Northumberland Yesterday And To Day, Jean F. Terry [learn to read activity book .txt] 📗
- Author: Jean F. Terry
Book online «Northumberland Yesterday And To Day, Jean F. Terry [learn to read activity book .txt] 📗». Author Jean F. Terry
Chatton, Having, On The Way, Passed A Little To The Westward Of
Chillingham Castle And Park, Where Is The Famous Herd Of Wild Cattle.
Roscastle, A Craggy Height Covered With Heather, Stands At The Edge Of
The Chase, And Looks Over A Wild And Romantic Scene Of Moorland And
Pastureland, Deep Glens And Heathery Hills. The Vicarage At Chatton Is
Another Of Those North-Country Vicarages In Which An Old Pele-Tower
Forms Part Of The Modern Residence. On The Top Of Chatton Law Is An
Ancient British Encampment, With Inscribed Circles Similar To Those On
Bewick Hill.
From Chatton, The Loops And Windings Of The Till Grow More Insistent,
And The Little Stream Adds Miles To Its Length By Reason Of Its
Frequent Doubling On Its Tracks; This, However, But Gives An Added Charm
To The Landscape, As The Silvery Gleams Of The Winding River Come
Unexpectedly Into View Again And Again. It Flows On Through Glendale,
With Which Attractive Region We Have Already Made Acquaintance; And On
Its Banks Are The Two Prettiest Villages In Northumberland--Ford And
Etal.
Ford Castle, As Seen At The Present Day, Is Chiefly Modern, But The
Northwest Tower Is Part Of The Old Fortress Of Odenel De Forde, Which
Experienced So Many Vicissitudes In Its Time. One Of The Most Famous
Owners Of Ford Castle Was Sir William Heron, Who Married Odenel's
Daughter, And Who Held The Responsible And Troublesome Office Of High
Sheriff Of Northumberland For Eleven Years, Besides Being Captain Of
Bamburgh And Warden Of The Northern Forests. The Castle Was Burnt Down
By James Iv. Of Scotland Just Before The Battle Of Flodden, Which Was
Not By Any Means The Only Time In Its Career That It Was Demolished,
Entirely Or In Part, And Restored Again.
In The Village Of Ford, The Walls Of The Schoolroom Are Decorated By A
Series Of Pictures Of The Children Of Scripture Story, For Whose
Portrayal It Is Said The Marchioness Of Waterford, The Artist, Took The
Village Children As Models. The Late Vicar Of Ford, The Rev. Hastings
Neville, Has Laid All Who Are Interested In The Rural Life Of
Northumberland, And The Quaint And Traditional Manners And Customs Of
The North-Country Which Are So Fast Disappearing, Under The Greatest
Obligation To Him For His Interesting And Entirely Delightful Little
Book, "A Corner In The North." Historical Records, And Matters Of
Business, Ownerships, Etc., Connected With Any Special Area Can Always
Be Turned Up For Reference When Required; But The Manner Of Speech, The
Customs Of Daily Life, The Quaint Survivals Of Former Usages And
Half-Forgotten Lore, Being Entirely Dependent On Individual Memory And
Oral Tradition, Only Too Often Disappear Before Any Adequate Record Can
Be Made. Hence It Is A Matter For Congratulation That Such A Book Should
Have Been Written.
Etal, Ford's Pretty Neighbour, Also Boasts A Castle, Built Only Two
Years After That Of Ford And By The Same Masons. A Considerable Portion
Of The Ruins Remains, But, Unlike Ford Castle, It Was Never Restored
After James The Fourth's Drastic Handling Of It, But Was Left To Decay.
Opposite Ford And Etal, On The Left Bank Of The Till, Is Pallinsburn
House, Referred To In Another Chapter, And The Village Of Crookham; And
Beyond The Woods Of Pallinsburn, Flodden Ridge, With Its Memories Of The
Disastrous Field On Which James Was Slain.
The Mansion House Of Tillmouth Park, Owned By Sir Francis Blake, Is
Built Of Stones From The Ruins Of Twizell Castle, On The Northern Bank
Of The Till; The Castle Was Begun By A Former Sir Francis Blake But
Never Finished. Between The Two Buildings The Berwick Road Crosses The
Till By Twizell Bridge, Over Which Surrey Marched His Men Southward On
The Morning Of Flodden. Not Far From This Bridge, To The Westward, Is
St. Helen's Well, Alluded To By Scott In His Account Of The Battle, In
"Marmion"--
"Many A Chief Of Birth And Rank,
St. Helen, At Thy Fountain Drank."
Sibyl's Well, From Which Lady Clare Brought Water To Moisten The Lips Of
The Dying Marmion, Is Beside The Little Church At Branxton. Tillmouth,
However, Has Older Memories Still; For It Was To The Little Chapel There
That St. Cuthbert's Body Floated In Its Stone Coffin From Melrose,
Dating The Course Of Its Seven Years' Wandering, Ere It Found A Final
Rest At Durham.
