The issue with cruise line tourism

April 13, 2022  Quiet before the arrival of the cruise tourist hoard

Recent headlines regarding the negative impact of the massive industrial-scale tourist cruise ships heaving up quayside in Scotland prompted a quick search back into the blog.  I knew I had addressed it.  See: https://whitleyworldtravel.blogspot.com/2022/04/orkney-demographics-change-is-coming.html 

The original article dealt with Orkney's demographics, not cruise ships per se.  But, after witnessing the first of the annual exodus of massive cruise ships to dock in Kirkwall in 2022, I could not help but interject a  dismissive observation...namely, "A growing local debate is taking place as to whether the highly touted benefit of cruise ship visits to the local economy even offsets the costs." 

April 13, 2022  Polar exploration ship Spitsbergen opens the season at Kirkwall

Recent headlines reviewed the impact of the evermore massive cruise ships.  Last year, the report cited Carnival's fleet of 63 ships (the heavy weight in industrial-sized cruise lines) as being responsible for more sulfur oxide pollution in 2022 than all of the cars in Europe combined.  A billion cars.  That's a lot.  Carnival, the world's largest cruise line, was also responsible for producing more carbon dioxide than the entire city of Glasgow.  Startling data by any comparison.

But Miami-based Carnival is not by itself, of course.  There's also MSC Cruises and Norwegian Cruise Lines.  And there's also slightly more responsible cruise line companies like Hurtigruten and Disney Cruise.  There's profit in it no doubt; but to what effect?

Cruising is one of tourism's fastest growing sectors.  From a mere 21 vessels in the 1970s, the sector has exploded to 515 today...a 24-fold increase.  Ships themselves have more than doubled in size, and they're still growing.  Worse, the issue is not just air pollution; it's also sewage treatment and water quality, to say nothing of solid waste disposal.

Transport & Environment, Europe's leading advocate of clean energy, issued a damning report on the industry.  The cruise tourist system is stretched.  And it may be breaking in the not too distant future.  Venice, for example, has banned large cruise ships.  Several other ports are considering following suit.  The result, at least in Venice, was an 80% reduction in air born pollutants.  So it is possible to address the problems...if there is a will to do so.     

Personally, the market has all the appearance of being saturated.  Mature, in a word, to the point of being a routine boom-bust cycle.  In any case, what with 5,600 to 7,000 fellow tourists in tow, it's not exactly like "getting away from it all".  You sort of bring 'em with you.  Citing the earlier blog post, "It is becoming clear that "industrial scale tourism" is not all it has been cracked up to be." 

April 13, 2022  square wake leaving Kirkwall and the Spitsbergen on Earl Thorfinn

Merry Christmas to all

I wish to extend the warmest of Christmas greetings to our readers, with hopes for a prosperous New Year.  

The old year 2024 is fast winding down.  (Some say fortunately.)  Beyond doubt, many changes have occurred over the past year, the outcomes of which will only be made known by living the consequences of our respective choices as the future inevitably unfolds.  I am no soothsayer, and make no revelations. Let it be, in other words.

Meanwhile, it is appropriate to attach a photograph along with these greetings.  I chose one of the Nativity, taken of a carved oak panel found in the at Traquair House Chapel, Innerleithen, Scotland.  Hidden stairways and priest holes notwithstanding, the chapel at Traquair only dates from the mid-19th century with the passage of the Roman Catholic Emancipation Act of 1829. 

April 3, 2023  Traquair Chapel panel

The panels (there are 12 of them), however, are of Flemish origin, dating to the early 1500s.  Brought back to Scotland by craftsmen touring the Low Countries, they are said to have first been installed in Bishop Lamb's chapel in Leith (i.e. "Queen Mary's Chapell in Leith"), Edinburgh, until they were supposedly acquired by the Charles Stewart, 5th Earl of Traquair (1697-1764) for 20 guineas.

The panels are said to have been whitewashed over, hidden during the Reformation period, though that seems unlikely given the late date.  In any case, the panels were not publicly displayed in Traquair Chapel until the late 1800s.  Scripture reminds us:  "Is a lamp brought in to be placed under a bushel basket or under a bed, and not to be placed on a lampstand? For there is nothing hidden except to be made visible; nothing is secret except to come to light."  Mark 4:21-23.

