Sir Walter Scott tells us in the 'Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border' that 'in a deserted burial place, which once surrounded the chapel of the castle (the Tower of Henderland), the monument of Cockburne and his lady are still shown. It is a large stone broken in three parts; but some armorial bearings may yet be seen and the following inscription is still legible, though defaced:-
HERE LYES PERYS OF COKBURNE AND HIS WYFE MARJORY.
The table-topped grave can still be seen on a little knoll of a hill in what was the churchyard of the Tower.
Following the deaths of Johnnie Armstrong and his followers emotions ran high and truth ran second best to fact; an approach handed down to the writers of Scottish Border history of the nineteenth century, including the rightly well-respected Sir Walter.
Perys Cokburne was not the William Cockburne who suffered at the hands of JamesV. Neither Adam Scott 'King of Thieves' nor William Cockburne were summarily despatched within the confines of their own Towers. Rather they were taken to Edinburgh, tried and beheaded.
Robert Pitcairn (1797 – 1855) compiled the documents which recorded the fate of the Border Reivers who were tried and executed. The compilation is known as 'Pitcairn's Criminal Trials'.
For 1530 he records the following:-
William Cokburne of Henderland, Convicted (in presence of the King) of High Treason committed by him, in bringing Alexander Forester and his son, Englishmen, to the plundering of Archibald Someruile: And for treasonably bringing certain Englishmen to the lands of Glenquhome: And for common Theft, common Reset of Theft, outputting and inputting thereof – SENTENCE. For which causes and crimes he has forfeited his life, lands, and goods, moveable and immoveable; which shall be escheated to the King.- BEHEADED.
ADAM SCOTT of Tuschelaw, convicted of art and part of theftuously taking blackmail from the time of his entry within the castle of Edinburgh, in ward, of John Browne in Hopprow; and of art and part of theftuously taking blackmail of Andrew Thorbrand and William his brother: and of theftuously taking blackmail from the poor tenants of Hopcailzow: and of theftuously taking blackmail from the tenants of Eschescheill: BEHEADED.
Cockburne, it would seem, was convicted for his alliance with Englishmen which, under the Border Law, was treason, Scott for blackmail which was probably the least of his crimes.
And what of the Border Widow?
One of the most evocative of the Border Ballads is that of the 'Lament of the Border Widow'. It has always been associated with the death of William Cockeburne following his capture by James V. Although this is historically impossible, it admirably portrays the emotion, the futility, isolation and sorrow which followed many a death in the days of the Reivers.
A BORDER WIDOW'S LAMENT.
My love he built me a bonny bower,
And clad it a' wi' lilye flour (all) (flower)
A brawer bower ye ne'er did see,
Than my true love he built for me.
There came a man, by middle day,
He spied his sport and went away;
And brought the king that very night,
Who brake my bower, and slew my knight. (broke)
He slew my knight, to me sae dear; (so)
He slew my knight and poin'd his gear; ( escheated to the king)
My servants all did life for flee,
And left me in extremitie.
I sew'd his sheet, making my mane, (grieving and crying)
I watch'd the corpse myself alane (alone)
I watch'd his body night and day;
No living creature came that way.
I took his body on my back,
And whiles I gaed and whiles I sat; (moved, went)
I digged a grave, and laid him in,
And happ'd him with the sod sae green. (covered) (so)
But think not ye my heart was sair, (sore)
When I laid the moule on his yellow hair? (soil)
O think na ye my heart was wae (weary)
When I turn'd about, away to gae? (go)
Nae living man I'll love again, (no)
Since that my lovely knight was slain,
Wi' a lock of his yellow hair,
I'll chain my heart for evermair.
In the reiving times, the 13th to the 17th centuries, the Scottish English Border was a land in turmoil. Endless confrontation and bloody feud spawned a people who were hard both mentally and physically. The 'Lament of the Border Widow' shows another side of the relentless strife which dominated the land of which little is said. Sadness and sorrow followed in its wake.
Scottish Monsters
Nessie! She has to be one of the worlds most famous monsters. Rival to Bigfoot and the Kraken there can't be many people in the English speaking world who don't know who she is. But what of the other Scottish monsters? Many others have been told to roam our land; from kelpies, mermaids and fairy folk to the dreaded Linton Worm. Hear about the many strange creatures that populated Scotland through the mists of time.
Morag The Monster
By Rodger Moffet
"As we were sailing down the loch in my boat we were suddenly disturbed and frightened by a thing that surfaced behind us. We watched it catch us up then bump into the side of the boat, the impact sent a kettle of water I was heating onto the floor. I ran into the cabin to turn the gas off as the water had put the flame out. Then I came out of the cabin to see my mate trying to fend the beast off with an oar, to me he was wasting his time. Then when I seen the oar break I grabbed my rifle and quickly putting a bullet in it fired in the direction of the beast.. Then I watched it slowly sink away from the boat and that was the last I seed of it."
