YHS archives contains a copy of the photograph shown above. It was clearly taken at the foot of Dow Brae - the slope of the road as it rises onto the bridge over the Bowmont can be seen in the background. Unfortunately we do not know the photograph's date or the names of men who are its subject. At a guess, it seems likely to have been taken around 1910, but the names of the four gadgies are probably irrecoverable, which is a great pity as the image is evocative of a lost world.
Given the anonymity of the men - and because it is hard to find another place to use this amusing anecdote - we attach a newspaper cutting from the Jedburgh Gazette, 21st March 1908. Despite the title, it is not about 'Gender Identity', but the sometimes-mysterious world of carts in Yetholm. Who knows , maybe the droll Jacob Anderson may be one of the men in the photograph ...
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The photograph shown above is one of several enigmatic images in the YHS archive. Where is it? Who does it show? When was it taken? Someone has cellotaped a label on the cardboard mount which reads (in biro): ‘Duncan Haugh Mill in the 1920s’. The location suggested here is certainly correct – the current building (see photograph below) is similarly four-square, with a porch, and with a single-storey ancillary building lying to the left. The harling has now gone, the windows changed and the porch reconfigured, but the basic structure is the same. The date suggested on the cellotaped label must, however, be wrong. The style of the clothes of the people in the centre suggests that somewhere between 1880 and 1900 would be a better guess. In that case, it seems like that the individuals who are so carefully posed behind the group of pigs(!) are members of the Gowanlock family. The 1861 census shows that at that date the tenant at Duncanhaugh was John Gowanlock, 38 - 'Miller & Farmer of 60 acres, employing 3 men and woman'. He was living with his wife Margaret, a couple of years older, and his son James, aged 8. Margaret's maiden-surname was Glass and her uncle, Thomas, was the tenant at Hayhope Farm, just a few hundred yards on the other side of the Bowmont Water. The three Gowanlocks were still there in 1881, but by that date James, aged 28, was married to Janet, 29, and the young couple had three children - Eliza, aged 4, George 2, and John, who was less than a year old. This three generational household was not to last very much longer. Grandmother Margaret died in October 1883 and grandfather John died a couple of months later in December, both were in their early 60s. Correlating this information with the people shown in the photograph would suggest that it was taken in around 1882, shortly before the deaths of John and Margaret. Our tentative identification is that James is the man holding the horse; the seated family group would then be, from left to right, John, with grandson George standing between his legs (aged about 4), then his wife Margaret, with grandson John on her lap (aged about 2), then daughter Eliza standing (aged about 6), then James's wife Janet. The (teenage?) girl standing on the far right may be a servant or a member of the family who was visiting at the time. James and Janet went on to have three more children, all daughters - Margaret Glass (b. 1883), Janet (b.1885) and Annie Glass (b. 1888). The fact that none of these girls is in the photograph helps confirm that it must have been taken in circa 1882. The presence of pigs in the foreground is clearly deliberate - they clearly wanted these animals to be recorded (along with the horse). It looks like some tasty food has been scattered on the ground to get them into position, with the hens joining in! Why would the Gowanlock's want this? Newspapers of the time suggest both father and son were proud farmers and entered a variety of animals in local shows, often winning a prize. James won prizes for his pigs on several occassions. The newspaper cutting shown below is from the Newcastle Courant, 10th August 1883 and shows that he won (or was commended?) at Berwick Show for his Berkshire sow 'Bowmont Lassie'. This is shortly before his parents died and at around the time this photograph was taken. Might 'Bowmont Lassie' be one of the portly pigs in the foreground??? The Gowanlocks - Part Two John Gowanlock was the son of James Gowanlock (born 1791, Southdean) and his wife Ann Shiel (born 1798, Oxnam). In the 1851 census it is James, his father, who is the tenant at Duncanhaugh Mill Farm. John obviously took over the tenancy at Duncanhaugh after his father left the farm in 1860 (see below). James and Ann Shiel had several other children. Their eldest son, Robert (born 1817, Hownam), was later to farm Dean Mill/Primside Dyke farms, a mile down the road from Duncanhaugh Mill, in Morebattle parish. Both of these farms have now completely disappeared. Another son, James (born 1820, Morebattle), married Helen Turnbull and was to become a baker (also grocer & spirit dealer) in Town Yetholm. There were also another three brothers and three sisters. The three brothers who remained in the Yetholm area - Robert, James and John - seem to have been ambitious and upwardly mobile. However their lives had a fair share of turmoil and tragedy. In 1851 Robert's stackyard was destroyed by fire: In 1860 James died in an horrific accident - with grim irony, given the family's later pride in 'Bowmont Lassie' - this was caused, as it were, by a pig: In the 1861 census James Gowanlock senior (aged 70, a widower) is listed as a grocer and spirit dealer in Town Yetholm. He seems to have stepped in to look after his son's business after this horrible tragedy. It is not clear when James senior died - probably not long after the census - as in 1863 his daughter-in-law Helen Turnbull is declared bankrupt. The property in which the business was housed is put up for auction in 1865/66.