That is a whole other story.  For now, though, may this be a joyous Christmas season filled with abundant blessings throughout the coming year.      

 

 

 

 

Reverse persecution--priest holes

April 23, 2019: Defaced cross, Lamlash Parish, Arran

Over the course of two millennia since its founding, the Church (or to be specific, the Roman Catholic Church) has had more than its ample share of initiating:  persecutions, inquisitions, excommunications, the rack...and burning at the stake.  So too, eventually, the Puritans with their iconoclasm...and witches.   

Considering damages done by the iconoclasts to precious religious artwork and sculpture, that is difficult to square by today's more enlightened standards.  It's a Taliban type of thing...iconoclasts, persecution and burkas.   

The first "official" inquisition (actually a synod condemning various heretics) was initiated in 1184 by Pope Lucius III.  As for inquisitions though, he did not live long enough to carry them out.  He only served about two years.  

April 16, 2019:  Defaced Kilmichael Cross, Kilmartin

The prize of instituting the first inquisition must go to one of his successors, Pope Innocent III, from 1209-1229.  The Papacy was beset by a constant flux at the end of the 12th century.  Destabilizing, in a word.  

Popes rolled over as quickly as the College of Cardinals could mint them--Pope Urban III (1185-1187); Pope Gregory VIII (1187, only two months); Clement III (late 1187-1191); Celestine III (1191- early 1198); and finally Innocent III, who served some 18 years (1198-1216) and is known, for better or worse, for expanding the scope of the Crusades...including the sack of Constantinople, a Christian albeit Eastern Orthodox empire.

Begun in Languedoc in present day southern France and known as the Albigensian Crusade, or Cathar Crusade, it quickly took on an air of mercenary adventurism.  Pope Innocent III declared a crusade against the Cathars, offering lands of Cathar "heretics" to any French nobleman willing to take up arms..."Thou shalt not covet" notwithstanding.  There were plenty of takers.   

The Cathar crusade expanded the French crown at the expense of neighboring Languedoc.  It was a power play of sorts--eliminate competitors.  Pope Innocent III claimed supremacy over Europe's Christian states, as the most powerful of all medieval Popes.  As a matter of routine, he used the interdict to ban or censure, to compel his decisions, get his way.  Yes, he solidified medieval canon law...but there is always a price. 

April 3, 2023 Queen Mary of Scots rosary; Traquair House

An inquisition was a systematic persecution of non-Catholic Christian religions in Europe.  Arguably, it might be said that the first true inquisition dates nearly a thousand years before Innocent III.  To the late 3rd century and Arianism (256-336 AD), which was declared a heresy.  (If truth be known, inquisitions probably date back to the Apostles themselves, ever bickering.)

April 3, 2023  The cradle that rocked future King James VI/I; Traquair House

But that a "reverse persecution" would eventually supervene in the form of Oliver Cromwell's iconoclastic Roundheads, during the English civil war (c. 1650s), almost makes one want to belt out a rousing stanza of "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" (Julie Covington, "Evita" concept album, 1976).  Almost.

Suffice it to say that there were persecutions aplenty.  More than enough blame to go round.

April 3, 2023  A hidden church; Traquair House

This brings us to a period in Scotland when religious strife was tearing the country apart--Protestant vs. Catholic.  Over several decades under the Scottish Reformation, the divide would finally come out in the open.  The early death of Frances II, the Dauphine of France and husband to Mary Queen of Scots (a devout Catholic), set the stage for fierce internecine battles.  

After Frances II's death, and having no place in France's succession, Mary sailed for Scotland in 1561 to take up its crown.  But having been away in France for 13 years (ever since the age of 5), Mary was not exactly Scottish anymore.  Much had changed.

The root of the conflict, of course, had its start with the English king Henry VIII, who set aside Catherine of Aragon to marry Anne Boleyn.  When the Pope (Clement VII) refused to grant an annulment, Henry split from the Catholic Church and founded the Church of England.  By the time Mary arrived from France in 1561,  Presbyterian lords held the reigns of power in Scotland. 

