence .Camden says that the country-people believed that medicinalherbs were planted all about here for the cure of wounds

,and

that from Scotland those who co ll ected simples flocked in theR 2

244 BELLISTER ,PLENMELLORAND FEATHERSTONECH . XXI I

beginning of the summer to gather them . The Wall here is muchdecayed

,but it improves

,and after pass ing Allalee farmhouse

the distinctly-marked rums of a mile castle and the Wall may beseen . TheWall exhibits

,on the north s ide

,s ix or seven to nine

courses Of stone,although the south face is broken . It is worn

away towards Cockmount Hi ll farmhouse,though all along

this part the views are magnificent and it is but a short distanceto Aesica

,near Haltwhistle .

In the days of Border warfare Haltwhistle was a centre ofstrife

,and one cannot take a walk in any direction without coming

across places whose names have been made familiar by song orstory . Bell ister and Plenmellor are close at hand and Feathers tone Castle only three miles away . It was greatly admiredby so good a j udge as Mr . Bates

,and the name is familiar to

readers of Surtees’ clever imitation of a Scottish ballad whichimposed upon Scott himself .

A t Ha l twh istle.

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THE UMFRAV ILLES— SIR INGRAM’S REBUKE CHAP .

a suburb and important for its stee l works . Its pattern-shopwas a fortified manor house . Newburn was the nearest fordto Newcastle and has been crossed by armies of Romans andScots , and was once a cons iderable town, being cap ital of thelower Tyne before Newcastle grew to power . Here GeorgeStephenson passed much Of his youth and first learnt to workwith engines . The early Norman Church with the originalsquare tower crowns the hill .Wylam

,where George Stephenson was born in 1781 , is

four miles higher up the Tyne . On the Hexham road,and

appropriately overlooking the rai lway,stands the red-ti led

cottage . The story Of his hard Chi ldhood shows how early the

forefathers Of this generation expected their children to earnmoney . He was working when he was s even and got his education by snatches in a night school from a Scottish schoolmas ter.A little above Wylam

,on a rocky steep over the Tyne

,stands

Prudhoe Castle . The barony Of Prudhoe was given by theConqueror to Robert de Umfrav ille, or

“ Robin with the Beard,

”

the first of that great family and the hero of many legends . The

castle was built in the twelfth century by Odinel de Umfrav ille,

but in 1381 it passed into the possess ion of the Percies. SirIngram de Umfrav ille made the famous reply to Edward IIat Bannockburn

,who

,seeing the kneeling host of Scots

,when

Bruce ordered prayer before battle,turned to his companion

,

saying triumphantly : See ! yon men kneel to ask mercy .

”

You say truth,s ire

,answered Sir Ingram they ask mercy

but not of you ! ” Prudhoe Castle was an immensely strongfortress

,as the ruins to-day test ify

,and the magnificent natural

position Of steep escarpment and deep ravine is s imilar toNorham

,with a moat to complete the defence . When William

the Lion’s army was retreating in defeat from the unsubduedfortress of Odinel they stripped the bark from the orchardapple trees

,reminding us Of the more deadly damage done to

the French orchards by the Germans . Gardens still growunder its walls

,and part Of the castle is used as a-dwelling-house .

But much of this magnificent castle remains to interest theantiquarian . Indeed

,Mr . C . J . Bates considers that Prudhoe

,

though of small dimensions,attains more nearly to the ideal

Of a Border Castle than does any other in Northumberland .

”

The castle moat and garden occupy three acres .AtCherryburn, a mile to the west, was the birthplace of Thomas

xxm “THOMAS BEWICK , ENGRAVER OF NEWCASTLE 247

Bewick and his brother . On the Opposite side of the Tyneis Ovingham ,

supposed to be very ancient . The namemay be Saxon , the home of the Offings, or sons Of Offa . The

church 18 interesting,with a fine pre Conquest tower belonging

to the earlier Saxon building in which stones from the Romanwall have been used . Beneath the tower i s the vault Of theBewick family, where Thomas Bewick , engraver of Newcastle,

”

B z’

rflzp laee of George S teplr mson .

i s buried and here his genius unfo lded . In his memo irs he saysAs soon as I fi l led all the blank places in my books , I hadrecourse at all spare t imes to the gravestones and the floorof the church porch with a bit Of chalk to give vent to thispropens ity Of mine of figuring whatever I had seen . At thatt ime I had never heard of the word ‘ drawing ’ nor did I know ofany other paintings besides the King’s Arms in the church , andthe s igns in Ovingham of the Black

o

Bull,the White Horse , the

Salmon,and the Hounds and Hare . What an affecting p icture

248 CANON GREENWELL AND HIS SISTER DORA CHAP.

of the simple boy moved by the irres istible biddings of theartist Spirit . From an Old family called Carr

,in Ovingham

,

Sprang another boy fair science frowned not on his lowly

S t . A ndrew'

s Cl mr elz at Bywel l .

birth — George Stephenson, whose mother was the daughter ofa dyer in the village . The late Canon Greenwell at one timeheld the living

,and his s ister

,Dora Greenwell

,wrote her poems

in the Old-fashioned and delightful parsonage .

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250 BEW ICK’S TAILPIECES CHAP.

altered in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries and has hadmany restorations s ince .

The old village cross,but not in its ancient position

,is passed

on the way to the castle of the Nevilles,an ancient manor

of the Ballio ls,who received it from the Conqueror . The

castle,which is really only a gate-tower

,was built in the fifteenth

century . It is three-stori ed and very picturesque,clothed in

ivy , with four turrets . The Nevilles forfeited the estate to theCrown . The last of them was Charles

,Earl of Westmorland

,

who took part in the abortive Ris ing of the North in 1568.

To return to Bewick,the most cons iderable artist Northumber

land has produced . His father was a small farmer who rented aland-sale coll iery

,that is

,one where the coals were sold to

people in the neighbourhood . The story of hi s l i fe does notconcern us much here

,but no stranger could possibly obtain a

better insight into old Northumberland— that is to say,Northum

berland of the eighteenth century— than can be had through thefamous tai lpieces of which the best are found in the two volumesof British Birds .” As an artist

,Bewick was sel f-educated .

His earl iest exercises in drawing were made on the margins ofbooks

,the flagstones and hearths of his home, and his first

studies of pictures,according to the delightful memoir which

Austin Dobson wrote for the National D ictionary of B iography

,

”were the inn s igns and the rude knife-cut prints thento be found in every farm or cottage

,records of victories by sea

and land,portraits of persons famous or notorious

,

bal lads , pasted on th e wall ,Of Ch evy Chas e and Engl ish Moll ,Fair Rosam ond

,and Robin Hood ,

Th e l ittl e Ch ildren in th e Wood .

Then,by the kindness of a friend

,after a probation of pen and

ink and blackberry-j uice,he passed to a paint brush and colours

,

and began to copy the animal li fe about him .

With Ruskin’s notes available it would be superfluous todwell on the artistry of the tai lpieces

,but many of minor

importance from Ruskin’s point of View are the most interestingto true Northumbrians . A few examples may be citedto Show how one of the most observant of artists caught thecountry li fe of his time . Most of the habits and customs havefaded away

,but the wanderer in Northumberland may now

xxm IRONICAL AND GRIM HUMOUR 251

and again come across remnants and indications of mannersas they were in the time of th e great engraver and as they hadbeen for centuries before his time . After the railways werebuilt it was never the same in rural l ife .

Perhaps the most amusing of the cuts is the one placed be forethe preface to the second volume of British Birds .” I t showsthe interior of an old-fashioned Northumbrian cottage . The

inmate is obviously one of those referred to by Touchstone whenhe declared it was meat and drink for him to meet a clown . His

hat hangs on a chair and discloses a head bald at the top withgrey haffets .” His lanky

,unintelligent face i s raised upward

with closed eyes . His mouth is open,showing that time has

made havoc with his teeth,and h is hands are raised above his

full porridge platter . In a word,he is asking a blessing .

”

As he thanks the Deity for the good things provided,a tabby

cat with upturned tail is helping himself l iberally to his supper .The wooden spoon

,the l ittle bowl for the mi lk

,the roughly made

table,the print on the wall

,are all typical o f an old cottage inte

rior . At times B ewick ’

s humour was grimly ironical,as in the

tai lpi ece following the chapter on the goose . In it four youths areseen mounted each on a tombstone as though they were cavalrymen . One i s blowing a horn

,each of the others carrying a sword

,

and all are got up to look as military as possible . A skull andcrossbones on a fallen tombstone speak o f the grave

,whi le

the smiling Vicarage and the rookery beside it suggest a li fethat is unchanging .

The touch o f Rabelais is to be seen in the picture'

o f twoanglers

,the elder o f whom is carefully extracting gentles from

the body of a dead dog while the younger holds his nose . Butthat is a mild example of country humour a hundred years ago .

Interesting as recalling the past is the picture of a very spareman holding on to the tail of a lean cow

,which he has evidently

driven into the river to escape the tollbar s ituated,as was often

the case,on the bridge above . Innumerable stories are sti l l

bandied about amongst ancient rustics of the various ways inwhich the toll-keeper could be cheated . Perhaps the mostremarkable was that of a

'

Berwick character called JimmyStrength

,

”who used to lift his donkey bodily over the gate .But swimming behind the cow was more common .

The drawing of a man clinging to the branch of a tree,which

has been evidently broken by his weight,and being precipitated

252 EIGHTEENTII -CENTURY WAYFARERS CHAP .

into the foaming river is wit very characteristic of the rudeforefathers of the hamlet .Bewick was never t ired of drawing the wayfaring or gangrelfolk who passed along the highways and byways of his day .

There was the packman carrying what Ruskin , commenting onthese tailpieces

,calls s imply a big box . It was really a pack

such as that commemorated in the story of the Long Pack,a

favourite chapbook of the nineteenth century . The packmaninsome instances carried webs of cloth

,in others only fine knacks

for ladies ’ sometimes he was a c locky dealing in clocks andwatches . I remember one

,who must have been probably nearly

the last of his race,who tramped the country districts in the

snuff-coloured,brass-buttoned clothes of a past generat ion .

He used to recommend to the rustics his spectacles as “ not gold,

marm , but equally as good .

”Over and over again figures

of his type appear in the tailpieces . The terror of the gaunbodywas the dog

,and Bewick evidently knew well the dodges to

overcome that enemy,getting him to take hold of a stick or

wrapping a cloak round his arm through which the animal couldnot bite .

There was also the beggar,or gaberlunzie man . He was

fami liar to people who l ived at such a homestead as is figuredbe fore the introduction to the first volume of British Birds .It is a farmstead of a kind that has almost become obsolete .The farmhouse i s a thatched cottage . In a stackyard are twowell-thatched ricks . There are a stable

,outbuildings

,dovecot,

a man is carrying a full sack on his back,turkeys and chickens

are picking up what they can , and over the house a string ofbirds is passing in flight .The moor had a fascination for Bewick , but it was the terrorof i t that seized his imaginat ion . Look at the pictureabove the table of contents in the second volume . In themiddle of a storm of wind and rain an old and fearful travellers its on a packhorse

,a full basket on his arm and creels on

the animal . It is pouring with rain and blowing as well . His

hat has j ust blown off and he is d istracted with alarm andanxiety as he strains to read the tottering fingerpost in the fail inglight . He hates the moor . In the tailpiece on p . 5, vol . 1

,

there are again a blinding storm,a horse and his rider

,the latter

probably a farmer . There is fear alike in the thrown-back earsof the nag and the averted face o f the man. They have passed

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254 SPORT ON STILTS AND WITH THE LEISTER am p .

dullness in the olden time . Like many other customs,they have

fled before the steam engine . Other Changes are incidental tothe development of the soi l . Everyone who knows the oldhistory of Northumberland is aware of the vast numberof bogs

,mosses and mires which only the moss-troopers

could traverse in safety . In the time of Bewick theysti l l existed to such an extent that the booming of the bittemwas one of the common country sounds . S ince then the drainerhas been busy

,and what before was bog is now in many cases

dry land,attracting new birds and growing new flowers . It had

a curious effect on sport,and nearly every Northumbrian is a

bit of a sportsman . The use of stilts appears to have been verycommon in B ewick ’s time and indeed remained so long after hehad passed away . He shows us men . walking on sti lts in thewater

,and sportsmen evidently after duck or other water birds

,

the gun strapped to the shoulder the little dog swimming afterhis master

,and the latter needing

,as i t seems to modern eyes

,

all his dexteri ty to be able to cross the flooded country onthese artificial limbs .Bewick had evidently a boyish sympathy for illicit sport .

In what Ruskin called the most Splendid of these picturesa poacher with his gun is following the tracks of hares andrabbits on the snow . Fish-spearing appears to have been notunlawful

,as the four-toed leister frequently occurs in these

pictures,sometimes lying beside the fish that had been ki lled

,

sometimes carried by a burly peasant through the water in whichhe is wading . Bewick delighted also in picturing the varioustroubles that lay in wait for the fisherman . His l ine gets hankedj ust after he has hooked a fish while he is running a big one anangry bull makes i ts appearance

,so that the unfortunate angler

i s between the devi l and the deep sea .

This is all part of the joyous side of the engraver . He i s ina di fferent mood when portraying the wayfaring beggars

,

wanderers,and wastrels of the old time . Th e number of one

l egged or otherwise disabled men is extraordinary . So is thenumber of blind men who are under the guidance of a littledog

,and he takes strange delight in showing these men in

most peri lous circumstances . The l ittle dog becomes excitedby an angry bull j ust at the time when he should be carefullyleading hi s master over a narrow plank bridge . We see the waterbubbling below and expect the itinerant to fall in at anymoment

xxm GOOD TIMES AND BAD TIMES 255

Old age he depicts with curi ous vividness , as in that hovel withits most wretched inhabi tant over which he has painted theinscription I f Youth but knew what age would crave

,every

penny it would save .

” In another he shows a tomb of which theinscription conveys the philosophy of the rusti c in the briefestposs ib le words . The inscription is Good times

,and bad times

,

and all time got over.” The phrase got over gives the veryessence of the old Northumbrian rusti c ’s outlook on li fe . The

Tyne at Bywel l .

pictures of house and homestead,which form a large part of the

tailpieces,go far to explain the hardnes s of country li fe a

hundred years ago . Hedworth Williamson,with A Northern

Headstone for a text,put it al l into a little poem .

A NORTHERN HEAD STONE

Strong with its stunted tower , gray in th e driving shower ,Stands th e o ld Ch urch with th e moors for a setting.

Under this turfy h eap my Old friend sleep s h is sleep ,

Lich en and sea wind , th e h eadstone are fretting.

256 AND ALL TIME GOT OVER CH. xxi ir

What did be with h is l ife Tended an ailing wife ,Buttressed th e bridge and rebuilt th e byre ,D rained th e five ac re field ,

doubled th e yearly yield ,Tiled th e west gable-end after th e fi re .

D rough t in th e earl y spring,rain in th e harvesting,

Even a good season’s niggardly bounty

Al l h is l ife long h e knew , yet oats l ike h is were few,

And h is swedes famous,on th is side th e c ounty.

Now h is day’s work is done , nigh t begun ,

resting won .

He l ies so quietly under th e c lover ,Heeds not th e rain and wind ,

th is world wel l l eft behind ,Good times , and bad tim es , and al l time got over .

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258 WILFR ID,BUILDER OF CHURCHES CHAR.

magnificent church . The town and land had been given himby Queen Etheldrida so that he might build a monastery andmake it an eccles iastical centre . Etheldrida may have proposedto retire to it herself. She was a devout woman who after beingtwice married , first to Tunbert

,a Chief o f the South Gervii

,

and afterwards to Ecgfrid, ultimately retired to lead a religiousl i fe at Ely .

Wilfrid was the first of a typ e of churchman soon to becomenumerous and powerful . He had been educated at Lindisfarne

,

and magnificent as his ideas became in many respects,he retained

to the last the s imple,frugal habits which distinguished Aidan

and his successors . But once in early li fe and twice subse

quently he made a j ourney to Rome and brought back withhim a taste for the noble eccles iastical buildings that had begunto arise in Italy . He was a man of great ambition

,whose love

of power brought him into conflict with the highe s t dignitarieso f Church and State . He built the original church at Hexham,

but was not its first bishop owing to his being out of favour .There were twelve bishops altogether

,of which one

,St . Cuthbert,

never assumed oflice,preferring Lindis farne . Among the

others were many whose names became familiar— Eata,John

(who was later to attain to fame as John of Beverley), Wilfridhimsel f

,Acca

,Frithbert

,Alchmund

,Tilbert

,Ethe lbert

,Eadred

Eanbert,and Tidfrith . In The Chronicle of Lanercost

there is a reference to the Abbey as having been built by thati llustrious bishop o f the Lord

,St . Wilfrid

,and having of old

several shrines enclosing relics of the holy fathers . The chroniclerproceeds to say that very church carved with Roman workwas dedicated by the ministry of St . Wilfrid to the honour ofSaint Andrew

,the meekest of the apostles and the spiritual

patron of the Scots .” In building the church the workmenhad a quarry close at hand in Corstopitum,

the Roman town,now Corbridge . In Saxon times i t was eas i er to take the stonesfrom some existing and perhaps ruinous building near at handthan to quarry them at a distance . Of the many proofs thatthe stones were brought from Corstopitum i t is difli cult to selectthe most interesting . One or two may be mentioned, however .The first is that in doing so a common custom was followed .

Hodges and Gibson give the following list of churches whichcontain large quantities of Roman worked stones : Alwinton,Gosforth

,Heddon-on-the-Wall

,Haydon

,Chollerton , Warden,

xxiv HOW ROMAN STONES WERE BROUGHTTO HEXHAM 259

Newbrough,Bywell

,Corbridge

,Ovingham

,Lanchester ,

Ebchester,Escomb

,and the Abbeys of Jedburgh and Lanercost .

In 1887 three Roman stories were discovered in the bed of theTyne at a point known as an ancient ford . One was the upperhalf of a very large altar which had evidently been cut in twofor convenience in transport . It was obvious from their waterworn surfaces that they had been submerged for many centuries .The conclusion is drawn that they constituted a cart load on its

Hex ltam

way to St . Wilfrid ’s bui ldings . It had been overturned in theford and left there

,as the labour of recovering and re loading

would have been greater than that of going back for anotherload . The nature of the stone shows it to have come fromquarries on the north bank of the Tyne nearer to Corbridge thanHexham . Then there are the sculptured stones actually foundin the abbey ruins

,of which something must be said hereafter .

Hexham had a very troubled history,the early portion of

which culminated in 875, when the Danes , under Haldane,$ 2

260 A FURIOUS RAID IN THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY CHAP.

landed and pi llaged and destroyed Hexham along with manyother churches . The church was not reconstituted unti l 1113 ,when it was made into a priory of the Austin Canons . The

buildings were never completed because of the Scottish raidswhich culminated towards the end of the thirteenth century.

As we have already seen,very troublous times occurred in the

north after the Norman Conquest,and Hexham

,close to the

Border,was for centuries subj ected to the incurs ions of the Scots .

A very vivid account of these raids i s given by the chroniclerof Lanercost

,who writes with an intense hatred of the Scot

that was no doubt reciprocated . On Friday of Passion Week,

1297 , a detachment of the Scottish army made an incursioninto England

,burning and slaying among the country villages

as far as the monastery of Carham . In Apri l of the same yeara band of young knights and fighting men forced their waythrough Redesdale under the leadership of the Earl of Buchan .

The Lanercost chronicler says

In this raid th ey surpassed in c ruel ty al l th e fury of th e h eath enwh en th ey could not cat ch th e strong and young p eop l e wh o tookfligh t , th ey imbrued th eir arm s , hith erto unflesh ed ,

with th e bloo dof infirm p eop l e , Ol d wom en ,

wom en in chi ld-bed , and even c hi ldrentwo or th ree years Old , proving th em selves ap t sch o lars in atro c ity,in so much so th at th ey rai sed alo ft l itt le span -long ch ildren p iercedon p ikes , to ex p ire th us and fly away to th e h eavens . Th ey burntc onsec rat ed ch urch es ; bo th in th e sanctuary and el sewh ere th eyvio lated wom en dedicated to G od , as well as m arried wom en and

girl s , eith er murdering th em or robbing th em after gratifying th eirlust . Al so th ey h erded togeth er a c rowd of l ittle sch o lars in th e

sc hoo l s of Hex ham , and ,h aving blocked th e doors , set fi re to that

p il e (so) fair (in th e sigh t) of God . Thr ee m onasteries of h o lyc o l l egiates were destroyed by th em—L anercost , of th e CanonsRegu lar ; and Hex ham of th e sam e order , and (that) of th e nunso f Lambley ; of al l th ese th e devastation can by no m eans b eattributed to th e valour of warriors , but to th e dastardly combato f th ieves , wh o attacked a weaker community wh ere th ey wouldnot be l ikel y to m eet with any resistance . Th e Ch ronic l e of

Lanercost , S ir Herbert Maxwel l ’s translation .)

The attack on the church was described as follows

And although both th e dignity of th e saints and respect for th ep ious friars ough t to h ave been a defenc e against th e irreverent ,yet th ese madm en aforesaid neith er h ad any regard for th ese thingsnor felt any dread o f al l—seeing G od , but with barbarous feroc ityc omm itted th e consecrat ed buildings to th e flam es , p lundering th echurch p rop erty stored th erein ,

even vio lat ing th e wom en in thatvery p lace and afterwards butch ering th em , sparing neith er age,

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262 THE GRAVESTONE OF A STANDARD-BEARER CHAP.

The Night Stair is another prominent though not peculiarfeature of the abbey . Of old we can fancy the cowled monksascending it to their dormitory . Nowadays the original stepshave been replaced in position and the effect 15 very remarkablewhen the red clad choir go up or down . It seems to recall ina very striking way the pomp and ceremony of the medievalChurch .

Of the Roman stones two stand out beyond all the others .One i s the gravestone of a Roman soldier

,of the rank of

standard-bearer,who was ki l led at the age of twenty-five and

buried at Corstopitum . I cannot do better than quote thedescription of i t by Hodges and Gibson .

It i s a stock des ign used large ly all over the Roman Empire ,and represents a mounted soldier riding over a prostrate barbarian . In this instance the detai ls of the figures are of greatinterest . The soldier i s well armed

,he wears a helmet with

high cres t and plume , and round his neck is a torque , whichindicates his high rank . In his right hand he carries the standardwhich displays the sun god in a circle . The long sword i ssheathed

,and no other weapon is seen . Th e horse is amply

harness ed,furnished with martingales

,covered with a square-cut

saddle-cloth,and shod . The barbarian i s naked

,and carries a

large oval shield by a strap with his le ft arm,while his right

hand grasps a short leaf-shaped sword of strikingly differentform to that worn by his conqueror . Below the sculpture is asunk panel with ansated ends

,in which is the inscription

D I S . MANI BV S . FLAVINV S

EQ . ALAE . PETR . SIGNIFERTFR . CAND ID I . AN . XXV

STI P. V I I . H . S .

To the gods the shades Flav inusstandard-bearer of the cavalry o f Petrianaof the white troop twenty-five years o f age

and seven years’ service is laid here .

Of almost greater interest is a stone found in the crypt whichin itself constitutes a most interesting feature of the abbey .

The crypt of an early church might serve two purposes . Thisone has served as a burial place and also as a place of worshipwhere the sacred relics of saints were exhibited and adored .