None of the brothers was very long-lived. Robert died in 1869 aged only 52. John, as we have seen, died in 1883 aged 61. The younger generation was equally unfortunate. Less than ten years after the photograph of the family was taken in a sunny Duncanhaugh farmyard, daughter-in-law Janet was to die aged just 39 (in 1891), while her husband James was to die in 1904, aged just 52. The gravestone for James and Janet Gowanlock, in Yetholm kirkyard, which also memorialises two of the three children who appear with them in the photograph at the head of this blog-post, is shown below: On a dark November night in 1873, two policemen made their way along the Yetholm to Morebattle road in search of poachers. There had been reports of activity the previous night and the men were hopeful of making an arrest. Police Constable Thomas Chapman was in charge of the Yetholm district and he was supported by PC Elliot Jackson who would later rise to Inspector of Police, Head of the Kelso Division and was the recipient of the King’s Police Medal. About 300 yards west of Primside old tollhouse, they encountered a cart driven by two notorious poachers – William Blyth and John Tait. When challenged, they refused to stop and the policemen were beaten with cudgels. Despite Tait and Blyth making desperate efforts to drive off, the policemen cut the reins and hung onto the bridle and managed to lead the horse into a bank which brought it to a stop. In the ensuing struggle, both policemen were injured and the poachers made off. In the Swan Inn, John Graham was having a quiet drink when he saw Blyth and Tait enter – Blyth said: “The police have had a good thrashing tonight”. About 11 o’clock that night, Chapman caught up with Blyth and Tait accompanied by another man emerging from the Swan Inn and they boasted that they “…have the stuff sold, and are drinking the money”. Blyth and Tait were later charged and sentenced to six months in gaol. Thomas Chapman was a brave and dutiful policeman who served Yetholm and its surrounds well before transferring to Hawick where he was promoted sergeant but I wonder how many of the villagers knew that he had aspirations as a poet? He regularly sent contributions to local newspapers which were published under the nom de plume ‘Joseph’. His subject matter was largely drawn from Bowmontside along with local friends and acquaintances but he would occasionally indulge in pure flights of fancy. In 1883, he compiled a book of two hundred poems published by J & JH Rutherfurd of Kelso called: “Contentment and other poems”. This gathered ‘mixed’ reviews with the Border Advertiser waspishly remarking that: “Were the literary efforts of this work as good as the part played by the publisher, they would have much to recommend them”. Ouch! It was suggested that a good editor might have been useful but conceded that: “Mr Chapman evidently has the poetic genius”. The Hawick Express suggested that: “There is thought and freshness, as well as considerable facility of expression, in Mr JT Chapman’s unpretending little volume of poems. The inter-dependence of pain and pleasure is brought out in the verses”. Chapman was born around 1843 (his birth seemingly unregistered) in Carnwath, Lanarkshire. His father was a farm servant and, by 1861, Thomas was a servant in the house of the local Justice of the Peace. By the time of the 1871 census, he had married, had three children, joined the police and was based at Sprouston. In a court statement in July 1871, he states that he had been stationed in Yetholm about two months so we can be confident about when his association with the town began. He stayed in Yetholm for several years but, by the time of the 1881 census, he had moved with his family to Hawick. After retirement, he became a hosiery merchant until his death in November 1914. The Hawick News & Border Chronicle carried a short obituary which states that: “Mr Chapman was best known for the persistency with which, during the greater part of his life, he ‘courted the muse’. Above the nom de plume of ‘Joseph’ his effusions appeared in a number of Border newspapers”. His poetry reflects the fondness he had for friends and countryside around Yetholm. In That Day I left the Bowmontside he wistfully looks back and compares the Bowmont with the Hawick Slitrig – That day I left the Bowmontside My heart beat sad within me; Each ferny glen and rugged peak I grieved to leave behind me. The Slitrig ne’er can glad mine eye; No, it can never charm me; Oh, for the Bowmont hills sae high, The thoughts o’ them still warm me. Other paeans to the area include: Bowmontside, Green Vale of Bowmont, The Cantie Folk o’ Bowmontside and The Bowmont Hills. Fellow friends in the police force are commemorated including the Crimean veteran Sergeant David Readdie of Jedburgh. Readdie, like Chapman, pitted himself against the poachers and, on one occasion on the Teviot at Sunlaws Mill, had to be carried to the doctors at Kelso with a cleik embedded past the barb in his neck! Another colleague was Sergeant Robert Ainslie of Jedburgh who died in 1881. Thou servant of great Nature’s law – Alas! thou’st ta’en my friend awa’; From sorrow’s fount our tears ye draw, For a’ folk likit Robert. Such men as him earth ill can spare, Without him Jethart looks quite bare; The echoes o’ the court-room stair Lang for the feet of Robert. Up Castlegate the rogues he led – Of him ill-doers had a dread; But it again he’ll never tread, For in the dust lies Robert. In 1878, a farm labourer named Jacob Tait died in Kirk Yethom aged 76 and we must presume that he was a fine fiddler – Oh, take it not frae aff the wall, That fiddle nor the bow; Hush’d