April 3, 2023  Priest's raiments; Traquair House

Despite apprehensions, Mary was actually fairly tolerant of the newly established Protestant ascendancy in Scotland.  It was one of self-interest perhaps, for it is said she had her eye on England's crown being the only surviving child of the Stuart King James V.  She did not wish to unnecessarily antagonize Protestant opinion south of Scotland's Borders.  But this put her at odds with Scottish Catholic parties, notably with George Gordon, 4th Earl of Huntly, who rose in rebellion in 1562 but was defeated at Corrichie, a one sided affair, on October 28, 1562...only a year after Mary had returned from France.

April 3, 2023  Inside family chapel; Traquair House

April 3, 2023  Priest Hole; Traquair House

Protestant Christianity, by the by, was not uniform (despite claims to the contrary) in its hostility toward the use of religious images and icons.  None other than Martin Luther taught of the "importance of images as tools for instruction and aids to devotion."  Luther was conservative.  His words, unfortunately, fell on the deaf ears of radicals.

Here perhaps a few words may clear up some confusion.  Though they were contemporaries, Mary Queen of Scots is not the same as Mary I, or "Bloody Mary" the eventual Queen of England. Born February 18, 1516 as the first born child and only survivor of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, Bloody Mary was legitimate by all accounts.  The first undisputed Queen Regent of England from July 6, 1553 to her death November 17, 1558.  

"Bloody Mary's" reign is marked with a "vigorous" determination to reverse the Reformation, to return England back to Catholicism.  Once out, though, the genie is difficult to put back, after 20 years instituted by her father who first put aside Catherine of Aragon in divorce.  

Her sobriquet was well-earned--she burned 300 or more at the stake.  Protestants in England and Wales were summarily executed under legislation that punished any and all judged guilty of heresy against Catholicism.  Legislation particularly adopted burning.  Torture de rigueur, or avant-garde at any rate.  

April 3, 2023  Traquair House

Goes around, comes around.  It would then be Catholicism's turn to be a hunted faith with the death of Bloody Mary.  Her half-sister, Protestant Queen Elizabeth, came to the throne.  Given Catholic resistance early in Elizabeth's reign, her legislation became increasingly draconian.  And it would be priests who were imprisoned, tortured and killed as "pursuivants," or priest-hunters, sought those inclined to Mass.  

April 3, 2023  Priest Hole stair; Traquair House

"Priest Holes" were made in response.  Priest Holes were hiding places, typically built in houses of the wealthy in fireplaces, attics, building alterations, under the floor boards, and especially staircases from about 1570 until roughly 1605 with the death of Elizabeth I.  Pursuivants would measure the "footprint" of the house and compare outside versus inside measurements to see if they tallied, tapping the walls and floors for any hollow sound.  All in all, Priest Holes were fairly effective, given declining numbers of priests who were executed over the next several decades under Queen Elizabeth.  That, or they just lost interest in the exercise altogether.

April 3, 2023  Traquair House grounds

With this, we share a few photos regarding "priest holes" and Traquair House, Scotland.  It is appropriate to include a line from Psalm 73 (and the 1571 medallion of the Spanish Inquisition).  The olive branch symbolizes mercy; the sword punishment.

April 3, 2023  Traquair House hidden stairwell

Again, there is more than enough blame to go around, Protestant versus Catholic; Catholic versus Orthodox (and thus Celtic).  I leave to Almighty God the determination of the rightness or wrongness.  We have certainly made many martyrs over time.  Whether through direct affirmation or indirect apathy.  All too many...on all sides.  Aye then.  "Arise, Lord, and judge your cause".  

Damages

June 18, 1941:  Bren Carriers at Ring of Brodgar

It seems inconceivable to us now...war games in the Neolithic ruins of the Ring of Brodgar.  But the 9th (Donside) Battalion, Gordon Highlanders were maneuvering in Orkney--trying to close the training gap that saw Germany's experienced army seize most of Europe in the face of poorly trained opposing forces in the early days of World War Two.  

April 21, 2022:  Invergordon murals from the train

On June 18, 1941 (when the photo of Bren Carriers was taken) a real war was underway.  So an indulgence is merited in the protection of cultural heritage sites perhaps.  It was the least of their troubles. And how much damage the site sustained is subject to dispute.  Some of the tracks are still evident.