XX IV A MURDERED ROMAN EMPEROR 263

One o f the many interesting features of the Hexham crypt i sthat i t was bui lt of Roman stones

,one of them of great historical

importance . The original s tone was broken in two and for longthe inscription was curtailed . Even now it is deficient, but asfar as it remains it reads

IMP CAES L SEP SEVERYSPERTINAX ET IMP CAES MAYR ANTONINV S PI V S AVG

V STI ET PVB SEPTI MCAES COHORTES MVEX ILLATI ON MFECERVNT SVB

Thi s may be expanded into

Imp(erator) Caes(ar) L . Sep(timius) Severus Pi(us)Pertinax et imp(erator) Caesar M . Aur(el ius) Anton inusPius

,Augusti et Publius Septimius Geta Caesar

(erased), Cohortes M . Vexi llation fecerunt sub

(a general’s name lost)

The Emperor Lucius Septimius Severus Pius Pertinaxand his sons the Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninu s PiusAugustus and Publius Septimius Geta Caesar (reigning)the cohorts and detachments made this under thecommand of

Nothing could more strikingly illustrate the organised powerof the Roman Empire . After the Emperor Geta was murderedby his brother an edict was issued from Rome commandingthat wherever the two names appeared in combination that ofGeta was to be erased . This has been done on the stone atHexham

,but not so effectually as to make it impossible to read

the name . There have been found only two other instancesof the survival of this inscription . One was discovered atCai ro and another in Rome . The reason why manyinscriptions have been preserved on the stones of thecrypt i s that the Saxon builders always put the letteringouts ide so that it might be a key to a plaster that theyused . When the crypt was dried and venti lated by modern

264 DUKE OF SOMERSET’S EXECUTION CHAP.

methods this plaster fell off and the inscription became readable .In the early destruction of the abbey the crypt appears to havebeen missed altogether

,and it was only discovered accidentally

in the eighteenth century . Fairless contributed the first modernaccount of i t to the Archaeological Journal

,

”in the course ofwhich he said : There have been three approaches to thissolemn and drear retreat one of them at present reaching nearlyinto the body of the church another to the south leading to theCloisters the thi rd ris ing into the nave .

It is tempting to go on describing the rude pictures of whichthe Dance of Death is the most arresting

,the old almsbox and a

thousand other things that are calculated to beguile the antiquarian into spending the sunnies t hours within the building .

But enough has been said to whet an appetite that can onlybe properly gratified by a pers onal vis it to the beautiful abbeywhich is the pride and glory of Hexham .

The Hexham of to-day is a country town with an air of peaceand content . Formerly ample and magnificent as the vestigesof antiquity testi fy

,

”wrote Prior Richard in the twelfth century .

Something of that ancient state it has regained . The reconstructed abbey stands beauti fully in the centre of a town ofwell-bui lt houses and shady gardens ; down below,

the Tynegurgles over a broad shallow channel causing a thousand litt lewhirls and eddies .In its tranqui l securi ty the terrible adventures of its past

seem far away,even though antiquity has left many remem

brances in the shape of old houses,the most interesting and

important being The Moot Hall and the Manor office . The

country people who bring thei r wares to the Market,with its

picturesque roof supported on pillars,and recommend them in

the broadest Northumbrian,probably differ little externally

from those who timidly looked on when the Duke of Somersetwas beheaded here after the battle of Hexham . The raidingScot has settled down into a friendly neighbour . In the Seal

,

the Abbey Grounds,and Tyne Green there is provided an

abundance of Open Spaces where age can talk and youthplay . Hexham is the birthplace of the well-known poet

,Wilfrid

Wilson Gibson,the son of a distinguished citizen and one of a

clever family which includes the lady who is best known by hermaiden name

,Elizabeth Gibson . As the poet of Northumber

land,Gibson is at his best in the volumes Whin

,

”Stonefolds

,

”

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266 MINSTREL OF THE MOOR AND FELL CH. XX IV

So ldier , what do you see

Lying so co ld and st il lFal lowfi eld Fel l at nigh tAnd th e stars above th e h il l .

Th e h eath er ’

5 black on Hareshaw

Wh en Redesdale ’s lying white ,

Wh en grass is green in Redesdal eDark Haresh aw blossom s brigh t .

I cam e by Raw from Hungry Law ,

Wh en wh o sh ould pass m e byB ut Pedlar Jack

,with a pack on h is back

And a patch across h is eye .

Thirlwall i s the subject o f the following

In th e last gl eam of winter sunA h undred starl ings sc ream and sc reelAmong th e ragged fi rs that standAbout th e ruined Pele .

But Mr . Gibson is much more than a local poet, as i s shown

by such a piece as that called Blind

Blow , blow , 0 wind,th e c louds aside

Th at I may see th e starsIn h eaven gl immers far and wideTh e burnish ed shield of Mars

And Jup iter and Venus rideThe nigh t in glittering cars

Blow,blow , 0 wind , th e c louds aside

Th at I m ay see th e starsNay God has flung h is darkness wideAnd set th e unyielding bars ;

And day and nigh t , unh eeded ,ride

Th e world in glittering cars l

CHAPTER XXV

HEXHAM AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD

o ld bridge at L innels—Th e D evil’s Water— The defeat of th e

Lancastrians and Queen Margaret’s adventure—One o f th e

m ost rem ot e and beaut iful m oo r land vil lages—Foundat ion and

h istory of Blanchland—Co rbridge , an anc ient cap ital of

North umbria and a fam ous Roman town—A fo rtified mansiono f th e fourt eenth c entury—D ilston Cast le , the h om e of th e

Radc l iffes -Th e story Of Lord D erwentwater and his fateGrey of D il ston .

THE Battle of Hexham fought on Hexham Levels on May 8th,

1464, may be said to have ended the Wars of the Roses . The

Lancastrians received a Llow from which there was no recovery .

Whether there was only one battle of Hexham or two battlesin success ive years is open to doubt . One was recorded

,but as

the inques t on the death of the Duke of Somerset is s ignedApri l 3rd, 1463 , and he was executed immediately after the battlefought on May 4th , 1464, Mr . Crawford Hodgson suggeststhat the clerk may have confused the date of two battlesfought about the same date near the same place .

”

It is an easy walk from Hexham to Hexham Leve ls byHackwood

,Beacon Grange

,and Sunnys ide

,close to Linnels

Bridge and Mill . The bridge carries an inscription

God Presarv e Wmfoira Evengton,

B elldete This Brege Of Lyme And stone,

1581

The date 1581 is borne out by the character of the mouldings ,but the bridge of that date appears to have been superseded by

267

268 A HOME ON THE DEVIL’S WATER CHAP.

another bui lt in 1698, or after Benedict Errington and JohnHeron, owners of the Linnels, were presented by the GrandJury for having suffered the Linnels Bridge to go out of repair

,

i t having been at firs t built by the owner of the Linnels.

”

To-day i t i s part of a fine bit of scenery . The Devi l’s Water is avery rough water and comes j umping and foaming over i ts bedof rock, above which the trees on either s ide almost meet .In days not very old the mi l l was a haunt of doubtful characters

,

but all was changed after the property was sold by Sir JohnHaggerston . A beauti ful res idence has been built almost on theedge of the noisy s tream

,whose waters are now partially em

ployed in the ditches and channels of a very modern watergarden , and though the ancient mi ll is retained i t is only as acurios ity . One cannot help envying the owner of such anideal home

,near the road yet hidden from it

,sheltered by the

high bank and the trees,and always within hearing of the madly

gay little river .At a short distance up stream are the levels

,or haughs

,where

the battle was fought . It was a very bloody encounter . LordMontacute and his followers were in an overpowering majorityand sti l l flushed with their victory at Hedgeley Moor . The

Lancastrians fought with their backs to the stream and lostheavi ly in consequence .

It was here that Queen Margaret met with the most romanticof her adventures . With her son she managed to escape fromthe field of battle

,but only to get lost in a thick wood , D ipton

or Deepdene,which even tod ay puts one in 111i of a stronghold

of robbers such as abounded in the fifteenth century . It is ahuge ravine

,the banks of which fall precipitously to the West

D ipton burn which flows between them on its way to j oin theDevi l’s Water . Here the unhappy queen was held up by oneof a band of robbers and she was again confronted with the fatefrom which she had apparently escaped . Much difference ofopinion as to the truth of the story has been expressed , but onefeels incl ined to Share the View put forward in the History ofNorthumberland

,

”where the story is continued as foll ows

Th e situation was a c ritical one , but it was saved by th e courageand p resenc e of m ind o f Queen Margaret . Cal l ing th e man to h er ,

sh e told h im h e h ad been born in a fortunate h our . A chance.

was

given to h im o f redeem ing by a single ac t a l ife of vice and c rim e .

Th e son o f h is k ing was at h is feet for h im to save . Th e unhappy

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270 OVER THE FELLS TO BLANCHLAND ' CHAR.

A seal of the abbey is preserved at Durham . The distant Abbotof Premontre was the head of the order and vis ited the housefrom time to time . Records of his v is itations are preserved .

Its seclusion did not protect i t from the Scottish raiders,and the

d isorganisation due to that was poss ibly the cause why in 1343Blanchland had fallen in temporals and spirituals and was inmuch need of reform .

” Edward III,in 1327 , in pursuit of the

elusive Scots,arrived at Blanchland

,which had been rec ently

burnt by the raiders .Little is known of the history of the abbey

,and at the

dissolution of the monasteries it was sold . In time it came toNicholas Forster of Bamburgh and thence to Lord Crewe

,and

now belongs to the trustees of the famous Charity founded byh m The chancel of the abbey church

,the north transept

,

and the noble tower now form the parish church . In some ofthe windows are fragments of medieval painted glass depictingthe canons in their white robes . On the floor of the transeptare some interesting grave covers

,one of an abbot with a crozier

and chalice on either s ide of a cross ; another with a bugle,sword and arrows another with a cross above five steps and theletters I H C . In the transept aisle is the most striking of thememorial stones

,a blue slab with a sword

,bow and arrow

,and

the name of the hunter,Robt . of Egylston, probably the abbey

’sforester . In the churchyard is an ancient cross . A portion ofthe conventual buildings on the west s ide of the Cloister garth ,dating from the thi rteenth century

,is now the Lord Crewe

Arms .” The gatehouse,which makes such an impress ive

entrance to the vi llage square,is possibly fifteenth-century

,and

also the house on the west of it .Where two streams unite to form the Derwent

,a mile above

Blanchland,in lovely scenery

,is a high cliff

,impos ing and

picturesque,called Gibraltar Rock .

Corbridge,about three miles from Hexham in the oppos ite

direction to Blanchland,has an altogether different interest .

Excavations were begun at Corstopitum ,a Roman

town rather than a military station,in 190 6 and are

sti ll going on,with results of the highest importance .

This ancient capital of Northumbria is entered on the souths ide by a bridge of seven arches built in 1674 , from whicha splendid View is obtained . In the corner of the churchyard is a pele tower built in the fourteenth century and the

xxv PLEASANT D ILSTON HALL 27 1

res idence of the early vicars and the best example of the fortifiedVicarage peculiar to Northumbria . The large and beautifulchurch has a Saxon porch

,and with the exception of Hexham

is the earliest eccles iastical building in Northumberland . I t islargely built o f s tories from the Roman town . The arch into thenave is supposed to have been transferred from a Romangateway .

From Corbridge there is a delightful walk through thefields to Aydon Castle

,a fortified mans ion o f the fourteenth

century s tanding in a fine pos ition on the bank above the

dene through which the Cor burn runs,looking over the valley

of the Tyne with Hexham Abbey in the distance . I t is nowused as a farmhouse , and besides its picturesque situation hasmany beautiful features . The s tables remain to Show theturbulent times of their erection , for they are both built androofed with stone

,and with stone mangers to protect the dumb

animals from the fires the Scots invaders kindled on their redroad through North England . Several carved windows remain

,

and in the interior are beautiful early fourteenth-centuryfireplaces .A mile from Corbridge are the ruins of D ilston Castle

,once the

home of the Radcli ffes . Romantic and pathetic are the dismantled walls from which , with foreboding in his heart , the lastEarl rode forth in 17 15 .

O D erwentwater ’s a bonnie lordAnd go lden is h is hair .

In the annals of Northumberland there is no more touchingstory than that of his short and noble l ife . His doom was writtenat his birth . His mother

,Lady Mary Tudor

,was a natural

daughter of Charles I I,and her married l ife with the Earl of

Derwentwater was so unhappy that they separated . Her

eldest son James was brought up at the exiled Court of St .Germains

,so that both his blood and association with the

young Pretender ensured his sympathy with the Stuart cause .When he was twenty-one he came home to the ancestral s eat atD ilston , and taking up his duties as the landlord of a greatestate became generally beloved by the north country people

,who

succumbed to his attractive appearance and charming , generouspersonality . The portraits existing to-day at Thorndon

,where

his body was at last buried,testi fy to his good looks . Al though

272 DERWENTWATER’S LIGHTS CHAR.

a strong adherent of the Church of Rome,his benevolence

extended as much to Protestant as Papist . The ballads relatinghis fate point to the love he had inspired during the few yearshe lived on his patrimony . His marriage to Anna

,daughter of

Sir John Webb, whom he had met wh ilst she was being educatedin a convent in Paris , helped to confirm his attachment to theStuarts . When he hung back from the rising, she rall ied him .

He foresaw the failure .

Farewel l , farewel l , my lady dear ,I l l , il l th ou counse l l

’

dst m e,

I never more may see th e babeTh at sm iles upon thy knee .

The wee German lairdi e who reigned in England was adamant to all the unfortunate Jacobites who

,after surrendering

,were

at his mercy . They consisted of seventy-five gentlemen ofNorthumberland and about one hundred and forty-three ofScotland

,with j ust over a thousand of humbler followers . George

need not have shown such a lack of clemency . They were hardlyto be feared

,in a stable realm

,who were merely the dupes of a

romantic and pious dream . Some died from cruel treatment,some were executed , some transported . Every effort wasmade to save the Earl’s life . The Countess knelt at George’sfeet

,many noble ladies peti tioned him

,the Earl at his trial

pleaded his youth,and his submiss ion

,and that of his adherents .

The j udges,his peers

,were anxious to show mercy , but George

was implacable . The last Earl of Derwentwater was executedon February 24th , 17 16 , onTowerHill . That night, over Dilston

’

s

melancholy tower,the red fingers of the Aurora Borealis shot

across the Sky, and the watching peasantry saw in it the porttof the pass ing of their beloved lord . Since then they have calledthem

,not the Northern

,but Lord Derwentwater’s lights . His

body was brought to the family vault at D i lston . In 1805 thecoffin was Opened to see if the head had been buriedwith the embalmed body

,and the Earl was lying, still

young,with his severed head and its light brown hair still

perfect . Unfortunately,the vault was not closed properly,

and people in the neighbourhood vis iting it, a blacksmithactually pulled out several teeth and sold them . Afterthat

,all the family coffins were removed, and with them the

body of the last Earl , to Thorndon in Essex,where his descendant,Lord Petre

,l ives.

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CHAPTER XXVI

REDESDALE AND ITS BALLAD S

The Middle March es The deadly feud —Th e l ife of a mosstro oper— A famous Reed and h ow h e died—Border mannersreflected in th e bal lad- Th e raid o f th e Reidswire—Wardensof th e March es in th e six teenth c entury—A dispute and how it

ended—Jedburgh to th e Reidswire .

To follow the North Tyne towards its source i s to enter theregion which composed the Middle Marches . It includes NorthTynedale and Redesdale and differs materially in characterfrom the Eastern and Western Marches . The Eastern Marchesembraced that level Gate to and from Scotland which extendedfrom the Cheviots to the sea and also the Forest o f Cheviot .It provided the stage whereon were fought the great battlesthat date from Malcolm Canmore to the Union

,and is studded

with great Castles or their ruins . The Western Marches performed the same function for the entrance by Carlis le . Warkworth and Naworth and merry Carl isle existed to withstandinvasion

,but in the land Debateable each was for himself

,

and thieves of Redesdale and Tynedale foraged or fought amongthemselves or with thieves o f Liddesdale . In it the king’s writdid not run

,and the typical inhabitant was that Robson who was

described as a good and honest man saving a l ittle shyfting forhis l iving .

” Instead of justice they had the deadly feud .

”

They were bound together in clans and families and woe to himwho brought one of them under the puni shment of the law .

He was a marked man henceforth and the odds were stronglyagainst his escaping the vengeance o f the dead man’sk indred . Surprise has been expressed that some of their deedshave been commemorated in ballad poetry which is un

equalled the world over,but their adventurous lives could

not fai l to produce that emotion of which the best poetryi s compact . Work they reduced to a minimum

,but they

2 7 4

CH. xxvr THROUGH BLIND WAYS” 275

were adepts at travers ing their wi ld country at all times andseasons secretly and swiftly . Lesly

,Bishop o f Ross

,has des

cribed them in words that enable one to picture the whole raid .

The raider lay close all day and salli ed out at night, making forhis quarry by unfrequented byways and many intricate windingsto the place he meant to raid . Having secured hi s booty

,he

s tarted for home through bl ind ways and fetching many acompass

,

”in order to baffle pursuit . He s ti l l was not free fromapprehension

,which became agony when a distant baying

announced that bloodhounds were on his track . Not alwayscould he enj oy the good fortune of Deloraine

,who

B y sudden leap s and desp erate boundsHad baffl ed Percy’s best bloo dh ounds .

If taken red-handed,then short was his sh rift and

unavailing his persuasiveness and plausibi l ity or the appeal tomercy . Risking death and often infli cting it

,running into

great peri ls and under constant pressure alike o f bodily painand anxi ety

,his primitive fears and pass ions were expressed in

keen,hard words that had a force beyond atta inment in the

study .

Th e best example that has come down to us to i llustrate theancient manners of Redesdale is that called Th eDeath o f ParcyReed .

”He belonged to the family of Troughend

,a strong tower

o f which the mass ive foundations can yet be traced at a shortdistance from Troughend Hall . In Redesdale the Reeds rankedwith the Hedleys

,Fletchers and Spoors as next to the Halls

,the

most powerful family corresponding to the Robsons andMilbournes of North Tynedale . He appears to have been atypical Borderer of his day

,a great hunter and fighter

,rude of

speech and contemptuous of religion and restraint . He was

appointed Keeper of Redesdale and discharged the duties o fthat offi ce with a fearless vigour that brought him into colli s ionwith some of his powerful neighbours . He dared even toadminister justi ce to one of a band of moss-troopers namedCrosier

,and the ballad is the story of their revenge with the Halls

as accomplices .

Now Parcy Reed has Crosier ta’en,

He h as del ivered h im to th e law

B ut Crosier says h e ’l l do waur th an th at ,He ’l l make th e tower O ’

Trough end fa’

.

276 THE BALLAD OF PARCY REED CHAR.

Parcy,unwitting that he has made them enemies

,goes hunting

with the “ three fause Ha’

s o’ Girsonfield

Th ey h unt ed h igh , th ey hunted low ,

B y h eath ery hil l and birken Sh aw

Th ey raised a buck on Rooken Edge ,And blew th e m ort at fair Ealylawe .

At Batinghope, a high and lonely glen under the shadow ofCarter

,when the sun was sinking low

Says Parcy th en , Ca’

Off th e dogs ,We ’l l bait our steeds and h om eward go .

They alighted atween the brown and benty ground to do so,

and the mighty hunter no sooner was stretched on the swardthan Parcy Reed was sleeping sound .

” Now the traitors hadthei r chance

Th ey’ve stown the bridl e o ff his steed

,

And th ey’ve put water in his lang gun

Th ey’ve fix ed his sword within th e sh eath

That out again it winna com e .

This being accomplished they give the alarm and awaken himby the cry that the five Crosiers are coming owre the Hinginstane .

”The stout Parcy laughs at the odds i f they will engage

three he wil l deal with two and make them either fight or flee .But they refuse

We mayna stand ,we canna stand ,

We dairrna stand alang wi’

th eeTh e Cro siers h aud th ee at a feud ,

And th ey wad kil l baith th ee and we .

In vain he beseeches them individually,and he had scarcely

time to cross himself a prayer he hadna time to say,

”ti ll theCrosiers keen were upon him

Al l riding grai th ed and in array,

He felled the foremost to the ground with his fank it sword ,but the others swarmed in and overcame him . After manywounds

Th ey h acked o ff h is h ands and feetAnd l eft h im lying on th e lee .

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278 THE MOSS-TROOPERS’ ROAD CHAR.

Rule Water and Hawick Town . Turnbulls and Rutherfordswere present from Jedburgh . On the English s ide were SirJohn Forster, George Heron of Chipchase, and the variousNorthumbrian dales were represented . The meeting began withmerriment, and all went well t i l l the Clerk sat down to call therules . Dandue Hob and Jock were called to settle for the kineand ewes they had stolen . Then the Scots saw five hundredFennicks in a flock come marching over the hi lls . But theScottish ballad-maker says they feared no i ll

Som e gaed to drink and some stude s til lAnd som e to cards and dic e th em sped

Til l on ane Farnste in th ey fyled a bil lAnd h e was fugitive and fled .

Then began the dispute between Carmichael and Forster whichcaused the Tynedale men to let off a flight of arrows

.

Th en was th ere nough t but bow and speirAnd every man pul led out a brandA S chafton and a Fenwick thareGude Sym ington was S lain frae h and .

Slogans were shouted,Fy, Tindaill to it,

” Jedburgh’s here .

TheEnglishmen ,‘

as was still their custom,used the long bow

,

but the Scotsmen firearms,and they got the better of the conflict .

Among those who distinguished themselves most were,George

Douglas of Bean Jeddart,Rutherford of Hundlie

,Sir Andrew

Turnbull of Bedrule upon Rule Water and others whose nameswere celebrated in the ballad . Sir George Heron, the Keeperof Tynedale and Redesdale , with five other gentlemen of rank

,

were slain and Fenwick of Wallington severely wounded . The

prisoners were taken to Dalkeith,but the Regent Morton

,who

was looking forward to What might happen after the death ofElizabeth

,treated them well and eventually sent them home .

There are many ways of cross ing the Border into Northumberland . Over the Tweed at Berwick is perhaps the most historic,and many a tumbling burn and lonely moor on the west s ideunite the mountains of Cumberland to the softer hill countrybetween our eastern and our western seas . But to know theharsh entrance to Northumberland

,familiar yet dreaded

,that the

Lowland moss-troopers out of Roxburgh rode,there is no way

equal to the rough road over the hills by Jedburgh and Carter

xxvr MR . W. H . OGILVIE’S RID ING BALLAD 279

Fell . Over these high moors the track runs many a brown milein unsurpassable solitude

,Where only the flash of the peewit’s

wing and his startled cry break the loneliness .Untravelled as i t is to-day

,except by those who love walk ing

far from the dust of the highway,yet it is near the Debateable

Land and we do not walk unaccompanied,for fierce altercation

and Border cries come down with the wind from Peel Fell andCarter Fell . Along the bridle-path men from Liddesdalegalloped hot to the tryst at Reidswire which ended so fatallyafter beginning meek eneugh .

”

Last nigh t a wind from Lamm erm oo r cam e roaring up th e glenWith th e tramp of troop ing horses and th e laugh of reckl ess m en

,

And struck a mailed hand on th e gate and cried in rebe l glee ,Com e forth ! Come forth , my Borderer , and ride t h e Marchwith m e

I said , Oh Wind of Lammermoo r , th e nigh t’s too dark to ride

And al l th e men that fi l l the glen are ghosts Of men that died 1The floods are down in Bowmont Burn , th e moss is fetlock-deep .

G o back , wild Wind of Lammermoo r,to Lauderdale—and sleep

Out spoke th e Wind Of Lammermoo r , We know th e road r igh twel l ,

Th e road that runs by Kale and J ed across th e Carter Fel l .Th ere is no man of all the men in this grey troop of m ineB ut blind m igh t ride th e Bo rderside from Tevioth ead to Tyne l

Th e h orses fretted on th eir bits and pawed th e flints to fi re ,

Th e riders swung th em to th e South ful l -faced to th eir desireCom e ! said th e Wind from Lammermoo r , and spoke fu l lScom ful ly,

Have ye no pride to mount and ride your fath ers’

road withm e P

A roan horse to the gate th ey led,foam -flec k ed and travel led far ;

A snorting roan that tossed his h ead and flash ed his foreh ead starTh ere cam e a sound of c lashing steel and hoo f-tramp up th e

glen .

And two by two we cantered th rough , a troop of ghostly men 1

I know not if th e farm s we fired are burned to ashes yetI know not if the stirks grew tired befo re the stars were setI only know that late last nigh t when No rth ern winds blew freeA troop of men rode up th e glen and brough t a ho rse for me 1

280 A MOORLAND SOLITUDE CH. XXVI

The road falls abruptly from the moor to the edge of the highbank above the dashing Kielder

,into which the unwary cyclist

,

should one essay the rugged road , might eas i ly fal l . But almostas unexpected as that is the termination of sol itude in the littlerai lway station with a s ingle cottage adjoining

,where a scared

chi ld sees the coming of a stranger and fades away beyond recall .Three trains a day and very few passengers make the humanface strange and possib ly unpleasant .

. m / h ”

Tire S tepping S tones

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282 THE TRYST BETWEEN DOUGLAS AND HOTSPUR CHAR.

Its vivacity has not the ring of old . Both vivacity and li ltare far removed from the rugged simplicity of the true ballad

.