be it now, for cold the hand Which made the music flow. No more, my lads, will we e’er dance To the melodious strains Which often made our hearts rejoice, And blood warm in our veins. Though others wake the giddy reel Wi’ notes that please the ear, They cannot make us leap like him Whom we all loved so dear. Whene’er his fingers touched the strings, Our bosoms filled with glee; Oh! such a chield for mirth as him Again we’ll never see. William Martin of Dean Mill had been a rabbit catcher and assistant keeper at Greenhill but died tragically young at the age of 43. Chapman, in the course of his duties, would have been on friendly terms with all the gamekeepers but William’s death seems to have struck a special chord and Chapman eulogised him in a long poem from which I’ll just quote the first two verses - A mellow harp has been unstrung, And silent, too, the tuneful tongue Of him who, like a seraph, sung, And charmed us a’ by Bowmont. By that fair stream he often trod, But o’er him now’s the grassy sod, And never more with gun and rod Shall we see him by Bowmont. Postscript There is little doubt that Chapman, in his encounter with Tait and Blyth, was lucky to survive. Blyth had already been imprisoned for assault and both men were obviously determined to escape come what may - such an attitude would have tragic consequences only seven years later. In November of that year, John Taylor, a shepherd at Hethpool farm, discovered John Tait and William Blyth catching rabbits. He informed Thomas Henry Scott, the police officer at Kirknewton, and Scott met the gamekeeper Thomas Allen who happened to be on the road. The two men confronted Tait and Blyth who said that they would die before they gave the rabbits up. In the confrontation, both men hit Scott on the head with stones – Tait “as much as he could hold” and Scott fell into a burn. Not content with this, Tait continued to beat the prostrate policeman with a club and then went for the gamekeeper too. Fortunately, Allen had a gun and threatened to “put a hole through” Tait who then ran off. Scott was badly hurt but alive and Allen took him to Paston and sought medical assistance. Tragically, Scott died some days later of tetanus. Allen, the keeper, said that Tait had only just been released from a twelve month sentence for assaulting him previously. Blyth was taken into custody on the 17th November by PC Robert Thomson, stationed at Yetholm, when he said: “I wish I’d killed him; as weel hang soon as syne”. Tait and Blyth were charged with murder but were found guilty of manslaughter. Tait was given a life sentence and Blyth got ten years. In 1890, Blyth was out of prison on a ‘ticket of leave’ but left Yetholm without informing the police so was returned to prison for a month. Thank you to Ian Abernethy for contibuting this blog post.
Chapman's Contentment can be read for free on Google books - click HERE. No photograph of Chapman appears to have survived, The photograph shown in the body of the text is from the Scottish Police Medals website - click HERE. The gentleman in the centre is probably John MacDonald, Chief Constable of Hawick, 1878-1902. Chapman is listed as a policeman in Hawick in the 1881 and 1891 censuses, so he may well be one of the distinguished looking policemen gathered around their commanding officer. He was 46 in 1891, so if the photograph was taken around that date this may help to pin him down ... could he be the splendidly bearded sergeant sitting beside the Chief Constable??? As the newspaper obituary shown above indicates, Thomas Chapman was, after he moved to Hawick from Yetholm, a police sergeant 'for a considerable number of years'. The name of the dog is unrecorded! The poem from the head of the blog - Ye Glinting Stars - is from the Jedburgh Gazette, 23rd February 1884. It is not included in Contentment, which was published a year earler. It seemed fitting, given its references to the Nativity, to include it in our blog for December 2022, almost 140 years after it was written. Diane and Geoff Gittus of Kirk Yetholm have shared with us a copy of the picture shown above, which they have recently purchased. It is said to be by the famous Borders' artist Tom Scott. If this is so, then it must date from before 1927, the year of Tom's death. In the bottom left corner is the note 'at Yetholm', but if that is the case then where exactly are the buildings located which it shows? There is nothing in today's Yetholm which immediately seems to correspond with the buildings in the picture ... or is there? Rummaging through the YHS image archives there are a couple of pictures which might solve the mystery. The first, a colourised postcard, is shown below. It is a view looking down the loaning which runs up Yetholm Law, showing the buildings at the rear of the Old Brewery. For those unfamiliar with the Old Brewery the two buildings which are shown - the pantiled building on the left and the lighter-coloured building on the right - seem to be contiguous, but that is not the case. The building on the right is 30ft, or so, in front of the pantiled building. The two buildings form a partial courtyard and it is believed that there was once a now-demolished archway which led into this courtyard. Is it just coincidence that a cart can be seen tipped up in both images? Probably not, as the buildings were used in the early twentieth century as a farmyard by the Martin family. Their house was at the end of the row of thatched cottages which were later demolished and replaced by modern houses known as Deanfield Bank, but their working buildings were located in the Old Brewery. Doug Turnbull, in his memoirs in Bygone Yetholm