It is a well-known fact that Sir Walter Scott was descended from Auld Wat of Harden, a notorious border Reiver, and was brought up with vivid tales of his ancestor’s daring exploits.
So when young Walter Scott decided at 21 that he, too, wanted a taste of adventure and hard-living, where else could he find it but Liddesdale?
This area, remote even now, was so much more so in the last decade of the 18th century. There were no roads, no public houses beyond Riccarton Mill and no significant settlements. Full of zeal for the unknown and romantic, Scott had as his guide his new friend, Robert Shortreed of Jedburgh, a fellow lawyer, who knew Liddesdale well.
In true Reiver tradition, Scott called his incursions into Liddesdale “raids” and made one each year for seven years between 1792 and 1799. Freed from the restrictions of his strict Presbyterian upbringing, his intensive study for law and the constraints of his family, this was a formative period in his life.
Scott had a lifelong interest in the tales and ballads of the Borders and one reason for his raids was to recover some of these for posterity – they were unwritten and had to be taken down from the singing or chanting of local folk, many of whom were illiterate.
The results of his work and that of his friends and assistants finally appeared in The Border Minstrelsy, first published in 1802. This made Scott’s name but more importantly, it is a seminal work in Scottish Literature.
Many of the ballads that appear in The Minstrelsy were collected in Liddesdale during these raids. In his novel, Guy Mannering, published in 1815, Scott introduced his own favourite male character to the world – the Liddesdale farmer, Dandie Dinmont. Now, Sir Walter Scott, played by well-known local actor John Nicol, is returning to Liddesdale to talk about his Liddesdale experiences and to read from some of his works that sprung from them.
Bob, Brandy and Ballads”, by local writer Mike Lyons, is to be performed at 7.30pm on Saturday, November 3 in Newcastleton Village Hall.
Sir Walter’s recollections and Mr Lyon’s narration will be illustrated by some dramatic views of the Liddesdale landscape and other images and hopefully spiced with one or two sung ballads.
Refreshments are available. Tickets are £6 and can be purchased at the Liddesdale Heritage Centre, (1.30-4.30pm daily except Tuesdays), or Holm Hardware in Newcastleton, or can be reserved on 01387 376771 (please leave a message) or m.lyons48@btinternet.com.