Equally open to crit icism is the vers ion of Otterburnquoted approvingly by Mr . Lang . It is claimed to be ofElizabethan origin, but as printed it was pieced togetherby Sir Walter Scott from the recitation of two old personsl iving in the vale of Ettrick . The Sir Walter touch is veryapparent .The account given by Froissart i s more to be trusted . Hecollected information from parti cipants in the fight and wrote aclear and intelligible story. The minstrels had many doughtydeeds to celebrate in the stormy fourteenth century

,and probably

as the original ballads were passed on by word of mouth,incidents

from one fray got interlarded with incidents from another . On

the other hand,there are passages in the more modern vers ion

which bear traces o f having been inserted by the greatestromantic novelis t in our li terature . A few discrepancies will benoticed inour summary .

Otterburn was not one of the great battles of history,but a

typical Border fray in which the qualities developed duringgenerations of hard fighting are vividly i l lustrated— the keenrivalry between the houses o f Douglas and Percy

,the valour

equally of Scots and English,the chivalry and courtesy of the

fighters and so on .

The scene opens with a skirmish before the walls o f Newcastle,

in which Douglas captured Hotspur’s pennon and vowed hewould d isplay it on the highest tower of his Castle of Dalk ieth .

By God you shall not carry it out of Northumberland,

”sworePercy. They trysted to meet at Otterburn in the high wildCheviot country thirty miles from Newcastle . Percy wouldhave followed Douglas at once had not wiser counsel prevailed .

Experi enced chiefs pointed out that the Scottish force wasprobably but the advance guard of an army which they couldnot hOpe to attack success fully with the small force at theirdisposal ; better to lose a pennon than a battle which wouldleave the country defenceless

,urged the cautious veterans .

But a day or two later armed Scots rode in with the newsthat Douglas had not more than three thousand men withhim and had captured Pontland Tower and taken Sir Raymondde Laval in his castle . Percy j oyfully gave the order To horseTo horse and led his followers at once on the enemy’s track .

XXVI I CONFUS ION OF HOMILDONWITH OTTERBURN 283

The young Earl Douglas, a brave and wary soldier, had .takenprecautions against a surprise by night .After a long march the English must have lost their freshness

when they arrived at the Scottish camp late on a moonlightnight in August . Yet at first i t looked as i f they would carrythe camp by a coup de main . Some of the Scots were at supper,others had retired to sleep after their fruitless attacks on Otterburn Tower, when to shouts of Percy ! Percy ! ”the attackwas begun . Douglas

,however

,had arranged his men so that

the servants’ quarters,which he had strengthened with men

at-arms,would be entered first . They were placed at the

entrance of the marsh on the road to Newcastle . Douglashad a plan carefully prepared beforehand . While the lordswere arming

,a body of infantry was despatched to help the

servants to make a fight and cause delay . I t i s obvious thatthere could have been l ittle opening for the bowmen . Froissartexpress ly says the night was advanced and what light therewas came from the moon . Some of the lines in “ ChevyChace were probably taken from some minstrel’s vers ion of theBattle o f Homildon Hi l l . For example

,the following lines

apply directly to the later battle

Th e Engl ishm en had th eir bows bentTh eir h eart s were goo d enow .

Th e fir st Of arrows th at th ey sh ot OffSeven score spearm en th ey slew .

Yet bides Earl D ouglas upon th e bent ,A captain good enowAnd that was seen veramentFor h e wrough t th em both woe and wouh e .

This fits in exactly with what we know of Homildon ; but atOtterburn , while Percy was hacking his way through the medleyof armed servitors and trained so ldiers

,the Scots were marching

round the mountain side to fall on the English flank unexpectedly .

But it was a day of no flinching. The English, though taken bysurpri se

,met the attack in good order and the battle now raged .

Great was the pushing of lances and many men were struckdown at the first onset .” I t was an encounter o f heroes .Douglas , with the ardour of youth , ordered h is banner to advanceto the shout of Douglas Douglas Th e two Percies

,Harry

and Ralph , equally hot, rushed to answer the challenge with theCounter-cry, Percy Percy

DEATH OF DOUGLAS CHAR.

At first the English prevai led and the Scots were pushed back,

so that the battle would have gone in their favour but for theexceptional gallantry of Sir Patrick Hepburne and his son, whoralli ed their followers and fought like the heroes they were todefend the banner of Douglas . In fact both armies earned thehigh tribute paid them by Froissart . It was the hardest andmost obstinate battle ever fought

,for the Engl ish and Scots are

excellent men-at-arms .” With both hands Douglas seized hisbattle -axe and dashed into the middle of his enemies

,dealing

mighty blows to right and left ti l l three spears struck him atonce— his shoulder was pierced by one

,his stomach byanotherand

a third entered his thigh . He was borne to the ground fightingdesperately

,but never rose again . Fortunately for the Scots

the English d id not know the leader had fallen . Douglas receivedanother and this time a mortal blow from a battle-axe

,but

,when

found and recogni sed,continued with his last breath to direct

the fight . His was a soldier’s death and Froissart ’s account ofi t needed none of the embroidery —fine though that embroideryis— which i s found in the later ballads . I dreamed adead man won a fight and that dead man was I isevidently a ballad-maker’s addition . So is the command

,

Bury me by the bracken bush and say a kindly Scot li eshere .

”

The capture of Ralph Percy, so weakened by loss of bloodthat he could scarcely utter his own name

,

”and the vivid detai lthat Sir John Maxwe ll

,to whom he yielded

,asked who he was

,

for he knew him not,i s in keeping with other events of the great

fray . Even to-day the feeling of regret is fresh when weread of the tired-out Hotspur fighting long and valiantlywith Sir Hugh Montgomery and being compelled to give inat last .No other battle has so frequently been described in prose

and verse,and there i s no need here to go into the detai ls so fully

given by Froissart . But one of them at least leaves a pleasantsavour behind it . This was the capture after a long struggleof Sir Matthew Redman

,the Governor of Berwick

,by Sir James

Lindsay and the promise given and accepted that i f allowed togo for fifteen days to Newcastle he would thereafter “ come to

you in any part o f Scotland you may appoint .” Before the

period had expired,Sir James Lindsay was himself a pri soner in

Newcastle,having been taken by the forces under the Bishop ~of

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286 ELSDON’S BULL-RING AND COCKPIT CHAR,

Nowhere are the characteristics of old Northumberland moreclearly revealed than in the remote and now shrunken vi llageof Elsdon

,which nestles in a pretty valley a few miles from

Otterburn . Its probable connection with the battle arose fromthe d iscovery

,when the church was renovated

,of more than a

thousand skulls,described by the late Professor Veitch as being

of lads in their ’teens , and of middle-aged men , but none ofold men or women .

”That they may have been the remains of

those s lain is at least possible . A similar discovery of whatappears to have been a common grave at Southdean on theScottish s ide may be explained on the supposition that theScots carried as many of their dead as they could to the nearestconsecrated burial-place over the Border .The village is built round a green where the people o f a com

paratively recent date used to enj oy the sports consideredunsuitable to a more refined age . Here is a stone for the ringused in bull-baiting and also the cockpit . No trace is left o f theequally cruel badger-baiting, but this required no permanentfixture

,as the gameness of a dog was tested either by setting him

to draw the bi ock from under a heap of faggots or out of a longbox soaped ins ide to make it slippery . Up to the second quartero f the nineteenth century nearly every inn had its rat-pit . Acommon form of bet was that a dog should kill its own weightin rats in as many minutes as i t weighed pounds . For thispurpose a black and tan terrier was bred so small that it couldpass through the rough Ci rcle formed by joining the thumbsand outstretched fingers of a man’s two hands .There i s a Vi llage pound , too , which can scarcely be yet calleda reli c as there are many pounds on English commons sti l lextant

,though few in Northumberland. Bull-baiting and

cock-figh ting are of yesterday, but Elsdon has in the Mote Hi l lsa heritage that takes us back through many civi lisations .Originally it was perhaps only a heap of detritus formed by thehi l l-stream which

,though in summer but a slender burn

,i s

,like

other mountain waters,subj ect to raging floods in winter .

Neolithic man perhaps took advantage of the accumulations andadded to them for purposes o f defence . They may have begunthat hollowing-out of the road by which the height o f the rampart

figh ter broke in at a mom ent wh en th ings were not going too wel lfor Sc ot land , and th e passage is confirm ed by th e oth er earlych ronic l es .

xxvir ROBIN-MEND THE-MARKET 287

was increased . Following them came the Roman, whose militaryeye did not fai l to notice how suitable the mounds were for thepurpose . Saxons , when their time came , brought over thei r ownideas and saw in them the Mote Hi l ls ready made . They wereLaw Courts and places for deliberation .

In the old church bui lt on the foundation of one sti l l o lder agreat deal of local histo ry may be traced . There i s the tableto f the Reeds

,the ancient fami ly of Troughend for about 80 0

years,

”and the one to the memory o f Mrs . Anne E li zabethGrose

,daughter of the antiquary

,Capt . Grose , immorta li s ed by

Burns .

A ch ield ’s among ye takin’

notes and fai th h e ’l l p rint it .

There are beauti ful fou rteenth-century windows and Romanstones

,wel l-preserved sedi li a and many other relics and

memorials .Elsdon Rectory is also E lsdon Castle . I t was a tower in the

possession of the rector as far back as 14 15 . The arms of theUmfravil les were probably placed there in 1436 in the time ofSir Robert Umfraville . He was better known as Robin-Mendthe-Market

,from the success o f his raids into Scotland . Accord

ing to Mr Howard Peas e he possessed the Manor of Otterbu rnand he was Warden of the Middle Marches . When he d ied

,in

1436, he was interred before the altar o f St . Mary Magdalene inNewminster Abbey . After the Conquest

,Tynedale and Redes

dale were bestowed On Rob in-with -the-Beard,that i s to say

,

Robert de Umfrav il le,Knight

,lord of Tours and V ian

,to

hold by defending that part o f the country forever from wolvesand enemies with the sword which King Wi lliam had by hiss ide when he entered Northumberland .

” Gilbert Umfrav ille,

known as the Guardian‘

and Chief Flower o f the North,

”in1226 married the Countess o f Angus and brought the Earldomof Angus into his fami ly for at least two generations .Some three miles east of Elsdon is the Steng Cross

,near which

on high ground the body of Wi lliam Winter dangled in chainsti l l i t fel l to pieces and had to be put into a sack . He wasexecuted at Newcastle with his female accomplices for themurder of an old woman at Haws Pele

,and his body was expo sed

near the scene of his crime . It is beli eved to be the las t occas ionon which that practice was carried out . Many supersti tionsl inger sti ll about the gibbet

,one of them being the rustic beli e f

288 THE CHARM OF ELSDON CH. xxvi i

that toothache might be cured by rubbing the teeth against achip cloven from it .Though dreary enough in winter

,no Village could be more

enchanting than Elsdon in summer,set among its hills of green

grass or purple heather with a pretty brook runn ing past and al lthe charm of an old and pleasant world hanging about itshouses .

B lack Ga te , New castle .

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HAUGHTON AND CHI PCHASE CASTLES G I IAP.

ravagers broke Haughton Castle,scal ing i t with ladders

,

but it was then di lapidated and remained so for two hundredyears . In the middle of the eighteenth century it was repaired

,

and again in the nineteenth,by different owners . It is beauti

fully S i tuated,this “ tower—house

,

”of which there is only anotherso described

,v iz LangleyCastle . A similar stronghold

,Widdring

ton Tower,

“ mother of many a famous son,

’ was ruthless lyl evelled in the eighteenth c entury . Standing amid pines andfirs

,it looks down on a lovely stretch of the NorthTyne . Haugh

ton is very strong, the grey walls being from eight to elevenfeet thick

,crowned by five square turrets . Four newel stair

cases lead to the roof . The interior is modernised and containstwo ancient oak Chimney-pieces from the Sandhil l at Newcastle .A beautiful view of the Castle is to be had fromthe ferry whichcrosses the Tyne to Barrasford . Here a large barrow wasOpened above the burn, and unti l lately there stood a sol itarymonol ith supposed to have belonged to a group of standingstones . To the east of Gunnerton Vi llage are GunnertonCrags , the highest , 576 feet , formed by an outcrop of the greatWhin Sill

,very picturesque

,where many camps can be traced

of great strength,showing the presence of a considerable

population .

A littl e hamlet to the north is called Pity Me . The name maybe derived from the British Beddau Maes

,field o f graves . If so

,

the transformation of the name has been s ingularly appropriatei f it was only based on sound . Two miles further on up theriver is the great Castle of Chipcase, grandly s ituated in a parkwhere “ bonnier shine the braes o f Tyne than in almost anyother part of its lovelyvalley . The name is derived from theAnglo Saxon chepan,

to buy and sell (hence the Cheapsides andChippings) and chasse, a hunting-ground . It is strange that thevanished village here had been important enough

'

to be a marketthe market in the chase .

”The tower was probably bui lt in

the fourteenth century,when the manor came into the possess ion

of the Herons o f Ford Castle,and they added to the Keep the

picturesque manor house in 162 1 . It has been cons idered thefinest example of Jacobean architecture in Northumberland .

Cuthbert Heron ’s initials and the date appear above the southentrance . The description given of the ancient tower and itsunique features by the Reverend C . Hartshorne fifty years agois the best that can be quoted . The pele

,properly so called ,

XXVI I I SIMONBURN AND ITS POET 291

i s a massive and lofty bui lding,as large as some Norman Keeps .

I t has an enriched appearance given to i t by its double notchedcorbelling round the summit

,which further serves the purpos e

of mach iolation . The round bartisans in the angles add to itsbeauty

,and are set in with considerable ski ll . Th e stone roof

and the provis ions for carrying off the water deserve carefulexamination . Over the low winding entrance doorway on thebasement are the remains o f the original portculli s

,the like of

which the most experi enced archaeologist will in vain seek forelsewhere . The grooves are sti l l vis ible and the framework ofthe wooden portcull i s

,which was li fted by the leverage of a

wooden bar above the entrance and let down in the same manner .”

On the ground floor was the vaulted room where the cattle wereplaced in time of danger

,and the well . Above i t was the

guardroom,and the third story would be the family house place .

In the thickness o f the wall in the second story is a mural recesswhich seemed to have been an oratory

,poss ibly used by Catho l ics

in time o f persecuti on .

Let us not miss Simonburn,to-day another Auburn with its

old-fashioned cottages set round a Vi llage green,its old Pari sh

Church,its ho ly wel l and treasured bits of ancient cross and

masonry. What stranger seeing for the first t ime its rusti ccharm could fancy that was one of the places where as late asthe middle o f the eighteenth centu ry the King’s Writ did notrun All its rude lawlessness has passed away to be rememberedno more by the s imple agri cultural folk who now inhabit it .Yet it i s no wonder that the place has l iterary associat ions— at

any time it must have attracted the musing eye . Here Wallis,

who wrote the Hi story and D escription of Northumberland,

”

published in 1769, was curate . It also brought forth a poet,

George Pickering,born in 1758. Burris wrote to his fri end

,

Thomson,that he would have given ten pounds to be the author

of Donocht Head .

” It is wel l worthy of the compliment,a

l ittle masterpiece in the style Burns made his own

Keen blaws th e W ind o’

er Donoch t Head ,

Th e snaw drives snel ly th rough th e dale ,Th e Gaber-lun z ie t irls my sneck ,

And Shi vering t ell s hi s waefu’

taleCauld is th e nigh t , 0 let m e in

,

And dinna let your m instrel fa’

And dinna let h is winding-sh eetBe naeth ing but a wreath o’ snaw .

292 A LAND OF RUNNING BROOKS CHAP .

Ful l ninety winters h ae I seen ,

And p iped wh ere gor-coc ks whi rring flewAnd mony a day, ye

’ve danced,I ween

TO l ilt s from wh ich my drone I blew .

My Epp ie waked , and soon sh e criedG et up , gudeman , and let him in

For weel ye k en th e winter nigh tWas sh ort wh en h e began h is din .

My Eppie’s voice , Oh wow 1 it ’s sweet ,

E’

en th ough sh e bans and scaulds a wee

B ut wh en it ’s tuned t o sorrow’s tal e,

Oh , haith ,it

’

s doubly dear to m e .

Com e in ,auld carl I ’se steer my fi re

I’

l l mak’

it bleez e a bonnie flam eYour bluid is th in ,

ye ’ve t int th e gateYe sh ouldna stray sae far frae h am e .

Nae h am e h ae I , th e m instrel saidSad party strife o

’

erturned my h a’

And , weep ing,at th e eve o f life ,

I wander thro ’ a wreath o’ snaw .

It appeared first,wrote Burns in 1794, in the Edinburgh

Herald and came to the editor with the Newcastle postmark on

i t .”Mr . Robinson,in his Thomas Bewick

,his Li fe and Times

,

tells that when he was Vis iting Miss Isabella Bewick,the daughter

of the artist,who was then in her 94th year and within a month

of her death,she recited thi s poem with much feeling . The

unfortunate author died insane at Kibblesworth,at the house of

his s ister .There i s a well-known passage in Burns that makes onethink he would have liked the scenery round Simonburn asmuch as he liked the poem .

Th e Muse nae poet ever fand h er ,Til l by him sel ’ h e l earned to wanderAdown som e trottin ’ burns’ meander

An’

no think lang.

This is the very land of burns or s ikes , anglicebrooks or runningstreams

,with all their charming incidents

,of dell and done,

cascade and stepp ing-stones,pool and shallow . But to find

them in their charm you must break away from the beatentrack and take the luck of the by-path .

Wark on Tyne,which must not be confused with Wark-on

Tweed,was of Old the capital of North Tyne . Like Elsdon, i t

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294 TARRETBURN AND TARSETBURN , YET ! YET ! YET!”c u .

the Dead Water, so called because the eye cannot discernin which way it runs

,to receive t he Kielder Burn and then

flow down the valley . At the left-hand s ide,at the foot

of the hill,a green mound and some good stone-work mark

the place where Tarset Castle stood . It was not a fort ress ofgreat historical importance

,but is interesting as belonging in

his day to that Red Comyn slain by Robert Bruce in the churchof the Minor Friars at Dumfries . A little further in the samedirect ion brings one to Falstone

,but to-day we prefer to follow

the road which the s ignpost indicates as one mile to Greenhaughand four miles to High Green

,so that we may get on to the

Tarset Burn in about two miles . Tarret Burn and TarsetBurn meet just above the bridge . Inhabitants of this districtused to be among the most barbarous of the Borderers

,and at

fairs and other meetings as late as the middle of the nineteenthcentury they not unfrequently raised the slogan which hadresounded in many a border foray

,Tarret Burn and Tarset

Burn,Yet ! Yet ! Yet ! ” But there is little left to-day that

reminds the vis itor of these wild deeds . The burn is famousnow for the two linns over which the water comes tumbling .

We all remember Burns’s reference to the brook whiles loupin’

ower a linn .

” A little touch of the old lawlessness comes outon the part of the s imple countryman of whom one makes someinqu iry about the d irection . There are two linns

,and he is

mostly interested in the upper one,because j ust at this season

of the year,name ly

,the end of September

,the salmon can

be seen mak ing their way up . There is a twinkle in his eyeas he suggests that it is a fine sight

,and a leading question or

two brings out the fact that the deadly poaching instrument,

the cleek,is not unknown in these solitudes . On one occasion,

in fact,he took forty-five large salmon from this burn , and

during the war the rations appear to have been very materiallysupplemented in the district by the free use of the leisterand the cleek during the absence of the usual custodiansof the water . The Northumbrian rustic is nothing if notreasonable and argumentative

,and he pointed out that the

first salmon that go up these burns are fair game . The floodswhich enable the earlier fish to ascend do not last long, and inthe

,end the fish are marooned in pools where in default of capture

by human beings they become easy victims of the otter . So hesalves his conscience with the belief that there i s very little

xxvi i i MOORLAND POACHERS 295

chance of the supp ly being increased by this premature attemptto reach the breeding-places .Later on

,the vo lume of water is permanently increas ed and

the poacher’s Opportunity gone . Our rustic described the

Ch {tic/raw Castla.

change tersely and graphically in his own language when hesaid there was not watter enough in summer to wet your feet

,

but in winter you couldn’t drive a horse and cairt throughthe burn .

” It was enough for us,however

,to eat a cold lunch

296 CATCLEUGH AND SUNDAYS IGHT CH . XXVI I I

on the rocks within reach of the Spray from the waterfall andthen to wander upward toward the source . No one could havewished for greater s ilence and so litude . On each side is thecharacteristic Northumbrian moo r

,never as flat as the fen

land and never ris ing into the rocky and precipitous hillswhich one would expect to find in the grander scenery ofScotland . Leaving the bank of the stream

,I c limbed up a

brae on the right-hand side to get the bearings of the place andsaw two farmhouses almost on the side of Lordship Law whichform the turning point of the walk . To reach them it wasnecessary to cross the Catcleugh

,a spot well known to the

fox-hunter in this wild country . Cleugh is a very commonword in these regions

,and over the whole of the north

,as may

be seen from its entry into so many pl ace-names,such as

Goudscleugh , Buccleugh , Wolfc leugh , and so on . This one i scalled Catcleugh

,and is famous for a rocky fas tness - into which

Reynard tries to make his way when hard pressed by Mr .Robson’s well-known trencher pack . I t isa ravine in the rockalong the bottom o f which a little stream creeps down to j o inthe more important water . It formsa resting-place from whichone can easi ly take in the main features of the Northumbrianmoor. Sundaysight i s further up and commands a sti ll widerView Of Cheviot moorland

,high ridges

,deep ravines

,great bare

sheep walks,with green plantations in the slacks down which

streamlets percolate or dance according to the season . Theydry up to nothing but a damp trickle in summer

,but in winter

can race down in torrents . The farm stands bare and alone ,though the inmates wi ll not confess that they ever feel dull .They have so much to do is the explanation . The neighbourhoodis close to Otterburn and part of that country where Percy andDouglas had their famous hunt . Indeed

,when one has turned

again towards Bell ingham and walked for some distance alongthe unfenced moorland road and reached once more a countryof enclosed fields

,there stands a milestone which tells that

Otterburn is but s ix miles away .

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298“ THE CROWNING COUNTY OF ENGLAND CHAR.

the many pol iti cal movements and rebell ions which occurredin the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries . It is no wonderthat in Capheaton there used to be many priest-holes and hidingplaces

,but these have all but one disappeared in the process of

the many alterations made .

Algernon was born in Chester Street,Grosvenor Square

,

London,in 1837 . Lady Jane Swinburne had been on her way to

the seaside home of the family on the Isle of Wight . In spite ofbeing born in London

,Swinburne was thoroughly proud of being

Northumbrian .

At one time I saw a good deal of him,and his talk ran very

much on the ballads and superstitions of his county . He

delighted in reading his own Northumbrian ballads,and the

curious chanting sing-song was singularly appropriate . His

memory was ful l of strange legends,many of which tempted

him into verse . But a cons iderable number of the ballads heread to me have not been published . There is a great deal in hiswork to stir the imagination of Northumbrians . I t may bedivided into two classes

,one in which the external characteristics

of the region are dwelt upon,and the other which glows with

the spirit of wild and romantic Northumberland . His prideand affection came out most conspicuously in the early dramacalled The Sisters .

” In a letter to Mrs . Lynn Linton dated1892 he said he never wrote anything so autobiographical asRedgie

’

s speech about Northumberland,done in the Eton mid ~

summer holidays

The c rownn county of England—yes ,th e best

Have you and I , then,raced ac ross its moo rs

Til l h orse and boy were wel l -nigh mad with gleeSO often

,summ er and winter , h om e from sch oo l ,

And not found that out Take th e stream s awayTh e country would be sweeter than th e southAnywh ere give th e south our stream s , would itBe fi t to match our borders Flower and c rag,

Burnside and boulder , h eath er and W hin—you don'

t

D ream you can match th em south of th is And thenI f al l th e unwater

’

d country were as flatAs the Eton p laying-fi el ds , give it back our burns ,And set them singing through a sad south worldAnd try to make them dismal as its fens ,Th ey won’t be .

It was a Northumbrian neighbour,Pauline Lady Trevelyan ,

wife o f Sir Walter Trevelyan of Wallington , an old friend of h is

XX IX “ OVER HEATHER OR CRAG” 299

father,who was the first to discover the genius o f the

strange youth,then a puzzle to les s appreciative minds .