describes how it was: The last house along the row was the home of Jim Martin and his wife Mary. I remember the sons Jim and Tom, and daughters Annie, Nina and Ruth. Annie became the mother of the Tokely family. Across the way were the outhouses and byre where the cows were milked daily. The main buildings which comprised their farm were at the Old Brewery. The stable was there and another byre, with other buildings housing cattle and pigs, and there was also storage for hay and fodder ... A more detailed comparison of the two buildings (above) shows that, although there are some minor differences, the configuration of an arch, a door and window are the same. The roof in the painting looks, at first sight, as if it may be thatched, but the edge of the roof is scalloped, indicating that pantiles, as shown in the photograph, are actually intended. A final piece of evidence that strongly suggests that the painting shows the Martin farmyard is provided by the photograph shown below, recently given to YHS by the Tokeley family. It shows James Martin in his cart (the same one shown in the painting?) circa 1910. The horse is decked out in in an array of fine brasses, so presumably it was taken shortly before Yetholm Show. The buildings in the background can be correlated with those shown in the painting - the pantiled roof of the building with the arch is clear, but note also the flat-roofed building with a doorway, on the left, and then, behind it, another pantiled roof. These are the same buildings that are to be seen on the left of the painting. The Old Brewery is currently unused. At some point the building with the archway shown in the painting was demolished, leaving only the rear wall standing. A lean-to shelter was then constructed, roofed with corrugated iron. The situation today is shown in the photographs below - the green sliding doors on the building on the right were installed when it was used as a garage. YHS has a copy of another image (below) of the Old Brewery, as it once was. It was given to us by Francis Christie and drawn by 'J Thomson', who was obviously known to Francis. It is a slightly broader image and shows the thatched roofs of the houses that were demolished to makeway for Deanfield Bank, in the end one of which the Martin family lived.
During the nineteenth-century towns and villages throughout Britain clubbed together to create Reading Rooms - lending libraries - for the benefit of the community. Yetholm was no different. In nearby Donaldson's Lodge a small building was purpose built to house the community library. It is still standing, with a neat fireplace in one wall, but abandoned and strewn with rubbish. Yetholm, although a much bigger village, does not seem to have been as ambitious and its 'Reading Rooms' seem to have been peripatetic. At one point the books were housed in the house called Montana, next to Gibson's Garage. In it's latter years it seems to have been housed in the school, where it was managed by the redoubtable Tibbie Herbert. When it closed, and what happened to the books, is a mystery. The poster shown above dates from 1910 and seems to mark an attempt to inject new life into the project. An account of the 'Conversazione' is given below (from the Southern Reporter, 27th October 1910). Dr Rodgers, who presides, gives some useful background information about the history of the Reading Room, although even he seems a little unsure about its origins. It is interesting that gentlemen were charged a shilling to attend the ball, which followed the conversazione - while ladies got in free (and no children)! Dr Rodgers lived in Romany House, which was built for him as a wedding present. Miss Downs, the pianist, was the schoolmistress at Mowhaugh. 'Miss Rebecca Downs' is listed as schoolmistress there in the 1903 Slater's Directory. She lived with her widowed mother. In 1917, in her mid-40s, she married William Tait, a farmer at Middleton Hall, near Wooler. At that time it was expected a married woman would not continue in work. When she duly left Mowhaugh she was presented with a 'handsome silver tea service' by members of the library based in the schoolhouse there. From the report of the event (Jedburgh Gazette 20th April 1917) we can see that she had for many years been secretary and treasurer of that remote Reading Room. In many ways we are better informed about efforts at self-improvement at Mowhaugh than we are at Yetholm. In the 1870s, for example, the teacher (and poet) there, Mr Henry Telfer, established a 'Mutual Improvement Association'. Below are a couple of newspaper reports about his efforts. The first (Kelso Chronicle, 11th August 1871) gives us some idea of the kind of books which the Mowhaugh library contained, presumably similar to those on offer in Yetholm, while the second (Kelso Chronicle, 10th November 1871) suggests that, as with Yetholm, efforts to improve the intellects of locals did not always meet with total enthusiasm (especially when 'members had a long way to come' - by foot, over rough moorland!). Hopefully the 'Conversazione' of 1910 was a convivial and successful event. All who have attended the ball have long since passed away, though we do - probably - have a picture of Mary Anne Rebecca Downs (1873-1950). Several photographs of the Mowhaugh School, with pupils and teacher, have survived, from the early decades of the twentieth century. The female teacher is nearly always shown with a pet pony, as in the image below, sometimes with a pupil perched on its back. It looks like Miss Downs, as well as encouraging reading and writing among the children of the Bowmont valley, liked to give her charges some fun as well.