"From Sea To Sea, From Shore To Shore,
Seven Years Saint Cuthbert's Corpse They Bore
They Rested Them In Fair Melrose,
But Though Alive He Loved It Well
Not There His Relics Might Repose,
For, Wondrous Tale To Tell,
In His Stone Coffin Forth He Glides,
A Ponderous Bark For River Tides,
Yet Light As Gossamer It Glides
Downward To Tillmouth Cell.
* * * * *
Chester-Le-Street And Ripon Saw
His Holy Corpse, Ere Wardilaw
Hailed It With Joy And Fear;
Till, After Many Wanderings Past,
He Chose His Lordly Seat At Last
Where His Cathedral, Huge And Vast,
Looks Down Upon The Wear."
_Sir W. Scott_--Marmion.
The "Stone Coffin" Was Boat-Shaped, "Ten Feet Long, Three Feet And A
Half In Diameter, And Only Four Inches Thick, So That, With Very Little
Assistance, It Might Certainly Have Swum; It Still Lies, Or At Least Did
So A Few Years Ago, In Two Pieces, Beside The Ruined Chapel At
Tilmouth."--_Sir W. Scott's Notes To "Marmion."_
Three Or Four Miles From Tillmouth, South-Westward Up The Valley Of The
Tweed, And Just Beyond Cornhill, Lies The Village Of Wark, Near Which
The Remains Of The Famous Border Castle Are Still Standing. The Castle
Was Built On A Stony Ridge Of Detritus Called The _Kaim_, Which
Stretches From Wark Village Towards Carham. In The Reign Of Henry I. All
Those Who Owned Land In The North Were Seemingly Animated Simultaneously
By A Lively Desire To Secure Their Borders; Bishop Flambard Began To
Build Norham Castle, Eustace Fitz-John, Husband Of Beatrice De Vesci,
Built The Greater Part Of Alnwick Castle, And Walter Espic Raised The
Mighty Fortress, The Great "Wark" Or Work (A.S. _Were_ Or _Weare_) On
The Steep Ridge Above Tweed, In "His Honour (Seignieury) Of Carham."
From That Time The Castle Of Wark Went Through A Greater Succession Of
Sieges, Assaults, Burnings, Surrenders, Demolitions, And Restorations
Than Any Other Place In England, Except, Perhaps, Norham Castle Or
Berwick-Upon-Tweed. In An Age And Situation Where Hard Blows Given And
Returned, Desperate Adventures And Equal Chances Of Life Or Death Were
The Common-Places Of Everyday Existence, Wark Was Probably The Place
Where These Excitements Were To Be Had Oftener Than Anywhere Else.
The Romantic Episode Which Gave Rise To The Establishment Of The Order
Of The Garter Is Generally Allowed To Have Taken Place At Wark Castle.
The Young King Of Scotland, David Bruce, Had "Ridden A Raid" Into
England, And Ravaged And Plundered On His Way As Far As Auckland, After
Having Burnt The Town Of Alnwick, Amongst Others, But Having Been
Repulsed Before The Castle. King Edward Iii. Was At Stamford When He
Heard Of The Invasion; But Hurrying Northward He Reached Newcastle In
Four Days. The Scots, Retreating Before Him, Passed Wark Castle, Which
Was Held By The Countess Of Salisbury And Her Nephew, In The Absence Of
Her Husband. The Young Man Was Loth To Let So Much English Booty Be
Carried Off Under His Very Eyes, So He Fell Upon The Rearguard, And
Succeeded In Bringing A Number Of Packhorses To The Castle. On This The
Whole Scottish Array Turned Back, And A Siege Of The Castle Began; But
The Countess Spiritedly Held Out, And Edward Meanwhile Drew Nearer. Some
Of The Scotsmen Were Captured, And From Them The Countess's Nephew
Heard That Edward Had Reached Alnwick. He Stole Out Of The Castle Before
Dawning In Heavy Rain, To Let The King Know Where His Help Was Urgently
Needed; And By Noon Of The Same Day Edward Was At Wark, Only To Find His
Quarry Flown, The Scots Having Retreated A Few Hours Earlier. The King
Was Joyfully Received And Thanked By The Grateful Countess; And He In
His Turn Was Much Struck By The Beauty And Grace Of The High-Spirited
Lady, And Showed His Admiration Plainly. In The Evening, According To
Tradition, A Ball Was Held, At Which The Incident Occurred, So Often
Related, Of The Accidental Losing Of Her Garter By The Fair Chatelaine,
And The Restoration Of It By The King, With The Remark, As A Rebuke To
The Smiling Bystanders,--"_Honi Soit Qui Mal Y Pense._" This He
Afterwards Adopted As The Motto Of The Order He Established In Honour Of
The Beautiful Countess.