The friendship was only ended by the lady’s early death .

The letters Swinburne wrote to her show more than anything elsethe terms of confidence on which they stood . In the descriptionof Wallingt on will be found some account of the bri lliant companySir Walter and Lady Pauline used to get together . YoungSwinburne

,in addition to the friendship he formed with Ruskin

and Rossetti,both of them intimates of Sir Walter Trevelyan ,

had also included William Bell Scott in the number . In a fewlines written to the old Newcastle drawing master and l itterateurwe have a most engaging picture of the poet

,in the careless grace

of early youth,galloping from Capheaton to Wallington , his

mind seething with rhymes and ideas

Wh enever in August ho l iday t im esI rode or swam through a rap ture o f rhymes ,

Over h eath er o r c rag , and by scaur and by stream ,

Cloth ed with del igh t by th e m igh t o f a dream ,

With th e sweet sharp wind blown hard th rough my hair,On eyes enkind led and h ead made bare ;Or loo sened a song to seal for m e

A kiss on the c lamorous m outh o f th e sea .

But i t was in the best of h is ballads that he rendered the truespiri t of the county . Northumberland was indeed part of h isvery life and blood . From childhood he had at Capheatonlistened to reminiscences connected with the stirring deeds ofBorder strife . The raids of the Scots

,the gatherings at Cap

heaton to organise defence and counter-attack,the legends o f

the rebellions of the Fifteen and Forty-five,in which his family

had taken the s ide of the Stuarts,formed hi s common conver

sation . His knowledge of the Stuarts was not obtained entirelyfrom books , but was part of the lore instilled into him atCapheaton . That was what enabled him to wri te “ A Jacobite ’sExile .

” I quote pretty fully from the poem,because nothing

finer has ever been written about Northumberland,and because

of the exquisite and intimate pictures it gives o f the braes andburns

Th e weary day.

rins down and dies ,Th e weary n igh t wears th rough .

And never an h our is fair wi’ flowerAnd never a flower wi ’ dew .

300 LITTLE PICTURES OF NORTHUMBERLAND CHAP.

O lord ly flow the Loire and Gene

loud the dark DuranB ut bonnier sh ine th e braes of TyneThan a

’

th e fi el zl s o f Franc eAnd th e waves Of Til l that speak sae st il lGleam goodl ier wh ere th ey. glance.

O weel were th ey that fel l figh tingOn dark D rum ossie

’

s dayThey keep th eir ham e ayont th e faemAnd we die far away.

On Aik enshaw th e sun blinks braw ,

Th e burn r ins blith e and fainTh ere ’s nough t W i

’

m e I wadna gieTo look th ereon again .

On Ke ilder-side th e wind blaws wideTh ere sounds nae hunting-h orn

That rings sae sweet as the winds that beatRound banks wh ere Tyne is born .

Th e Wansbeck sings with al l h er springs ,Th e bents and braes give ear

B ut th e woo d that rings wi’

th e sang sh e singsI may not see nor h ear

For far and far thae blith e burns are ,And strange is a

’

th ing near .

We ’l l see nae mair th e sea-banks fair ,

And th e sweet grey gl eam ing sk y,

And th e lord ly strand of Northumberland ,And the goodly towers th ereby

And none Shal l know but th e w inds that blowTh e graves wh erein we lie .

With this should be read the fine poem on Northumberlandwhich he contributed to the first number of that most interestingbut too Short—l ived magazine which Mr . Howard Pease startedyears ago . Of this the following verses have the true Northumbrian Spirit . These are the first

,third

,and fourth verses

Between our eastward and our westward sea

Th e narrowing strandClasps c lose th e noblest shore fam e h o lds in feeEven h ere wh ere En l ish birth seal s al l men free

Northumberlan

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30 2 THE BUILDER OF WALLINGTON emu».

ally put its foot in'

a mo lehi ll . It stumbled and threw the rider,

whose col lar-bone was broken by the fall . William’s health hadpreviously begun to fail

,and he never recovered from the acci

dent . As he had been far from generous to Sir John,there were

some who saw a wild justice in the accident . In the songs of theday frequent reference i s made to the Wallington cellars andwines

,and the impression is produced that the Fenwicks belonged

to the jovial,hearty

,and hospitable type of Northumbrian

squires , such as Sir Walter Scott has depicted in the Osbaldistones of Osbaldistone Hall .The Black etts belonged to a different category. Newcastleoften from its whirl of business enterprise throws out remarkable men . For generations the B lacketts were leading men inthe county— parliamentary representatives , high sheriffs , merchant princes— ofwhom the builder of Wallington was a notableexample . He must have had a lively imaginati on to foreseethat out of the bare and dreary soli tude could arise a fine mans ionsurrounded by a noble park going down to the edge of the gleaming Wansbeck and set about with sylvan beauty. Well-woodedand fertile as the estate is now

,there was not

,at the time of

building,a scrap even of the light timber needed for the fencings

and the gates . Many travellers bear witness to the barenes sof Northumberland in the eighteenth century . Sir WalterBlackett had indeed to start from the beginning . But histaste and resourcefulness proved equal to the demand on them

,

and the sol id and handsome eighteenth-century mansion is theproof . The house was on the model of a French chateau

,with

a courtyard in the interior .This courtyard became notable in the n ineteenth century.

By that time the house had fallen into possession of the Trevelyans through the marriage of Sir Walter B lackett’s s ister withSir George Trevelyan , Sir Walter having died without issue . Itoccurred to Sir Walter Trevelyan and his friend John Ruskinthat it would make an excellent picture gallery

,an idea ulti

mately carried out by Dobson of Newcastle . Part of thedecorations were effected by that gifted and singular halfmember of the Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood , William Bell Scott .To many he i s now but the shadow of a name , or only a gi fteddrawing master . Nevertheless, he was in his day a poet as wellas a painter . One of his poems , the strange, fantastic , fancifulWitches’ Ballad

,holds a place in the anthologies and deserves

xx ix RUSKIN ’S HANDIWORK AT WALLINGTON 30 3

to do so were it only for that grotesque immortal daylight danceof witches in the market town .

Arm s and legs and flam ing hairLike a wh irlwind in th e sea .

Scott is not seen at his best as a painter in the cartoons he didto adorn the panels on the ground floor . The typical Northumbrian scenes are too conventional for his brush . The building ofthe Roman Wall

,Cuthbert being offered a bishopric

,Danes

landing,the Venerable Bede

,the Charlton Spur

,Bernard

Gilpin,Grace Darling

,and the iron and coal of the busy nine

teenth century are all important landmarks in the history ofNorthumberland

,but not necessari ly the best subj ects for wall

decoration . Much more appropriate to the purpose are theillustrations of Chevy Chase on the angles and spandrels of theupper series of arches

,where eighteen scenes from the ballad are

depicted . Here imagination may work its wi ll,because

the ballad—maker wanders far from the region of fact . The

painter therefore had the same free scope as Sir NoelPaton Claimed for the series of pictures called the Dowie Densof Yarrow . Here Mr . Bell Scott achieved a pleasing effecteven if he did not represent deer-hunting in the fourteenthcentury as described for example

,in Gawaine and the Green

Knight,

”the author of which was apparently a gentleman of theNorth of England . A more modern painter would have gone tothe Master of Game

,

”a treatise of the same date,for realistic

detail . But one does not tire of the lords and ladies gay,of the

dogs and the deer and the bowmen of the fighting,the slaughter

,

and the sad return .

John Ruskin was frequently a guest o f S ir Walter Trevelyan,

and he occupied part of his time in teaching the ladies how topaint on stone and in practising that beauti ful form of architectural art . His handiwork and the handiwork of his pupilsare seen in the rendering of tall flowers and plants such asrushes and Sheaves of corn .

Lady Trevelyan, beautiful and kind and tactful, was an attractive centre round whom gathered many of the Victorian celebrities arr .ved or going to arrive . Young Algernon Swinburne

,

whose letters to her bear the stamp of a tried and intimatefriendship , reflected the esteem in which she was held by Rossetti,Ruskin

,and other frequent and bril liant guests .

304 CAMBO AND CAPABILITY BROWN CHAP .

No account of Wallington would be complete without areference to the curious picture of Miss Sukey Tre velyan . Asit stands i t is a compos i te production . Originally it was paintedat Bath by Gainsborough

‘

and,in the words of Sir George

Trevelyan, i t subdued an over-bold expression and her stronglymarked features bya large hat of the prevailing fashion .

” About1767 Arthur Young made that pilgrimage through Northumberland which will be found recounted in his Northern Tour.”

Young was a man of taste and a judge of pictures as well as aneminent

,

agriculturist . He described the Gainsborough as aportrait of a hat and ruffles .” This very much disturbed theequanimity of the B lacketts and Trevelyans, for Arthur Young

’sd ictum carried far in those days . So it happened that when SirJoshua Reynolds was on a visit to Wallington some years laterthey persuaded him to paint out the hat . He did so with somuch thoroughness that nothing was left untouched except theface

,the white and gold gown , and the right arm ,

thus spoil ingwhat

,in Sp ite of Arthur Young, must have been a very fine

portrait .It would take many pages to describe the contents o f Walling

ton Hall . Sir Walter Trevelyan made many fine c o llections,of

which the most important is that o f o ld china . It includesmany fine and even famous examples . The pictures too arenotable . Sir Joshua Reynolds

,Sir Peter Lely

,Hoppner,

Cornelius Jansen and Pietro della Francesca are among theartists represented . There is some interesting tapestry

,too

,

and,as is well known

,Lord Macaulay left his library to his

nephew and biographer,Sir George Trevelyan

,who in a supple

ment to the biography has reprinted many of the annotationson the Greek and Latin class ics and also on the works of Shakespeare and other English writers .The vi llage of Cambo , which closely adj oins Wallington, hasbeen to a large extent rebuilt

,and no greater compliment could

be paid it than to say it fits in beautifully with the gardens and

grounds of Wallington . It was here that Capability Brown ,as he came to be called , received his education . Little did theschoolmaster guess that his pupil would have the shaping andIre

-making o f many of the most beautiful gardens in England ;Belsay Castle differs from

'

Capheaton and Wallington in‘

thev ital part icular that it is no longer inhabited . It was probablybuilt in the reign of Edward II I by an ancestor of Sir Arthur

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CHAPTER XXX

COQUET MOUTH TO ROTHBURY

Th e Course Of th e Coquet— Guyz anc e and B rainshaugh— Felton

Brinkburn Priory— From Pauperhaugh to Rothbury. the

capital of th e Dale —Whitton— Rothbury—Tosson and BurghHil l Camp—Selby’s Cove and a famous Inn .

NEAR the Roman station on Thirlmoor emerges the loveliestof wandering

,winding Northumbrian streams

,the much-sung

Coquet,and forty miles further on it reaches the sea at Am ble .

Going up—stream past Warkworth and Morwick Mill, its secluded ,sylvan beauty continues . At Guyzance on a green h augh arethe remains of a monastic cell . In the years when such thingswere neglected it was used as a quarry for building-stone . The

walls have now been enclosed and the beautiful base of theancient columns revealed . On the north of the chancel is acurious blocked doorway . The burial ground is still opento the inhabitants of Guyzance and B rainshaugh . The windingsof Coquet are here very marked

,with the wooded banks rising

above . A horseshoe fall,set amongst overhanging trees where

the river throws its whole length of tumbling water,is very

beautiful .The construction of this dam in 17 76 is said to be the causeof the lack of salmon in the upper reaches

,as it is impossible

for them to j ump the weir . Two miles inland from the riverat Swarland is an obelisk erected in 180 7 , to the memory of LordNelson

,by a gentleman who placed an inscription on the pedestal

saying it was not to commemorate the public vi rtue and heroicachievements of Nelson

,which is the duty of England

,but to

the memory of private friendship . An extraordinary methodof calling attention to the friend of a great man .

306

CH . XXX FELTON ,ELYHAUGH , AND V

V

ELDON BRIDGE

Where the north road crosses the Coquet by a quaint fifteenthcentury bridge stands Felton

,in as beautiful scenery as can

be found in the vale . Several events of historical importanceoccurred at Felton . On October 2z ud

,1215, the barons of

Northumberland did homage to Alexander,King of Scots

,

being not unreasonably dissatisfied . with John Lackland,who

in revenge reduced it to ashes the next year . In 1 7 15 Tom

Forster had his miserable following augmented here by severityBorder horsemen . In

’

45 the butcher Cumberland stayed atFelton on his way to dark Culloden . John Wesley remarksin his j ournal

,after giving a stirring address in the ‘village on

a missionary tour in 1766 , that very few seemed to understand anything of the matter .” Rural Northumberland wasnot given in those days

.

to revival meetings,j ust as i t had been

the despair of early m iss ionaries who found that their hardlywon adherents were ready to drift back to the old gods at thebidding of their lords .On a crest of land above the Coquet on one side , with a ravineformed by the Back burn on the other , stands the church ofSt . Michael . The chance l and nave belong to the thi rteenthcentury

,but it was rebuilt with ais les in the fourteenth . In

the north wall i s the upper part of t he effigy of a priest holdinga chalice . There is a pre R- eformation bel l with the inscriptionAv e

,Maria

,Gracia , Plena

”hung in the double turret,where

is also one of the eighteenth century . I t is an ancient andinteresting bui ld ing, and until s ixty years ago the singing wasaccompanied by a Clarinet , bass fiddle , etc . which gave so muchmore Scope to village talent and musical development than doesthe solitary instrument of to-day .

From Felton,past Elyhaugh

,to Weldon Bridge is a delightful

walk of over four miles . Here is the Anglers Inn,where the

mai l coaches used to stop . It was and i s a much frequented resortof anglers . Along e ither the river bank or by a carriage roadis the approach to Brinkburn Priory

,which some cons ider the

highest arch itectural achievement of Northumbria . Descending a steep hill from which love ly glimpses of the Coquet areseen among the trees

,the Priory is h idden unti l suddenly this

most beautiful of Northumbrian abbeys appears on a g reenpeninsula . It is almost eni sled by Coquet

,

Whose winding stream s sae sweetly gl ideB y B rink burn

’

s bonny Ha’

.

308 BRINKBURN PRIORY CHAI'.

Many a solitary monkish fisherman must have lifted his voice inpraise of Coquet

,whilst the sandstone cliffs caught the echo of

his happy me lody . Turner, the supreme , came here and laidthe dreamlike beauty on canvas .Brinkburn was already known by that name when Bertram

de Mitford selected it for the S ite of a convent of Austin Canons .With the consent of his wife and sons he commissioned OsbertColutarius, possibly a master-builder, to commence it for SirRalph the priest and his brethren . The Bertrams madevaluable grants of land

,but the Chartulary Shows that

they were often very impoverished by Scottish raids . Traditionsays that once the Scots could not find it amongst the thickwoodland

,and the marauders had turned their horses north when

the deep hell of the monastery ringing thanks for the inmates’

deliverance guided them back,to leave behind fire and slaughter

in the peaceful valley . Either they or the monks threw thebells into a pool in the river sti ll called the Bel l Pool

,where

they may yet be discovered with other treasures . The canonswere always compla ining of poverty

,and it was evidently not

without good reason , for the Commiss ioners reported in 1552

that they had only found at Brinkburn one tene challes,ij

owlde westmentes, one owlde coppe, ij small belles, one smallhand bell

,one holly water pot of bras .” It is a pathetic list .

But though the Scots had an ill name,there must have been

other influences of a d is integrating nature at work, for fouryears later the prior was found gu ilty of immoral conduct andthe canons guilty of venerating a girdle of St . Peter . Forthese d iverse reasons

,perhaps the second included the first

,

the convent was dissolved and the prior,William Hogeson,

dismissed with an annual pension of £11 .

Religious services were sti ll maintained by chaplains,as a

parochial d istrict appertained to the convent . The churchand its lands have passed through many secular hands Sincethen till they came to the present owner

,who lives in the ad

j oining mansion .

In the seventeenth century the roof of the abbey fell in atthe south-west angle

,but the greater part remained

,a beautiful

blending of the richest Norman work with purest Early English .

Pointed and semicircular arches intermingle with the mostgraceful freedom

,which with the rich varied ornaments make

it one of the most interesting examples of the transition from

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3 10 SEIGNORIAL RIGHTS CHAP .

Fitz Roger of Warkworth . He had large powers,and it seems

a far cry from the equality of to-day to the privileges granted toRoger . He had the power to apprehend

,try

,and hang mal

efactors. Their goods became the property of the Crown,but

all lost property and stray cattl e became his . He ihad an assizeof bread and ale

,a ducking-stool and a pillory . On the way

to Thropton is Gal lowfield, where Roger executed justice .

In regard to seignorial misuse of privi leges he shut the freesokemen out of a portion of Rothbury Wood

,where they grazed

their stock,and diabol ically bought off the parson’s opposition

by presenting him with s ix acres of the common pasture . Thiswas one of the ways in which enclosure started . There musthave been many acrimonious disputes between powerful baronand powerful priest . On one occas ion recorded

,the parson’s

servant was returning with a cask of wine in a wagon to Rothbury and

,having enjoyed part of his cargo too recklessly

,he

fe ll under the wheel and was ki lled . Oxen, wagon , and wine ,being the instrument of death as the law ran

,were forfeited to

the Church and had to be redeemed . The servant must havesurely been a relative of the man drowned in the Tyne aboutthe same time with the festive name of Adam Aydrunken.

The inhabitants suffered greatly from the incursions of theScots

,who were always driving off their four footed wealth .

In 1586 , in a book giving losses due to the Scots , the value ofthe various animals is given— an ox 13s. 4d.

,a cow an old

sheep,wether

,or ewe a hogge or goat 1s. 4d. The people

were of a wild and warlike disposition,as they had to be con

stantly ready to fight . About this time they are thusdescribed If any two he displeased

,they bang it out bravely,

one and his kindred against the other and his ; such adeptswere they in the art of thieving that they could twist a cow’shorn

,or mark a horse

,so as its owners could not know it ;

and so subtle that no vigilance could guard against them .

”

According to this account,the wily Scot must have needed all

his wits to best them . Nothing remains of the fortress calledthe brave castle ”of the Barons of Rothbury

,and only a few

houses survive in the town with seventeenth or eighteenthcentury dates on them . The raiders from Scotland did notoften leave the roo fs above the heads of the natives . Edward Isigned one of the many truces with the Scots here, and John alsostayed in -the village for a time and signed the town’s

x xx DESCRIPTION OF ROTHBURY IN 1852 3 11

charter, finding shelter in the valley from the cold blas tsthat blow across the Borders . A delightful picture of Rothburyis given by Thomas Doubleday

,who published Coquetdale

Fishing Songs ” in 1852 . Rothbury is cheerful at sunnymid-day, but d imly sober towards evening , for then the hillsclose in again , and in their gorge the town of Rothbury stands .Its s ite has evidently been selected for shelter

,being Shut in

by hi lls, save towards the west . To the north,behind it

,the

hills are steep and broken into crags,amidst which the goat

numerous here— alone finds footing. To the south are the

The Coquet a t Rothbury .

h i lls forming a portion of the great S imonside ridge . And to

the east the crags close in and cross each other , as if determinedto bar the Coquet from further passage . The town has allthe marks of hoar antiquity in its aspect . The stone bridgeof four arches which here spans the Coquet bears the mark ofage . The low tower of the church , which stands near the river,is weather-worn and the whole structure the worse for time .

The houses have all the impress of t ime,and the very orchards ,

with the ir moss-grown trees,seem to h ave smiled for years

gone by and for generations now buried . The old marketcross is half in ruins

,the very stocks in the churchyard like

3 12 THE CHURCH AND ITS PRE-CONQUEST CROSS CHAR.

a toothless mastiff,seem to have lost their terrors amidst the

ravages of age .

”

Alas ! the medieval bridge s ince then has been almost ru inedby the County Council . The old market cross which used toshelter the countryfolk with their farm produce (it must havebeen a covered market greatly like that at Hexham) when itgot ruinous was pulled down instead of being restored . A veryold man within recent times remembers watch ing the countrymenat the fair going unto the shelter of the cross to try on theleather breeches they were about to buy . The village stocksand pillory and the bull-ring all went about the same time .This piece of ground is now enclosed and has a cross to thememory of Lord and Lady Armstrong . Rothbury

,being so

favourably situated for such a fine trout stream as the Coquet,

has always nourished many anglers In i ts bosom,and original

characters abound In those who practise the sol itary art . Butthings are not what they used to be even amongst the finnytribes and a piquant observation on that point may be quotedfrom Rambles in Northumberland

,by Stephen Oliver. The

old Coquet angler speaks in his own tongue : Talk 0’

fishen

there’s na sic fishen in Coquet now as when I was a lad . It wasnowse then but to fl ing in an’ pull oot by tweeses and threeses

,i f

ye had as many heuks on, but now a body may keep thresh in’ at

the watter aa’ day atween Hallysteun and Weldon an’ hardly

catch three dozen,an’mony a time not that . About fifty years

syne I mind 0’

seein’

troots that thick i’ the Thrum belowRotbury, that if ye had stucken the end 0

’ yor gad into thewatter amang them it wad amaist hae studden upreet .

Such a speech,with the inimitable accent and emphasis of the

Northumbrian,must be heard on its native so il to get its full

flavour .The interest of Rothbury Church lies almost entirely in itsfont . The bas in is seventeenth-century

,but it stands on the

shaft of a pre-Conquest cross of red sandstone . On one sideis a headless figure

,with another on the right that seems to

be holding back a curtain,and

,underneath, numerous

heads looking upward . It may represent Christ and sup~

pliant sinners . Another s ide has intricate knotwork and abronze Spout intended to run off the water . The other s ides arecovered with dragons and nondescript animals . Other parts ofthe cross were found at the restoration of the church in 1850 .

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314 THE ANCIENT PELE AT TOSSON CHAP.

eastern gate a hollow way drops into the S lack towardsGarley Pike , where a spring and a small burn suppliedthe water for the camp . Several large stones in the vicinityhave the mysterious markings to be found in many parts ofNorthumberland .

On the north-east side of the hill are a number of gravemounds , and some have been excavated, and a line of stonesmay be traced from the camp towards two of the excavations .On the neighbouring Garley Pike are other but circles

,and there

are ramparts and a ditch at Pike House . Many evidences ofBritish occupation have been found

,cists

,axes

,pottery

,etc .

A Splendid view is obtained from Lordenshaws Camp,Upper

Coquetdale to the west bounded by the dark heather-clad hillsbeyond Holystone and Harbottle . To the east the Coquetwinds to the sea

,and the broad expanse of Druridge hay, with

the shining sea beyond,i s vis ible . And all round can be

seen the crests of hills crowned by prehistoric camps thathave been very fully explored and written about by CanonGreenwell .West from Rothbury

,half a mile

,the Lady’s Bridge crosses the

Coquet,where after passing along pleasant meadows are the

noted Tosson Woollen Mills . They have been worked for acentury by One family and their durable and handsome productshave many admirers . Beyond the farm buildings which areall that is left now of the ancient Village are the ruins of a peletower which belonged to the Ogles . It was one of a line oftowers extending from Harbottle to Warkworth as a defenceagainst the reiving Scots . A complete system of watchm enwas maintained whose names and duties are found in all therecords of towers and villages along the Northumbrian border .Every man do rise and follow the fray upon the Blowing the

Horn, Shout or Outcry upon Pain of Death . The massivewalls of the pele

,about nine feet th ick

,still stand to the height

of thirty or forty feet,although the large outer stones have long

been removed for neighbouring buildings . The tenacity of themasonry is due to the method in which all Border peles werebuilt

,small boulders

,taken here from the Coquet , being welded

with hot lime . The lords of Hepple held their court in Tossonafter the Scots had destroyed the ir own castle . Before Tosson’

s

decay,the village inn stood opposite the pele

,and the stump of

the oaken beam from which the Royal George hung is yet to

XXX S IMONS IDE HILLS AND A CROPPED FOX 3 15

be seen in the house wall . When its doom as a hostelry wassealed

,the vil lage j oiner grat as he mounted the ladder to

cut it down . A green spur of the Simonside hills r is es abovethe trees and grey walls of Tosson’

s tower . Burgh Hi l l Campoccupies over an acre of the summit , from which a wide andlovely View of Coquet rewards the c limber . The high civil isation of the Britons can be we ll gauged by ornaments and weaponsfound near th is camp . Two leaf-shaped bronze swords discovered had the pommels of the handles made of lead

,which

is regarded as unique . Bronze rings for fastening the swordsto the warrior’s be lt were found beside them . Jet buttonsand a well-designed food-vessel in a cist which had probablyheld a woman’s body were dug up near

,and also amber buttons

or amulets and a bronze axe .