The photograph above shows the lovely cottages called Broomieknowe, which once stood on the Yetholm to Kelso road, close to Thirlestane. Unfortunately all three cottages were destroyed by a fire in 1933, apparently as a consequence of a spark from a passing traction-engine - see the report below from the Berwick Advertiser of the 30th March 1933: The position of these cottages can be seen on the map below (left). The ground in that area is low-lying and rather boggy. The Roy Military Map from the mid-eighteenth century shows a settlement called 'Wett Shode' between Thirlestane and Lochtower (below, right). The positioning of settlements on the Roy map is rather imprecise, so it is difficult to be confident about the location of this mysterious place. However, the name 'Wett Shode' (eg 'Wet Shod') sounds like one of those jokey names, like 'Seefew' down the Bowmont valley, presumably indicating that it's inhabitants frequently experienced wet feet. It may well have been an earlier version of the more recent 'Broomieknowe', with its more picturesque name. Nothing at all can be seen of the cottages today.
The Plough Inn of Town Yetholm has a long history and is still in operation today. It is also a familiar presence in numerous postcard images of the village, as it is prominently sited along the High Street. However there was also once a Plough Inn in Kirk Yetholm. This hostelry has been almost entirely forgotten and, despite the fact that it was a large building which once dominated the lower village green, no images of it appear to have survived. Kirk Yetholm's Plough can be seen in the first Ordnance Survey (left) - it is the large L-shaped building which takes up a large area of the lower green. The familiar Border Hotel of today is called, at this date (1858), the 'Gray Horse'. We know that this survey was made in c. 1858 as the Kelso Chronicle (26th November) reports that on the 16th October of that year 'Andw. Douglas and Matthew Douglas, muggers in Yetholm, pled guilty to committing a dastardly and savage assault upon a young man named Richard Dawson, engaged on the Ordnance Survey, in front of the Cross Keys Inn, in Kirk Yetholm.' Why the two gipsies took against young Dawson is unexplained but they were both fined 40s. The reason for the absence of any visual record of Kirk Yetholm's Plough is because of it's site. Visiting photographers either took their photograph while standing near the Gipsy Palace, looking down the green, but the Plough was then obscured by the line of cottages that made up Tinkler's Row. Alternatively they stood outside the Border Hotel and photographed along the High Street, in which case the Plough did not feature either. However the appearance of the of the mysterious Plough can be solved by a close look at the postcard shown at the top of the page.
However, the most remarkable revelation is that of the lost Plough Inn, which is shown below: The two-storey Cross Keys Inn still survives, although now a private house, but the lost ensemble of buildings which formed the Plough are even more substantial. Part of the group seems to consist of an older thatched cottage, with its steeply pitched roof, but the core building is very large, with tiled roof and bulky chimney-stacks. When it was built, presumably in the first half of the nineteenth century, it must have towered over the small thatched cottages that ringed the green at that date. Even when other two storey buildings were gradually constructed it must have formed quite a domineering presence to visitors travelling along the Main Street - despite the fact that it never seems to have been specifically photographed. Who could have invested in and built this large hostelry - if, indeed, that is what it was when first constructed? The answer to this question is lost in the mists in time, but we do know something about the innkeepers who lived and worked there. The 1841 census shows that at that date the proprietor was Thomas Richardson, 60, described as 'Sp[irit] Deal[er]', along with his wife, Jane. Also living in the Plough was his daughter, Jane, and son-in-law, William Mitchell, a 'Carter or Ag[ricultural] Lab[ourer]' and their three month old son. The Mitchells later erected a gravestone in Yetholm kirkyard to commemorate their own immediate family, but it also mentions Jane Richardson. From the information on the gravestone we know that Jane Richardson died in 1867. This leads us to her death certificate which at that date, usefully, names her parents - William Cochrane, a shepherd, and Jane Tait. Knowing her maiden name allows us to