Lions House allotments

April 1, 2023--Lions House

Walking Berwick's Elizabethan walls, we came upon the Georgian mansion, Lions House c. 1807-1809.  Prominently placed in the Elizabethan fortifications (it is the highest ground in Berwick),  Lions House is a Grade II* listed property that has been restored. 

April 1, 2023--One of the lions

An "icon of the Berwick skyline" according to the Berwick Civic Society, the three story Lions House (or four if coming in from the rear) is a free standing neighbor of the Gunpowder Magazine.  It affords a wide ranging view of Tweed Estuary, and really the whole way down the Northumbrian Coast toward Lindisfarne.  The house is guarded by two 17th century Venetian lions at its front entrance, which give the name to the place.

April 1, 2023--Steel door to Gunpowder Magazine

 

April 1, 2023--Tweedmouth from the Walls

The renovated Georgian house is a holiday let, a self-catered accommodation (three bedrooms let out) at a relatively trendy £1435 pounds for a three night stay.  We pass along the link, if anyone is interested.  Currently managed by Crabtree & Crabtree: (https://www.crabtreeandcrabtree.com/properties/lions-house/).  For ourselves, accommodations at the newly opened Premier Inn were fine enough, and the Premier Inn was right next to the Walls at Sandgate anyhow.  

A note about listed properties in the UK.  Grade II* listed buildings are buildings of particular importance, or with a more-than-special interest.  Which means:  it may not be demolished, extended, or altered without permission from the local planning authority.  So, a preservation property essentially.

Not to wade too deep into ongoing urban planning disputes in the UK, but it is somewhat a stretch to claim that developers are unable to develop at all--and thus there should be fewer listed buildings.  In their entirety, listed buildings only comprise about 2% of British building stock, and they do reflect the architectural heritage of the UK.

April 1, 2023--The lions

If I had a voice in the ongoing arguments, it would be to err on the side of conservation.  After all, once it's gone, it's gone.  Now it is true, as far as Georgian buildings go, they're something of a dime a dozen in the UK--to risk being flippant.  They are not, in themselves, especially rare.  What makes Lions House specially interesting is that, as far as I can determine, it is remotely linked to L.S. Lowry, the acclaimed English painter from Manchester.  Remotely.  Or rather, tenuously.

April 1, 2023--Lions House

Often vacationing in Berwick, and smitten by the Lions House Georgian charms, Lowry considered buying Lions House in 1947.  He was dissuaded from doing so by an architect report of the house's alleged dampness.  Lowry was himself quite a character--an only child, a tyrannical mother, never married, never had a girlfriend...but had a strange relationship with an underage girl who grew up and to whom he bequeathed everything, including his paintings.  Another story for another time.

By 1971, Lions House stood neglected.  And consideration was given toward demolishing it.  Then it had a reprieve.  First, it was listed, and in 1972 (though some say 1976), Colonel JIM Smail stepped in and purchased the property.  In 1977 he presented it to the Berwick upon Tweed Preservation Trust which Smail chaired for 23 years, before passing in 1995.

April 1, 2023--One of the lions

Smail was a well known figure in the Borders for industrial development, but also for developing tourism and for his environmentalism.  But basically, the Smail family were newspapermen.  In 1947 (the same year L.S. Lowry considered buying Lions House), Smail inherited a small group of Borders newspapers called the "Tweeddale Trio"--namely, Berwick Advertiser, Berwickshire Advertiser and Kelso Chronicle.  In 1950, Smail bought the Southern Reporter and formed the Tweedsdale Press Group which was sold in 1999 to Johnston Press, and finally liquidated in 2020...victim of the economic and demographic times.  Lost to COVID we'll call it. 

April 1, 2023--The other one

On the lions, there are two "identical" (they really aren't, but hey) snarling recumbent stone lions with curled tails. They are flat at the back, which suggests they were once attached to the walls of a building.  The Victoria and Albert Museum (the V&A--world's largest museum of applied arts) identified them as likely being seventeenth-century Venetian.

