[Johnie Armstrang team]
the Johnie Armstrang team
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the Johnie Armstrang team, left to right: Stewart Inglis, Martyn Inglis, Sandra Inglis and Isabel Elliot |
Sandra Inglis
Stewart Inglis
Martyn Inglis
Isabel Elliot
They want to establish the truth behind the ballad 'Johnie Armstrang' and find the important locations mentioned in the song. Sandra Inglis (née Armstrong) believes herself to be the 16th direct descendant of Johnie Armstrang.
how they got on ...
HISTORY ROOM
Isabel and Martyn study the text of their ballad: 'Johnie Armstrang'.
Sandra and Stewart work on their family tree, consulting the 1851 census, parish records back to 1758 and the Ettleton and Castleton graveyard surveys, trying to find the family connection to the Liddesdale Armstrongs of the ballad.
The team looks through Armstrong papers, which bear out the assertion in the ballad that Johnie Armstrang was killed at Carlenrigg. Papers also refer to James V going to Carlenrigg on 5 July 1530.
CARLENRIGG CHURCHYARD
Stewart and Isabel go with archaeologist Tam Ward and Alan Armstrong, president of the Clan Armstrong Trust, to see a Victorian memorial
to Johnie Armstrang and reputed actual grave in a field next to
the church.
HISTORY ROOM
Stewart and ballad historian Kay McAlpine find that Johnie Armstrang's
land and goods were assigned by royal charter to Robert Lord Maxwell
on 8 July 1530. This also says that Armstrang was hanged for having
committed theft, not because the king was jealous of his riches
and power.
Sandra and Martyn compare maps of Liddesdale -- one from 1590, the Burghley map and the current Ordnance Survey map -- to find the locations in the ballad. However, they don't find any reference to Gilnockie, Johnie Armstrang's stronghold. Clan chief Alan Armstrong gives them the clan history to supplement the maps.
Martyn and Sandra continue to examine the maps. From references to Gilnockie tower in the ballad and elsewhere, it appears to be in the same location as the still-extant Hollows tower. Are they the same?
In the papers of R B Armstrong, author of the History of Liddesdale, there is a stonemason's report on the dismantling of Gilnockie Castle and the use of the stones to build Hollows tower.
HOLLOWS TOWER BY THE RIVER ESK
The team examine the evidence on the ground. Agree that there
were obviously two strongholds, in one of which Johnie Armstrang
lived, but no one knows which. His was probably a timber bastle
house; since it would have been in the Debatable Lands (where
you weren't allowed to build), it would have been a somewhat temporary
structure.
REDHEUGH
The team look in the clan museum for documents about the Elliots.
They find an account of the family's fortunes after the Border
is pacified.
ETTLETON CHURCHYARD
The team look at the gravestones of many Armstrongs and Elliots.
TRUCE FIELD
All the teams meet up to watch a re-enactment of a football match between an English side and a Scottish one, which first took
place in 1599.
