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Great Scott and his beloved Borders

February 28, 2022 by David Pike Leave a Comment

Who could ever doubt the inspirational qualities of the Scottish Borders.

It was beguiling border landscapes and legends that fired the imagination of the young Walter Scott, providing a formative starting point for the remarkable journey that was to follow.

And it is impossible to overstate the importance of Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832).

The son of an Edinburgh solicitor, he was sent to his grandparent’s farm in the Borders to recuperate after suffering from polio. At Sandyknowe, in the shadow of Smailholm Tower. he was taught to read and listed to local legends and folk tales. Later he studied at Kelso Grammar School – a building still standing next to the town’s ruined abbey.

Smailham Tower (left) celebrating Scott’s 250th anniversary and (above) testament to his passion for collecting.

It was to be the start of a love affair with the region that lasted all, his life. He settled in the Borders where he was appointed Sheriff Depute of Selkirkshire and his courtroom is preserved as a museum on the town of Selkirk.

Soon after his appointment, in 1811, he started work on building Abbotsford on the site of a run down farm.

To understand more about the man, all roads lean to Abbotsford, his dramatic “conundrum castle” home, tucked away amidst 10 picturesque acres overlooking the River Tweed between Melrose and Selkirk.

Here he assembled a treasure trove that reflects the enlightened times in which he lived; a massive collection of books, weapons, artefacts, porcelain and paintings that confirm am insatiable curiosity in the world at large and Scotland in particular.

His contributions to the world of literature are only matched by the legacy he left for his beloved Borders.

Scott was the first English-language author to have a truly international career in his lifetime. The Waverley Novels, as Scott’s 26 novels came to be called, were the world’s first bestsellers. Waverley earned Scott ten times as much in its first year as Jane Austen earned for Pride and Prejudice in her entire lifetime.

Scott’s novels paved the way for the great popular novels of the Victorian age, influenced Pushkin and Tolstoy as well as George Eliot and Dickens, and earned him the money to buy land, plant trees and to build Abbotsford.

His works were translated into over 30 languages and avidly read from Scandinavia, Italy and Moscow to the American frontier and his literary reputation introduced him to the great men of his time. He developed friendships with Wordsworth, Coleridge and Byron, Washington Irving and Wellington.

The Prince Regent conferred a baronetcy on him in 1818 and, when he became George IV, encouraged Scott to orchestrate the first royal visit to Scotland for over 150 years. This was a visit that saw Scott reinvent tartan and the gathering of the Highland Clans.

Scott’s influence on Scotland’s literary and cultural heritage is immense. From his image on many Scottish banknotes to the names of his novels and literary characters taking pride of place on the country’s streets and buildings such as Edinburgh’s Waverley Station, not forgetting the impressive Scott’s Monument which sits on the capital’s Princes Street.

Filed Under: Abbotsford, Homes & Gardens Tagged With: Abbotsford, Scottish Borders, Sir Walter Scott

Lock of Napoleon’s Hair Rediscovered at Abbotsford

February 28, 2022 by David Pike Leave a Comment

A visit to Sir Walter Scott’s Abbotsford home near Melrose in the Scottish Borders by the popular BBC TV show Antiques Road Trip unearthed a long lost treasure from the novelist’s collections – a lock of Napoleon’s hair.

The hair was rediscovered as one of the show’s antiques experts, Anita Manning, and Abbotsford’s Jason Dyer examined a blotter book that had belonged to Napoleon and which had been on show in the library at the historic house.

The hair was contained within a small handwritten note dated 8 November 1827, written to Sir Walter Scott from a Mr Dalton.

In it, Mr Dalton explained that the lock of hair has been given to him by Lt Col Elphinstone who served under Wellington, and that he believed it would be of great interest to Scott who was famed for his passion for collecting.

The blotter, which is in an extremely fragile condition, the note and hair have now been removed from Abbotsford and are being examined by a team of conservation experts. They will go on show again to the public once this important work has been completed.