The Simonside Hi l ls extend from Hepple to Pauperhaugh,

near Brinkburn,along the south bank of the Coquet , and

reach their highest point south-west of Rothbury . Theyare studded by great boulders

,the largest of which have

names . Between Tosson and Simonside a high p erpendicularrock with a shallow cavern on the side of the hill is called LittleChurch . Simonside, feet high

,is a bold hill

,the most

noticeabl e on the Rothbury landscape . On the south of thehill is Selby’s Cove ; an Opening in the rock

,where once

a moss-trooper called Selby is said to have had his retreat .Croppie’s Hole

,not far off

,was the lair of a well-known

fox without a tail— a cropped fox . This original animalsurvived for many years by h is superior cunning

,but at last

was run to death on Amble sands,having led the hounds

and a single huntsman right down the valley of the Coquet .It is sad to think of plucky Reynard

,reared in the dark recesses

of Simonside,after so many years of superior wit

,meeting a

dazed end with the strange tumult of the sea in his ears .Another fox

,after a long run

,found shelter on Simonside, where

a local character, old Will Scott, found him and told the Squire,who inquired if he was quite sure . Sure

,

”said the old foxhunter, hevvent aa his aan handwritin’ for it

,

”holding outhis hand the fox had bitten . South of Selby’s Cove over themoors is Fallowlees , a farmhouse , and two loughs on wh ich theblack-headed gu ll breeds . On Chartners Lough , about a milenorth-west of Fallowlees , grows a variety of the lesser yellowwater li ly . Two dangerous morasses cover many acres

,from

3 16 HEATHER MOORLANDS AND BURNS CH . xxx

which issue numerous watercourses . One of these, Coe burn,after rushing impetuously down , disappears in a chasm on thehill . By the banks of these runne ls grow many flowers andferns . It is a wild and lonely land

,amidst heather moorlands

which gaze down on rocks and woodland with the bright riverwandering amidst meadows .

Yli e Coquet a t lVa rk rvor t/i .

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3 18 HEPPLE’S DARK TOWER CHAR.

to the Royalists . I t may have been the same lady who in 1682,being asked her advice of a childe in sad condition

,

” saidthat she could not understand its i llness unless it were hewitched . A witch at Long Edlingham was accused of lookingat the child with an evil eye .

Two miles up—stream

,on the oppos ite s ide of Coquet

,is

Bickerton,now only a farmhouse

,where were noted osier beds .

From Thomas de B ick ertone the monks of Newminster had aright of way to the os ier beds to get supplies for basket-making .

The willow sti ll grows,and the yellow iris on the marshy ground

by Bickerton burn . A family who once lived at Bickerton andlost it through extravagance were thus described by Will Scott

,

who made the witty comment on the fox that bit him Bickerton was beyked rig by rig i

’ the big yuy en o’ Bickerton a pieevery day .

”

Th e peewits are mustering on Bickerton haugh ,

And th e swal lows are racing round Hepple’

s dark tower.

The grey walls of Hepple’

s fourteenth-century pele stillstand at the east end of the village . It was held by thede Hepples, the Tailbois, the Ogles , and several later owners .In the fourteenth century is a record of the proving of age ofWalter Tailbois at Newcastle which did not rest on the wordof any document

,but on the evidence described inold law books

as that which a man cannot deny before his neighbour

Robert de Lonth re deposed that th e said Walter was 2 1

years o ld on th e Feast o f th e Purification last past ; that h e wasborn at Hephal and baptised in th e church at Routh -bury. He

reco l lected th e day because h e was a godfath er . John de Wal ington

reco l lec ted th e day because h e h ad a son bapti sed th ere on th e

sam e day. John Lay son recol lected th e day because h e had a sonburied th ere th e sam e day .

This heir,so quaintly and well attested

,was taken prisoner in

a raid by the Scots when he was commissoiner in defence of theBorders . He was exchanged for a Scottish prisoner calledPeter of Crailing

,evidently not a person of importance,

as forty quarters of malt were also required by the bargainingScots . The raids remind us of the weather condit ions necessaryfor Z eppelins

,for they always occurred on moonlit nights .

For th ey’

l l be th ere by m oonligh tTh ough h el l sh ould bar th e way

XXX I KIRKH ILL AND KEYHEU'

GH SCARS 3 19

to adapt a line from The Highwayman . September andOctober were favourite months for the pastime of gettingrich at the Northumbrians’ expense . When November came ,as there was no winter feeding-stuff

,nearly all the sheep and

oxen stil l left were ki lled and salted . Much indifferently curedmutton lay in the vaults of the pele towers . Even as late as thee ighteenth century

,Hepple had a number of bastle houses

,the

fortified type of houses still to be seen on the Borders . The towerof Hepple was about fifty feet high

,the usual height of these

strongholds,surmounted by a battlement . The basement

vault,chiefly used for storing provis ions

,was seventeen feet

high,with slits for light

,and the holes for the S lid ing bar of

the door are sti l l to be seen . The internal arrangements weresimple

,uncomfortable

,and badly lighted . Roaring fires no

doubt helped to cheer the inmates when winter winds blewloud and shri ll

,o ’er icy burn and sheeted hill .” After the battle

o f Neville’s Cross,the landowners were encouraged to build

and forti fy these towers . Previous to that a special l icencewas required from the King

,who feared the barons’ growing

power . The ru inous state of Hepple Tower is said to be due tothe Scottish moss-troopers .About half a mile west of Hepple

,on Kirkh ill

,an ancient

Chapel stood,the remains of wh ich were removed in 1760 to

build a farmhouse . The baptismal font and pedesta l weresti ll in good preservation and are now at the ne ighbouringfarmhouse . At the removal

,a tombstone was found with a

nearly obliterated inscription Here lies Countess ofwho died her age . Underneath were a number

of verses said to have been composed by the lady herself,

probably the wi fe o f a lord of Hepple . The English doesnot seem older than the eighteenth century

,and it may

probably be a forgery handed down by an audacious localmaker

.

of ballads and accepted by later authorit ies . One

verse 15 pretty :

Th en lay my h ead to Long Ac resWh ere sh earers sweetly S ingAnd feet toward th e Key h eugh scaresWh ich fox h ounds cause to ring.

Scare’

s,of course

,is Scars .

The Keyheugh Scars are a mile over the moors in a wild

320“ THE FIVE KINGS ON WOODHOUSES BEACON CHAP.

and beautiful district where the Grasslees, Darden , and Keenshaw burns run , hiding-places for badger, fox and otter. Inthe sandstone cliffs or scars the raven and falcon are saidto nest . The inaccessibi lity of these ravines can be gatheredfrom the fact that in smuggling days an illicit sti ll used to flourishup the Keenshaw burn . The three burns unite and make theSwindon burn , which runs past a small hamlet o f that name ,where once lived a Coquetdale poet called Lewis Proudlock ,who died in 1826 . An elegy he wrote on a tree that grew infront of his cottage is sti ll remembered . The sooty ones mentioned were the pitmen who then worked for coal on Hepplemoors

Lam ent ye , Swindon ,sooty thrang

Lam ent it sairly,loud and lang

Alas a m uckl e,waefu ’

wrangYe 1100 maun dree

For h andsom eness , it sure did bangMaist every tree .

It was by monie a sangster haunted ,

Oft l innets th ro ’

its leaves hae chantedOft round its roots hae tinkl ers ranted

In m erry k ey.

It was th e lovel iest e ’

er was p lanted ,My favourite tree .

It is perhaps the usual poetic plaint for wanton destructionof the Woodman

,spare that tree ”variety . But the j olly

tinkers and sooty pitmen have passed away for ever fromSwindon . Where boisterous crowds once gathered to watch amain of cocks or a badger-baiting there is now a population ofquiet rustics .The Swindon burn runs round the south s ide of HarehaughCamp

,one of the strongest in the district

,which has the Coquet

on the east and the Harec leugh burn on the north . On thewest

,where there are no natural defences

,are three earthen

ramparts with ditches . On the high moor to the west , calledWoodhouses Beacon

, 988 feet high , is an immense cairn of stones ,and on the slope were the standing stones known as The FiveKings ”; but only four remain , as one monolith has been removedto make a gatepost . They are from five to eight feet high andmay once have formed part of a monol i thic circle, or of anavenue . Local tradition says they were to the memory of five

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322 A HOLYSTONE CHARACTER AND HIS EPITAPH am p.

character and sportsman at Holystone was Ned Allan,the weaver

,

who was described in a fishing article in B lackwood in May,1820 .

He was probably the most proficient of his day in handling thefive-taed leister . Mr . Dippie Dixon tells the following storyof him in his book on Upper Coquetdale, to which the writer isvery greatly indebted . Allan was one day asked by a farmerto help during the harvest

,and he replied Ye should saw ne

mair nor ye can shear . A’l l help nane o ’ ye .

”One winter

morning he arrived at the inn at Harbottle very early,much

to the surprise of his friend the landlord whom he called up .

What’s fetched ye here se sune Ned P Sune,

”says Neda’ the watter i’ the Hallysteyn wunna myek a crowdie th

It was oatmeal he was in search of. The villageschoolmaster, Robert Hunter, wrote a very good epitaph forhis grave

,but no stone was ever erected to the wayward original .

Here l ies o ld Ned in h is co ld bed,

For h unt ing otters fam ed ,

A faith ful friend l ies by h is side ,And Tug

’

em h e was nam ed .

Sport and rejo ice ye finny tribesThat glide in Coquet river ,Your dead ly foe no mo re you ’

l l seeFor h e is gone forever .

Th e amphibious otter now secure ,On Coquet ’s peaceful Sh ore ,May roam at large for Ned and TugWil l never h arm h im m ore .

Up Swindon burn h e may return ,

W h en salm on tim e com es onFor poor o ld Ned in h is co ld bedSleeps sound at Ho lystone .

The Coquet has no Village on its banks more beautifullysituated than Harbottle

,surrounded by hills purple in August

with heather and topped by the historic ru ins of the castle .The Conqueror gave the lordship of Redesdale tO ' Robert

de Umfrav ille to be held for the service of defending that partof the country from enemies and wolves . Of the Saxon ownersand the village then existing little is known . Har is AngloSaxon here

,

”an army,and bote

,abode— the abode of an

army or military station . There was probably a Saxon stronghold ,and a mote hill

,as there was at Wark

,Elsdon , and Haltwhistle,

on which the inhabitants met to settle disputes and dispense

XXX I QUEEN MARGARET AT HARBOTTLE CASTLE 323

justice . The Umfrav illes died out in 1436 with Sir Robert ,a Vice-Admiral of England

,and Harbottle then went to the

lords of Hepple,changing owners o ften in the centuries .

The famous castle o f Harbottle was built by Henry I I toprotect the borders

,and it had a history not unworthy of com

parison with Wark and Norham . A great waste lay around i tstretching to the marches o f Scotland

,unprotected and open to

attack . The castle was captured not long after its erection byWilliam the Lion

,but after his defeat at Alnwick the Scots had

to evacuate it . It suffered constantly from their attacks in thesucceeding centuries . An event of great human as well as

historical importance occurred at Harbottle in 1517, when theDowager Queen Margaret o f Scotland under obscure circumstances here gave birth to a daughter. Little could anyonehave foreseen that this would lead to the fulfilment of HenryVI I

’

s

dream when he dispatched his l ittle daughter on her nuptialpilgrimage to Scotland . It wi ll be remembered how she wasescorted by that Earl o f Northumberland who was called theMagnificent

,what a Receivyng she got at Lamberton , how She

danced with James IV and was welcomed to Holyrood byDunbar as the princes most pleas ing and preclare .

” Butmarriage to a Lothario like James has its drawbacks . Soon afterhe was k i lled at Flodden

,Queen Margaret married Archibald

Douglas,Earl of Angus .

Henry VIII had granted the temporary use of Harbottle tohis s ister and she occupied it at her confinement . But the il lfeel ing left by Flodden had been fanned by many raids

,and the

Governor of the Castle,Lord Dacre

,Warden of the Middle

Marches,or his myrmidons

,were not enthusiastic over their

guest . Admission to any Scottish female attendant was re fusedand the bi rth took place under cruel circumstances . It is notto be surprised that her pos ition at Harbottle was described as“ uneaseful and costly

,by the occasion of the far carriage of

everything .

” So she was removed to Morpeth v ia Cart ingtonCastle . A letter to Henry VII I gives an account of her journey,She was so feeble that she could not bear horses in the litter

,

but Dacre caused his servants to carry it from Harbottle to Morpeth . I think her one of the lowest brought ladies with her greatpain of sickness I have seen and scape . Nevertheless she hasa wonderful love of apparel . She has caused the gown of clothof gold and the gown o f cloth of tynsen sent by Henry to be

Y 2

324 HOSTILE DALESMEN AND THEIR FORAYS CHAR.

made against this time and likes the fashion so well,that she

wil l send for them and have them held before her once or twicea day to look at .” A true picture of a Tudor with unquenchablevital ity and frivolity, though she has just escaped the agonyof death .

Th e surveys of the s ixteenth century disclose a terriblestate of affairs in Redesdale

,for the raids of the Scots were not

more disastrous than those of the Northumbrians from Tynedale.

A clanship system prevailed and justice was imposs ible . The

men of Redesdale would pour into Coquetdale and burn anddestroy

,and the men of Coquetdale, who were even more active

in such campaigning,carried retribution into Redesdale . In

later days animosity was often expressed through the mediumof doggerel verse

,insulting the amour propre of the dalesmen

more subtly than using sticks and stones to break their bones .

Upper Redewitter for m o sses and bogs ,Th e main 0

’

th eir leev in ’

is titties and h ogs ,An

’

if an aad ewe ch anc e to die 0’

th e rot

Th ere’s nae loss at h er , Sh e ’s gud for th e pot .

At Harbottle Fair grudges were often settled and free fightstook place between the men of Rede and the men of Coquet .A story is told of some years ago

,before the Fair was discon

tinned,of a Redewater man heard to exclaim as he paraded

Harbottle S treet,Sic a fair ! here we are ! i t’s eleven o’clock

i’ the fornyun an’ never a blow struck yet

Within Six miles of Harbottle there were s ixteen Borderpeles

,the traces of which are now gone

,but they availed

little against the fierce lawlessness of the times . Vi llages,

castles,and manor—houses were given to the flames ; bo rder

hate and b order warfare recognized no distinction of ageor sex

,of things sacred or profane . Devastations were

followed by famine and pestilence .” Sad accounts weresent by the wardens of Harbottle Castle praying for furtherup

-keep,as it was gradually becoming very ruinous . In 1543

it is called the key of Redesdale,though fall ing into decay.

After the Union,i t was allowed to go to ru in

,l ike many another

Border stronghold . The new peaceful social conditions . demanded more comfortable dwellings than could be foundwithin the stark walls of peles . James , indeed , with thatfatuousness in his character which was always cropping up ,

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HARBOTTLE LOUGH AND ITS LEGEND CH . xxx i

point at which the modern gorge leaves the ancient valley,

and is doubtless caused by the softness of the deposits thatoccupy the latter .” The buried channel is possibly underneaththe village . On Harbottle Crag is the D rake Stone

,a huge

sandstone rock thirty feet high . A footpath leads past it toHarbottle Lough

,a lonely tarn in the hollow of the hills

,very

pure and intensely cold,above which in summer the gulls

whee l and scream,with gleam of erratic wing above the dark

moor . Tradition says there was once a scheme to drain thewater

,but the workmen fled when a ghostly vo ice from among

the rushes uttered the words

Let alone,let alone

Or a’

l l droon HarbottleAn

’

th e . Peel sAn

’

th e bonny Hal l ystone .

From Harbottle to Otterburn there is a beauti ful walkacross the moors going past the Drake Stone .

A sketch on the Coquet.

CHAPTER XXXII

To THE SOURCE OF THE COQUET

Alwinton—Northumbrian luxuries in th e thirteenth c enturyGilbert de Um frav il le and th e Gal lows—D rowning th e gooseat Neth erton—Biddlestone Hal l—Upper Coq uetdale and a

m edieval lease in th e nineteenth c entury—Setting th e Watch

at Passpeth—Th e Wedder Loup—Sp irit s in th e dal es—Batt l eof Fulh ope Edge—Th e Land D ebateable —Watl ing Street andth e Roman Ad Fines—Th e last h omecom ing of D ouglas toScotland .

ALWINTON is perhaps even more exquisitely S ituated thanHarbottle

,standing on the green haughs between the Coquet

and Alwin,which here unite . I ts church of St . Michael

has some points of interest and contains a little work of thetwelfth and thirteenth centuri es . In the eighteenth centuryit had fallen into a wretched condition and had been badlyrepaired . In 1851 it was completely restored . A curiousfeature is the elevation of the chancel by ten steps above thenave

,with another three steps leading to the altar . This was

rendered necessary by the Slope on which the church is bui lt .Beneath the north aisle rest many generations of the Clennel

family,to whom belong some eighteenth-century tombs . In the

south transept,called the B iddlestone porch

,l ie the Selbys

of Biddlestone . A fragment of light on the luxuries esteemedin out-of-the-way Northumberland in the thirteenth centuryis found in an agreement between the rector of Alwinton andthe Abbot of Newminster concerning tithes at Kidland

,about

which there seemed very strong feel ing . The seneschal ofGilbert de Umfraville was one of the arbitrators

,and it was

arranged that the monastery should give the parson half a327

328 BIDDLESTONE HALL CHAR.

mark of si lver, a pound of pepper, and a pound of incenseannually at Michaelmas .

Gilbert de Um fraville had a gallows— that outstandingmedieval necessity— at Alwinton

,and the hill known as the

Gallow Law stands above the Village . The Norman baronskept order with a strong hand

,though it is said William of

Normandy had a great avers ion to taking life by process of law .

Gilbert, however, had evidently no scruples in that way . He

took prisoner , for some offence, an unfortunate wretch calledThomas de Holms

,who escaped from Harbottle and fled to

Alwinton Church for sanctuary . He forswore his countryand was going to leave it

,but two of G i lbert’s men followed

him and cut off his head on Simonside,brought it back

,and hung

it on Harbottle gallows in ghastly revenge for the loss of a Victim .

Old animosit ies have a pleasanter outlet at the annual meetingof shepherds at Alwinton . A foo tball match is sti ll playedbetween men o f Redewater and men of Coquet

,and the old

slogans ring out Tarret Burn and Tarset Burn,Yet ! Yet !

Yet and Coquetside for Ev er .”

A house which stands on a green patch near the heather onthe south bank of the Coquet has an interesting nameAngryhaugh . It is derived from anger , a meadow or pastureground

,and haugh is evidently a mere repetition when the

origin of Angry ”was forgotten .

The green foothills of the Cheviots shelter Alwinton on thenorth

,and issuing from a narrow glen the s ilver Coquet broadens

out to take its gracious charm through the lovely valley it creates .To the north-east of Alwinton, on a slope of the Cheviots ,which rise feet above it

,is Biddlestone Hall, the ancient

seat of the Selbys,which may be the Osbaldiston of Rob

Roy .

” It stands amid a grove of oaks beside a deep ravine .Biddlestone Hall

,or Tower, appears in a ballad by the Ettrick

Shepherd describing a raid of the Carrs of Cessford

Ride l igh t , ride l igh t ,my kinsman true

Til l ainc e th e dayligh t c lose h er e’

e,

If we can pass th e Biddlestone TowerA harried Warden th ere sh al l be .

He reived th e best o f my broth er’s steeds ,

And slew h is m en on th e Five stane BraeI’

d lay m y h ead th is nigh t In pawn

To drive his boasted beeves away .

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SETTING THE WATCH AT PASSPETH CHAR.

bridge, and over the moor above , beyond Selby’s Lake

,l ies

Wilkwood Farm,and a scrap of history about it tells strangely

but truly of the remoteness of Upper Coquetdale in 1818. The

Princess Victoria was already destined for the throne andEngland had changed from agriculture to humming industrieswhen a lease was drawn up for East Wilkwood Farm . The

lease between Daniel Wood,the farmer

,and Walter Selby stated

that he shall and will make use of one of the corn mills belonging to the said Walter Selby for the grinding of all such corn asthe said Daniel Wood

,his servants and cottagers shal l have

occas ion for .” Daniel had also to walk a game cock,feed a

spaniel dog,and spin four pounds of lint yearly for the squire

of Biddlestone .

It would be hard to find the charm of running water morebeauti fully exemplified than where Ridlees burn comes singingdown to Coquet . Its waterfalls

,pools and rippling shallows are

delightful . Above Linsheels the Coquet narrows into the heartof the hills . On the right bank are lofty cliffs from which adizzy path looks down on the dashing stream . On this heightone of the many hundred Border watches was kept against theScottish freebooters . The two peles mentioned lower down theriver are both described as having been attacked and bruntby the Scots . But they watched too for the men of Redewater

,

their own countrymen . The watch at this point,

Passpeth ,”

is thus set in the Border Laws

The Day Watch of Cook dail l beginning at Passpeth e

Al lenton (Alwinton) to watch to Passpeth e with two men everyday : Setters and Search ers of this Watch , John W ylk inson ,

th e

Laird of D onesgrene ,John W ylk inson oth erwise cal led Gordes

John .

The watchers were vis ited any time by a searcher and finedif absent . The name of Linsheels came from the shiels thatthe farmers lived in when they pastured their flocks in thesummer months among the valleys or on the high waste grounds .This was called summering , or shiel ing, and is described in asurvey of 1542 .

At Sh illmoor the Coquet receives the Usway, a beautifu ltributary which rises at the base of big Cheviot

,not far

,from

Scotsman’s Knowe . It passes three shepherds’ houses in itscourse of eight miles

,Uswayford, where i s a fine waterfall,

Fairhaugh,and Battleshield. The latter name is a striking

XXX I I CHEVIOT SH IELINGS AND FISHING RESORTS 3 31

instance of word corruption . It seems to speak loudly ofborder warfare and some lonely fight of desperate mendisturbing Cheviot’s sleep . But it was only a sh iel

,or summer

farmstead of Henry de Bataile . A grazier in far-off times hemust have been

,as it is the Newminster Cartulary that reveals

his name and calling. Below the waterfall,

Davidson’sLinn ,

”on the Usway, in a lonely glen called Harec leugh , arethe remains of an illicit still which belonged to a noted distillerof mountain dew called Rory . Rory’s still i s said to be in avery good state of preservation . Past Shillmoor the Coquetfalls over rocks

,making a fine cascade with a deep pool for

fishing . A spot well known to anglers,where a fence stops

on the rock above the stream,is The Rail End . Sh illhOpe

Cleugh,below ShillhOpe Law, rises precipitously above the bed

of Coquet . Further on is a long,deep pool where the Coquet

pushes its way through solid rock . It is called The WedderLoup

,

”and is famous for big fish . Its name arises from a fatalaccident to a Border thief who

,being followed

,tried to jump to

the other bank with a fat sheep he had lifted . The weight ofhis booty made him miss h is footing , and both he and his struggling victim were drowned . At Windyhaugh the Barra burnrushes into Coquet

,and three shepherds’ houses appear in sight .

The monks of Newminster had a fulling mill at Windyhaugh .

Their monkish finger is met everywhere in Coquetdale . Itwas granted to them by Gilbert de Umfrav ille for the salvation of my soul and of the souls of my ancestors and he irs .

He must have required the intercession of the Church acutely.

The stones from the mill can still be seen in the old house atWindyhaugh , and the foundations of the mill were vis ible atlow water a few years ago .

Above here i s Rowhope burn mouth , where between steephills ides the burn enters Coquet

,having a little higher up been

j o ined by the Trows burn . The anglers’ song says

Oh , com e , we’

11gae.

up by th e TrowsW Iiere th e burnie rins wimp l in

’

an’

c lear ,Wh ere th e bracken and wild h eath er grows,An

’

th e wild rose is sweet on th e briar .