This startling account of an encounter with a strange creature was written in 1969 by William Simpson
You may be forgiven for assuming that this was one of the many tales written about 'Nessie', the Loch Ness Monster, but you would be mistaken, what many people don't know is that Nessie is not alone, she in fact has a sister called Morag. Now having a sister called Morag isn't unusual, I've got one but mine doesn't live in a loch and attack small boats!
Morag (the monster) lives in Loch Morar an inland loch around 70 miles to the southwest of Loch Ness. Separated from the sea by only a quarter of a mile it is much smaller than Loch Ness at only 11 Miles long by around a mile and a half wide. Nevertheless its a large enough body of water to hold a secret. Several accounts exist of strange disappearances on the loch, the cold water can swallow a body never to be given up. Recently large bones were pulled up from a spot near the centre of the loch. At first they were thought to be the bones on Morag (or another of her relatives) but investigation found them to be from a deer. Intriguing how a deer could find itself washed into the centre of the loch, maybe it had come down to the loch side for a drink only to be snatched from the bank by Morag!
Sightings of Morag are rare and photographs rarer still, partly this is due to the situation of the loch, far more remote than Loch Ness with only a small single track road for access at one side, also the tourist industry has not capitalised on Morag they way it has with Nessie so less numbers at the loch lead to less sightings.
Although there had long been a tradition that something resided in the loch, recorded sightings only began in the 1800s and have numbered around 30-40, however many of these sightings had multiple witnesses and were far more dramatic as the account above can testify.
From the sightings so far the creature does appear very similar to Nessie, having a small head, long neck and large body similar to a plesiosaur but with the ability to raise its head out of the water. Another sighting in 1968 by John MacVarish, barman at the Morar Hotel confirms this:
"I saw this thing coming. I thought it was a man standing in a boat but as it got nearer I saw it was something coming out of the water. I tried to get up close to it with the outboard out of the water and what I saw was a long neck five or six feet out of the water with a small head on it, dark in colour, coming quite slowly down the loch. When I got to about 300 yards of it, it turn
ed off into the deep and just settled down slowly into the loch out of sight. The neck was about one and a half feet in diameter and tapered up to between ten inches and a foot. I never saw any features, no eyes or anything like that. It was a snake like head, very small compared to the size of the neck-flattish, a flat type of head. It seemed to have very smooth skin but at 300 yards it's difficult to tell. It was very dark, nearly black. It was 10am, dead calm, no wind, brilliant sunshine. I saw it for about ten minuets travelling very slowly: it didn't alter its angle to the water. It looked as if it was paddling itself along. There was very little movement from the water, just a small streak from the neck. I couldn't really see what was propelling it but I think it was something at the sides rather than behind it."
The number of encounters was such that the Loch Ness Investigation Bureau expanded its search to include Loch Morar in February of 1970. Several studies have been undertaken, however she is a far more elusive creature than her sister and very little evidence has been recorded by the teams, nevertheless the eyewitness accounts exist; from small boys on holiday from Yorkshire up to Sir John Hope (Lord Glendevon) a privy councillor and undersecretary of state for Scotland.
So how did Morag come to find her way into the loch? Well as many theories exist as there are sightings. If her ancestors came into the loch from the sea this would have been possible as sea levels were high enough at times for the loch to have been easily reached from the sea, there is also a theory that some mysterious underground tunnel exists between Loch Ness and Loch Morar both of which lie on the same geological fault line known as the Great Glen. It could be that Morag and Nessie are one and the same or at least they pop up and down to visit for tea and a chat now and again. Maybe swapping stories about how many fishermen they've had 'keech their breeks' that week!
Other Scottish Lochs are also said to harbour strange creatures: Among these are Loch Lochy, Loch Arkaig, Loch Oich, Loch Linnhe, Loch Quoich, and Loch Shiel. Although Nessie is by far and away our most famous 'beastie' Morag deserves recognition too. Just remember the next time you are planning a wee paddle while on holiday in the highlands in the crystal clear Loch you have just discovered, that might not just be a few wee fishes nibbling your toes!
The Fear Liath
By Rodger Moffet
The year was 1890 and John Norman Collie, a respected scientist and explorer was walking in the Cairngorms. This area now popular with tourists, mountaineers and skiers was an even more desolate and unexplored spot back then. As he approached the summit of Ben MacDhui, The highest peak in this range and the second highest in Scotland (1309 meters or 4296 feet) he was enveloped by a thick mist that reduced his visibility. While in this eerie mist he had an experience that so terrified him that he did not speak a word of it until 35 years later!
At the 1925 Annual General Meeting of the Cairngorm Club he finally broke his silence:
"I was returning from the cairn on the summit in a mist when I began to think I heard something else than merely the noise of my own footsteps. For every few steps I heard a crunch, and then another crunch as if someone was walking after me but taking steps three or four times the length of my own. I said to myself this is all nonsense. I listened and heard it again but could see nothing in the mist. As I walked on and the eerie crunch, crunch sounded behind me I was seized with terror and took to my heels, staggering blindly among the boulders for four or five miles nearly down to Rothiemurchus Forest. Whatever you make of it I do not know, but there is something very queer about the top of Ben Macdhui and I will not go back there myself I know."