pinpoint her marriage, in May 1813 in Rothbury, to Thomas Richardson which, in turn, leads to something of an enigma ... Jane 'Cochron'/Richardson was obviously local to north-Northumberland - in the 1851 census she gives her birthplace as Learmouth, which is just over the border from Yetholm. Thomas, on the other hand, despite his northern-British surname, gives his home parish as 'North Lynn, Norfolk'. Moreover, the newly married couple obviously went to Norfolk soon after the wedding, as their daughter Jane, was baptised in the parish of West Lynn on 22nd May 1814. Her father's occupation is given as 'Labourer'. In the 1851 daughter Jane confirms that this baptism record is hers, as she gives her birthplace as 'Lynn, Norfolk'. One wonders how the relationship between Jane Cochrane and Thomas Richardson came about. It is very unusual, at this date, for people in north-Northumberland/Roxburghshire to have anything to do with folks from Norfolk. Another intriguing issue is that one of the witnesses to the 1813 wedding is Robert Dunn. Given Thomas's later occupation as innkeeper one wonders whether this might be 'Bob Dunn' of Bushy Gap, near Rothbury, who is named as one of the gin smugglers in a song which has a number of links with Yetholm - ? There's no way of knowing, unfortunately, and we also don't know when Thomas and Jane abandonned life in Norfolk and came and settled in Yetholm. Thomas is not listed as an innkeeper in Pigot's Directory of 1825 or 1837, so they may have arrived just before the 1841 census. By 1851 Thomas had died and Jane is now listed as the innkeeper of the Plough. Her daughter's family is also still resident with her - there are now five children. William Mitchell gives his occupation as 'Carter, also farms about 10 acres'. In 1861 Jane is again listed as the innkeeper and the Mitchells are still living with her. In 1871 Jane, as we have noted has died, but son-in-law William Mitchell has taken over. He gives his occupation as 'Innkeeper, carter and crofter'. In 1881 and 1891 William and Jane Mitchell are still resident in the property, but William no longer describes himself as an innkeeper. It seems likely, in fact, that the Plough closed it's doors soon after the 1871 census. Newspaper reports seldom mention the Plough Inn in Kirk Yetholm. It's namesake in Town Yetholm seems to have been much busier, with the angling club or political parties holding their meetings there. However, in 1871 William Mitchell of the Plough in Kirk Yetholm is charged with selling 'excisable liquors' after 11pm. William admitted the offense but claimed that in his thirty years as an innkeeper this was the first time it had happened - and that he had done it because of medical need. As this was a first offence, he was merely fined (Kelso Chronicle, 15th December 1871). Unfortunately, a year later he found himself again in court when he was accused of selling alcohol on a Sunday to three Irish reapers, who were working at the time at Venchen Farm. Mitchell tried to claim that he though the men were bona fide travellers (which was allowed), but Sergeant Gordon testified he had two similar convictions in the past year so the magistrates fined him and revoked his certificate (Kelso Chronicle 11th October 1872). If the Plough did indeed close as a business at this point, Mitchell continued to live in the premises, confining himself presumably to farming and carting. What happened after his death on Christmas day 1893 (not 1895, as stated in BFHS guide to Yetholm's kirkyard memorials), a little less than a year after his wife's death, is unclear. Someone may have continued to have inhabited the building after that date, though the gravestone in Yetholm kirkyard shows that several of his children pre-deceased him One, John, is said to have died in Edinburgh in 1921. It is John who registers his father's death in late December 1893. There is one other photograph which shows a trace of the building. This card , typically, shows a view down the village green, but for once we catch a glimpse of the corner of the building. The presence of cars in this photograph suggests it may have been taken c.1910: Possibly John Mitchell , who died in 1921, was the owner of the property, but he didn't reside in Yetholm. By 1930 it seems to have been derelict and local people petitioned for its demolition (Southern Reporter, 9th October 1930):
Yetholm History Society is extremely grateful to Lesley Abernethy who has given to the Society three original cartes-de-visite of Queen Esther, as well as an original glass-lantern slide of the Gipsy Palace.