April 12, 2022:  Neolithic Ring of Brodgar

The Donside Battalion had sailed from Aberdeen for the Orkneys on September 2, 1940, the first year into the war.  The British were certainly under duress, having to hastily develop defense lines and organize called-up divisions in anticipation of a full scale invasion.  The 9th would garrison in defense of the Royal Navy base at Scapa Flow and Hatston Airfield about a mile northeast of Kirkwall--until October 11, 1941.   

April 23, 2022:  Invergordon murals from the train

Then in October, the 9th Battalion redeployed, arriving first at Alnwick to join the 216th Independent Infantry Brigade, ultimately being destined for India in January 1942.  On May 27th, 1942, it embarked from Glasgow, and was at-sea when it was re-designated the 116th Royal Armored Regiment, landing in Bombay July 27th, 1942.  Thus began several years of hard fighting in the Burma theater. 

On 14 August 1945, news was received that the war with Japan was over.  Official surrender of Japanese forces, however, was not received until September 12, which meant the Gordon Highlanders would be the last armored regiment to come out of action.  It was the last British armored unit to be engaged by enemy forces and, at the end of the war, the British regiment furthest from home. 

April 12, 2022:  Neolithic Ring of Brodgar

The 9th Highland Division's motto, ‘Bydand,’ is a Scottish word meaning ‘steadfast’.  Additionally, the 9th Battalion held the motto: ‘Laro Aur Larte Raho’--meaning ‘To Strike And Strike Again’ in the Urdu language.  (The 116th, armored with Shermans, was assigned to the 255th Indian Tank Brigade.)

Hatson airfield, incidentally, was the first with hard runways built in Britain, the first built on Mainland Orkney in the prelude to war and, given that construction began just prior to the war, it was also fully operational by the time war broke out in September 1939. The first aircraft to try out the tarmac landed on August 25, 1939--literally a matter of days before WWII began in earnest.

April 12, 2022:  Neolithic Ring of Brodgar

 

 

Another layer of faith

In the Borders it is customary for visitors to view its magnificent Abbeys--Kelso, Melrose, Dryburgh and Jedburgh. And they are impressive.  But there is also another layer of faith, if you will, throughout the Borders that is represented by the local church, or kirk.  The local parish.  

April 2, 2023:  St. Aidan's Church, Bamburgh

Take for example, St. Aidan's Church at Bamburgh, the Anglo-Saxon seat of power where Northumbrian kings are said to have been crowned.  The story of St. Aidan merits a few comments. 

April 2, 2023: Interior of St. Aidan's Church

In translation, Aedán, or Aodhán, means "little fiery one".  An Irish missionary,  Aidan is credited with converting the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity--preaching to both nobility and slave.  

More is known about Aidan's death (August 31, 651) than about his early years (born about 590).  He essentially enters history's pages from the Holy Isle of Iona (which was established by St. Columba about 563 AD).  

A bishop named Cormán was originally dispatched to the Scots, but his harsh methods at conversion left much to be desired.  [In deference to Cormán, it must be said that he had a significant impact on evangelizing the people of Northumbria.  He laid the groundwork in other words.] 

In any case, Aidan was sent from Iona in Cormán's stead and Aidan, not Cormán, is now considered the Apostle of Northumbria.  Aidan went on to found the priory on the Holy Isle of Lindisfarne with its access to the kings of Northumbria at Castle Bamburgh...until the coming of the Vikings.

April 2, 2023:  Aidan's Tomb

Interestingly, Aidan was a social reformer, in front of his time.  Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation (Book III: Chapter V) states:  "whatsoever gifts of money he received from the rich, he either distributed them, as has been said, to the use of the poor, or bestowed them in ransoming such as had been wrongfully sold for slaves."  He evangelized against slavery and bondage, apparently taking it as his mission.

Aidan's tomb is found in Bamburgh's church.  But what exactly is entombed is disputed. 

After his death, Aidan's body was first buried at Lindisfarne, in the abbey he helped found.  Apparently, his remains were disturbed and broken up following the defeat of the ‘Irish’ faction at the Synod of Whitby in 664 AD, when Roman Catholicism became dominate at the expense of the Celtic Church.  In the 11th century, Glastonbury monks supposedly also obtained relics of Aidan--again partitioning his remains.  In fact, various locations today claim relics of his partitioned body.  He was not, in a word, at rest. 