For our interests, though, we were fascinated by the Lions House Allotments.  Allotments are a curious social construct mostly practiced in the UK, where gardening is a national pass time.  They take gardening seriously.

April 1, 2023--The allotments at Lions House

Ignoring serfs, crofters and tenancies from earlier ages, modern allotments can be traced to the industrial revolution in the 18th century.  As an inducement, workers in towns and cities across the country might be given a smallholding as part of their wages on which to grow their own food.  Keeping an allotment is now governed by "The Allotments Act 1922" and its subsequent revisions.  

The Act forms the basis of the rules of the Lions House Allotments Association, a private charity, which is overseen by the Town Council.  In addition to the Lions House Allotments, Berwick-upon-Tweed Town Council now manages allotments at Five Arches Recreation Ground, Blakewell Gardens, and those adjacent to the former Kelso railway line. 

In 2019, an architectural firm was approached by a private client to restore Lions House, which they recently purchased in the private market as the Berwick upon Tweed Preservation Trust sought to rationalize its holdings.  It had fallen into disrepair despite the earlier intervention of the Berwick Preservation Trust in the 1970s.  

The Allotments Association, which formed in 2018, helped open the door for the Preservation Trust.  The site was separated--Lions House and Lions House Allotments.  And the Association bought the Lions House Allotments site, comprised of 52 allotments.  

April 1, 2023--The allotments

Ownership of allotments was not really the purpose of the Preservation Trust.  Ensuring that the land was preserved as allotments, however, was.  So, through a clause in the sale contract that the site would remain in use as allotment gardens in perpetuity, the Trust was able to sell the allotments to this new charity.  And everyone went home happy.

Rent by the way is set by the plot size.  But it is very affordable.  A majority pay under £30 per year, plus all have agreed to pay a supplement to accumulate a maintenance pot for the future.  It is little wonder, therefore, that the waiting list for an allotment is longer than several lifetimes. 

April 1, 2023--The allotments

Queen Mary's bathouse?

April 13, 2023--Queen Mary's Bath

In Edinburgh stands an edifice long abandoned to the doves and pigeons.  Namely, Queen Mary's Bath.  As buildings go, it is still mostly intact, albeit an odd looking place.  And as with most everything else in Scotland, a copious amount of uncertainty exists on whether it was or wasn't a bath house.

According to the popular lore of the town folk--since like forever (or "of considerable antiquity" that may be called) --the unusual medieval building at Holyrood has long been associated with Queen Mary.  Specifically, they say, it was her bath...but not just any bath.  For it has also been rumored that Queen Mary of Scots did not bathe in mere water; but rather in sweet white wine, which she believed was good for her complexion.  

Until, that is, John Pinkerton, Scottish antiquarian, came along and felt the need for further embellishment.  In 1776 (about 200 years after Queen Mary's beheading by Elizabeth I) Pinkerton added to the tale.  

The bathing waters were further transformed to champagne...a conversion of water to wine more or less on par with the Wedding at Cana perhaps.  Per Pinkerton:  "The chamber, where the Queen, whose charms divine, Made wond’ring nations own the pow’r of love, Oft bathed her snowy limbs in sparkling wine, Now proves a lonely refuge for the dove.” 

Pinkerton's embellishment does indicate that Queen Mary's Bath was no longer in use at least as late as the American Revolution.  Pinkerton, incidentally, was not only an antiquarian.  He was also a master cartographer, a historian, author, numismatist, and sadly...he was an early advocate of Germanic racial supremacy.  His ideological views were, how shall we say, slightly bent?  

April 23, 2023--Pictish stone

Pinkerton's correspondence, particularly with fellow academics, is characterized by verbal abuse...rantings that imitate one of our more modern pontificating presidential candidates.  Proving the axiom that the more things change the more they remain the same. 

At any rate, in two works--Dissertation on the Origins and Progress of the Scythians or Goths (1787) and Enquiry into the History of Scotland preceding the reign of Malcolm III (1789)--Pinkerton theorized that the Picts were a race of ancient Goths.  He also suggested that England was of superior racial stock than Ireland and Wales.  Or, as Pinkerton put it, "What a lion is to an ass, such is a Goth to a Celt." 

