How family members are being successful at family history;
THE FAMILY KNOWS BEST.
LISTEN TO OTHERS, ESPECIALLY PEOPLE OF THE OPPISTE SEX, WHEN IT COMES TO FAMILY.
WHEN FINDING FAMILY DO NOT GET RID OF THE IN-LAWS EVEN IF YOU WANT TO.
FAMILIES FIGHT, THOUGH DISAGREEMENT, BOTH POSITIONS-ANSWERS ARE LIKELY CORRECT.
IF THE FAMILY’S HISTORY IS DONE PROPERLY, ONE DO NOT GET TO CHOOSE THEIR RELATIVES THEY AR BORN WITH THEM.
THE FAMILY KNOWS BEST. Anything which is presented as pasted down as family history by a member of the family is accepted as being correct. If someone not of the family line expresses it being incorrect, they may be a historian, but not a family historian.
LISTEN TO OTHERS, ESPECIALLY PEOPLE OF THE OPPISTE SEX, WHEN IT COMES TO FAMILY.
People of the opposite sex see things differently and will offer a different perspective when seeking information about family.
WHEN FINDING FAMILY DO NOT GET RID OF THE IN-LAWS EVEN IF YOU WANT TO. If there are relatives that you do not want to be related to, put them in because they may be linked to relatives you want to be related to.
FAMILIES FIGHT, THOUGH DISAGREEMENT, BOTH POSITIONS-ANSWERS ARE LIKELY CORRECT. Any information you may receive is helpful, and is likely as correct as ones own.
IF THE FAMILY’S HISTORY IS DONE PROPERLY, ONE DO NOT GET TO CHOOSE THEIR RELATIVES THEY AR BORN WITH THEM. (self explanatory).
The royal coat of arms in Scotland has the Latin motto “Nemo me impune lacessit“. The English translation of this is “Nobody interferes with me with impunity” and this is often defiantly expressed in broad Scots as “Wha daur meddle wi’ me?” which is the title of this anonymous poem. But on this occasion it is being aggressively repeated by a member of the Elliot family, one of the Border families who not only fought their neighbours but were part of the first line of defence against marauding English invaders – and could sometimes defy the Scottish monarch as well!
In Barbados Anglican-Royalist Scot POW from the English Civil War 1650 were indentured to the Barbados Plantation, this a precursor to the African slaves.
The harp on the royalist flag symbolizes the Gaelic-Irish-Scots. US President Donald Trumpâs mother comes from this line, and golf is a Scottish game. The Gaelic-Irish-Scots welcomed us border dwellers after the death of Queen Elizabeth I. Robert Bruce Armstrong published books on the harp and the Scottish-English Border.
This is the Hermitage Valley from Timothy Pontâs survey of Liddesdale, circa 1583.
For ten years, from 1978 until 1988, my family and I lived at Dinleyhaughfoot, just above the âtowerâ marked as âGraistounhauchâ on the map above, and I know this area well.
But back in those days, there was no âGoogle Earth,â and almost all of the overflight photographs were held by the Ministry of Defence, and âclassified.â
Back in the 16th century, it is reputed that âLiddesdaleâ could field 3000 riders, and whilst I have commented elsewhere that this figure may have been exaggerated, due to the same riders being counted several times over, depending upon which âwarlordâ (sic) led the raidâŚâŚ i.e on some occasions the riders were Armstrongâs (men) and not Armstrongs, (surname) and on the next the same men were Elliotâs (men) and not Elliots,(surname). That still means that Liddesdale, over the centuries was a heavily populated, even an overpopulated valley.
SoâŚâŚ Where are they allâŚ. and where are all of those many thousands of burials?
Where are all of the towers, and other habitations?
WellâŚ.. No-one knowsâŚ. And the reason, in the main, is that no-one has really bothered to look!
Which is truly tragic. Because the people who were cleared out of this and other valleys, on both sides of the âBorder Lineâ around the time of the Union of the Crowns, were some of the most dynamic people Britain ever produced, and they went onwards and outwards, throughout the world.
Here is a very familiar form of âIrish Hiltâ circa 1600, excavated in âHistoric Jamestowneâ
And here is the basket guard from a Lowland Scots âDisc Hiltâ from the same source.