April 2, 2023:  Aidan's Tomb at Bamburgh Church

In 2013, an elaborate tomb was built within Bamburgh's church.  It was dedicated by the Archbishop of York, presumably to finally put what remained of Aidan's remains at rest...or to memorialize them anyhow.  The tomb says:  "Quies Aidani" (Aidan at Peace).  A small window is inscribed:  “Not far from here, Aidan first Bishop of Lindisfarne, fell asleep in Christ.” 

April 2, 2023:  St. Aidan's Church, Bamburgh

March 27, 2017:  Holy Cross, Haltwhistle

One last comment regarding Aidan.  He was esteemed by the Scots.  Thus, local lore has it, in the border raids on Haltwhistle in the 1500s, the Holy Cross Church (dedicated to St. Aidan; dates 13th century) was unmolested whereas much of the town was burnt.  At an even earlier date, the church was immune when William Wallace was marauding the countryside in 1297 and 1298...though that may have to do with the fact that it belonged to a royal Scottish abbey...and the king would be sore displeased if it was harmed.   

Eden's Lawn, taken from the Celtic 'Llan Aidan,' is allegedly where Aidan ministered.  Ultimately, Holy Cross Church sprang from there.    

March 27, 2017:  Edens Lawn, Haltwhistle

Whether Aidan was the first to evangelize Northumbria is also debatable.  Aidan and his monks slowly restored Christianity to the Northumbrian countryside, so perhaps he should be considered more a revivalist in a way because, as far as is known, St. Ninian (himself a shadowy figure given a lack of written records) is to be credited with being Scotland's first saint. 

April 2, 2023:  Stained glass, St. Adian's

It is said that in 397 AD Ninian, a Briton, began his ministry to Scotland, predating St. Patrick by more than 30 years.  Ninian evangelized the southern Picts from his church at Whithorn on Burrow Head, Galloway, where St. Ninian had a white-washed stone church built; hence the name.  According to archeologists, it has "an atmosphere of spiritual antiquity" to it.

Ninian was born about 360 AD, died and was buried at Whithorn in Galloway at the age of 72 in 432 AD at the time St. Patrick began his ministry.  Here it is of interest that Patrick, in an epistle to Coroticus in which he condemned Coroticus for slavery, termed the Picts as "apostates"--meaning they had abandoned Christianity at some point in the early fifth century before being called back to the faith.  St. Ninian's initial efforts apparently were somewhat temporary.

Ninian is said to have evangelized his way up west Scotland's coast, possibly as far north as the Shetlands. However, Christianity at Whithorn was older than Ninian.  How much older is unknown, but it is probable that his appointment as bishop was in response to an organized local British community that was already established as a center of trade and power, within the sphere of Roman Carlisle. 

April 2, 2023: Veteran's memorial at Bamburgh Castle

In the statement of significance (Historic Environment Scotland), Whithorn is "rightly styled" as the Cradle of Christianity in Scotland and Northumbria--a veritable school for saints at the beginning of evangelization.  Archeologists have identified the remains of a Christian community at Whithorn, as well as a monument (the Latinus Stone--oldest known Christian memorial in Scotland) dating to the mid-5th century. In its earliest days before Whithorn was a priory, it apparently was a Christian site of some sort.  It has been suggested that it could have been a ceremonial meeting place for feasts, as archeologists found rare imported wine, exotic herbs and spices from Loire, France and numerous shards of fine colored glass drinking vessels, suggesting a Romanized Briton Christian secular settlement before Rome abandoned Britain in about 420 AD.  

April 2, 2023:  Weathered gravestone, St. Aidan's churchyard

Whithorn is on our visit wish list.  It has drawn many pilgrims through time, including King James IV of Scotland who annually visited the shrine until his death at Flodden Field; but also Robert Bruce (1329--to cure his leprosy), James V and Mary Queen of Scots (1563).  Today it is a part of the Whithorn Way, a 143 mile pilgrimage trail from Glasgow Cathedral to Whithorn.  Since at least the 600s...and counting...it has been a site of pilgrimage.  It is old.

April 2. 2023:  St. Aidan's

St. Ninian's shrine at Whithorn and St. Aiden's in Bamburgh are only two examples of the many layers of faith that can be found in Scotland.  You need not look far.  It is ever-present.  It is, in its way, the principle reason we continue to go back. 

April 2, 2023:  Bamburgh Castle, Northumbria

 

 

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.