Marie Lamont

From last year's graphic novel, Identity The Archivist's Treasure, still free to download online.

Tell A Story Day

Herne at camp, by Ross Ahlfeld

Today is Tell A Story Day. Be sure to do your bit.

Here's one from me. This is sort of a cheat, on account of the fact that it's a poem telling a story, so if that's not yer thing, there's quite a few wee stories you can hear FREE on Auld Dunrod's soundcloud.





And if you liked that, you may also enjoy Santa's Little Werewolves.

Tales of the Oak : Stories...Twice Told

Magic Torch are delighted to reveal that we have received funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund "Your Heritage" programme to deliver a new project - "Tales of the Oak", which over the next 18 months will create a new storytelling club and publish two new books.

The new project will include

- opportunities to be trained by the Scottish Storytelling Centre on how to use oral tradition to celebrate local heritage

- new research in local and national archives to collect supernatural tales and local folk stories

- publication of a fully illustrated "scary storybook" retelling local legends and stories for children 4-8 years old

- publication of a 1950s style "terror comic" featuring scary stories and retellings inspired by local legends and ghost stories

- a new storytelling club, with sessions running Winter 2012, Spring / Summer 2013 and again in Winter 2013

- a chance for local schools to be involved in a Scary History competition; pupils will be asked to submit their own scary story with the winning entry included in the childrens book or illustrated for the comic.

The storytelling club will be run from The Dutch Gable House, and you can find out more on how to be involved on Doors Open Day there on Saturday 8 September.

We are not looking for people to do a formal presentations, or give a performance; it’s not a book reading or a drama group. We want to draw inspiration from the tales that folk used to be tell around firesides. Those folk were not professional storytellers, neither are we. We want to help restore an old oral tradition by creating a new living tradition. 

We'll be sharing regular podcasts of stories from the club on our Soundcloud page and hopefully via itunes as well.

The blog will be the main way to follow what's going on in the project, so be sure to bookmark us, or subscribe via email / feedburner.

The entire project is volunteer run, with all the funding being used to pay for project outputs like storytelling training or the publications.

If you've been following the blog for awhile, you'll know that over winter we like sharing ghost stories. In fact, our first book, published in 2000 even included a few. We've had stories about cursed trees, sad tales of forgotten loves and over on my own blog Stramashed there's been the tale of The Duchal Well and some sugar sheds flash fiction based on the urban legend of The Catman

But there's always more to hear
- what's the story with the Arts Guild ghost, surely now lonelier than ever?
- any Cappielow Ghouls?
- any truth to the rumour of Roman legionnaires marching over the moorland behind Kilmacolm?
- is Ravenscraig haunted?

Project funders, Heritage Lottery Fund, are keen to hear from Inverclyde groups with other heritage project ideas. Interested groups can find out more from the website www.hlf.org.uk or by contacting Development Officer Louise Hastie directly on LouiseH@hlf.org.uk.

We love collecting and sharing stories, and this new project will let us do that in all new ways, we're looking forward to you getting involved. You can contact us at aulddunrod@gmail.com

For now, here's one we made earlier....

About the Heritage Lottery Fund

Using money raised through the National Lottery, the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) sustains and transforms a wide range of heritage for present and future generations to take part in, learn from and enjoy. From museums, parks and historic places to archaeology, natural environment and cultural traditions, we invest in every part of our diverse heritage. HLF has supported more than 26,000 projects, allocating over £4 billion across the UK and more than £1/2 billion across Scotland. www.hlf.org.uk

Smugglers - Johnny Cullen

This wee story sees a hapless local criminal trying his hand at smuggling down in Inverkip...


Johnny Cullen - A Smugglers Tale by Auld Dunrod


If you want to see a wee bit of local history, Gourockguy's channel on Youtube has loads of videos of Inverclyde's nooks and crannies, including the Shielhill Cave, believed by some to have been used by smugglers

Smugglers

Whisky Galore

These days, Inverclyde markets itself as "Scotlands Export Capital". Central to this impressive title is our position on the river, which has long served a commercial purpose for the people of the area. For hundreds of years ships have traded with the ports of Greenock and Port Glasgow and placing the area at the heart of Scotlands economy. However, three hundred years ago, Inverclyde was more famous for its imports, though not everything that came ashore was legal. Indeed, during the 18th and 19th centuries, smuggling was a significant part of the economy of Scotland, and the Firth of the Clyde became a favourite haunt of merchants dealing in Contraband. Completely unlike today of course. Duties imposed on goods such as tobacco, whisky and tea after the Union of the Crowns in 1707 meant that illicit trade in duty free goods became a particularly profitable endevour for anyone with a boat.