Having broken his silence Collie discovered that he was not the only person who had experienced something terrifying on these slopes. He received letters from other climbers who had also had this feeling of terror or in some cases who had seen a large dark shape coming towards them on the mountain. This sinister creature has become known as the "Fear Liath" or "Am Fear Liath Mòr" (also known as The Big Grey Man of Ben MacDhui).
In another account from 1943 mountaineer Alexander Tewnion claimed that he had actually shot at a creature with his revolver. He had been climbing Ben MacDhui when a thick mist descended so he descended by the Coire Etchachan path. He heard footsteps nearby and remembering the account from professor Collie he peered cautiously into the mist. A strange shape loomed up and came charging towards him. Pulling out his gun he fired three times and then turned and ran towards Glen Derry.
From the few descriptions of the creature he is said to be quite large and broad shouldered, standing fully erect and over 10 feet tall, with long waving arms. He is also described as having an olive complexion or, alternatively, covered with short brown hair. However, in the majority of cases the creature is only heard or sensed among the high passes of the mountain. He is most often seen just below the skyline near the Lairg Ghru Pass, walkers who sense his presence are almost always overwhelmed with a sense of dread or terror. In some cases the feeling becomes so intense that walkers are drawn to the dangerous cliff edges almost preparing to throw themselves into the abyss, some say that the he is trying to send climbers over the edge of a precipitous drop at Lurcher's Crag.
These descriptions are very interesting as they are very similar to the reported sightings and accompanying feelings reported in North America by those who have witnessed the 'Sasquatch' or 'Big Foot'.
One explanation for the sightings could be an atmospheric phenomenon known as a 'Brocken Spectre'. Named after a mountain in Germany it occurs when the sun at a low angle casts a persons shadow on low lying cloud or mist. However not all sightings could be attributed to optical illusions and the sense of panic and sounds of footsteps were less easy to explain away. Some research has uncovered other sites where this 'mountain panic' has been recorded: Three of these are on the Isle of Skye and other sites have been found at Bennachie near Aberdeen and Allt Innis a'Mhuill, Glen Strathfarrar. There are also sites in England and Wales where walkers have been overwhelmed with feelings of dread.
Whether these feelings sounds and sightings are down to psychological or optical phenomena is hard to prove however one thing is for sure - the climbers who scale this ghostly mountain keep their ears tuned for the sound of the Grey Man of Ben Macdhui stalking them through the mist!
The Loch Ness Monster
By Rodger Moffet
Returning to Iona from his mission to Christianise the Picts, Saint Columba approached one of the crossing points of the River Ness. There was a small settlement here, and a group of people were digging a grave for a newly dead man. When Columba asked how the man had died he was told he had been killed by a monster who lived in the loch.
This interested the saint but did not seem to worry him, for he let one of his monks, Lugne Mocumin, swim across the Ness to fetch a boat which bobbed against the opposite bank. Celtic monks were a hardy breed and Lugne cheerfully leaped into the water and began to swim to the boat. He was about halfway across when the monster reappeared.
Columba, however, was equal to any monster. 'The blessed man raised his holy hand,' Adamnan, his biographer, wrote, 'while all the rest were stupefied with terror, and commanded the monster, saying: "Thou shalt go no further nor touch the man. Go back with all speed!" As extra insurance, the saint made the sign of the cross. That was enough for the monster: it fled.
It is over 70 years since the spate of recent sightings began, or at least since the monster became popular in the public imagination. Perhaps the advent of tourism has something to do with it, or the increased use of media coverage so that what was once of purely local importance has become widely known.
If there seems a lot of fuss generated about the possible existence of an unidentified animal in an otherwise obscure Scottish loch, maybe it is better to concentrate on something interesting, unimportant and romantic than on the relentless realities of the world.
It was in spring 1933 that a local couple saw something like a whale on the waters of Loch Ness. The Inverness Courier reported a 'Strange Spectacle on Loch
Ness' and from there on Nessie has never looked back. That same year the term 'Loch Ness Monster' was used, and so the legend was born, or reborn, as the case may be. Every year now, people gather at the lochside, hoping for a glimpse of the supposed monster. Some are lucky, most are not.
At 24 miles long and about one mile wide, Loch Ness has not a huge area of surface water in which to hide a monster, less so a family of monsters. However the loch is deep: about 700 feet on average and far deeper in places; in fact, the loch is so deep it has never been known to freeze. At its widest and deepest point, where the ruined medieval Urquhart Castle presides over the dark water, Nessie most often surfaces. Here the mountains subside and Glen Urquhart gouges deep into the land, a natural lay-by for Nessie.
There is a dramatic photograph of something on the loch around here, with the shattered keep of Urquhart providing both scale and evidence of place. A tree branch perhaps? Or the wake of a boat? Perhaps - and perhaps not.
Not only simple cameras have been used to record the presence of something unusual in the loch. Many types of electronic gadgetry have been used, including sonar, radar scanning and mini-submarines, but all the results seem to have been inconclusive. Vague shapes, formless shadows in murky waters, the detection of what could be a shoal of fish - or something else.
Scottish Myths and Legends Page 8