The Coquet and its tributaries have surely evoked morefishing songs than any other Northumbrian stream . Close toa huge rock at RowhOpe burn mouth there stood an inn called

332 COQUET’S SOURCE AND ITS SCENERY CHAR.

Slyme Foot, where the eighteenth century farmers of thedistrict spent much of their time gambling and drinking illicitwhisky which came from numerous distilleries among thehills . In such an inaccessible district this cheerful traffi cflourished amazingly . Th e older dalesmen can still rememberthe vis its of smugglers carrying grey hens ” to the farmhouses . When there were no bridges the fords were verydangerous in rainy weather

,and the gauger found it difficult

to round up the hardy rogues . Indeed the exciseman wasapt to develop a taste for the peat-flavoured Spirit

,and one of

them stationed at Harbottle had a frequent entry in his offi cialdiary, Stopped wi’ witters .

CarshOpe and Carlcroft are the next two shepherds’ cottages

up the water, and at Carlcroft is a ford . At B lindburn House theB lindburn j oins Coquet

,and a pool here is beloved by anglers .

Up the B lindburn,Rory had another still so well hidden that

on four different occasions the gaugers were within a shortdistance of it without it being discovered . At Blindburn theCoquet, the infant stream ,

first reveals itself as a fisher’s joy.

At Fulhope i s a shepherd’s house

,and the tiny Coquet is aug

mented by the FulhOpe burn , which is as large as the parentstream . On the hi ll called FulhOpe Edge a fierpe battle wasfought in 1399. It was previous to that the Scots destroyedWark Castle and carried fearful warfare into Northumberland

,

which was then also under the black hand of the plague . SirRobert de Umfrav ille

,giving chase

,fell on the Scots and routed

them among those streams which tumble from the high hills .Past lonely Mak endon cottage , below Thirlmoor

’

s frowningrocks at the south of Chew Green

,l ies the source of the Coquet .

Hi ll rises upon hill,dark and rugged where the fairy stream has

birth,and Watling Street crosses the moors into Scotland by

B rownhart Law,which forms the boundary . From its crest

the View reaches far as Eildon’

s triple heights , and on the westare the hills of Dumfriessh ire . On the east S ide is Great Cheviot,Cushat Law

,and the conical green tops of the Cheviot range .

Mak endon estate runs up to the Scotch edge and marcheswith the property of the Duke of Roxburghe . On the debatableland the boundary line has always been a source of contention,and even recently the Ordnance Survey was the occas ionfor a revival of Opposing claims . A part of Watling Streetsouth of Chew Green

,during Border wars

,was an appointed

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CHAPTER XXX II I

THE VALE OF WHITTINGHAM

Alnham—How th e Wardens enc ouraged th e raids—Th e FalseAlarm in 180 4 and some sh irkers—George Co ll ingwood and h is

sad fate— A Bo rder otter hunter and h is dogs—C al laly Castl eand a lady

’s stratagem— Newcast le ’s Wh itecoats and h ow th eywere dyed scar let— Hob Th r ush ’s Mil l s—Wh ittingham ,

an

Anglo -Sax on vil lage—I ts ch urc h , ru ined byVic torian restoration-Wh ittingh am Fair and its song— Peg Macfarlane and a

p roverbial saying—Th e bu z z um -maker and th e sodgersNorthumbrian folk rhymes— G lanton .

THE vale of Coquet can be left at Netherton by a road whichgoes to Screnwood, where once was a border tower, the home ofthe ancient Northumberland family of Horsley . The hamletstands on the pleasant banks of the Rithe . Into the valleyof the Aln the road desCends where Alnham

,locally called

Yeldom,lies at the base of the outlying slopes of the Cheviots .

Being only Six miles from the Border it suffered severely fromraids . In 1532 the Earl of Northumberland writes from Alnwickto Henry VI II that the Scots have brunte a towne of mynecalled Alenam with all the corne

,hay and householde stuf in

the said towne and also a woman .

”The last inconsiderable

item comes in with the suggestion of an afterthought, j ust toweigh down the scale of the Scots’ enorrnities. The next monthhe writes another forray did run down ye watter of B remyschand another com to the watter of Aylle .

”1 But in his indignationhe has forgotten that in a raid organised on the English sidepreviously he wrote that he will lett slippe secretlie them ofTindaill and Riddisdaill for the annoyance of Scotland . Godsend them all good spede.

”The conscienceless connivance of

Alnmouth is still local ly call ed Alemouth .

334

CH. XXX I I I THE FALSE ALARM IN 1804 335

the Wardens on both sides of the Border In these raids is amusing.

They seem to hold back the fierce borderers in a leash when it

suits them,then with a great whoop start them gal loping with

the historic cries of A Percy,a Percy ” “A Fennyke, a Fen

nyke”

,

“A Douglas , a Douglas .

The foundations of a large tower are still vi sible on a greenmound in Al nham opposite to the church , and in the vicarageis incorporated another tower . The beauti ful l ittle church is ofthe Trans itional period . After being allowed to go nearly toruin it was rather poorly restored In 1870 . It has some quaintsepulchral stories . On the Castle Hi ll, where there is a Britishcamp

,a magnificent View is obtained by looking south to the

Simonside Hi lls with the Cheviots on the north . West of thisbill the Rithe rushes down on its journey to the Coquet pastHazelton Rig woods .The False Alarm in 1804, when the fear of Boney wasstrong in rural Northumberland

,has left in this district some

happy anecdotes,of which the most amusing were collected by

Mr . Dippie D ixon and printed in his book, The Vale of Whittingham .

”The beacon was l it on Ros Castle in Chill ing

ham Park,eas ily seen from the Castle Hi ll . Its conflagration

signalled to the beacon hill watchers in Coquetdale and Alndale .

The excuses given by those who did not yearn to go to themuster were hardly to be expected from the descendants of thebloodthirsty rieving Borderers . Tom Bolam had a pain inhis breest and needed three glasses of whisky to cure it . WillieMiddlemas was se ized with violent pa in

,and Jack D ixon’s

horse wanted shoeing . Curiously enough,when the alarm was

proved false,they all had j oined the troop and were ready for

the dinner at Collingwood House . The Netherton miller wasdrying oats in the high kiln when the bugle sounded . Heshouted to his wife : Come here

,Mary

,an’ kill thur yetts

,an’

grind them an’ i f the French dis land at the mill,we’ll let them

see she’s no toom . With which Spirited if confused reasoningTommy mounted his nag and hastened to Caisley Moor .On the north of the A111

,two miles from Whittingham

,i s

Eslington Hall, a seat of Lord Ravensworth built on the site ofan old Border tower . It was held originally by a family calledEslington, and afterwards by Hesilriggs, Herons and Collingwoods . The estate oi George Collingwood was confiscated andhe was executed for his share in the ’

15 .

336 THE D EATH OF GEORGE “ COLLINGWOOD CHAR.

Tradition says that like Lord Derwentwater he was'

urged

by his wife to j oin the Jacobites . On an eminence at ThruntonCrag End

,as he rode to the rendezvous

,he pulled up his horse

and gazed back wistfully over the fair lands of Eslington witha foreboding that never again would he see the ancient home ofthe Collingwoods .

And fare th ee wel l , George Co l lingwood ,Sinc e fate h as put us downI f th ou and I h ave lo st our l ivesOur king has lo st h is crown .

So his unfortunate leader,Lord Derwentwater

,laments .

George Col lingwood was described as a Papist,of a valuable

estate and very quiet and unoffensive . His execution atLiverpool

,he being unable to reach London

,through an attack

of gout,was generally deplored . Sir Henry Liddell

,the ancestor

of Lord Ravensworth,bought the confiscated estate and built

the present mansion in 1 720 .

There are many members of the ancient family in the localitystill . A rhyme about the ir crest

,a stag at full gaze under an

oak tree,i s neat

,though it possibly s ignifies nothing, indeed it

seems only a variant on the Bucc leugh rhyme .

Th e Co l l ingwoods h ave borne th e nam eSinc e in th e bush th e buck was ta’en

,

B ut wh en th e bush shal l h o ld th e buckTh en farewel l faith , and farewel l luck .

The rich , well—stocked pastures of Eslington were a greatattraction to the Scots

,and the Collingwoods were often besieged

in their tower . In 1587 i t was taken by the Duke of Bucc leugh ,and a gl impse of the uncertainty of l ife in those days

,even

within the security of a fortified dwelling,is given in a letter

from Sir Thomas Fairfax .

My brother B ellasis has met with a misfortune which is asorrow to us here . He was garrisoned at Eslington and had ahundred soldiers dispersed through four towns . The

'

Scotsran a foray and before his people were assembled he was takenprisoner by the Lord of Bucc leugh . His brother James has notbeen heard of s ince

,and James Godson and his ens ign

,one

Harte,and fifteen soldiers slain . Weeping and dolour must

have often followed these sudden raids,wounded men left

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338 CALLALY CASTLE AND ITS LEGEND CHAR.

Will died playing on the Northumbrian . pipes his favouritetune, Dorrington Lads Yet .

An’ sweetly wild were Al lan

’s strains,

An’

m ony a Jig an’ Reel h e blew

,

W i’

m erry l ilts h e ch arm ed th e swainsW i

’ barbed spear th e otter slew .

Nae m air h e ’l l scan wi’ anx ious eyeTh e sandy sh ores of winding Reed ,

Nae mai r h e ’l l tempt th e finny tryTh e king 0

’

tinklers—Al lan’s deid .

The Lady’s Bridge at Eslington is the subj ect of one ofB ewick

’

s woodcuts .

A mile south of Eslington i s Callaly, where the remains of anancient tower are incorporated in the seventeenth-century mansion . This was the home of the Claverings for centuries . Itstands at the base of the characterist ic hil l cal led Callaly CastleHi l l

,on which are the remains of extensive foundations

,probably

British,followed by a Roman camp . They occupy two acres ,

and the ditch in places is deeply cut in the sandstone rock . Inparts , .the stones are squared and bedded with lime . The

remains of building gave ri se to a curious legend . Once alord of Callaly st ar ted his castle here

,but his lady obj ected to

the pos ition and bribed a servant to dress in a bearskin and pullit down nightly . This continual undoing of the day’s work bythe next morning became terri fying to the superstitious lord , asthe lady ins isted that higher powers were on her s ide . A watchwas kept and the bear was seen pulling down the walls andcrying

Cal laly Castl e built on th e h eigh tUp in th e day and down in th e n igh t ,Builded down in th e Sh eph erd ’s Sh awI t shall stand for aye and never fa’

.

This settled the matter ; the wily lady had her way, and thetower rose on the lower ground . Th e Claverings were Cavaliersduring the Civil War . In 1644 Sir John was taken prisoner bythe Roundheads

,and after being barbarously used in many

prisons and common gaols dyed a prisoner in London in 1647 .

Even now the fate of the Northumbrian lords who gave upall then and later for “ those who knew not to resign or reignseems p iteous .

xxxrri THE JACOBITE '

CLAVERINGS 339

Sir Robert,his son

,raised a regiment of troops for the King’s

service who formed part of the Duke of Newcastle’s forces andwere known as Newcastle’s Whitecoats

,from the colour of their

doublets . He had no scarlet cloth , but they swore to dye thewhite with the enemy’s blood . A brave boast

,but fulfil led in

another manner . At Marston Moor the Northumbrians , themen from the valleys and hills

,stood like a wall when victory

was no longer poss ible, and when the day was done and thearmies melting away a long white line

,streaked at close view

with a darker colour,showed where they lay. The i r doublets

were dyed with true blood . Out of a troop of only 30survived .

The Claverings lost part of their estate and had to pay heavyfines . In 17 15 they again came out , and the chief of the house ,a nobleman of seventy

,was taken a prisoner to London , where

the mob terribly insulted the captured Jacobites who,on horse

back,with tied arms

,were led through the streets . Strange it

seems that the fierce foes on e ither side of the Border shouldhave the same tragic loyalty to the Stuarts . South of Northumberland the deposed house was regarded with indifference,except among a few Catholic families of high estate .

From Callaly Crags is seen one of the most beautifuland diversified scenes in Northumberland

,over Whittingham

Vale and the Cheviots . The crags form part of a ridge which,

after bounding the valleys of Ti l l and B reamish,ris e above

Doddington, form Ros Cas tle at Chillingham ,and sweep round

by Beanley and Alnwick Moor to Thrunton. In one of thehuge fantastic rocks among the heather is Macartney’s Cave

,a

little oratory hewn out of the sandstone by a form er chaplainof Callaly Castle . Some curious boundary stones carved witha Maltese cross are near the summit of the crag . A precipitouswatercourse goes down the crags where the pot hollows areknown as Hob Thrush’s Mills

,the haunt of a sprite or brownie.

The mills are set going in a spate which brings down stonesthat rattle in the pot holes

,l ike the grinding of a mill . He i s

generally coupled with Robin Goodfellow in folk lore . He hada haunt in Hob Thrush Island at Holy Island

,but St . Cuthbert

frightened him away. He is an ancient brownie of the north .

Near Oakenshaw Bdrn and Caplestone Edge there is a Hob’s

Flow .

A maj estic avenue of beeches leads along the Cal laly estateZ 2

340 WHITTINGHAM AND ITS SAXON CHURCH CHAP .

towards Whittingham . Emerging from it can be seen the churchand red roofs of the old village through which runs the Aln .

Whittingham gives its name to the vale,not the river

,and

for centuries has been its principal town . It was an AngloSaxon village

,as the church bears witness to this day

,and it

was part of the possessions of the see of Lindisfarne given to themonks by Ceolwulf. There is no notice o f Whittingham till116 1

,when Ughtred de Witingeham was lord of the manor.

Whittingham had two towers,one that the parson lived in

,and

another which belonged to the Herons and Collingwoods,

restored in 1845, and now used as an almshouse . It stands on thebrow of a steep green knoll on the south bank of the A111. The

basement of the tower has walls eight feet thick,and an arched

doorway is part of the original fourteenth-century work . In1542 both the towers were in measurable good repar

’

ons .

”

The 1mag1nat10n 15 most stirred in Whittingham by the churchwhich for a thousand years has seen the devout homage of theVale . It was probably built in the eighth century

,but a most

disastrous renovation in 1840 marred its antique features .The tower

,the west end of the aisles

,and an arch on

the north side were early Saxon . The corners of the towerand the exterior angles of the aisle walls had that quoining whichconsisted of a long stone set at the corner and a short one lyingon it

,wh ich is a characteristic of Saxon work . A very plain

arch and a square pier remained of the old nave . Thiswas al l removed

, and the upper part of. the tower pulleddown and re-erected in sham Gothic . The window next the pulpitin the north transept has a fragment of early English architecture . An early English piscina is in the south transept

,which

had been a chantry dedicated to St . Peter,probab ly founded in

the thirteenth century by the Eslingtons. Over the gable atthe entrance

,also early English

,is a sundial

,near one of the

stiles which give access to the public footway . In the churchyard is an ancient cross

,and hosts of the grim memorials which

the rude forefath ers of the hamlet found so pleasing to the eyeand instructive to the mind . Skulls

,crossbones

,hour-glasses

met the vil lager as he proceeded leisurely over the sward onSabbath mornings . In youth , even at its most unreflectingstage

,these

,with the stiff consciousness of unfamiliar boots and

clothes,were apt to cast a passing gloom over the Spirit

,which

fell still further as the damp,musty air

,thick with emanations

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342 JAMIE MACFARLANE AND THE FALSE ALARM CHAP.

crags and moors,and in the recesses of the rocks are the retreats

of badgers and foxes,and owls

,hawks

,peregrine falcons

,

and goatsuckers nest there . Blackberry bushes cover the ground .

In a plantation called Blackcock,on the wild moor

,grows the

black crowberry, an acid fru it eaten by the moor fowl . The

plant is unknown in the south of England . Blackcock Plantation i s notorious for the number and size of its adders .At the beginning of the nineteenth century

,in a hove l on

Thrunton Moor,l ived a besom-maker called Jamie Macfarlane

,

whose daughter called Peg travelled the countryside sellinghis wares . One afternoon she was asked where she was

bound for that night,

” and her answer originated thepopular proverb addressed to those who swither

,

” ye’rl ike Meg Macfarlane who had a twenty hundred mindswhether to go for the night to Whittingham or to Fishesstead — places about twelve miles apart . It is curious thatin Glendale there is a Fishes-Stead

,about which a similar story

is told .

Mr . D ixon has a very good story about Jamie Macfarlane . On

the day following the False Alarm,when the whole district was

seething with excitement,three Coquetdale Rangers , returning

home in the February afternoon across Rimside Moor, sawJamie

,and thought it would be fine to make h im believe they

were French and take him prisoner . Putting spurs to theirhorses they galloped with drawn swords towards their victim .

But the besom-maker was a match for any mart ial j esters .As they approached him he suddenly turned his back to the foe,stooped down and , with acrobatic skill , looked out between hislegs and ran backwards towards them

,shouting wildly. The

horses,unaccustomed to such a spectacle

,reared and plunged

and would on no account face the onset of Jamie Macfarlane .The cavalry had therefore to retreat

,with Jamie shouting

triumphantly after them : Hey, three bonny sodgers cannatyek a buz zum-makerThe children of Whittingham used to shout after an oldtrooper of the Coquetdale Rangers— a troop of volunteer cavalryraised during the Napoleonic War

Reed back ’

d brummell er ,

Cock-tailed tumm e l ler ,

Fire-side so ldier ,

Darna gan te war .

xxxm COUNTRY RHYMES 343

It was very express ive,and north country children sing many

funny old rhymes .

The people return ing from a Northumbrian fair such asWhittingham or St . Ninians , locally called Trunnion , would begreeted with

Fair fo lk fair fo lks gies wor fairYor pockets is rip e an

’

wors is bare .

The miller going round the village with the flour he hadground for the hinds

,who were paid in kind with corn and had

to send it to the mi ller,would often hear

Mil lery m il lery m oonty poke IPut in your hand an

’ steal a loke .

The moonty is from the old custom ,the mouter or multure

,

the miller’s wages,also taken in kind

,and he was often credited

with helping himself well . A poke is a bag (hence themiller’s common name of Poker)and loke a small quantity .

On the road leaving the village for Glanton is an old house,

with a fl ight of outside stone stairs,which used to be an inn called

The Hole in the Wall .” Two miles further on,Glanton stands

on a ridge that divides the valleys of the B reamish and Aln andlooks over the vale . Glanton Pyke rises above and used to bethe beacon hill

,but now a mansion stands on its summit . It

is a pretty village and has many visitors .

CHAPTER XXXIV

THE HOME OF THE PERCIES

Barony and its first owners—Building of th e Norman castle byIv0 -de V esc i—Th e c om ing of th e Perc ies and th e state in wh ichth ey found th e c ounty

—Border l ife after BannockburnAlnwick fort ified against Scotland—England turns th e tablesHotspur and Princ e Henry—Th e Hector o f th e NorthSubsequent Perc ies—Advent of S ir Hugh Sm ith son ,

th e firstDuke—D ecay and restorat ion of th e Cast le , Al nwick AbbeyHulme Park and its birds—Northumbrian Carm el ites—Bish opPercy at Alnwick .

SOME say it was Alnwick,says Mallory of Lancelot’s famous

Castle,Joyous Gard

,which speaks at least for its early renown .

But he must have been thinking of a fort ress earlier than thatrebuilt by the first of the Northumbrian Percies. No suchrecords exist as those that relate to the more romantic Bamburgh .

A great many lands had been massed together to form the baronyof Alnwick before the Conquest . Tradition avers that after thebattle of Hastings William bestowed it on his standard-bearer

,

Gilbert Tyson,but on the other hand the chronicle of Alnwick

Abbey gives B isbright Tisonne as the owner before that event .

The Norman Castle was in the first place built by Ivo de Vesci,who was Lord of Alnwick at his death in 1135. Thirty-eightyears later

,when it was besieged by the Scots under William the

Lion,i t was commanded by William de Vesci

,

“ the brave naturalson of the lord of the Castle .

” It remained in possess ion of theDe Vesci

’

s until 1297 . Often i n early Northumbrian history ade Vesci plays a leading part , but the interest of the Castlebegins in earnest with its purchase by Henry Percy in 1309.

It was a critical period . During the twelfth century Northumberland had enjoyed unexampled prosperity . Right down to

344

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346 THE PURCHASE OF ALNWICK CASTLE cuxp .

belonged to a race not eas ily discouraged by diffi cult ies . The

first Percy to settle in England had not come over with DukeWilliam, but immediately after . It would appear that thename was originally that of a Norman village

,probably connected

with percée, a glade in a wood . The founder of the Englishfamily had a friend at court in the person of Hugh d’Avanche

,

a cousin of the Conqueror,and this may explain how he came to

receive a grant of land ln Yorkshire,where the Percies originally

settled . An heiress o f the family married Jocelyn,younger

son of Godfrey,Count of Louvain

,who had risen to be Duke of

Brabant . Their son adopted the maiden name of his motherand thus became Henry Percy I . So many Henrys came intothe succession that they had to be distinguished by numeralsl ike a race of Kings . It was a PercyI I I of Louvain who becamePercy I of Alnwick .

The purchase was a transaction that casts a brill iant light onthe men and manners of the time . At his death William deVesci had left his property in Alnwick in trust to Bishop Bec forhis natural son

,William of Kildare . Bee was a great eccles iastic,

and,l ike many of his day

,was notorious for characteristics little

akin to those of Christianity. He was able,but grasping and

dishonest . Making his pretext certain warm words of h ischarge

,he sold the castle and estate to Percy and pocketed the

money. Fortunately for Will iam Kildare the purchaser becamehis friend and protector

,undoing the wrong to some extent .

It was the son of Henry Percy II I who,when he came into

possess ion,did most of the building . Well he might , for in

Edward I I ’s reign things had gone from bad to worse and thecondition of the Borders became terrible . It was no wonderthat the Scots were roused to a fury of revenge . Gray’s famousl ines were as applicable to Edward in Scotland as to Edwardin Wales

Ruin seiz e th ee ruth less KingConfusion on thy banners wait

Th o’

fann’

d by conquest ’s c rim son wingTh ey mock th e air with idl e state .

Aged and worn as he was with campaigning and grief, Edward’s

fury knew no bounds when m 130 6 Robert Bruce stabbed the RedComyn

,the Lord of Badenoch

,in the church of the Grayfriars

in Dumfries . Although nearing that fatal illness which seized

XXXIV NORTHUMBERLAND AFTER BANNOCKBURN

him on the Solway Sands,he dealt out stern p unishment to the

Scottish nobles . Green says in his Short Hi story

Bruce was already flying for his l ife to th e High lands . Henceforth ,

”h e said to hi s wife at th eir coronat ion ,

th ou art queen o f

Scot land and I king. I fear ,”rep l ied Mary Bruc e , we are onlyp laying at royalty,

l ike ch ildren in th eir gam es .

”Th e p lay was

soon turned into bitter earn est . A sm al l Engl ish forc e under Aym erde Valenc e sufficed to rout th e disorderl y l evies which gath eredround th e new m onarch

,and th e fligh t o f Bru c e l eft hi s fo l lowers at

Edward ’s m ercy. Nobl e aft er noble was h urried to th e block .

Th e Earl of Ath ol p leaded kindred with royal ty His on ly p rivil ege , burst forth th e K ing,

“ sh al l be th at o f being h anged on ah igh er gal lows than th e rest . Knigh ts and p riests were strung upside by side by the Engl ish just ic iaries wh ile th e wife and

daugh ters of Robert h im sel f were flung into Edward ’s p risons .

Bruc e him sel f h ad o ffered to cap itu lat e to Princ e Edward , but th e

o ffer on ly roused th e o l d king to fury. W h o is so bo ld,

”h e c ried ,

as to treat with our traitors with out our knowledge and risingfrom h is sick-bed h e l ed hi s army northwards to c omp lete th e

c onquest . B ut th e hand of death was upon h im , and in th e verysigh t of Scotland th e o ld man breath ed his last at Burgh -uponSands .

Edward II was ill suited to stand in his father’s shoes,and

when he lost the field of Bannockbum in 13 14 the tables werecompletely turned against the Engl ish . Northumberland feltthe ful l brunt of the Scottish ire . For fifteen years after 1316,says the historian

,the whole county remained waste

,no one

daring to l ive in it except under the shadow of a castle or walledtown . Those who wish for details o f the devastation andplundering should read the excerpts made by Raine from theaccounts sent from the Lindis farne Chape lries to Durham . Nocrops

,no cattle

,no household goods and no l i fe was safe .