He wanted to purge his country's history of all things Celt; to rid the modern world of "Celtomania" using what he perceived to be the racial superiority of the Picts--who are largely a mythic enigmatic people.  Yes, there's archeological evidence of them--a stray stone here or there--that proves their existence, but scant little besides.  And that opened the doorway for a charlatan like Pinkerton.  He used the Picts much in the same way that Hitler did with his so-called Aryans a century and a half later.  

In keeping with the times, though, Pinkerton's racist ideology lent support to continuing (indeed accelerating) the Highland Clearances which are now widely accepted as being the acts of a systematic genocide...the great replacement theory, perversely enough.  Lastly, Pinkerton was known to embellish...to the point of creative forgeries.  He ultimately was called out by the selfsame academians that he violently attacked, and died impoverished in France somewhere after selling his estate.  We'll leave it at that. 

April 13, 2023--the Bath

Back to Edinburgh.  As to archeological and bibliographical evidence, Queen Mary's Bath was built in or about 1565, which happens to fall within two years give or take of her being deposed.  So, the bath was indeed built when Queen Mary was still in power in Scotland.  Bibliographically, the bath does not appear in a map of Edinburgh in 1544.  So likely it was built sometime after that.  Of course, that's somewhat like Carl Sagan's famous observation:  "Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence."  

Nor does the bath appear in Holinshed's Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland published in 1577 (attributed to Rowland Johnson) when it should have been if one is consistent.  In 1647, about 80 years after its construction, however, the bath is illustrated in Gordon of Rothiemay's pictorial map of Edinburgh.  And more particularly it is shown in a survey of 1671, standing just beyond the corner of the King's Privy Garden, its entrance being about 20 yards from the "caichepelle"--or tennis court. 

Okay.  So what was it?  

Ignoring bathing in wine of course, some accounts have it as being a tennis pavilion.  If so, this would make it the oldest tennis pavilion in the world.  And they do have their arguments. Others say it was a dovecot all along...which stretches things a bit.  Still others have the bath as being a summer house, or a garden pavilion for the then newly created North privy gardens on the grounds of the palace at Holyroodhouse.  Some say it was the house of the watchman over the royal gardens.  Dubious, but hey.

April 13, 2023--Queen Mary's Bath jutting out in the pavement from city tour bus

April 13, 2023--Holyrood

And some (ever inclining their ear toward salacious gossip) say it was an intimate banquet house.  They too have their arguments.  Adding to the mystery, in 1852 the bath was reconditioned.  For a time, it became quite a tourist attraction.  In this restoration work, a richly-inlaid dagger was found, hidden in the boarding of the bath's roof; its whereabouts now are not known to this author. 

Far be it from me to repeat such lascivious details, but this dagger was rumored to have been used in the infamous murder of David Rizzio, Queen Mary's private secretary who was stabbed 56 or 57 times in Queen Mary's private bedchambers.  At some point you stop counting. 

Rizzio, an ambitious Italian, is rumored to have impregnated Mary with James VI (of Scotland)/James I (of England).  There are certainly some questions.  Lord Darnley, the King consort, ultimately grew jealous of their friendship.  For his part, Rizzio was apparently not particular.  Early on, he "insinuated himself in the favors of Lord Darnley so far," according to David Calderwood  (Scottish Presbyterian minister at Jedburgh, c. 1575-October 29, 1650) "that they would lie some times in one bed together."

Apparently in his other pursuits, Rizzio was discovered hiding in the closet of Queen Mary's bedchamber in the middle of the night dressed only in a fur gown over his shirt (at least according to a report by a French diplomat to the court at the time).  So Lord Darnley set a course of revenge.  

