Skulferatu #90 - Training Trenches, Dreghorn Wood, Edinburgh

 

On a day of damp and drizzle, with occasional bursts of warm sunshine that promised much but gave little, I went on a trip to Dreghorn.  This is a part of Edinburgh I’ve never really ventured to before.  I think I’ve passed through it on the bus a few times, but it is not a place I’ve ever stopped off in.  However, I’d been told there was a rather interesting relic from the First World War in the woods here, so I thought I’d go and take a look.

 

Dreghorn Woods are next to the army barracks, so there is a lot of fencing and barbed wire along the paths taking you round. The woods are quite tranquil though, a haven from the busy roads nearby.  Being Autumn, the paths were pretty much mud and puddles with a covering of gold and red from the fallen leaves. But, hey, that’s nothing for an intrepid explorer like me!

 

Braid Burn running through Dreghorn Woods

 

Obligatory photo of fallen leaves

 

Swirling branches

 

Barbed wire and fences – Dreghorn Barracks

 

I took the long walk round to my destination, which lay on a slope by the river and just down from the barracks.  Handily signposted, otherwise you’d just think it was some mud and old earthworks, were what I’d come looking for.  These holes in the ground were actually training trenches from World War One, to get the poor sods drafted into the army ready for fighting out on the front.  

 

I followed a well-worn path that skirted around them.  A path of wet, slippery mud and leaf goo.  It gave some impression of what the soldiers training here would have had to go through.  Though, unlike them, I wasn’t going to crawl through the trenches and the puddles of water and sludge.

 

Training trench at Dreghorn Woods

 

Training trench at Dreghorn Woods

 

A zig zag of trenches in the wood

 

Trenches in the woods

 

Dreghorn Woods used to form part of the Dreghorn Estate, which stretched up into the nearby Pentland Hills.  In 1905 the estate was purchased by the War Department, now the Ministry of Defence, for training, and as a barracks.  During World War One, recruits constructed a major trench system through the woods and were trained in the tactics and ways of trench warfare.  Though, having read both Erich Maria Remarque’s ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ and Ernst Jünger's ‘Storm of Steel’ I do wonder how well it would have really prepared them for the slaughter they were about to face. 

 

Remains of a trench in the woods

 

Remains of a trench in the woods

 

A trench in the woods

 

After World War Two, the military stopped using the woods for training and the trenches became overgrown and many were eroded away.  They were largely forgotten about until a local historian, Lynne Gladstone-Millar, led a campaign to preserve them.  Her father, who fought in the First World War, had trained at Dreghorn Woods, and had told her about his experiences there and that the mud in the woods, the ‘Dreghorn Sludge’, had been good training for fighting at the Somme.  In 2013 an archaeological survey was carried out on the remnants of the trench system, and it was cleared of trees and vegetation to help preserve it.

 

After taking a walk around, I left the Skulferatu that had accompanied me, at the side of one of the shallower trenches, by the remains of some corrugated iron that would once have been used to strengthen the sides of the trench.

 

Skulferatu #90

 

Skulferatu #90 in a trench

 

Skulferatu #90 in a trench

 

Skulferatu #90 in a trench

 

Map showing location of Skulferatu #90 

The coordinates for the location of the Skulferatu are –

 

Latitude 55.902423

Longitude -3.24401

 

what3words: book.trains.lock

 

I used the following sources for information on the Training Trenches –

 

Information Board at Site

 

Historic Environment Scotland

Dreghorn Woods Training Trenches

 

BBC – World War One at Home

BBC - World War One At Home, Edinburgh, Scotland - The Dreghorn Training Trenches

Skulferatu #89 - Repentance Tower, Trailtrow Hill, Hoddom, Dumfries and Galloway

  

Another day and another hill to walk up.  Thankfully though, this one wasn’t too steep or too high, more of a gentle amble up over some grassy pasture to the top where there stands an old, stone tower at the side of a walled graveyard.  And from here there are views for miles around, right over to the Solway Firth.

 

Repentance Tower on Trailtrow Hill

 

The tower was built by John Maxwell, Lord Herries, in the mid sixteenth century as a watchtower.  Over the lintel of the door into the building is carved the word ‘repentance’, and it is by this name that the tower is known. 