           

By the barrel and crate…

The trade found a foothold in Inverkip where the bay provided the perfect location for landing goods. It seems that in this quiet little village "whisky was landed by the barrel, and tea by the crate." And just like many other parts of Scotland at that time, if it meant cheaper whisky, everyone was content to be involved, sometimes even the local minister! Normally, watertight bundles of contraband would be floated in the bay after nightfall. Then the smugglers would go ashore and check the area for customs officers. If the coast was clear, the float would be retrieved. From here, the goods could be stored safely in the numerous cellars of sympathetic villages, or quickly transported to Greenock or Glasgow by coach.

The Increase of Smuggling

John Galt in his famous work of fiction Annals of the Parish, widely believed to draw heavily on the history of Inverkip, gives an interesting account of smuggling in the mid 1700’s:

“It was in the year 1761 that the great smuggling trade corrupted all the west coast, especially the laigh lands. The tea was going like chaff, the brandy like well-water, and the wastrie of all things was terrible. There was nothing minded but the riding of cadgers by day and excise men by night – and battles between the smugglers and the king’s men, both by sea and land. There was a continual drunkenness and debauchery; and our session, that was but on the lip of this whirlpool of iniquity, had an awful time o’t.  Before this year, the drinking of tea was little know on the parish, saving amoung a few of the heritors’ house on a Sabbath evening; but now it became very rife.”

3 Pints and a dram

The incidents of smuggling in Inverkip are numerous and well documented. One well known case is that of Thomas Finnie, a local milkman, whose tale is recorded in the records of the Innerkip Society:

“Early in the morning of the 22^nd of December, 1809, about 6 am, Thomas Spence, Supervisor of Excise in Greenock, could have been seen – suitably armed with pistol, etc – riding through the slush to Inverkip accompanied by two other officers. Almost exhausted and perished with the cold after their unusual errand they espied Thomas Finnie’s milk cart. They lay in wait near the Daff burn and when Thomas had reached that point on his way to the “big house” with his morning delivery, the command to halt came from Spence. Mr Spence immediately searched the cart and in addition to the usual and necessary commodity of milk, he found three casks of Highland whisky containing in all 30 gallons. The horse, cart, milk and whisky and, of course, Thomas, were seized and taken in charge when, suddenly, Spence spotted Robert Cochrane some distance off. Cochrane was also searched and his cart was found to contain 50 gallons of Whisky. Both carts, their contents and their owners were marched on to Greenock Bridewell.”

Pistols at the ready

While many of the incidents at Invekip were tame and relatively free from violence, this as not always the case.  Encounters between the excisemen and smugglers or their customers for that matter were at their worst when the cargo consisted of food, and people  were hungry.One account tells of riots at Greenock when a ship tried to land a cargo of food from Ireland.:

'...a most violent and outrageous mob has risen at Greenock and by force broken open the hatches and carried away the sails of the vessels laying in that harbour laden with oatmeal...and taken and carried away all the said meal despite of whatever could be done to prevent it...'

The complement of 20 dragoons stuggled to  control the mob of several thousand locals. The intervention of a local magistrate almost ended in tradgedy, and would surely have resulted in his death, were he not dragged off to the custom house for his own safety.

Another case also tells of violent side to the smuggling industry, when during an encounter with smugglers at Lunderston Bay, a revenue officer was brutally killed as he tried to prevent the criminals from escaping.

Customs HQ

The extent of the smuggling industry on the west-coast was in part responsible for the creation of the new Custom House at Greenock. The building was finished in 1818, and stood as a warning to all on the Clyde that the excise men were present in force.  It is thought that this is the last of a long line of custom houses sited in Greenock; previous ones included a building in Cathcart street and an office at the West Quay. The Customs service of Greenock sports some famous connections; Burns spent some of his career as an excise man in Greenock and while the location of the very first excise office remains unknown, it is recorded as having been in operation during the cattle raids of Rob Roy, when local men were sent out to deal with the Highland rogue on a number of occasions.

Inverkip – Import Capital of Scotland

The last reported case of smuggling occurred in Inverkip in 1888, when a large amount  of tobacco was seized. However, the customs maintained a presence in Inverkip for many years to come and until the 1900’s, tow coastguard officers were a familiar sight in the village, keeping watch over the bay with a keen eye and polished binoculars. Today, there is little to link the village to its days a smuggling den, only the romantically named, though somewhat unimpressive Smugglers Cave stands as a memorial,  a few miles behind the town. Some people have speculated that the mysterious skull and crossbones headstone in the villages old cemetery marks the final resting place to one of Inverkip’s shadowy smugglers; a fitting monument to this dark and romantic chapter in the history of this little village.

(text by Neil Bristow)

Auld Dunrod's Legacy

It wouldn't be Halloween time without a look at Inverclyde's favourite Warlock; landed gentry turned evil witchlord..Alexander Lindsay of Dunrod.