13 Apr 23--Rizzio's purported grave

On March 9, 1566, Mary was having dinner with Rizzio and a few ladies-in-waiting.  Darnley intruded, accused his wife of adultery, and then had a posse of nobles murder Rizzio.  At first, Rizzio tried to hide behind Queen Mary who was then six months pregnant with James VI/James I.  He was seized after one of the intruders (alleged by Queen Mary afterwards) held a gun at her pregnant belly.  Another threatened to stab her.  

And after a violent struggle, Rizzio was stabbed 56 (or 57) times.  He was dragged through the bedchamber into the adjacent Audience Room, after which, his body was thrown down the main staircase and stripped of his jewels and fine clothes.  In all, there were 15 conspirators involved in Rizzio's murder, and two clergy--one of whom may have been none other than John Knox, depending on who you ask.  

Rizzio was buried that same night in an unmarked grave in the grounds of Holyrood Abbey.  Widely circulated rumors also have it that Queen Mary had his body interred at her father's tomb, which did her case little good. Some say Rizzio (or Riccio) was re-buried at Canongate Kirk...a doubtful claim as the Kirk had not yet been built. 

April 13, 2023--Knox House

Just over a year later, in April 1567, Darnley would himself be murdered unceremoniously, some say with Queen Mary's assistance.  Technically, she was thought to be an accessory to regicide.  And it was this that led her to seek safe haven with her cousin--Queen Elizabeth I of England.   

Out of the frying pan and into the fire.  For her alleged role in the conspiracy against Elizabeth I, Mary, Queen of Scots was executed in February 1587. The rest is history.

So, what was it?  The reality is, no one knows for sure.  If I had to hazard a guess, I'd go with a tennis pavilion as most likely.  But it does have quite a story line associated with it.  

If it weren't true, it'd be a thing of fiction. 

The most dangerous place in Scotland

Norham Castle.  Queen of Border Fortresses.  The mighty English stronghold on a rocky outcrop on the south bank of the River Tweed...with Scotland on the other bank.  Even today its ruin is formidable.  

April 5, 2023--Grave of Sir Walter Scott, Dryburgh Abbey

Norham was claimed (by Sir Walter Scott) to have been "the most dangerous place in England," or rather at least as far as Scott's epic poem Marmion: A Tale of Flodden Field goes.  There's some truth to Scott's hyperbole--Norham was besieged not less that 13 times over its existence, captured four times, and was the one castle most often attacked by Scots.

April 5, 2023--Dryburgh Abbey

First, an aside.  Walter Scott began writing Marmion in November, 1806, after his successful Lay of the Last Minstrel was published in January 1805.  Lay of the Last Minstrel was a romantic tale that received critical acclaim.  It would establish Scott's reputation as a poet and later as a novelist.  That said, the earlier anthology of Border ballads (Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, published in 1802) was also quite successful, having sold through multiple print runs.

April 5, 2023--Dryburgh Abbey

Marmion is an historical fiction, set during the Battle of Flodden Field (September 9, 1513).  Scott's protagonist, Lord Marmion, gets his mistress (Constance, a nun) to help plot the downfall of Sir Ralph de Wilton...Marmion sought to wed Wilton's fiancee, Clara.  Wilton is driven into exile.  But rather than marry Marmion, Clara joined a monastery.  

April 5, 2023--Dryburgh Abbey and Scott's grave

Constance is ultimately found out, and was walled up alive in her island convent for breaking her vows.  Before meeting her gruesome fate, Constance turned over documents proving Wilton's innocence.  Marmion was killed in battle at Flodden Field, whereas Wilton goes on to distinguish himself there, reclaiming his reputation, his land and--his fiancee.

April 6, 2023--Scott Courthouse Museum and statue, Selkirk, Scotland

Tedious perhaps, but the works of Sir Walter Scott are not all arcane.  For example, from Marmion we get the famous aphorism:  "Oh! what a tangled web we weave When first we practice to deceive!"  (Often misattributed to Shakespeare).  Marmion is also the source of the popular ballad "Lochnivar:  Lady Heron's Song."  [See: https://whitleyworldtravel.blogspot.com/2023/12/ye-olde-diversionary-amorous-attentions.html]

April 5, 2023--The Muses, at Dryburgh Abbey on River Tweed

Selling through its first edition of 2,000 copies in a month (priced at the exorbitant price of a guinea and a half), Marmion ran through twelve more printings between 1808 and 1825.  Scott would go on to author Lady of the Lake (which sold through 20,000 copies in the first year of publication), Lord of the Isles, the Waverly novels, Rob Roy, Ivanhoe and others.  Prodigious that is called.

