The Marchmont Or St Ronan's Arrow John Burnett Georg*& Dalgleisher *
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Pwc Antiqc So Scot, (1995)5 12 , 1175-1186 The Marchmont or St Ronan's Arrow John Burnett Georg*& DalgleisheR * ABSTRACT The Marchmont Arrow was the prize at an archery competition held from 1830 to 1844 at the St Ronan's Border Games at Innerleithen. The competition had its origins in the revived medievalism of James Hogg and Walter Scott, which was linked to their view of society and to their Tory politics. Arrow EdinburghmadeThe the was by silversmith William Cunningham. Theretwo are Appendixes: describesone ninethe medals attached Arrow,the to discussing their makersand winners, secondthe and lists Scottish19 silver arrows dating from cl603 1850.to INTRODUCTION How can I choose but mourne? When I think on Our games Olympic-like in times agone. Chiefly wherein our cunning we did try, And matchless skill in noble archerie. Henry Adamson Musese Th , Threnodie (1638) In the Middle Ages archery was not as important in Scotland as in England - as the English archers demonstrate t Falkirka d , Homildon Hilld elsewherean , . Archery was, however, encouraged in the burghs, and continued as a sport after it had ceased to be important in war: the typical trophsilvea s yrwa arrow fivd an e, Scottish ones survive fro e firsm th e 17tt th hal hf o f sporadicenturye basie th th f o sn O c. evidence available some archery competitions, suc thoss ha e at Musselburgh and Peebles, may have continued irregularly through the 17th century. The foundin Royae th f o gl Compan f Archery o re-establishmene e seeth b s n 167na y i s 6ma n a f o t earlier tradition which had been disrupted during the uncertainties of the mid-century, in the same way that horse-racin revives wa g d afte restoratioe th r monarchye th f o n modesA . t interese th n i t sport continued throughout the 18th century. The general revival of archery in England dates from about 1780 (Waring 1832, 8). It reached Scotland in the early decades of the 19th century. For example, the Paisley Arrow dates from 1806, and the Irvine Toxophilites were revived in 1814 (Buchanan 1979, 25, 14). Archery was give appointmene nboosa th y b t Royae th f to l Compan King'e th s ya s Bodyguar Scotlanr dfo d when King George IV visited Edinburgh in 1822. One reason for the sport's popularity was that men and women could compete together, and it was not an unusual pastime among the gentry. Susan Ferrier mentioned it several times in her novel The Inheritance (1824) when she was Nationa* l Museum f Scotlandso , Chambers Street, Edinburgh EHF 11J 1176 I SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES OF SCOTLAND, 1995 describing life in a country house. Archery was particularly popular between 1830 and I860: old competitions were revived, as at St Andrews, and new clubs sprang up, most of them in Edinburgh and Glasgow. After 1860 the Volunteer movement encouraged rifle shooting and its many competition t localsa , count nationad yan l levels completely swampe activitiee dth f occasionaso l archers such as the ones who will be described here. The sport survived in the hands of highly competitive target archers who had their own competitions. maie Th n concer presene th f no t articl Marchmone th s ei t Ronan'S r o t s Arrow prize th r , efo a competition at St Ronan's Border Games at Innerleithen. The Games date from 1827, and are still held archern Arroe a s Th . wwa y prize there from 183 184o 0t 4 (Anderson 1933, 133-4)s i t I . now in Tweeddale District Museum, Peebles. A description of the early years of the St Ronan's Game s beeha s n publishe Daviy db d Groves (1987). Her wile ew l concentrat archere th n eo y competition, though we discuss also some broader issues and quote sources which are additional to Groves'. ST RONAN'S BORDER GAMES Local games which included a variety of sports were quite common in Lowland Scotland and the Border earle th yn si 19th century t CarnwathA . exampler fo , , there were three foot races, throwing the hammer, putting the stone, and 'leaping the bar' - the high jump (Glasgow Herald, 29 August 1834). The unusual feature of the games at Carnwath, pointing to a long history, was the prize of a pair of red hose given by the leading landowner to the winner of the main foot race. The games were thus not merely a collection of sports, but also reflected the structure of local society. At Straite Ayrshirn ni e there