Standing on the battlements o f Alnwick Castle and lookingnorth over the l ittle river Aln gliding under the bridge

,and glanc

ing down between its green banks , it is easy to see how thean imosity to Scotland must have been at its height when thesecond Percy was adding new towers and fortificat ions to theancient stronghold . Every tower looks towards Scotland likea soldier wait ing for his foe

,every stone l ion couchant or gardant

has his head turned in the same direction,while the images of

fighting men surmounting the old towers s igni fy battle andnothing else . The Percies were well aware that the Castlestanding on the edge of the wild

,hilly moorland in the level

348“ THAT HOTSPUR OF THE NORTH” CHAP.

country between the Cheviots and the sea was a bastion againstwhich waves of soldiery must beat i f they would win their wayto the south . They were aware

,too

,that the Scots

,most

tenacious and stubborn of nations,would not be easi ly stopped .

Ballad and chronicle al ike bear witness to the pride and sel fconfidence that characterised them after the battle o f Bannockburn . It took many a hard fight on the part of the English toredress the balance . But between two nations equally bravethe stronger is bound to come out top in the end . It took thewhole of the fourteenth century to do so and it was a gloriousbut troubled century in the annals of Northumberland . The

tables were first turned at Hal idon Hi ll,where the Scottish army

lost in a great measure through the arrogance and over-confidenceof their leaders . Another disastrous day for Scotland was thatin which the battle of Neville’s Cross was fought . Otterburnwas not a national trial of strength

,but the glorious end of a

Border fray from which victor and vanquished emerged withequal honour . Homildon Hi l l

,140 2 , was the decisive English

victory in this contest . Flodden came later and was fought onnew issues .

Of all the figures in this drama the one which left the mostabiding name in Northumberland

,and even on the whole of

England,was Harry Percy

,that Hotspur of the North

,

”whomShakespeare with a regal disregard of t ime and date makes theprotagonist of his darling prince . Prince Henry was born in1387 and the battle of Shrewsbury was fought in 140 3 , so thathe was then s ixteen years of age . The chroniclers say nothingof any rivalry between them or of the Prince kill ing Percy

,

whom he knew well,as Hotspur had been his military adviser

when he was learning the art of war in Wales at the early ageof thirteen . Hotspur

,under Henry IV

,in addition to being

Warden of the East Marches,was Justiciary of North Wales

and Constable of the Castles of Chester,Flint

,Carnarvon and

Conway— a fact which explains a passage about Homildon inBates . Unfortunately for northern pride

,the retinue lists and

muster rolls of the period show that these archers,instead of

being raised from Bamburghshire, Islandshire, and Norhamshire,must have been mainly We lshmen .

”The celebrated description

of Hotspur put into the mouth of Prince Hal is chiefly interestingas showing how all England knew of Hotspur’s fame : He thatkills me s ix or seven doz en Scots , washes his hands and says to his

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350 ADVENT OF SIR HUGH SMITHSON a p .

The seventh Earl was executed at York for taking part in theNorthern rebellion against Queen Elizabeth

,and his successor

was found in bed killed by a pistol shot,fired by himself it is

thought . He had lost influence in the North by long absencein the south . The ninth Earl was mixed up in the GunpowderPlot

,sent to the Tower and ultimate ly re leased on the conditions

that he should pay a fine of then an enormous sum,and

stay away from the North . For a time the Percies were overshadowed by the Radcliffes

,who at this time added Alston

,with

its lead mines,and the barony of Langley to D i lston and the ir

other properties . But the eclipse of the Percies was onlytemporary .

The daughter and heiress of Josceline had married AlgernonSeymour

,the seventh Duke of Somerset

,and the only survivor

of their union was a daughter,who insisted on marrying Sir

Hugh Smithson,a Yorkshire baronet of good family . The

Duke did not like the match,and left the great Percy Estates in

Yorkshire,Cumberland and Sussex to his nephew

,Sir Charles

Wyndham,so that only the Northumbrian estates remained to

his daughter and son-in-law . Sir Hugh Smithson changed hisname to Percy and became Earl

,and subsequently the first

Duke of Northumberland . He proved to be a very success fuland able administrator

,who vastly increased the value of the

estates and was respons ible for what the architect of to-dayproperly regards as a disastrous res toration of Alnwick Cas tle,which

,amid the changing times and fortunes

,of which this is

only a bird’s -eye View,had fallen into decay . A more enlightened

modern effort on the part of Algernon,fourth Duke

,was begun

in 1854 .

Alnwick Castle fell into ruins when the wars with Scotlandwere drawing to a clos e . In early days the walls appear tohave enclosed the same area as they do to -day

,five acres . The

walls were probably built by Eustace Fitzj ohn,who after his

marriage to the heiress adopted the name of de Vesci, andClarkson

,who wrote his survey in 1558, gives the names of the

following towers on the walls : Armourer’s Tower, Falconer’s

Tower,

’

Abbot’s Tower,Barbican

,Garrett , Round Tower,

Auditor Tower,Record Tower

,Ravine Tower, Constable

’

sTower

,Postern and Sally Port . The garrets— a word akin to

the French guerité— were huge stone s entry boxes . The Barbicanwas probably erected by the first Percy . It was the aim of the

xxxrv ALNWICK CASTLE IN MODERN TIMES 351

firs t Duke to restore the Cas tle so as to make it habitable,and

it was his mis fortune that Gothic was fashionable at the time,and he was led into do ing his restoration in the wrong way.

Duke Algernon converted the stately building into an equallystately pleasure house— notable for its magnificent rooms and

great staircase, its museum and collect ions and noble l ibrary.

It is a place to make you dream as Coleridge dreamt,

At Xanadu did Kub la KhanA stately p leasure dom e decree ,

till some grim heritage from the savage wars,l ike the deep and

S tr eet in A lnwick .

horrible dungeon , spoils the vis ion by intrud ing less agreeablefancies . Alnwick sleeps under the castle walls ; a quiet oldfashioned town of curious streets

,chares and ancient build ings

of which one of the most interest ing is that called HotspurTower .You cannot imagine either town or castle without trying to

p icture the Abbey, too . This has been rendered eas ier by the

352 BIRDS IN HULNE PARK CHAP.

work done by St . John Hope in 1884 . Ti l l then only the gatehouse of the Abbey was vis ible

,but the great antiquary had the

turf cleared away so that the bases of the walls are s een,and

thus he who would form a mental picture of the ancient churchhas at least a ground plan on which to work .

Hulne Priory is about three and a half miles north o f Alnwick,

and in Hulne Park . No one could wish for a more beautifuland interesting walk

,for the famous park stretches right away

from the outlying spurs o f Cheviot to the gates of Alnwick .

The late Henry H . Paynter,a well-known ornithologist

,who for

many years was honorary secretary to the Fam e Is les Association

,and who when consulted in any year and in any moment

of the year used to give one the lates t information of the comingsand goings

,the nesting and increas e or decreas e of the tribes of

bird folk,contributed to the Journal of the Berwickshire

Natural ists’ Club a brief note of a page and a half,into which was

compress ed an excellent summary of the ornithology of thepark .

Between 1866,when he went to Alnwick

,and 1917 , the year

before he died,he found no fewer than s ixty—seven species nesting

in the park . This 15 a striking tribute to its mani fold attractions .The reason as he gave it is that on the one hand the Park reachesthe uplands that roll away north and westward

,and with the

other hand touches the belt of fat,rich land which borders the

s ea . Heather on the west,and on the east fair meadows

,on the

river bank great trees and luxuriant vegetation offer a vari edbill of fare to the birds

,and they have the protection of private

ground . Of the rarer birds noticed he enumerates a BlackKite trapped in 1866

,the only one taken in Great Britain .

Among others he observed Ospreys , the rough-legged Buzzard,a honey Buzzard

,three Ruffs

,a Roller and a Wryneck . Before

Lord William Percy began breeding waterfowl,and ringing them

to trace their migrat ion or other movements,Wild Duck,

Pochards,Widgeon

,Pintai l and Scaup Duck visited the park .

On the heather and crag are Grouse , Blackgame , Curlews ,Woodcock

,Nightjar and occasional Merlin

,Golden Plover and

Tea! . Kingfi sher and D ipper, Pied and Gray Wagt ail, SummerSnipe

,Mallard and Moorhen breed . So

,too

,does an occasional

Sedge Warbler .

Among the b i rds nest ing in the woodland are Sparrow Hawkand Kestrel

,Rook

,Magpie

,Woodcock

,Woodpigeon , Carrion

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, 354 THE BISHOP AND CHEVIOT A SCENERY CHAP.

is lands in a wide,unbounded ocean . Over these the eye gradually

rises to where the vast mountains of Cheviot erect their hugeconic heads between the openings of which

,the s ight gains a

glimpse of the st i ll more distant blue Hi lls of Tiviotdale in

Scotland . The top of Cheviot is distant more than twenty

The A111 in f/ze Pa rk .

miles : the Hi lls in Tiviotdale near forty or fifty. He finds

the British Carmel clothed with young plantations of evergreensand forest trees , and looking to the west finds a more extens iveview of that amazing wild prospect towards Cheviot ; to thesea

,fine green valleys in the midst of which the town of Alnwick

,

xxx iv COAST AND MOORLAND 355

overlooked by the Castle,has a most picturesque appearance .

Below it the riverAlne is seen beauti fully winding towards thesea . The prospect terminates with the Fam e Islands to thenorth and a fine

,moving picture made by the sh ippmg. On

.

theseashore he sees the ruins of Dunstanburgh Castle and the l1ttlePort of Alnmouth . To the south-west is a wild, rude moor,part o f the ancient forest of Haydon .

B ctwren Woofer and A ln 'zuz

'

ck .

A A 2

Oldgate S treat, M orpeth

CHAPTER XXXV

MORPETH,MITFORD , AND KIDLAND

Th e castl e of th e de Merlays—Morpeth an easy prey of th e

Scots—Th e homeliest of Northumbrian towns Canny man

gie’s a h a’

penny -Newm inster and its hi story—A beautifulval ley—Th e visit of Miss Mitford—Newminster and th e greatwaste ground cal led Kydlandes —Perilous sh eph erding in th eo l d t ime—Th e ch ap lain wh o lo st a day at Memmerk irk—Th esh eph erd

’s dog and stick -Birds of th e moorland .

ON a peninsula of the Wansbeck, in a fert ile valley, l ies theancient and attractive town o f Morpeth

,thought by some to be

the most beautiful town in Northumberland . It is notassociated with any events of historical importance

,though the

ru ins of the large castle of the de Merlays, standing on a woodedeminence above the town

,show the might of the Norman barons

who reigned there . Later it came into the possession of BeltedWill through marriage

,and his descendant the Earl of Carlisle

356

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358 OLD CUSTOMS AT MORPETI—I can .

occup i ed by the great adm i ral,who spent his scanty leisure

in planting trees .Morpeth is thought by many to possess a greater natural

beauty than any other town in Northumberland . To me it isalways the homeliest

,in many ways the most typical of day-to

day li fe . The stranger who on a summer day leans over thewalls of the footbridge which replaced the medieval bridge in1831, spanning the Wansbeck as it ripples through the townsmiling and friendly

,will gather what I mean from the boys and

girls plodding among the stones. They assail the stranger inwords used by hundreds of generations before them : Cannyman

,canny man, gi e

’s a ha’penny .

” Should the travellergood-naturedly respond by toss ing a copper or two into thewater he will be rewarded by the s ight o f a ducking and divingand scrambling inspired far more by the spirit of frol ic thandes ire for money . It speaks of days when the poor were muchpoorer than they are now

,and also affords evidence of the fact

that nowhere in the North o f England are the old tongue andthe old customs more cherished than in Morpeth . Nearly allthat survives in the folklore o f Northumberland may be foundin this l ittle town . The history of the place is that of an openvillage

,wh ich makes its annals very different from those of

Berwick and Alnwick and other fortified places . At the endof the bridge

,on the north side of the Wansbeck

,stood the

Chapel of All Saints,where services were held and the dues

collected . Unfortunately it is now transformed into a businessproperty .

About a mile and a half from Morpeth is Newminster Abbey.

Crossing the river by the west bridge the High Stanners arepassed . This unenclosed ground gets its name from the smallstones and gravel on the margin of the river . The Low Stanners ,formerly the place of execution

,i s on the eastern outskirts of

the town . The walk by the rivers ide is called the Lady’s Walk,as it was the way to Newminster dedicated to the Virgin Mother .The avenue called the Lovers’ Walk ends in the shelteredhaugh over which is spread the ru ined buildings with steepwooded scaurs ris ing above . Only a fragment of the Abbeyremains

,the sol itary arch of the northern doorway, though

excavations are recovering much of the original building, whichis almost identical with that of Fountains in Yorkshire . It wasfounded for the Cistercian monks by Ranulph de Merlay in

XXXV NEWMINSTER ABBEY 359

1137 , who was buried there with Juliana his wife . It becamethe burial-place of many noted fami lies . One knight lyingthere was the great Robert de Umfrav ille, known as RobinMend-the-Market . The possess ions of the Abbey were extens ive .Lands on the Wansbeck

,all up Coquetdale, fisheries on the Tyne,

salt works at the mouth o f the Blyth and Coquet,helped to

form a great eccles ias tical property . Its value in modern money

Nn um ins/e r AMe! .

0

would be per annum . But they were doomed,though

on the vis itat ion in 1536 no charge of laxity could be broughtagainst Newminster

,Alnwick or Blanchland . The rel ic the

monks then still venerated was the girdle o f St . Robert,the first

abbot . Eight wax candles burned be fore his tomb . The nameof the last abbot is unknown

,and the roo f fell

,smashing the

tombs,when the monastery was rifled at the D issolution . Many

of the English sovereigns had vis ited Newminster,and it had

360 MITFORD AND THE MITFORDS CHAP.

escaped every vis itation o f the Scots except the burning ofDavid I

,when it was rebuilt .

The Wansbeck valley,extending about two miles between

Morpeth and Mitford,has often been extolled for its

loveliness . The best description is that of Miss Mitford,

who when she was e ighteen years of age was taken by herfather to see their grand relat ives in the North . Her

account of the journey is a reminder o f the travelling methodsin the firs t decade o f the nineteenth century

,which

,though they

would not have been found suitable by those in a hurry,did not

lack attract ion to a romantic girl just entering the borders ofwomanhood . The party travelled to London by s tage coach

,

but afterwards had the advantage of Mr . Ogle’s private carriage,the said Mr . Nathaniel Ogle being a cous in of Dr . Mitford and aNorthumbrian landowner. They changed horses at Roystonand Wade’s Mill

,

'

and,after several days

,reached Little Harle

Tower in Northumberland . Miss Mitford writes enthus iast icallyof the ru ined Castleand of the wild and daringWansbeck almostgirdling it as a moat .” Lord Redesdale

,in h is Rerniniscences

,

”

published in 1915, explained the claim of the family to be ofSaxon des cent . At the Conquest the Castle and Barony wereheld by Robert de Mitford

,whose only child and heiress was a

daughter named Sibella . William bestowed her in marriageon Sir Robert Bertram

,who seems

,from a contemporary docu

ment,to have been deformed

,estoit tort. In the reign of Henry II I

the estates were forfeited to the Crown and then seemed to havepassed into possess ion of the Pembroke family . They belongedto that Aymer de Valance

,Earl of Pembroke

,who was s lain in

a tournament held in honour of h is wedding . It was said ofthis family that for s everal generat ions no father ever saw hisson . Charles II restored Mitford to the Mitfords

,and with one

or two viciss itudes it has been held by them ever s ince . The

history will explain the local couplet pointing to the great an ti

quity of Mitford

Midford was Midford ere Morpeth was aneAnd stil l shall be Midford wh en Morpeth is gane.

The old Castle had been beautifully s ituated,with the Wansbeck

flowing clos e to the Mound on which it was built and plantationsframing it . The Wansbeck

,which receives its tributary the

Font a little above the village,breaks into a dance over its bed

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362 NEWMINSTER’

S LORDSHIP OF KIDLAND CHAP.

dominated by the ru ins of the ancient and mighty castle.It

was built by Will iam Bertram,who founded Brinkburn Priory

.

It was captured by the Scots in 13 18, and after beingdismantled passed into the hands of the Mitfords

,who

left it at the beginning of the nineteenth century to live in amanor-house in the valley which is now also ruined . A portionof the later tower remains west of the church with the Mitfordarms above the doorway and the date 1637 . A part of it inwhich is the great kitchen is converted into a cottage

,and the

dog spit wheel is preserved .

The church of St . Mary Magdalene,after being long dilapidated

,

has been restored . There is a fine thirteenth—century chancelwith sedilia and aumbrey and a crude effigy with a tenderinscription to Bertram Reveley, who died in 1622 : Bertramto us so dutiful a son, i f more were fit i t should for thee be done .

”

There i s another monument on the wall above to him commemorating his virtues . He was descended from

a race o f worshipful antiq uitieLoved h e was in his l ife spac e of h igh eke of low degree

Rest Bartram in this House of ClayRev ely until th e latter day.

Belonging to the monks of Newminster in the Middle Agesthere is a wild mountain country reaching to the Borders . Itis known as Kidland

,where a few shepherds tend thousands of

sheep . Part of it was granted to the monastery in 1 181 byOdinel de Umfrav ille, who stipulated that the dogs of themonks were to lack one foot that the lord’s wild animals mighthave peace .

”The lordship of Kidland belonged to Newminster

until the dissolution of the monasteries . In 1541 the Surveydescribed the ‘ greate waste ground called Kydlandes of iiijmyles or more of breade and v j myles or more of lenthe . Allthe said Kydlande i s full o f lytle hyl les or mountaynes andbetween the saide hilles be dyvers valyes in which descendelitle Ryvelles or brokes of water spryngynge out of the saidhilles and all fallinge into a lytle Rever

'

or broke called Kydlande water which falleth into the rever of Cokette nere to thetown of Alyntoun, within a myl l of the Castell of Harbottel l .

”

This naive account needs no alteration to-day though morethan three and a . half centuries have elapsed , the naturalfeatures remain untouched by man’s activities .

xxxv A FATAL MEETING ON WINDY GYLE 363

Kidland was much exposed to the attacks of the Scots andRedesdale men

,and the monks found it more profitable to let

the grazing to the men of Coquetdale but shepherding in Kidlandwas never considered an easy way of making a living

,being so

farre also fro’ the strength of the plenyshed ground of England .

”

The monks , when they found tenants scarce , stocked the farmsand sent lay brethren to tend the flocks . Along the banks of thestreams are many foundations of build ings once accepted asBri tish dwellings

,but now supposed to have been the shielings of

the monks or the Coquetdale men . At the junction of theYoke burn and Sting burn

,near Cushat Law

,the Monarch of

Kidland,are the remains of a chapel called Memmerk irk

, builtfor the devotions of the monks and their servants whensummering in Kidland .

There is a story of the chaplain in those early days whenit was j ust as lonely as it is now . To keep record of the daysof the week he made a bee skep each day . But a week camewhen he mislaid one

,and the lay brethren assembling for Sunday

Mass from their duties on the hills were scandalised to findhim busily engaged on his daily task . The monks gave upattempting to carry on the farms

,as the border thieves li fted

so much of their stock and murdered its guardians . The

men of Coquet,when they held these wild upland pastures

,

were not at all reluctant to make reprisals on the foe by removingsome of his cattle

,and the monastery found it safer to let them

remain as tenants . The gentle men of God were no match fortheir turbulent neighbours .There was rough law administered

,and justice meetings

were held at regular times,when both sides of the Border were

represented . Prisoners were exchanged and claims laid fordamages . At one of these meetings on Windy Gyle

,a usual

place for a rendezvous,Sir John Forster

,the English warden

,

had with him many Northumbrians and also Lord FrancisRussell . Sir John sent to the Scottish warden the customaryassurance of peace , when the Scots made a sudden attack and

the unfortunate nobleman was s lain in what seemed a mostunjustifiable fray . This was in July

,1585, and a cairn stil l

marks the place , called Russell’s cairn . Gamels path

,a part of

Watling Street,on the western slope of Th irlmoor, was another

recognised place of meeting . The other one was Hexpeth

gatehead, on Windy Gyle .

364 WINTER NIGHTS IN KIDLAND CHAP.

The other noted Kidland hills are Bloody Bush Edge,which

must have seen some terrible,forgotten fight . Cushat Law is

feet high , and from its summit a view to the east looksover woods and valleys and winding rivers to the North Sea

,

and away to the west are the Cumbrian hills . Enormous flockso f sheep wander on the Kidland hills

,and the shepherds who live

in the widely separated cottages are a race of intelligent,interest

ing men . In winter their life is very hard,and many have

been lost in the great snowstorms . In summer,mists descend

very rapidly,to the confusion of the traveller

,but the shepherd’s

wife is very hospitable and pleasant to the lost wayfarer . Wherethe dis tances are long and the flocks immense

,much depends

upon the dogs,which are wis e and well-trained .

At Milk h ope , D ryhope , Kid land LeaTh eir val ue is wel l known .

The shepherd is entitled to a number of sheep as a part of h iswages . There is a j oke that the shepherd’s own sheep never diefrom the affl ictions that beset his master’s animals .

Bes ides his dogs,o f which each shepherd has s everal

,he needs

also a good supply of sticks .

In th e long nigh ts of winterWh en th e girls are weaving basketsAnd th e boys are making bows

the shepherd dresses his hazel sapling and ornaments it with hispocket-knife .A story is told

,by Mr . Dippie D ixon , of an old herd who had a

new stick sent him by a brother herd who was a famous stickdresser . He inspected it and then tried walking with it, muttering Heavy ! heavy ! heavy ! ; then, flinging the s tick fromhim in disgust

,exclaimed

,

‘ A’ll nivvor wear it !In the lovely secluded ravines the “ burns tumble as they run ,

often making gleaming waterfalls with ferns and flowers alorigthe banks

,and in the boggy places are many varieties of moss .

Wild fruits are plentiful in August and September, for theblackberry

,cranberry

,red whortleberry, and blaeberry are

found . On Cheviot particularly, and also on Cushat Law,Bloody Bush Edge

,Windy Gyle

,and Thirlmoor, is the delicious

cloudberry,known to the natives as ‘ ’

Ospreys and goldeneagles are occasionally seen

,and a raven still nests in Ravens

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CHAPTER XXXVI

OLD CUSTOMS AND SUPERSTITIONS

A bloodcurdling tale th e devil in a hurry Th rice th e torchie ,

th ric e th e saltie —Birds o f il l om en—An o ld woman and h er

bal lads— Bee superstitions—Poo r Wat and th e travel ler— Firstfoo ting and Hogmanay—Th e wise woman—Th e ghost and th e

gam ekeeper .

THE world has changed so much during the last half-centurythat it may be interesting to recall what one remembers of oldNorthumberland . But I must premise that it is purely a matterof personal recollection

,not of reading and collocation , so that

no one need expect an account that pretends to be exhaustive .It is more an attempt to indicate an atmosphere than to makeany elaborate study .

Before the hustling and busy times began there were manyidle ne’er-do-wells in the typical vi llage

,obj ectionable from one

point of view,but good-natured and amusing in their lazy

paganism . There was one such at Belford,who was known

far and wide because he was an itinerant barber whovisited the farmhouses

,shaved the good man before fairs

and markets,and cut the hair of the boys by clapping a basin

on their heads and clipping round it . At the time,there was a

clique of godless young farmers who in the current phrase fearedneither god nor devil

,and performed pranks that congealed the

blood of the righteous . About one of these,awful whispers

went round . In a drunken ploy they had done a deed ofblasphemy and sacrilege so wicked that pious lips would notdescribe it . Only very recently the. secret was told me by oneof their contemporaries

,then approaching his own end . It was

366

C11. xx xv r FUNERALS AND FOLK LORE 36 7

a bloodcurdling tale of a mock sacrament and an old horsethat need not now

‘

be more fully described . One of the perpetrators took so i ll that a fatal end was inevitable . Watty, inaccordance with an old custom

,was sent to Shave the dying

man,and what happened was given in his own words . He had

performed the first part of the Operation,and was about to

lather for the second when a dreadful vo ice from the other sideof the bed exclaimed “

That’ll do,Watty, I

’l l j ust take him ashe is .” Whereupon the sick man turned to the wall and passedaway

,and the affrighted barber

,without waiting to collect h is

instruments,fled in terror.

In the rites pertaining to the dead,solemnity and mirth were

grotesquely mingled . I think that curious and beauti fullegacy from Elizabethan times

,the Lykewake D irge

,which

seems to have been in use from Yorkshire right up to the Lowlands of Scotland

,i s a homely rendering of medieval beliefs

about death . Its haunting burden reminds one of an owl’smelancholy to—hoo on a winter night .