April 8, 2023--Norham Castle

Back to Norham.  Begun in 1121 under Bishop Flambard, a "motte and bailey" wooden tower with ditches was built.  Fifteen years later, in 1136, Norham was taken by David, King of Scotland and then restored to its owner.  Two-years after that, David razed the castle to the ground claiming Northumerland in the process.  

However, in 1157, England's Henry II reclaimed Northumberland and...he began rebuilding in stone--the castle works at Bamburgh, at Newcastle and Wark-upon-Tweed.  Not to be outdone, the following year Hugh, Bishop of Durham, had a stone keep built at Norham.  The first and second stories of this keep, a part of the gatehouses and some of the curtain walls from Hugh's 1158 construction still survive to this day.

England's King John strengthened the castle from 1208 to 1212.  This effort helped it withstand a 40-day siege by Alexander II of Scotland who had invaded northern England in support of the Baron rebels in 1215.  

But perhaps the most significant event in Norham’s history occurred in May 1291.  Bishop Anthony Beck entertained Edward I at the castle while Edward arbitrated between 13 competitors for the Scottish throne.  Known as the "Great Cause," Edward's court of 104 persons discussed the rival claims for more than a year until Edward finally chose John Baliol in 1292.  

April 8, 2023--Outer Ward, Norham Castle

Three days later, Baliol paid homage to Edward in the hall at Norham.  And this ultimately led to the First War of Scottish Independence.  In 1318, Norham was besieged for an entire year by Robert Bruce, followed by a second siege for seven months the next year; both were unsuccessful.

April 8, 2023--Marmion's Gate, Norham Castle

April 8, 2023--Warehouse at Norham

In 1513, James IV invaded England, abandoning the Treaty of Perpetual Peace between England and Scotland (signed October 31, 1502) and which was in fact working well for Scotland.  Advised against it, James IV favored the Auld Alliance with France.  Thus, the chivalrous James IV invaded, despite his court.  And the favorite target was...Norham Castle.  After five days of bombardment, it succumbed to James IV's artillery...with as many as 20 large caliber guns (though it is somewhat uncertain on the total number actually brought to bear).  Apparently, the mighty "Mons Meg" cannon (22 inch) was not deployed.

James IV's court proved right.  Noham would not long be in a reduced state.  Following the Flodden Field disaster (for Scotland), Norham was immediately reoccupied and rebuilt over the next 8 years.  This time it was "stuffed with artillery"--according to Sir Robert Bowes (1542).  

April 8, 2023--Tower

By the time of the Border Survey of 1551, however, Norham's fortifications were "in much decay".  In 1559, the castle passed to the Crown when Cuthbert Tunstall, Bishop of Durham refused to take the Oath of Supremacy, meaning he would not acknowledge Queen Elizabeth I as the Head of the Church due to her protestant beliefs. 

With it, Elizabeth had something of a money pit.  In 1580, it was suggested that Norham would "fall flat to the ground" without an investment in repairing it.  Meanwhile, having fortifications work ongoing in Berwick costing vast sums of money, Queen Elizabeth finally refused to pay for Norham's further restoration in 1596.  It had outgrown its strategic purpose.  Or rather, the Union of the Crowns made it redundant.  And so Norham, Queen of Border Fortresses, was thereafter left to the elements...and quarry men.  (It was used as a cheap source of stone for building the homes in the Village of Norham.) 

In 1923, Norham passed into state care, and is a Grade I listed building as well as a Scheduled Ancient Monument.  The days of stone robbing are thankfully at an end.