It was rumoured that Dunrod became involved with witches living on his lands in Inverkip, gathering with them at Dunrod’s Seat, located on the slope of Dunrod Hill. Further rumours suggested that he entertained the Devil himself at his castle. It is worth noting the possibility that Dunrod had inherited his connections to the practice of witchcraft from the Lindsays; it is now thought in some circles that members of the nobility at that time were involved in a highly organised cult which they used for their own means. Some would argue they still are.

The image of Dunrod as a dark and powerful Warlock is a far cry from the man he was at the end of his life; he was a penniless hermit, his lands having been seized by the Kirk in recompense for his evil deeds, selling charms and potions at the Greenock riverside to any who would entertain him. Dunrod died soon after in a barn on his former lands in East Kilbride.

As recently as a century ago, parents enforced children’s bedtimes with the chilling promise that ‘Auld Dunrod’ would get them. Thus, this larger than life character has become woven irrevocably into the folklore of the area, celebrated in numerous tales passed from generation to generation, and most famously in two anonymous poems commemorating his dark deeds.

“The Ballad of Auld Dunrod” is thought not to have been written down until more than a century after Dunrod’s death, and was probably composed while Dunrod was extant. Presented in its fullest original form, the poem chronicles his black deeds, and ends rather cryptically with Dunrod flying on his broomstick to the Bogle Stone; this, in turn, gave rise to a second poem, “Auld Dunrod’s Vision at The Bogle Stane”. The second piece was composed a good many years later than its companion, and gives an account of a mystical vision Dunrod experienced at the Bogle Stone, concerning Inverclyde’s past, present and future. At this point he may have been "drucken on the barley bree".

You can still see our short experimental film featuring a recording of the poem by our old english teacher on youtube. And Dunrod randomly makes 21st Century appearances via his evil facebook page and haunted twitter account.

This recording of "The Balld of Auld Dunrod" was made for our Downriver project. It features
Jim Lang and some appropriate  spooky noises.

Jim Lang : The Ballad of Auld Dunrod by Auld Dunrod

The Ballad Of Auld Dunrod

Auld Dunrod was a gowstie carl,

As ever ye micht see;

And gin he wisna’ a warlock wicht,

There was nane in the haill countrie.

Auld Dunrod he stack a pin -

A boutrie pin - in the wa’,

And when he wanted his neighbour’s milk

He just gaed the pin a thraw.

He milkit the Laird o’ Kellies kye,

And a’ the kye o’ Dunoon;

And auld Dunrod gat far mair milk

Than wad mak’ a gabbert swim.

The cheese he made were numerous,

And wonerous to descry

For the kyth’t as gin they had been grule

Or peats set up to dry.

And there was nae cumerauld man about

Wha cam’ to him for skill,

That gif he dadna dae him guid,

He didna dae him ill.

But the kirk got word o’ Dunrod’s tricks,

And the Session they took him hand;

And naething was left but auld Dunrod

Forsooth maun leave the land.

Sae auld Dunrod he muntit his stick -

His broomstick muntit he -

And he flychter’t twa’r three times aboot,

And syne through the air did flee.

And he flew awa’ by auld Greenock tower,

And by the Newark ha’.

Ye wadna kent him in his flicht

Be a buddock or a craw.

And he flew to the Rest and be Thankfu’ Stane -

A merry auld carle was he;

He stottit and fluffer’t as he had been wud.

Or drucken wi’ the barley bree.

But a rountree grew at the stane -

It is there unto this day,

And gin ye dinna find it still,

Set doun that it’s away.

And he ne’er wist o’ the rountree

Till he cam dunt thereon;

His magic broomstick tint its spell,

And he daudit on the stone.

His heid was hard, and the Stane was sae,

And whan they met ane anither,

It was hard to say what wad be the weird

Of either the tane or the tither.

But the Stane was muilt like a lampet shell,

And sae was Auld Dunrod;

When ye munt a broomstick to tak a flicht,

Ye had best tak anither road.

The neighbours gathert to see the sicht,

The Stane’s remains they saw;

But as for Auld Dunrod himsel’,

He was carriet clean awa’.

And monie noy’t, as weill they micht,

The Rest and be Thankfu’ Stane;

And ilk ane said it had been better far,

Gin Dunrod had staid at hame.

And what becam o’ Auld Dunrod

Was doubtfu’ for to say,

Some said he wasna there ava,

But flew anither way.

goustie - ghostly, unearthly

boutrie - of the elder tree

Laird o Kellie - Bannatyne, the Laird of Kellie in Innerkip Parish

soum - make a lighter swim

grule - appeared as if they had, like moss, ben baked in the sun

flychterit - fluttered

huddock - from a carrion crow

wud - bounded and whisked about

barley bree - ale

rountree - mountain ash

daudit - fell violently down

muilt - crushed

noy’t - blamed

ava - at all

And in closing, we were delighted today to see this bit on the BBC news, and in fact all over the press; a local Greenock school, defending their right to Go Galoshans! Well done Aileymill.