. Reminiscences of Yarrow. of hisdeparture was at hand. Soon after, on the 17th ofFebruary 1688, he suffered at Edinburgh. Notfar from Riskenhope is Chapelhope farmstead, longtenanted by the Laidlaws, maternal ancestors of theEttrick Shepherd, and celebrated in the district fortheir protection of the Covenanters. From theiraccount of the wanderings and gatherings and hair-breadth escapes of the persecuted, he drew materialsfor his beautiful and popular tale of The Brownieof Bodsbeck. The ancient towers were a feature of the valleysin the parish of Yarrow as it was, embracing theTweed with its
. Reminiscences of Yarrow. of hisdeparture was at hand. Soon after, on the 17th ofFebruary 1688, he suffered at Edinburgh. Notfar from Riskenhope is Chapelhope farmstead, longtenanted by the Laidlaws, maternal ancestors of theEttrick Shepherd, and celebrated in the district fortheir protection of the Covenanters. From theiraccount of the wanderings and gatherings and hair-breadth escapes of the persecuted, he drew materialsfor his beautiful and popular tale of The Brownieof Bodsbeck. The ancient towers were a feature of the valleysin the parish of Yarrow as it was, embracing theTweed with its tributaries, the Yarrow and the banks of each in former times was a lineof Border peels, often a zigzag one, so arranged thatone looked to another; and intelligence could betransmitted in letters of flame in an incrediblyshort space of time. They were generally in ele-vated positions, commanding a good look-out, andnear a supply of water, and, when it could beattained, with steep banks on some sides of them,. ANCIENT TOVVEKS. 253 as at Hanlen or Newark, or with a wood at Newhouse. They were worthy of preservation as memorials ofthe times, and associated with many ancient andhonourable families renowned in arts and in of them were burned down when clans were inconflict with each other; but what was allowable inthe period of Border warfare was without excuse inour times of peace. Even the grim grey ruins wereinteresting features of the landscape, and worthy ofbeing spared. Hut, worse than times destroyingsway, the ruthless hand of vandalism has swept thegreater part of them away, as standing in the way ofsome fancied improvement, or to employ the materialfor building some modern dyke or dwelling. EvenNewark Castle, the stateliest of them all, was thusdesecrated through the bad taste of the factor of theday, so recently as the beginning of this century,and the best of tlie stones from the walls and en-closing fence pulled down for the building of
Size: 1246px × 2004px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookidreminiscence, bookyear1894