The three cartes-de-visite are shown above. It is fascinating to hold these images in one's hand - and to see them in their original size: 2½ inches by 4 inches. Esther was an accomplished self-publicist and had many of these produced to give to visitors to the palace. No doubt she was duly rewarded. If she had been alive today she would no doubt have had her own TicTok, Facebook and Instagram accounts and have delighted in taking hundreds of selfies. She presents herself, usually, in two roles - either as a wandering gipsy, a latter-day 'Meg Merrilees', or as a Royal Gipsy Queen. The two outer examples in the photograph above show her in wandering gipsy mode. The central image can be seen in more detail below (left - click on image to see a larger version). We are very fortunate to have been given this image as it seems to be a unique survival. It was taken by the photographer Macintosh of Kelso and is unlabelled. However, it is quite clearly Esther - an identification which is confirmed by the fact that it shows her in the royal robes of the Gipsy Queen, in which she can also be seen in another more familiar self-publicising image - below (right). Note, in addition to the crown, the black band which can be seen on her sleeve in both pictures. Esther would, if you were fortunate, display her coronation robes to visitors to the palace. In the image on the right she is shown in her full regal splendour, with the royal sword propped against a nearby table. In the new image she looks slightly more bedraggled and some of her clothes are less impressive - more like, in fact, the kind of thing she wore when posing as a wandering gipsy. Her lower skirt is a more workaday item and note that, in contrast to the image on the right, she is not wearing the mocassins that were sent from America by a nephew, but a pair of sturdy walking boots. It is as if she is presenting herself as a cross between a Gipsy Queen and Meg Merrilees. Or maybe she was just getting old and some of the origal costume had become moth-eaten or lost when she moved to Kelso - ? It seems likely the new image was taken in the late 1870s or early 1880s - Esther died in Kelso in 1883 - see HERE. Many thanks - again - to Lesley for donating these items to Yetholm History Society. On June 13th 1703 the Yetholm kirk session met and decided on the above 'Act against swine feeding in the kirkyard': 'The session finding that the Kirkyard is frequented by swine and considering how unsuitable and dangerous this is; do unanimouslie onnact that no swine go therein and that the Beddel exact 12 pence for every sow he finds and this to be publickly Intimate'. The kirk session no longer has any control over the upkeep of the kirkyard - it is now the responsibility of the Scottish Borders Council, who periodically inspect the area, apply a 'hand-pressure test' to each stone and then tip over any deemed a threat to the health and safety of the public. These efforts aren't universally appreciated, though they also cut the grass and keep things relatively neat and tidy. The council's health-and-safety inspections have most impact on the larger and grander gravestones, which are constructed from several pieces of stone and are liable to come apart over time. As already noticed in a previous blog, the gravestone of Andrew Richardson Blythe, a significant benefactor of the church and community, suffered this fate - although it has now been splendidly resurrected - see HERE. Other figures from Yetholm's history, who were once prominent members of the community, have also had their monuments tipped over. This has happened to the stones of several church ministers. The photograph below shows the memorial stone of the Rev. John Hastie, minister of the Free Church on Dow Brae, who died in 1863. His monument stood for over 150 years, but has recently been taken down. The photograph on the left was taken in 2018, the one on the right a few weeks ago. Reverend Hastie's death took place in 1863 and was reported on in the Kelso Chronicle (10th July 1863), at length and in a style long since abandonned by local newspapers: It is interesting that, despite ecclesiastical dispute and division, the ministers of the three presbyterian churches which were (very) active in Yetholm at that time, would join, together with their congregations, for 'Union Prayer Meetings' - 'a beautiful example of brotherly love'. The Kelso Chronicle obituary then goes on to remind readers that the early 1860s had seen successive deaths among the clergy of Yetholm. The Rev. Baird of the Established church had died in November 1861 and the Rev. Hume of the United Presbyterian church (which met in what is now the Wauchope Hall) died in December 1861. Then, to the obvious shock of the community, the Rev. Ebenezer Whyte, the young replacement minister to the long-serving Rev. Hume, died within days of the Rev. Hastie. His obituary in the Kelso Chronicle immediately follows that of the Rev. Hastie, shown above. The Rev. Walter Hume had served for 44 years as minister of the UP congregation. Latterly, in frail health, he was assisted by the Rev. Whyte, to took charge after the Rev. Hume died. Whyte only served for two years as minister. The two men were commemorated by a joint memorial stone on the wall of their church - shown in the photograph below. This stone was removed when the building became the Wauchope Hall and placed in the garden of the house that had been the UP manse. It now belongs to the History Society and is simply propped against the wall of the old Mission Hall/Heritage Centre. We need to find a more permanent way of displaying the stone, although it is too heavy to put on the wall (and there is no space!): However, the grave memorial that is perhaps most shockingly derelict is that of the Rev. John Baird, the minister of the Established church. Baird, more than anyone else, had a profound influence on the built environment of Yetholm. Under his energetic influence a splendid new bridge replaced the rickety wooden footbridge that joined Kirk- to Town Yetholm, a new schoolhouse was built (now the Youth Hostel) and a state-of-the-art church built on the site