April 8, 2023--Guarding the fords on River Tweed

A couple random photos to give a flavor of the place.  One of which is of the castle ovens.  The garrison had to be fed.  In any case, an interesting view with vitrified stone.

April 8, 2023--Ovens at Norham

April 8, 2023--Norham brew house foundation

Last but not least is the foundation of the castle's brew house.  The garrison was also a rather thirsty lot it seems.  Built near the castle wells.  The thought of which makes me somewhat queasy, as the photo of the wells may indicate.  But they were a hardy lot "Caroused in seas of sable beer," as Marmion put it, and "thy well-earned meed."

April 8, 2023--the castle wells

April 8, 2023--Norham Castle

 

 

Hallowed ground

April 7, 2023--Flodden Monument

There is a monument there, on Piper's Hill at Flodden Field.  As far as monuments go, it looks like many others commemorating this or that battle; here a turning point; there a decisive victory.  The landscape of Britain is littered with such monuments, too many to name.  And so it goes.  For every victor, there is a vanquished...its corollary.  

"Woe to the land, sedition, wreck and ruin," to borrow from The ghost that danced at Jethart in Scottish fairy and folk tales by Sir George Douglas, 1901.  Sir Douglas recounts the story of ghostly apparitions that are said to have presaged the death of Scotland's Alexander III (September 4, 1241-March 19 1286), in an earlier time back when the tree of Scotland's nobility was still green.  

 

Despite the pleadings of his retinue about traveling in a storm at night, the story has it, Alexander III died in a fall from his mount.  With all his children having predeceased him, Scotland would descend into an interregnum six year period that was ostensibly governed by the Guardians of Scotland.  But it was King Edward I of England who called the shots.

April 7, 2023--Branxton bog; Scots coming downhill

John Balliol (derisively called Toom Tabard, meaning "Empty Coat") was inaugurated on November 30, 1292.  He was then routinely humiliated as if he were a vassal by Edward I.  Eventually, Scottish nobility deposed him and chose a Council of 12 to govern Scotland.  It was this council who originally signed the "Auld Alliance" with France.  In retaliation, Edward I invaded Scotland.  And so, the wars began anew...centuries more of war.

April 7, 2023--the bog were ten thousand Scots died

The Auld Alliance, of course, is what got James IV involved in an invasion of England in 1513...his excuse at any rate.  For more see: https://whitleyworldtravel.blogspot.com/2023/12/ye-olde-diversionary-amorous-attentions.html

Still, in its shear magnitude, the Flodden Field memorial is in a class all its own.  It marks the end of a kingdom; the end of the medieval age.  September 9, 1513, was a fell day indeed. Ultimately, the memorial at Branxton Moor (or, following Sir Walter Scot, Flodden Field) marks the final chapters of Scotland as an independent sovereign nation.  After Flodden Field, it was a dead man walking so to speak.

April 7, 2023--at Flodden it was difficult enough with drainage

The monument is simple, yet poignant.  It memorializes the dead of both nations.  But really, mostly Scotland's.  In the form of a tapered tall Celtic Cross, it occupies an elevated position on the battlefield, standing on the edge of hallowed ground purchased by the lives of many thousands of Scots who were slaughtered at Branxton Moor literally in as little as three or four hours.  [In terms of troop numbers, Flodden Field would be the largest pitched battle ever fought between the Kingdom of Scotland and the Kingdom of England.]

April 7, 2023--Flodden mud

Executed in polished gray Aberdeen granite, it is highly visible above the landscape.  With raised roll-molded edges, it stands upon a tapered base of roughly dressed stone within a square enclosure marked by boulder posts on the corners and centers of each side.  

Set into the north side is a bronze plaque with raised sans-serif letters reading:  Battle of Flodden 1513.  To the brave of both nations.  Erected 1910.  

April 7, 2023--Flodden Field monument

First proposed by the Berwickshire Naturalists Club in 1907, it was argued that it was time to erect a commemorative memorial, and show that the old enmities no longer mattered.  (Although the modern day Scottish National Party may have a thing or two to say about that.)  

