Cumnor Hall

Cumnor Hall was to have been the original title of what became Walter Scott’s “Kenilworth”, which was published in 1821.  The balled of the same name, by William Julius Mickle, provided inspiration for Scott in taking on this endeavor.  

The dews of summer nighte did falle,
The moone (sweete regente of the skye)
Silver'd the walles of Cumnor Halle,
And manye an oake that grewe therebye....

On January 31^st, 1829, we find Scott reading another Cumnor Hall: ‘…Looked over Cumnor Hall by Mr. Usher Tighe of Oxford. I see from the inscription on Tony Foster's tomb that he was a skilful planter, amongst other fashionable accomplishments….’

The book in question is Hugh Usher Tighe’s “An Historical Account of Cumner…”, which reached the public in 1821, the same year “Kenilworth” was published.  Tighe provides useful background on Cumner and Scott’s “Kenilworth” in the introduction to his work. 

‘The deep interest so deservedly felt, and so openly evinced for every production which emanates from the highly gifted “Author of Waverley”, reflects a corresponding interest on every subject connected with a Tale on which the finest feelings of the mind are unavoidably concentrated.  These sentiments, so universally excited by the perusal of this author’s former Tales, can assuredly not have been lessened by his last production of “Kenilworth”, which, perhaps from the circumstances of the case, form the melancholy story of a very young and lovely woman, contending with villainy and treachery, and struggling with the most trying hardships and privations, appeals more closely to the human heart, and is more calculated to excite the warm emotions of pity, than any of his earlier works.  It is on the prevalence of these feelings, that I venture to hope, that some account of Cumner where the scene of this fascinating story is  principally laid, and the narration of the facts, as given by Ashmole in his Antiquities of Berkshire, may not be deemed utterly devoid of interest….I annex the facts of this melancholy story, as related by Ashmole, and which is alluded to in the latter part of “Kenilworth”.  The same narration, in the same words, may be found in Anthony Wood’s MSS in the Ashmoleon collection…’ 

Bonnie Prince Charlie Passes

'Soon after his arrival I took Sir Walter to St. Peter's, which he had resolved to visit, that he might see the tomb of the last of the Stuarts...' (from Lockhart's "Memoirs of Sir Walter Scott")

As Sir Walter Scott's life was nearing its end, he toured Italy, including a visit to Rome (April 1832).  Sir William Gell was in Rome at the same time, and helped to make Scott comfortable while there.  Gell took Scott to St. Peter's Bascilica in the Vatican where Charles Edward Stuart, his brother Henry and their parents are interred.

Bonnie Prince Charlie died on January 31, 1788.  Initially, he was buried in the Cathedral of Frascati, where his brother Henry served as Bishop.  Charles' heart remains physically in Frascati, while the rest of his remains were transferred to St. Peter's.

False Alarm

Around the turn of the century - 1800 or so - Napoleon was running through the continent.  The British navy had successfully kept Napoleon's forces at bay, with Nelson winning the Battle of Trafalgar, and many battles aided by the carronade produced at the Carron Iron Works in Falkirk.  Great Britain remained wary of an invasion by the French, however.

To help counter the risk of a land invasion in the Borders area, a system of warning beacons was set up on prominent hills: Dunion hill near Jedburgh; Dunselaw and Hume Castle; Peneilbeugh; the Eildons; Ruberslaw; Belling and Cheviot hills; Crumhaugh hill for Upper Teviotdale; Wisp and Black Andrew for the Ettrick Forest.

This system had worked in the past, when wars occurred between Scottish chiefs.  Now it would be tested against a foreign enemy.  On the 31st of January, 1804, a warning beacon was mistakenly lit at Hume Castle.  The signal was repeated, rapidly spreading throughout the Borders.  Watchers, on the hills, left their posts to warn the towns. Volunteers came out to prepare for battle.

Walter Scott, who rode to join his regiment, wrote of the occasion:

'The men of Liddesdale, says he, the most remote point to the westward which the alarm reached, were so much afraid of being late in the field, that they put in requisition all the horses they could find; and when they had thus made a forced march out of their own county, they turned their borrowed steeds loose to find their way back through the hills, and they all got back safe to their own stables. Another remarkable circumstance was, the general cry of the inhabitants of the smaller towns for arms, that they might go along with their companions. The Selkirkshire yeomanry made a remarkable march; for although some of the individuals lived at twenty and thirty miles' distance from the place where they mustered, they were nevertheless embodied and in order in so short a period, that they were at Dalkeith, which was their alarm-post, about one o'clock on the day succeeding the first signal, with men and horses in good order, though the roads were in a bad state, and many of the troopers must have ridden forty or fifty miles without drawing bridle.'


Scott employs this story in "The Antiquary", where the character of Edie Ochiltree, who wishes to "fight for his dish, like the laird for his land," to fight a French invasion.