Showing posts with label Home Guard. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Home Guard. Show all posts

Tuesday 10 January 2023

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.

 

An old style colour photograph showing a tower on a hill with trees off to one side.  This is Repentance Tower.   Photograph by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
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. 

 

A photo of an old stone tower, Repentance Tower.  There is a wall around it and stairs leading up to a dark coloured door.  Photograph by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.=
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.

 

A view of Repentance Tower from the graveyard that surrounds it.  In the foreground are tall ferns and gravestones, with the tower in the background.  Photograph by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
View of Repentance Tower from the graveyard

 

A view of Repentance Tower from the graveyard that surrounds it.  In the foreground are tall ferns and gravestones, with the tower in the background.  Photograph by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
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.

 

A photo of a graveyard with a dozen or so stones in it.  The grass is high and uncut and a wall runs along in the background.  Photograph by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Graveyard at Repentance Tower

 

A photo of some gravestones in the graveyard by Repentance Tower.  A wall runs along one side and the background is the gentle slopes down and off into the distance.  Photograph by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Graveyard at Repentance Tower

 

A photo of a small gravestone in the graveyard at Repentance Tower.  It is of gray stone and has a primitive, round skull carved into it round eyes and top teeth.  with Photograph by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Gravestone at Repentance Tower

 

A black and white photograph of an old tower - Repentance Tower.  Photograph by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
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.

 

A photo of a small, ceramic skull (Skulferatu 89) being held up with Repentance Tower in the background.  Photograph by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Skulferatu #89

 

A photo of a small, ceramic skull (Skulferatu 89) in a crack in the wall of the tower with ferns sprouting out and around.  Photograph by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Skulferatu #89 in a fern spouting crack in the wall

 

A photo of a small, ceramic skull (Skulferatu 89) in a crack in the wall of the tower with ferns sprouting out and around.  Photograph by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Skulferatu #89 in a fern spouting crack in the wall

 

Google Map showing location of Skulferatu #89
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