Th is ae n igh t , this ae nigh t

Ev erie nigh t and al leFire and slet and cand le l igh tAnd Christ receive th y sawle .

An eminent authority on di alect words holds that sletmeans the hearth or the home

,but that it i s a rendering of “ sal t

i s far more probable . Am ong the things waved over the corpse,

thrice the torchie,thrice the saltie came first

,and in North

umberland,as in South Scotland

,a plate of salt was placed on

the breast of the body . Only in a district of moor and fellcould such a journey of the departed soul be conceived .

It is as elemental and primitive as the picture of lost soulsbeing carried to h el l in the ancient painted glass windows

Wh en th ou from h enc e awav art pastEv erie nigh t and al le

To Whinny-muir th ou c om’

st at lastAnd Ch rist rec eive th y sawle .

That the funeral guests had to travel over such wi ld countryprobably accounts for the custom that t hey were to be providedwith plenty of good meat and good drink . Cards and othergames were alsoplayed

,but here I write of the tradition of the

368 BIRD , BEETLE AND BEE SUPERSTITIONS CHAP .

elders . These customs had been greatly modified in my youngdays .Forebodings of death were innumerable . One of my earliest

recollections is that of hearing one grizzled rustic say to anotherI told the wife his end was near when I saw the corbies (carrioncrow)settle on the roof .

” Crows,ravens and magpies

,especially

the last,were reckoned birds of ill omen . So ’ was the bat

,

which was a bird,in the rusti c mind

,as sure as a whale was a

fish . There was a beetle wh ich they called a coflin-breaker,

whose very appearance caused old men and women to shudder .Anyone ki lling it was sure to be the next victim . Once I committed that crime and thereby threw into gloom the old womanin whose charge I was at the time . Poor body, she could beeasi ly forgiven her superstition

,for she could neither read nor

write,had never been inside a church or a school door , and her

only learning came from the Scottish ballads she had picked up .

I seem to hear her now crooning, or , as she would have said ,raiming over

Bonnie Mary to th e ewe-buch t has goneTo m ilk h er daddie’s yows

And aye Sh e sang h er bonny voice rangRi gh t over the top s of th e knowes , knowes ,Righ t over th e top s of th e knowes .

Or the most melancholy of them,

“ Lord Ronald, withp iteous refrain

Moth er make my bed soon for I’

m weary wi’ huntinAnd fain would lie doon.

Bees were intimately associated with the fortunes of their

owners, as in other parts of rural England . Theyused to be kept instraw skeps before the invention of the modern box hive, andtwo honey harvests were obtained , one from the lowland flowers ,of which wild white clover y ielded the best, and another from theheather

. To obtain the latter the hives were carted to thehil ls

,an operation that had to be performed by night so that the

little creatures could be fastened up after finishing the day.

Also it was cooler . Th e bees were treated as little family friends .I ll luck was sure to follow if they were not informed of any deathor birth . When they swarmed , a kind of savage music was madewith the tongs and the frying-pan or girdle to charm them intoset tl ing close at hand.

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370 OLD AND NEW CH . xxxv i

There used to be few country ways which had not a spot tobe avoided after dark . At such-and-such a cut through aplantation there was a risk of meeting the sp irit of someonerevisiting the scene where, by his own hand or that of another,he had been forced to quit this mortal frame .

National schools,cheap reading

,and cheap travel have not

altogether rooted out these old superstitions . They lurk stilli n the more remote villages and farms . I do not know thatthey were more absurd than some of the notions by which theyhave been succeeded . I know a village blacksmith who ekesout his earnings by taking and selling Spirit photographs .

B unk e red in Nor t/zumbr ia .

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374 INDEX

B ewick , Miss Isabe l la. 292Bewick , Thomas , 65 , 81 , 247 , 250—254B r itish B irds, 250Hes Life and Times, 2 2

M emoirs, 24 7B ickerton, 3 18B urn

, 3 18

B ick ertone , Thomas de , 3 18B iddles tone Hall , 3 28B il lingham (in Durham), 186B irdoswald, 24 1

B lack Middens , 191 , 194, 198B lacke tt, family, 30 2S ir Walter , 30 2

S ir Wil liam , 26 1 , 30 1

B lair, Robert , 222B lanch land, 269, 27 0

Abbey Church , 27 0Common, 2 39

B l ind, 266

B lindburn, 3 32

B link Bonny, 8, 53B loodaxe , Eric , 154B loody Bush Ed e , 364B lyth , the , 4, 188Boisil , 127B olam , George, 121B olbeck , Walter de , 269Bo l ton , 54Hospital

, 91B ondicarr Rocks

, 185B ook of Kel ls

, 9B orcov icus , 230Border Marr iages , 16B othal , B ertram of, 179B oulmer , 17 1

B owes , S ir Robert, 65 , 66 , 7 1 91 92, 139,163

B owmont, the, 4 , 74 , 91B rabant, Duke of, 346B ramham Moor , 17 5 , 349B ranx ton , B attle of, 54B reakneck Stairs

, 22

B reamish , the , 4B rinkburn Priory, 30 7 - 309Austin Canons, Convent o f, 308B room ie Huts, 108B rown , Capabilit 304B rowne , Rt. Rev . F. , 9, 13 1 ,

132

B ruce, Dr . Col lingwood , 22 1 , 222 , 228—230 ,

349David, 35Rober t, 21 , 294 , 346

Buchan , Earl of, 260Buckton , 108Griz zy

’

s Clump , 108Budle B ay, 147B ulmer , S ir Wil liam , 74B urgh Hill Camp , 3 15B urns , Robert , 291 , 292, 294B ushy Gap Farmhouse , 17B utler , G . G . , 60

Joseph ine, 27 3B ywe l l , 249, 250

Castle , 158

c hurch es , 249

Cadwal lon,15 1

Cairn Hil l , 6Call aly Castle , 338Cambo , 304Cambo is

, 4 , 188Camden, 22 1 , 243Canmore , Edward , 192Mal co lm , 10 2 , 192, 2 11Ganties B ridge , 40Capheaton,

297—299Carantinus, the Rock o f

,226

Carey, S ir John , 91Robert , 186

Carham , B attle of, 2Carileph , B ishop , 1 34Carlin Sunday, 253Carlisle , the Ear l o f, 357Carm ichael , S ir John , 27 7Carr family (Gess ford), 3 28Carr of Gessford, 91family (Etal ), 66 , 7 1, 90(Stephenson), 248

Carrawburgh , 230

Carrick , Ear l of, 22Margaret, 240

Carter Fel l , 7 , 276

Cartington Castle , 3 17Carvoran , 241

- 242

Catc leugh , 6 , 296Ceo lwu lf, K ing , 174 , 180 , 340Cessford Castle , 91Chapman. Abe l , 230 -23 1

Charles I , 40 , 114 , 206

I I,27 1 , 360

Charlton family, 293Chartners Lough , 3 15Chatton, 86-87Chaucer, 30 1Cherryburn . 246

Chesters , 227 - 228Cheswick , 112

Cheviot Hills , 6 , 365Ch evy Chase , 185Chevy Chace, 283

Chew G reen , 3 33Chi bbum Preceptory, 187Ch il l ingham , 4 , 7 6—81Park , 81 , 85wild ca ttle , 81-85

Ch ipcase Castle , 290Cho l lerford, 226

Cho l lerton , 258

Chr istie’

s Wil l , 325Cilurnum , 227 , 228

Clarkson,169, 3 50

Clavering. family. 338. 339John de, 17 5S ir John, 3 38

S ir Robert , 91, 339Clayton , John , 214 , 227 , 229- 30Clennel , family, 327Hall . 3 29

Cochrane , Griz zel , 108

S ir John , 109

INDEX

Cock law Foot, 4Co ldstream , 4 , 16, 26 , 111

Col lege burn, 4 , 7 4Co ll ingwood, family, 66Carnaby, John, 59George. 33 5 . 3 35

Co lutarius, Osbert, 308Comb Fel l , 6Comyn, the Red, 294 , 346

Confessions of a Thug, 36 1Consett, 269Cooke , Alexander , 3 13Coquet, the river , 4 , 306—308, 329—3 30 , 3 32Coq uetdale Fishing Songs, 3 11Island, 2, 183 , 184Upper. 322

Corbr idge, 27 0CO1 burn, 27 1

CorstOp itum ,258, 262, 27 0 , 27 1

Coupland Castle , 55 , 98Coventina, the goddess , 230Cradles ,

the, 55

Cragside , 309Crailing, Peter of, 3 18Craster , 16 7Cresswell , 187Crewe Charities , 159Lord, 159, 270Cromwel l , Ol iver , 4 1 , 200Crookham , 69Moor , 58Crossman , S ir Will iam ,

112

Cul lercoats, 190Cul lernose Point, 167Culley, George , 81Matthew, 55Cul loden, 30 7Curthose, Robert, 210Cuthbertson, Th e Eccentric Miss, 23 7Cymric Kingdom , 94

Darling, Grace 122

David, King ofScots, 209Davidson’

s Linn,

”3 3 1

Deadwater , 5 , 294Debateable Land, 279Deepdene , 268Deira, 125Delaval , family, 7 1S ir John Hussy, 7 1

Hamon de, 189Derwentwater , Ear l of, 27 2, 27 3Devil

’

s Water , 5 , 268

Dilston Cas tle , 27 1

Dinguardi, 149Dipton burn , 268

D ixon, David Dipp ie , 3 22, 325, 335,342. 364

Dobson, Austin, 250

Doddington. 95—97Donocht Head, 291Doub leday, Thomas, 3 11

375

Douglas,Arch ibal d, Lord (The Tine-man),99. I O3 . 323Regent, 22, 24

Drak e Stone , th e , 325Druridge B ay, 185 , 3 14Duddo S tones , 68, 69Dunbar , 12The Freiris of B arwik , 26

Duncan, Earl , 21 , 66Rev . George , 169

Duns Sco tus, 166Dunstan , 166Dunstanburgh , 163Castle , 88, 162

Dyv elston, family, 5, 27 3

Eadwine , 150 , 15 1Eata, 127Ebc hester, 259Ecgfr ith , 153Edward I , 46 , 48, 86 , 242 ,

-347

I I I , 2 1 , 24, 27 0Edwin, King, 94 , 191Eldon, Lord, 20 1 , 357Elfi ed , 184Eliz abe th , Queen, 140 , 186

Ell iot, Jane , 58Elsdon, 286—288Castle and Rec tory, 287Embleton , 162, 165

Eslington Hall , 335Etal , 65 , 66Ethel burga, 93 , 150Ettrick S he herd, the , 328Ethe lr ida, (gueen, 258Ewart. 3 . 6. 24Eyres Trustees, 164

Fair fax , S i r Thomas, 336Fair Hand or Langwyn, 152

Fairlees, 264FallodonTeal Versicolor at, 86

Fallowlee s, 3 15Fal se Alarm , th e, 3 35Falstone , 5 , 294Farne Islands , 119, 120

Isles Assoc iation, 3 52Fast Castle, 15Featherstonhaugh , Anthony, 237Castle , 5

Felton , 30 7Fenwick , family, 302S ir John , 26 1 , 30 1Fitzc larence , Lady, 66

Lord, 66

Fitz Richard, John , 17 5Roger, 17 7

Fitz Roger , Robert, 184, 3 10

H6 INDEX

Flambard, 46 , 47Fletcher, family, 27 5Flodden

,B attle of, 5 1 , 53

—58,

Flowers o f the Forest, the, 58Ford Castle, 54, 7 0 , 7 1Ford, The, 50Forde , Odinel de , 7 1Forster , Dorothy, 69, 159S ir John , 26 1, 27 7—8, 363G eneral , 158Tom , 30 7

Frein s of B erwik , The, 26Fr idstoo l at Hexham , 26 1Froissart, 89, 281- 285

Garvin, J . L . , 239Gaunt, John of

, 10 2, 163G e ta, Emperor , 26 3G ibson, Wil frid Wilson, 264, 266G ilpin ,

B ernard, 30 3G ilsland, 240 , 241G lanton, 343G led Scaur , 98G len, the, 3 , 7 4G lendale , 10G lenwhelt, 242G loster Hill , 182G o lden Po t, Middle and Outer, 333G ordon , Adam ,

10 1

Gosforth , 258

Goswick , 143Sands of, 1 11

Goudsc leugh , 296G rainger , Richard, 214Grasslees burn, 320

Great North Road, 6 , 7 7Green

’

s S hort H istory, 347G reenwell , Canon , 53 , 3 14Greenwich Estates , 27 3Grey, Earl (Reform Minister), 214Edward (Viscount G rey of Fallodon),

79G eneral , 86

George of Milfi e ld, the late, 90John . 27 3S ir Ralph , 78, 87 , 158, 163Sybil , 5 1Thomas (auth or o f The S calacronica),46

G rey’

s Chorograph ia, 20 7Grey

’

s Fund for Wal l, 2 13

Greys of Howick , 181Guy M annermg, 240

Guyzance, 306

Hadrian , 223 ,Haggerston Castle , 108Hagustald, 257Haidan Dene , 60Hailes , Lord,

10 4

Hal idon Hi ll, B attle of, 20 , 23 , 348

Hall , family (North Tynedale), 27 5Hal twh istle , 225 , 234

- 7 , 239Hancock , the bro th ers , 214- 15Hang a Dyke Neuk , 22Harbo ttle , Castle o f, 323Hardy, James, 216

Harehaugh Camp , 3 20Hartshorne , Rev . C . , 290Haugh ton Castle , 289, 290Haux ley Hall , 185Haydon, 5 , 258

Hazelrz B rownie, 1 1 1Heaven eld, 8, 15 1Heddon-o h -the-Wall

, 258Hedgehope , 6Hedgeley Moo r, 268Hedley, family, 27 5Henry I . 7 5I I , 2 10 , 323IV . 17 5. 348V I I . 163 . 323 . 349VI I I

, 54, 26 1 , 323Hepp le

’

s Pe le , 3 18

Hepp les, de , family, 3 18Heron, family, 80 , 290S ir George

, 278John , 268

the Misses , 23 7S ir Wil liam , 7 1

Hertford, Earl o f, 1 11Hesl eyside , 293Heton , S ir Henry de , 7 7 , 78Margaret de , 7 7 , 7 8Hexham , 257

- 266Abbey Church , 260—1 , 264. 27 3Battl e of, 163 , 26 7Church , original , at, 258

Crypt. 263Highways and B yways in the B order, 89,

281

Hindmarsh ,Mr . , 83 , 85

Hodges and Gibson, 258, 262

Hodgkin, D r . , 26 , 54Hodgson, Crawford, 143 , 267 , 30 1Ho ly Island, 135

Priory. 13 5Ho lystone , 3 21

Holywel l Haugh , 48

Homildon Hil l , 95B attl e of, 10 1

—2Horncl iffe , 40 , 4 1

Hom dean, 43Horne , Robe rt , 7 8Horsley, fam ily, 3 34John ,

187Housesteads , 230

Boutel , Tower of, 91Howard, S ir Charles, 23 7Lord William , 236

Howick Hal l , 167Howitt, Wil liam (and the Fam e Islands),

121

Hudson,Edward, 145

Hulne Park , and Priory in, 3 52, 3 53B umbledom, (see Homildon)

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378 INDEX

Nevil les, fami ly, 250Nevsbiggin, 187—188Newcastle , 197- 20 0 , 20 6 , 208—10 , 212 , 213 ,

214Castle, 210 , 212

Newminster Abbey, 3 58—359Nine Nicks of Th ir lwal l , 242Nithsdale, Gilbert of, 111Notham , 44

- 7Castle, 46 48Cross, 45Norman

,Cap tain

, 5 4Northern Tour , Arthur Young ’s , 304Northumber landAgriculture , 7B annockburn , after, 347 QB lack est hour, 156Coast of, 115—16 Queen

’

s Letch , the , 269Customs and Superstitions, 366—3 70Denes, the, 8Earl , 5th , o f The Magnificent 80

323Geo logy, 8

Industries , 8Physical features, 1Populations , 1Rivers, 2Spe l l ing and local pronunc iation,

238

Swinburne and ,298

- 3 00

orthumbrians. Baptism of,15 1

Notitia, The, 23 5

J) NO

Ogilvie W. H . , 279Ofles, farml

’

y, 3 14. 318

0 iver, S teph en, 3 12

Orange, Wil l iam of, 30 1

Ossulston, Lord, 84Oswald, King, 8, 125 , 15 1,Oswi, 152Oswulf, Earl , 154Otterburn, 281

Battle of, 282- 284 , 348

Ovingham, 247

Pal l insburn House , 68Passpeth , 330Paulmus , S t ! 5 3 . 93 , 150 , 15 1. 242,Pauperhaugh , 309, 3 15Paupersford, 181

Pax ton, 42-43

family, 42

Paynter , the late Henry H . , 3 52

Pease , Howard, 287 , 300Mam a, 5 1

Penda, 15 1—3Percy. famil y, 346 , 349-3 50B ishop. 179, 3 53Chape l , 1 3Cross, 15 S t. Cuthbert, 9, 127 , 129, 130 -2, 184, 194,Henry, 17 5 198Hotspur , 17 5 , 282 , 284 , 348, 349 S t. Oswin, 19

3—4

S ir Ralph , 157 , 284 S t Paul i S ir Horace : 60 : 74: 97

Pickering , G eorge 291P i lgr image o f G race

,26 1

Pity Me ,”290

Plainfi eld Moor , 3 21Plainmeller , 236Plashetts, 5Plessey, 4 , 188Polstross burn , 239Pontland Tower , 282Proc tor S teads, 16 6Proof of Age, 7 7Proudloc k , LewisPrudhoe Castle, 246

Radc l ifi‘

e, family, 27 3Anne Lady, 3 17Earl o f,27 1Mansion of, 27 3Raine , Dr . , 46 , 91 , 13 7

Ravenswo rth , Lord, 3 37Reav e ll , Mr . , 3 53Redesdale

, 324Lord , 360—1

Redman , S ir Matthew (GovernorBerwick), 284- 285Reed , Parcy, 27 5

Reeve’

s Tale , The, 30 1Reginal d of Durham ,1 54

Reidswire, The Ra d of the, 27 7Richar d, Constab le of Ch ester , 17 4Ridley, John (h is epitaph), 23 8Riding B al lad

, 279Robin Adair , 42Robin Hood ’

s Bog, 87Robin-‘Niend-the -Market, 287Robin-with -the-B eard, 287Robinson , Mr . , 292Rode Stane

, the , 196Roman Army, 228Gravestones , 262- 263

Roscas tle . 33 5Ross , B ish op of, 27 5Rosse tti, 299, 30 3Ro thbury, 309-

3 12

Church , 3 12

Rowtin Linn , 98, 181Rufus, Will iam , 154, 2 10

Rumble Churn , 165Ruskin , John , 250 , 3 0 3wRussell , Lord Francis , 363

INDEX 379

S andstel l , Fishery of, 112—113S calacromca , The, 46

S ch il , the , 6

Scotsman’

s Knowe, 4 , 320Scott, S ir Wal ter, 48, 52 , 53 , 60 , 7 1 ,

10 3 , 10 5 , 240 , 27 7 , 281, 282 , 302Wil l iam B ell , 299, 30 2 , 3 0 3 , 3 18

S cottish H istorical Ren ew, 285S cremerston

,10 7

S crenwood , 3 34Se ignorial Righ ts, 3 10Selby, 78—9John Prideaux ,

215Wal ter , 3 30

Wil l iam , 79—80Service, James

,88

Seton, Alexander, 22Sharpe , Dr . John, 159S hil lhOpe Cleugh , 33 1

S h illmoor, 3 30 , 3 3 1

S hort H istory, Green’

s, 347Shotton , 93Sh rewsbury, Battle of

,17 5, 348

S imonburn,291

S imonside Hills , 3 11 , 3 15Sm ith , Ada,

239S omerset, Duke o f, 157 , 264, 267Somerset Herald,

th e , 13S outhdean , 286

S p indleston Heugh , 148

Spittal , 26S taingate, the , 242

S tanners , the , 358S teng Cross, 287S tephenson, George , 246 , 248S tro ther , de , family, 30 1S ummers , Co l . , 100

S undaysigh t, 296

Surtees , 20 1, 281Swallowsh ip , 2 7 3Swinburne , family, 297 Val lance , Aymer de , 360

Algernon Charles , 297—299, 30 3 Vanbrugh , S ir John , 180 , 3 57Swinton, fam i ly, 99—100 Veitch ,

th e late Pro fesso r , 286S ir John, 99, 285 Vase i, de , family, 344Capt . G . C . , 104 , 28s Ivo de 344

John 8 , 353Will iam de

, 3 53

Tailbois, Wal ter, 3 18Tank erv ill e , th e late Lord, 83—85Tarset B urn S logan, 294Tate , G eorge , 169Th irlmoor , 306

Th ir lwal l , 241. 242Th ropton, 3 17Th runton , 3 3 6

Til l , th e , 60—62Tipal t, the , 241

Treveléan, family, 30 2

S ir corge M . Treve lyan, B art. , 30 2,Lady, 30 3Lady Pauline , 298Miss Sukey, 30 4S ir Wal ter , 298—9, 3 02

-3

Tro l lope , Robert , 297

Turnbul l , 23Tweed , th e , 2, 3Tweedmouth , 10 7Twiz el , 62- 3Tyne and its tributaries, the, 5 et seq .

S ee al so 1 16 Newcastle-on-Tyne , 197et seq . also Chesters , Hal twh istle ,Hexham , 0 v ingham : also the RomanWall

,22 1 et seq . also A Little

Journey into North Tynedale,”

289et seq .

River Commission , 197Roman B ridge ac ross, 229

Tynedale , Nor th , 240 et seq .

Tynemouth ,194—198

John o f,193

Priory of,182

Tyneside Songs, 2 16—217Tyson, G ilbert, 344

Ubbanford (see Norham), 45Ul eco te , Ph il ip de , 249Umfrav il le, family, 3 22 , 323G ilbert, 287 , 3 3 1Ingram de , 246

Odine l de , 246 , 3 6 2Rich ard de , 249S ir Robert (Robin-with -the-B eard), 246 ,

287S ir Robert (Robin-Mend-the-Marke t),359Urien, King , 148

Usway, the , 4 , 3 30

Waite, William , 1 12Wall , Roman , 10 , 34—6 , 221—226 ,

Wal l ington Hal l , 30 1, 30 4Wal l is, 2 1

Wallsen 116 , 223Wannys , The , 4Wansbec k , 6 , 356 , 3 58, 360Wark , 54, 292, 3 22. 323Warkworth , 174- 180Warner , Mr .

, 133Warnmouth , 14 7Warwick , Earl of, 16 3Wast, Nigel de , 192Waterford

,March ioness of, 52

380 INDEX

,Watl ing S treet, 3 32- 3 3 3Wedderburn, Seven Spears o f, 58'

Wedder Loup , the, 33 1Wemyss, Earl of, 7 1Wesley, John , 199. 30 7Wh in Sil l , 16 7 , 242, 29Wh itadder, the, 40Wh ittingham , 3 40

—1Wh itton Tower

, 3 1 3Widdrington,

~ 185—6fam ily, 186o f Chevy Chase, 185Church

, 187Sir Edward, 3 17 Yeavering B e l l 10 7 4 94 , 95Wi l frid, B ishop, 147 257 i

W ilkwood Farm , lease of, 3 30 A l

gham), 3 34

Wi l l iam , the Conqueror , 2 10 Young Argi’

ng304th e Lion ,1 8 174 , 180 , 236 , 246 , 323 , Younge John

'

1 1W ilhamson, Hedworth , 255 i

Wi llow Ford, 56 , 62Wilson, John Mackay, 10 7W indygates, 3 , 6 , 363W indyh augh , 33 1Winter , Wi lliam ,

287 Zedon (see Southdean), 89

PRINTED iN GREAT BRi'

rA iN'

B Y THE CORNWALL PRES S ,PARI S GARDEN, STAMFORD STREET, LONDON, 1.

W itingeham , Ugh tred de , 340Witton, 166Wolfc leugh , 296Wood , Daniel , 3 30

Woo ler, 52, 54 , 66 , 7 4—5

Wooperton S tation, 158

Written Rock of the Gel t, 226Wylam , 246Wyntoun , Andrew, 22