 

=

Repentance Tower

 

There are various stories about how the tower acquired this name, with the most popular being that Maxwell was seeking atonement for a terrible act he had committed or caused.  One of the stories goes that he had led a raid into England and captured several prisoners.  On making his way back home, his boat was caught in a storm in the Solway Firth.  Fearing that it might sink, Maxwell sought to lighten the load, so cut the throats of his prisoners and threw them overboard into the sea.  Later, on arriving safely at shore, he was so overcome with guilt and grief about what he had done, that he had the tower built and named Repentance as a penance for his terrible deed.

 

A rather melodramatic dirge, sorry ballad, was written about this event by Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe - ‘The Lord Herries His Complaint’.  I’ll quote a few verses for you –

 

Under yon silver skimmering waves,

That saftly rise and fa,

Lie mouldering banes in sandy graves,

That fley my peace awa.

 

To help my boat, I pierced the throat

Of him whom ane lo'ed dear;

Nought did I spare his yellow hair,

And e'en sae bricht and clear...

 

Alas ! twelve precious lives were spilt,

My worthless spark to save;

Bet had I fallen, withouten guilt,

Frae cradle to the grave.

 

Repentance ! signal of my bale,

Built of the lasting stane,

Ye lang shall tell the bluidy tale,

When I am dead and gane.

 

And so, it goes on and on, like a lot of these Victorian ballads.

 

View of Repentance Tower from the graveyard

 

View of Repentance Tower from the graveyard

 

Another of the stories is that Dumfriesshire had been captured by the English, and Maxwell had been made to pledge allegiance to the English Crown.  To ensure that he kept his word he had been forced to hand over fifteen of his kinsmen.  These men would be kept as hostages and put to death if Maxwell broke his pledge.   However, Maxwell wished to marry Agnes Herries, and take the title of Lord Herries.  To do this he would have to betray his promise to the English and turn against them.  Thinking of the title and land he would acquire, he decided to do just this and at the Battle of Durisdeer he turned his forces against the English army.  The English were defeated and in revenge for Maxwell’s betrayal they executed the hostages he had handed over to them.  So, in terrible grief and guilt about causing the death of these innocents, Maxwell had the tower built to atone for what he had done.

 

It would appear likely though, that the way Repentance Tower got its name was quite mundane.  The tower was built out of the remains of Trailtrow Chapel, which had once stood there, and is why the tower is surrounded by a graveyard.  It is probable that the lintel stone was one taken from the chapel with the word Repentance already carved on it.  People saw this name above the door and assumed that this was the name of the building.  Legends then grew up around why the building had that name, leading to the various tales about Maxwell.  This is a pretty boring explanation though, so let’s not bother with it.

 

The tower was once a place that the philosopher Thomas Carlyle liked to spend time at, as he found it a building full of romance. For several years he rented a nearby farmhouse and farmed the land around the tower.  However, after riding his horse around some of the adjoining lands like an early nineteenth century boy racer, he fell out with the landlord and was asked to leave.  He did, but the tower and the lands around it always held a special place in his heart.

 

As well as serving as a watchtower in the sixteenth century, Repentance Tower was also used during WWII as a lookout post.  The local Home Guard kept a watch over the Solway Firth just in case there was an invasion, and the enemy force came in from there.  Luckily though, they never did.

 

Graveyard at Repentance Tower

 

Graveyard at Repentance Tower

 

Gravestone at Repentance Tower

 

Repentance Tower

 

After wandering around the graveyard and taking in the views from there, I left the Skulferatu that had accompanied me on my walk, in a fern spouting crack in the tower walls.

 

Skulferatu #89

 

Skulferatu #89 in a fern spouting crack in the wall

 

Skulferatu #89 in a fern spouting crack in the wall

 

Map showing location of Skulferatu #89

 

The coordinates for the location of the Skulferatu are –

 

Latitude 55.03753

Longitude -3.323622

 

what3words: albatross.match.owns

 

I used the following sources for information on Repentance Tower –

 

Repentance Tower and its Tradition

By George Neilson

1985

 

The Lord Herries His Complaint.  

By Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe

Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border: Consisting of Historical And Romantic Ballads, Collected in the Southern Counties of Scotland; With a Few of Modern Date, Founded Upon Local Tradition. Vol. iii.

1821

 

Canmore – Repentance Tower

Canmore - Repentance Tower

 

Information Board at site

 

Literary by-paths in old England

by Henry C. Shelley

1906