The âBorderersâ were hugely responsible for the early colonisation of what is now the United States, and formed a very large contingent in the push west across that Continent.
And yet in their own homeland, because the clearance was so efficient, they are largely forgotten.
The Borderers as an ethnic grouping have almost disappeared, swamped out (in Scotland) to a great extent by the spread of the âHighland Imageâ of the Scot.
On the English side of the line, perhaps the last remnant is the âGeordie.â
And Tyneside to this day boasts a very large number of the old Border âsurnames.â Mostly, because those who didmanage to remain after the clearances of the 16th and early 17th centuries, were forced off the land due to the mechanisation of farming in the 19th and 20th centuries, and they ended up in the mines, steelworks,  and shipyards of Tyneside.
But nowâŚâŚ Thanks to modern technology, it is possible to sit at home, and to look for the very locations where the old time reivers actually lived!
This is a satellite shot of âLadaâ just to the left of Hermitage Castle on Pontâs map. (or at least I think it is. It has never been excavated.)
The house outline is around thirty feet long, and it lies on a âdry moundâ just above a stream.
Look carefully, and you can make out a rectangular field enclosure just below the house.
I was told years ago, that this was one of the locations occupied by âThe Croziers.â So if that is you⌠then you may just be looking at the Ancestral Estates! And there is a fair bet, that some of your forebears are lying there, looking up, from just under that turfâŚ.. not too far away at all.
(Bet that makes the hairs on your arms stand up and prickle!)
You know, if this was in the USAâŚâŚ. Native AmericanâŚâŚ First NationâŚ.. whatever, then all of this valley would be protected, at least until it was properly recordedâŚ.. But itâs notâŚ. and so it isnât!
âLadaâ is fairly typical of a Liddesdale âdwellingââŚ.. not a tower at allâŚ.. just a small farmstead! And the valley ought to be littered with them.  The problem is, that they are hard to see at most times of year, due to an overgrowth of bracken.
This is âGraystone HaughââŚâŚ. and Graystone Haugh Tower ought to be visible just to the left of the yellow text. But it isnâtâŚâŚ
Back in the 1980âs you could still see it, but since then, too many tractors have been over the site, and now itâs gone forever!
And that is the danger. Forestry, Farming, Windfarms. None of which, are particularly friendly to archeology. And without any doubt at all there is a marked reluctance amongst both landowners and councils to record what sites there are.
Go out there, and the last person you are likely to meet is an archeologist!
But here is a little bit moreâŚâŚ.
Here is the chapel just to the west of Hermitage Castle. The âLadyâs Wellâ is more ore less where marked, but so overgrown that I fell into it last time I was down there!
All of that just to the west is pretty much unexplored. The house platform, and rig cultivation is another typical âLiddesdaleâ dwelling.
The âDrowning Poolâ is where the âCout of Keilderâ was allegedly held underwater by the spears of wicked Lord de Soulisâs men.
Another of Hermitage Chapel.
These are ancient turf walled field systems at âToftholm Knowesâ on the hillside south of Hermitage Castle.
And this is a piece of hillside west of Toftholm Knowes.
Iâm not sure what all of that is, but it deserves a better look.
âStellsâ (the word comes from the Vikings) those stone enclosures, round and square, to herd sheep into are often built out of the remains of stone houses, since no-one liked to carry stone far. The light brown stuff is dried out bracken.
There could be ârig marksâ i.e strip cultivation within that open sided rectangular enclosure?
(By now you will have realised that at least some of those old âreiversâ were also growing a few âveggies?â)
And this sort of thing just goes on and on.
Itâs tragic really, because given time and enthusiasm, it ought to be possible not just to locate all of those old towers and farmsteads, but also it ought to be possible to say just what families lived there. SoâŚ. If you are an Armstrong, Elliot, Nixon, Crozier etc., then you ought to be able to go and stand within the outline of the houses that your families once occupied.
But you canât.
Yet all is not lost, because the Scottish Government, in a strange fit of generosity, has made all of the old maps available, âfree gratisâ via NLS MAPS!  Now combine this with Google Maps, and without moving from your computer you can do your very own research!
Believe me, NLS Maps is one of the best resources ever. But if you want hard copy of the Pont Series on the BorderâŚ. Well, we actually do have copies for sale ourselves!