Whatever was to be erected, must be the work of both English and Scots.  A public subscription was started, and eventually £350 was raised (with a large contribution from the Duke of Norfolk whose ancestor was the Earl of Surrey, the victor of the battle).  

April 7, 2023--St. Paul's served as temporary battlefield morgue

With a thousand people present, the memorial was unveiled on September 27, 1910 by Sir George Douglas of Kelso, the same who authored Scottish fairy and folk tales.  

The Battle of Flodden Field was a devastating defeat of Scotland.  It resulted in the death of its king, and horrible carnage done to its nobility, to say nothing of blood shed by commoners.  Not less than 10,000 gallant, but dead, Scotsmen.  Some put the numbers at 14,000.  Seldom do monuments have such reach.  The end of an age.

 

April 7, 2023--Branxton Village

[Note:  As for Sir George Douglas, he never married.  Following a successful career publishing books and histories, and as Lecturer in Literature at University of Glasgow, in 1935 when he died, the Douglas estate at Springwood Park passed as an inheritance to his great-nephew who then succeeded in frittering it away--gambling, horse and car racing, yachts.  He never resided at the estate, and the house fell into disrepair.  The contents of Springwood were put up for auction in 1947 to cover his debts, and eventually the estate was divided up and sold, with the house demolished in 1954.] 

April 7, 2023--Nun's Walk at Coldstream; recovered bodies of soldiers at Flodden Field

 

 

 

 

 

A Home, A Home, A Home

April 7, 2023--vista from Hume Castle

It is perhaps a matter of perspective, but the vistas in The Borders are truly incredible.  And from heights like Hume Castle, they might even be just short of spectacular. 

April 7, 2023--the Eildon Hills from Hume Castle

First off, the Eildon Hills are a dominating feature of the landscape in The Borders, much in the same way that The Paps of Jura dominate the view in Argyle's Inner Hebrides islands. There's no escaping them, as it were.  For orienteering, they can't be beat. 

March 23, 2017--The Paps of Jura from Port Askaig

On Easter Friday, we pulled up stakes at Kingsknowes, Galashiels and aimed east, with the need to conserve charge in the back of our minds in the all-electric Peugeot we were assigned (without the ability to charge it).  Our destination that morning was actually Flodden Field, which we wanted to take in before setting up stakes over Easter at the Ford Village B&B later that evening.

April 7, 2023--path to Hume Castle

But en route (within reason), it was certainly an unstructured carpe diem affair.  Anything was game if we could reach it without too much additional range expended.  Which brings us to Hume Castle. 

April 7, 2023--the folly

Trundling into the Peugeot following our stop at the Greenknowe Tower lay by, we hesitated.  Hume Castle was three miles south of Greenlaw.  So...six miles round trip.  Should we expend the extra mileage and see what Hume Castle was about?  After all, we still had to make it back to Galashiels on Easter Monday.  In the end, we decided to chance the six miles.  

Like the Eildon Hills, Hume Castle is a prominent feature in the landscape.  In fact, we had viewed it on the horizon inbound from the windows of the Berwick-Galashiels bus (Bus 60-Bus 62X) to Innerleithen where we had scheduled a half day walk to Traquair House. 

April 3, 2023--Traquair Arms

Here, let me put in a plug for accommodations at Traquair Arms, a 200-year old coach house that is still operating.  We booked a single overnight at Traquair Arms, and planned to board the bus back to Galashiels to pick up the infamous rental the next morning.  Had we only known when we began to layout our itinerary, we certainly would have booked two nights and found things to do in Innerleithen--it's not like there's a shortage of sites to see nearby.  

The Traquair Arms proprietors were gracious and welcoming.  We did book dinner that evening at the hotel, and of course breakfast the following morning.  But as for the dinner, according to Darla their cullen skink was the best she has had in Scotland, and that is saying something.  

While the name might be a bit put-offish, Cullen skink is a smoked haddock dish, a soup or rather a stew with potatoes and onions.  It is named after Cullen, a town in Moray in the northeast of Scotland.  Skink is borrowed from the Dutch.  In Scot, it means soup.