were foohorsd an t e races hopa , , steleapd finalld pan an , y 'much hilarit sociad yan l feelin varioun gi s inns.' (Ayr Advertiser, Jul3 y 1834). The St Ronan's Border Games and the associated St Ronan's Border Club were created by James Hogg (1770-1835) in 1827. Hogg's accomplices were Professor John Wilson (1785-1854), otherwise Christopher North, and Henry Glassford Bell (1803-74). At the dinner on the evening of the first Games, Wilson took the chair and Hogg sang to the company. The following year Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832), John Gibson Lockhart (1794-1854) and William Blackwood (1776-1834) joine Clube generaa e dideth f Th ao . l sporting clus modellebwa Edinburgn do h club sGymnastie sucth s ha Six-Feee c th Clu d ban t Club membe:a Bels lattee Scotd th wa l f ran ro t 'Umpirs it bees Gamese ha th n o f eelecteo wh , lifer dfo ' (Six-Feet Club 1829. 5) , The political and social views of Hogg and his friends were similar. They were all Tories. Most were associated with Blackwood's Magazine: Blackwoo publishes da editord an r , Wilsod nan Lockhar chiee th s f a tcontributors . maiWilsoe th ns contributonwa Nocteso rt Ambrosianae, which appeare Blackwood's,n di modee th Hogd r theis an fo l gwa r main character. Bell editee dth Edinburgh Literary Journal between 182 1831d counted 8an an , d amon s authorghi s Lockhart, Wilson, and David Macbeth Moir (1798-1851). Moir was a Tory and physician, who wrote for Blackwoo lass attendehi d shareto n dillnessan i wh m dd dhi Hogg'an , s interes traditionae th n i t l lif ordinarof e y people novehis ; l Mansie Waugh (1827) include descriptioa s raca carenfor of t horses near Dalkeith. t Ronan'S e Th s Games were hel Hogg'n di s country. Bor t Ettricna havind kan g lived much Yarroe th s lif o n hi i fe182y w b s Valley7 installewa e h , t Altrivda e (now Eldinhope Cottage)o t , the south of the Yarrow. Altrive was close to the start of the road from the Ettrick over Paddock Slack to Traquair. Innerleithen, facing Traquair across the Tweed, was thus the nearest town to Altrive. Innerleithen was also within reach of Edinburgh and was easily accessible up the Tweed valley from Abbotsford. BURNETT &DALGLEISH: THE MARCHMONT OR ST ROMAN'S ARROW | 1177 The Border Games were Hogg's attempt to establish an event which would increase the sense of local community (Groves believee 1987H . 5) , d that rural Scotlan becomins dwa g demoralized because agriculture was becoming more commercial and emigration was biting deeply. In the Borders, people were being forced off the land and drawn into working in textile mills and living in overcrowded towns e woolleTh . n industr started yha industrian woro a dt n ko l e scalth n ei 1790s, and since then standards of living had fallen. By the 1820s Britain was in the depths of the depression which followe Napoleonie th d c Wars, many were e 'combinationafraith f o d e th f o ' working classesPeterloe th d an ,o Massacr recena s unpleasand ewa an t e th e tse memoryn ca e On . St Ronan's Game Tora s a sy reactio uncertainte th o nt y produce industriay db l unrest, seeking pase paternalistisafeta th - t n yi c for Toryisf mo contrasmn i sever e th o t et authority with which the governmen conducted ha t 'Radicae dth l war 1820n i ' . An expressio f thino s searc interese certaintr histore th hfo pas th e s th n f sporti twa ty o n yi . This interest was British rather than merely Scots. The antiquarian Joseph Strutt (1749-1802), author of Sports and Pastimes of the People of England (1801), had broad enthusiasms and wrote on church history and the history of costume, as well as on his own trade of engraving. His last work, left incomplete on his death, was an unusual novel, Queenhoo Hall - unusual because Strutt's entire purpose was to give a description of life in the 15th century. The plot hardly mattere scarceld dan archer n evente novea ye th s th existed f n o ywa lsi e competitioOn . t gamena s (Struty Da y t 1808Ma hel n . 20-4)di o , particulas It . r relevance her s thaepublishei e th t r asked another author to provide the ending to Queenhoo Hall: Walter Scott. Although Hogg was the moving spirit of the St Ronan's Games, their existence and the prominenc f archereo then yi m owed muc Scott'o ht s propagand Middle th r afo e Ages. Scott's interest in archery appears both in his poetry and his prose. In Ivanhoe (1820) Scott included an archery competition for the prize of a silver bugle (chap.