But scroll back to the map at the beginning of this post. See the two towers at the top of the frame? The ones marked âGoranberry.â Well, life is full of little surprises, because although the right hand one is gone without traceâŚâŚ. here are a couple of photoâs of what remains of the other oneâŚâŚ..
âOld Gorrenberry.â
  And itâs still liveable!
âBastle House,â Old Gorrenberry, Liddesdale.
A much altered, and considerably modernised âLiddesdale Bastle House.â (Foundations and other âlower bitsâ probably dating back to the 16th century.
(The âBastle houseâ is a sort of âeconomy versionâ of the better known and much larger âPele or Peel TowerâŚ..  Iâll try and cover all of that in a later posting.)
Friends of mine used to live here, and farmed the land. You go up them stairs, and back down again into the lower storey.
Itâs not recorded by the Historic people up in Edinburgh, but there is little doubt that this is the tower on Pontâs map.
There was a more original one at Toftholm, (on the bottom right of the Pont map.)
That wasnât recorded either. It was used as a byre, and was demolished around 25 years ago!
Anywhere else in Britain, and it wouldnât matter so much. But the people of Liddesdale are something of a âlost tribeâ (like most of the Border Surnames), and we know almost nothing about them, or their culture. And that above is probably the only remaining inhabitable âbastle houseâ in the valley.
If youâve read my earlier post âHermitage Castle, in the footsteps of the Artists,â then you will also be aware of the âGorrenberry Kelpie.â
Iâve had many a cup of coffee in that little âbastleâ and if you have a feel for such thingsâŚ.. Well all I can say is that it has an âatmosphereâwhich is second to none. (And a pleasant one at that!)
And thatâs a fine stone dwelling for 16th century Liddesdale, and proves that not everyone lived in relatively small turf houses.
That little building is precious, almost uniqueâŚâŚ..a gem well worth preserving.
11th February, 2014.
Just a small update.
Speculation?
The âbastleâ at Old Gorrenberry is just below the âdâ in âOld.â
SoooâŚâŚ I pulled up the map again, and had a look for Mosspatrickhoopswyne, and Ginglenwells, because, due to the topography of the land, there are not many locations where they could be situated.
The land falls away from âOld Gorrenberryâ both to the top and bottom of that frame. It falls to the two burns, and then rises sharply into quite considerable hills.
Remember that I said that they didnât carry stone far to build those âstells,â and that they sometimes dismantled derelict houses to do so?
Well, pull that frame up on your computer, and have a good close lookâŚ..MosspatrickhoopswyneâŚ. (some mouthful that one is)âŚ.  probably lies below, and to the left of the capital âMâ above.
And Ginglenwells, is probably below and to the right of the centre of the word itself. There could just be a rig cultivation system visible there, but on the other hand it may just be drainage.
But of courseâŚ.  you must make your own minds up.
And I have no doubt at all that some archeologist will be spluttering in their coffee over all of this!
WhateverâŚ. It looks like a good afternoon out when the weather gets fine, and I get rid of this flu!
14th of February 2104.
Still stricken down with âlurgi,â but we had to drive down to Newcastleton (Copshawholme to you initiates) yesterday to pick up some paperwork, so we decided to take the scenic route.
And this is an âon the groundâ view of âGinglenwells.â
It was a difficult drive, over higher ground than this, and we were up above the snow line for quite a way. The family played hell with me for even going out but as they saying goes⌠âyou canât keep a bad man down!â
Funny how those satellite shots flatten all of the landscape.
And I photographed this, around three hundred yards westâŚâŚ
Now, once again, that has the look of a Liddesdale dwellingâŚ.. raised groundâŚ. near streamâŚ. reasonably flatâŚ. stellâŚ.. and this one even has a track up to it. So Iâll put that one on the list as well for me âday out.â
https://www.bing.com/search?q=barbados+scots
Musical instruments. Pt. I. The Irish and Highland harps : Armstrong, Robert Bruce : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet ArchiveThe History of Liddesdale, Eskdale, Ewesdale, Wauchopedale and the ⌠â Robert Bruce Armstrong â Google Books
About â CLAN CARRUTHERS SOCIETY (USA) (clancarruthersusa.org)
  And itâs still liveable!
âBastle House,â Old Gorrenberry, Liddesdale.
Speculation?
Elwald   
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