of the picturesque, but dilapidated, old kirk. John Baird came from a relatively privileged clerical background, but his life was not without its tragedies. He married Margaret Oliver (b.1813), daughter of Robert Oliver of Blakelaw, in 1833. They had two daughters, Margaret (1834) and Sarah (1836), but his wife died in September 1837 aged just 24. The 1841 census shows him living the manse, along with his unmarried sister Elizabeth, who presumably acted as a surrogate mother. Then, tragically, the two young girls died a few years later – Margaret in 1845 aged nine and Sarah in 1846 aged ten. In 1849 he married for the second time. Elizabeth (Bessie) Hughes was from Ireland. They had four children – James Oliver (1852), Anna Margaret (1853), Nathaniel Hughes (1855), Sarah Mary (1860). John himself died on 29th November 1861 of ‘Hepatic disease’, when his youngest daughter was less than a year old. His health had been ‘precarious’ for a while and he had visited Ireland in the Summer before he died, but this trip was ‘not attended by any improvement’. He was 62 years old. As he lay dying he could hear the sound of the coronation festivities for the gipsy Queen Esther in the distance. The current council maintainance regime ensures the grass in the kirkyard is cut short - and, as already noted, that monuments deemed unstable are tipped over. However the grass cutting efforts are relatively rough-and-ready. Many monuments are left covered in ivy or have tree saplings starting to grow from their base. In some ways the situation of family enclosures is the most neglected of all. The council motor-mower is unable to get in and they are left to turn into a jungle. This is the case of the enclosure for the Baird family (and of that of his predecessor the Rev. Blackie, which is adjacent). It is now very badly overgrown: After hacking one's way through the undergrowth and then removing the ivy, the neat slate stones that commemorate Baird and his family are eventually revealed. There are three stones altogether - shown below is the one which the Rev. Baird erected for his first wife, her sister and their two young daughters. His name added at the end: Baird is the earliest minister for whom we have a photograph. In those days carte-de-visites showing prominent kirk ministers were offered for sale to the general public - times have changed, only film stars and tiktok personalities get that kind of adulation today! Mrs Wilson, 'Bookseller and Stationer' of Kelso, advertised several such clerical portraits in the Kelso Chronicle of 1864, including one of of the Rev. Ebeneezer Whyte, although no known copy of this survives. The portrait of the Rev. John Baird shown below is probably a copy of the one which she also advertises for sale: "Christ is All"
Yetholm History Society is delighted to have recently received from Jenni Smith, of Huntsman’s Cottage, the colourful mug shown above. Our Heritage Centre has limited space, so we don’t collect or display many objects – our collecting policy is that anything we accept must have a connection with Yetholm or the Bowmont Valley. At first sight the mug can’t have any link with Yetholm. We are, after all, over twenty miles from the sea. However if the mug is turned around the following text appears; ‘A Present from Kirk Yetholm’. It will make a nice companion piece to the Kirk Yetholm cup-and-saucer which were donated to the society by Betty Mallen (see below - currently on display in the Heritage Centre). All of these items probably date to the early years of the twentieth-century, when Yetholm was growing as a local tourist destination. Wealthy people had holidayed in the area since the early nineteenth-century – shooting was popular with gentelmen. With the coming of the railway to Mindrum, opened in the 1880s, humbler folk from the Central Belt and Tyneside came to lodge for a week in the summer with locals. Many visitors went to the Gipsy Royal Palace in Kirk Yetholm, where they were entertained by conversation with the monarch and a display of coronation regalia. Even after the death of the last king, in 1902, Yetholm remained the ‘Gipsy Capital’ in popular imagination - this association is reflected in the cup-and-saucer, which shows the Gipsy Palace in Kirk Yetholm. Why, then, does the mug given to us by Jenni show an image of the seaside? A scoot round the internet shows several similar cups and mugs for sale. Some have no images on them, just the message – ‘A Present from…’ Others, as with our cup-and-saucer, show an image from the place concerned. Many are from well-known resorts, as with mug from the Crystal Palace (below left), which has similar lettering to ours, but some are from quite small villages, like Yetholm. The image below right is taken from the blog of Market Lavington Museum*. I’m sorry to say that I had never heard of the place or knew where it was – probably the people of Market Lavington are in equal ignorance about Yetholm – but it too seems to have been something of a tourist destination at the time. Clearly such items could be ordered from manufacturers, who would customize their designs for the vendor who placed the order. Looking closely at the Yetholm mug it is clear that the type used to print ‘Kirk Yetholm’ is slightly different from the type used for ‘A Present from…’ But whether it was the vendor or the manufacturer who, in this case, chose the image is unknown. It must have been confusing for whoever received this present, if they didn’t know the area, to associate Yetholm with a day on the beach! And what did the locals make of it – most children in the village only saw the beach once a year, if they were lucky, when the population departed en masse for the annual Spittal Trip.
Whatever the case, having now viewed several similar souvenirs from the period online, I think it is fair to saw that this Yetholm example is one of the most charming! *See HERE. Market Lavington is in Wiltshire on the northern edge of the Salisbury Plain. It has to be admitted, as is clear from the image, that Market Lavington is a rather more substantial place than Yetholm. |
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