The Garter Is The Most Exclusive Of Orders, And Consists Of The Reigning
Sovereign And Twenty-Five Companions, Of Whom The Prince Of Wales Is
Always One; And It Takes Precedence Of All Other Titles, Ranking Next To
Royalty. It Is A Matter Of Great Pride To All Northumbrians That Perhaps
The Only Instance Of Its Having Been Bestowed On Any Except A Peer Of
The Realm Or A Foreign Sovereign, Has Occurred Recently In The Bestowal
Of The Coveted Decoration On Sir Edward Grey, A Member Of The Ancient
And Important Northumbrian House Of That Name.
Every King Of England From Henry I. To Henry Iv., Seems To Have Been At
Wark At Some Time During His Reign, With The Exception Of Richard
Coeur-De-Lion And Richard Ii. After The Union Of The Crowns, Wark, Like
Most Other Fortresses In The North That Were Not In Use As The Dwellings
Of Their Owners, Was Allowed To Fall Into Decay. From Wark To Carham Is
A Walk Of Only Two Miles Along The Road Which Follows The Course Of The
River, And Ultimately Leads To Kelso. Carham Has The Remains Of An
Ancient Monastery; And Here The Danes, After Having Plundered
Lindisfarne, Fought A Battle In Which The Saxons, Led By Several
Bishops, Were Defeated With Great Slaughter. From Carham, Having Reached
The Last Point Of Interest On The Tweed Within The Northumbrian Border,
We Must Retrace Our Steps To Tillmouth, And Follow The Tweed Through
Pasture Land And Level Haughs, Until We Come In Sight Of The Steep
Cliffs And Overhanging Woods By Norham Castle.
Naturally Here, The Words Of The Opening Canto Of "Marmion" Are Recalled
To Our Memory--
"Day Set On Norham's Castled Steep,
On Tweed's Fair River, Broad And Deep,
And Cheviot's Mountains Lone
The Battled Towers, The Donjon Keep,
The Loophole Grates, Where Captives Weep,
The Flanking Walls That Round It Sweep,
In Yellow Lustre Shone."
The "Castled Steep" Is Still Crowned By A Massive Fragment Of The Old
Fortress That Has Braved, In Its Time, So Many Days Of Storm And Stress.
A Good Deal Of The Curtain Wall, Too, Is Standing, And The Natural
Defences Of The Castle Are Admirable, For A Deep Ravine On The East And
The River With Its Steep Banks On The South Made It Practically
Unassailable At These Points. It Was Built In 1121, As We Have Seen, By
Bishop Flambard Of Durham, As A Defence For The Northern Portions Of His
Diocese. The Necessity For Its Presence There Was Soon Made Apparent,
For It Was Attacked By The Scots Again And Again; And By The Time Thirty
Years Had Passed. Bishop Pudsey Found It Necessary To Strengthen It
Greatly. When Edward I. Was Called To Arbitrate Between The Claimants
To The Scottish Throne, He Came To Norham And Met The Rival Nobles, Who,
With Their Followers, Were Quartered At Ladykirk, On The Opposite Side
Of The Tweed. It Was Known As Upsettlington Then, However; The Name Of
Ladykirk Was Bestowed Upon It Long Afterwards, When James Iv. Built The
Little Chapel There, In Gratitude For An Escape From Drowning In The
Tweed. Edward Held His Interview With The Scottish Nobles In Norham
Church, And Announced That He Had Come There In The Character Of Lord
Paramount, And As Such Was Prepared To Make Choice Of One Among Them.
Edward Did Not By Any Means Make Up His Mind Quickly, And The Various
Places In Which The Successive Acts In The Affair Took Place Are Widely
Scattered, For He Met The Nobles At Norham, Some Time Afterwards
Delivered His Decision At Berwick, And Finally Received The Homage Of
John Balliol At Newcastle.
Norham, Like Wark, Has Also Its Romantic Episode--Or Rather, An Episode
More Conspicuously So In A Series Of Them To Which The Name Might With
Justice Be Applied. It Occurred During The Time That Sir Thomas Gray Was
Holding The Castle Against A Determined Blockade Of It By The Scots In
1318. A Certain Fair Lady Of Lincolnshire Sent One Of Her Maidens To A
Knight Whom She Loved, Sir William Marmion (Whose Name Probably
Suggested To Sir Walter Scott The Name For The Hero Of His Tale Of
Norham And Flodden). Sir William Was At A Banquet When The Maiden Came
Before Him Bearing A Helmet With A Golden Crest, Together With A Letter
From His Lady Bidding Him Go "Into
Comments (0)