The lock of Napoleon’s hair is just part of a fascinating collection built up by Scott. Other items include a silver urn gifted to Scott by Lord Bryon, a clock that is reputed to have belonged to Marie Antoinette, Rob Roy’s broadsword, dirk, sporran and gun as well as numerous artefacts collected from the field of the battle of Waterloo.

Scott is known to have travelled to Belgium following Wellington’s victory in 1815 and his poem, The Fields of Waterloo, is based on first-hand accounts of the brutal conflict by soldiers he spoke with at the scene.

While there his collecting instincts must have gone into overdrive.

Other Waterloo discoveries include four flags that were discovered tucked away in a dusty old cupboard at Abbotsford House. The four standards, three French and one English, had been forgotten about and were found rolled up in sheets of brown paper.

Filed Under: Abbotsford, Homes & Gardens Tagged With: Abbotsford, Scottish Borders, Sir Walter Scott, Waterloo discoveries

All roads lead to Abbotsford and border’s champion Sir Walter Scott

February 25, 2022 by David Pike Leave a Comment

The word is that Sir Walter Scott is enjoying a revival and his novels and poetry are
back in popular demand.

In his beloved Scottish Borders Scott’s star has never waned, his presence shines as brightly today as it did in his heyday almost 200 years ago.

Those who would discover more about the man can follow a dozen tourist trails taking in Scott’s favourite border haunts. From Scott’s View, the Eildon Hills, wrapped in local myths and magic, dominate breathtaking countryside. In Selkirk, there’s Scott’s courthouse, now a museum, where he sat as the royal borough’s Sheriff Depute and dispensed justice.

But to understand more about the man, all roads must surely lead to Abbotsford, his “conundrum castle” home tucked away amid 100 acres between Melrose and Selkirk.

Here he assembled a treasure trove that reflects the enlightened times in which he lived: a massive collection of books, artefacts, porcelain and paintings. They also confirm an insatiable curiosity for the world at large but especially Scotland.

The Scottish nation’s most memorable names from history are all resident in this magnificent house.

Here you will find Rob Roy’s broadsword, dirk, sporran purse and gun on display;
knives belonging to Charles I; Montrose’s sword; a lock of Bonnie Prince
Charlie’s hair and Bonnie Dundee’s pistols.

In the library, the ceiling copies elements of Rosslyn Chapel; predictably arousing much excitement among Da Vinci Code addicts.

Elsewhere, items of furniture and oak panelled walls have been fashioned from timbers rescued from the Auld Kirk at Dunfermline; a stone fireplace is modelled on the stalls at Melrose Abbey, and the entrance is copied from Linlithgow Palace.

Another of Scott’s historic recycling initiatives is the Robroyston chair made of
wood from the House of Robroyston where Sir William Wallace was “done to death
by felon hand for guarding well his father’s land.”

If it were Scott’s intention that the heart of Scotland would forever beat at Abbotsford he can rest easy.

A super-celebrity in his day, wealthy on the revenues that accrued from bestseller after bestseller, Scott scoured Scotland, England and the Continent for acquisitions.

He was also an avid collector of popular publications, the penny dreadfuls of their day, that sold from door-to-door and speculated on sensational subjects such as witchcraft and the supernatural.

As a pioneer in popular culture, his modern-day equivalent could be Indiana Jones and J K Rowling rolled into one.

At Abbotsford, fact lines up neatly alongside fiction; much of it interleaved with
Scott’s best-known novels that took form at the writing desk in his wonderfully preserved study.

In the library there are 9,000 priceless tomes, including a 15th-century Middle English manuscript, poems and songs handwritten by Robert Burns, together with pamphlets from the times of Jacobites and Covenanters.

Wandering around this incredible time capsule of a building – much the same as it
was when Scott lived here – it is easy to imagine that it could still have some, as yet
undiscovered, secrets to share.

That being the case the Abbotsford Executive Trust is doing all it can to extend the welcome. Abbotsford has undergone a £14m development project that has allowed restoration, refurbishment and the building of an excellent visitor interpretation centre and restaurant.

Opening Times
Please check arrangements for booking tickets for Abbotsford at the official website at www.scottsabbotsford.com

Filed Under: Abbotsford, Homes & Gardens

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