In any case, we were uncertain on the trade off of what we might see at Hume Castle given the profligacy of expending six miles of what was a very limited range.  We needed not be.  It soon became apparent that the view alone would be remarkable.  

Hume Castle, in its existing state, was rebuilt as a "folly" by Sir Hugh Hume, the third Earl of Marchmont in 1789...so not exactly old.  The rebuilt castle ramparts are crenulated, but these are non-functional, almost a burlesque exaggeration of former defenses.  

April 7, 2023--a castle foundation (c. 1225 AD)

That said, in evidence within the folly itself is an earlier curtain wall or perhaps the central tower that dates back to the foundation of the castle in or about 1225 AD.  

The lands of the Hume clan, though, are slightly older.  They were established in 1214 as dowry of Ada, daughter of Patrick, Earl of Dunbar who took William de Courtney, a Norman, as husband.  Unlucky in love, she was widowed in 1217 after three years of marriage.  She then took Theobald de Lascelles (also Norman) in marriage, and he too died in 1225.  We must leave stories of a "black widow" to others.

April 7, 2023

Third time's a charm they say.  In 1225, she married her second cousin William, son of Patrick of Greenlaw.  This William assumed the Hume surname from the dowry lands of his wife Ada.  It is through him that the Hume clan, Wardens of the Eastern Marches, descends.  

It is generally assumed that it was he who laid the first stone foundations of Hume Castle.  Built upon a natural outcrop of rock, Hume Castle was nearly impregnable ...prior to the advent of artillery.  Gunpowder changed things.

The castle had a rectangular plan and a central courtyard, which is said to be unusual for southern Scotland.  

For its part, Hume Castle has had quite a fabled military record, repeatedly swapping hands between Scottish and English (and between Scottish and Scottish) over the subsequent generations.  If anything, it indicates the vast power that the Hume family held in Berwickshire.

Also true is that everything changed with the Battle of Flodden.  On September 9, 1513, Alexander, 3rd Lord Hume, led his Scottish horsemen successfully against the right wing of the English army under Edmund Howard and defeated it...but to no avail.  At the end of the day, Scotland was lost at Flodden Field, along with King James IV and most of Scotland's nobility.

April 7, 2023--the cursed well

Neither would Alexander Hume long survive.  He went into rebellion a year later after refusing to accept Regent Albany (John Stewart)...and for valid reasons.  Hume Castle was lost.  But almost immediately after, Lord Hume retook Hume Castle (August 25, 1515).  He then set about reducing it and razed its walls himself.  Then, to be sure he would not have to trouble with it again, he eternally damned its well forevermore.

Treacherously, and on his back foot, Albany offered a pardon and arranged a meeting at Edinburgh (Holyroodhouse).  He then had Hume and his brother William arrested...their heads were displayed on the gables of Edinburgh Tollbooth.  Yet one more reason for the saying:  "You can never trust a Stewart."  (After so many examples of their treachery, one must wonder why the Scots continued to fall for it.)

April 7, 2023--built on native rock

Ultimately in 1651, the castle was demolished by parliamentarian (Roundhead) artillery under orders of Oliver Cromwell who sought to eliminate Scottish strong points in The Borders which might challenge his parliamentary forces.  It was this ruin which Sir Hugh Hume had fashioned into a folly in 1789.

April 7, 2023--village of Hume

I should mention that the village, or perhaps more accurately hamlet, of Hume is a tiny affair.  We did not see a pub or tearoom open.  So after our tour of the castle works, we saddled up in the Peugeot and aimed for Flodden Field, feeling the better off for having made the six mile trade.

April 7, 2023--the black Peugeot barely visible

In 2005, after 100 years in care of the state, Hume Castle was returned to the Hume clan having been acquired by the Hume Castle Preservation Trust.  Hume Castle is the spiritual and familial home of the Humes.  The clan slogan is: "A Home, a Home, a Home".   Their clan motto is more poignant: "True to the End".  Aye, they were that.