* Marmion Canto VI
Scott
Scott
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| The medieval Twizel Bridge over the Till |
Today, the 20th March
is the day St Cuthbert is reputed to have died in 687 on Lindisfarne.
After walking the St
Cuthbert's Way last year, (Blogs 15/5/2015 to 23/07/2105), I am easily lured by any place with
the saint's name attached and there are so many to choose from. The
number of chapels and sites where his body is said to have rested on
his travels around what is now Northumberland, Yorkshire, Lancashire
and Southern Scotland numbers at least fifty, not counting his final
resting place at Durham.
When the Viking
raiders attacked Lindisfarne two hundred years after his demise, the
monks exhumed the body which was said to be uncorrupted, evidence of
his sainthood.
They set off to
carry it to safety and for the next seven years journeyed around the
kingdom of Northumbria as it then was – as far north as Mailros
(Melrose) where Cuthbert had first become a monk, as far west as
Whithorn where his mentor Aidan had studied and as far south as
Ripon, the monastery of his contemporary, St Wilfred.
Later examination
of the remains of the saint suggest the body had been mummified.
The extent and
duration of the travels throughout the land suggest another purpose
for the journey of the saintly corpse than merely to escape the
depredations of the Norsemen.
A cult figure in his lifetime and a venerated saint afterwards, he served as a symbol to rally the, by then Christian, peoples of the kingdom of Northumbria against the pagan Norse.
A cult figure in his lifetime and a venerated saint afterwards, he served as a symbol to rally the, by then Christian, peoples of the kingdom of Northumbria against the pagan Norse.
Where the River Till
joins the Tweed stands St Cuthbert's chapel.
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| St Cuthbert's Chapel, Tillmouth |
What is there today
is an eighteenth century folly but it stands on the site of the
medieval village of Tillmouth. The village is long gone save for a
few crop marks seen on aerial photos but there was a chapel of St
Cuthbert here in 1311 and legend has it that his remains were
floated in a stone coffin down the Tweed from Melrose and came to rest at Tillmouth
An extract from
Hutchison's 1823 edition of HISTORY & ANTIQUITIES OF THE COUNTY PALATINE OF DURHAM reads
On a peninsula formed by the
confluence of the rivers Till and Tweed, was an ancient chapel, on
the side of which, about five years ago, (1794) Sir Francis Blake
built a small chapel; the windows of which some wanton and
sacrilegious villains have lately destroyed. About thirty yards to
the west of this place, and fifteen from the Tweed, lie the remains
of a stone boat or coffin, in which, tradition says, the body of St.
Cuthbert was miraculously conveyed down the Tweed from Mailross. By
some hydrostatical experiments whilst it was entire, we are informed
it was proved that it might float with the remains of the saint *.
Mr Gough, in his Additions to Camden, says, that it " is a stone boat, of as fine in shape as a boat of wood." We confess we did not examine the parts so narrowly, being prejudiced with the idea, that they were the mere fragments of a stone coffin. The dimensions of the present remains of the boat are—
So it seems that the saint in his stone coffin could have floated down the Tweed !
There is another legend that a local farmer took the broken stone coffin away to use to salt pork. Now that sounds genuine!
Mr Gough, in his Additions to Camden, says, that it " is a stone boat, of as fine in shape as a boat of wood." We confess we did not examine the parts so narrowly, being prejudiced with the idea, that they were the mere fragments of a stone coffin. The dimensions of the present remains of the boat are—
In the inside, length 5' 0" Breadth at top 2' 0'' Do. broadest part 3' 2''. (One end
is broken off, and
has been taken away.)Do. where broken off. 3' 0'' Height of the sides 1' 3''|Thickness
of sides and bottom 0'4''
* From this data, it is probable, that the outside length of the
boat when entire,was nine feet three inches—its mean
outside breadth three feet three inches—the height one foot nine
inches—and the circumference twenty one feet. From thence, it is
calculated, that it contained nearly twenty cubic feet uf solid stone,
which, by reckoning the specific gravity of freestone, 2,5. it would weigh 31251b. and its outside dimensions would displace 52,6. cubic feet of water, which. at 62lb. and a half to a cubic foot, would be 32871b.—therefore, from 32871b.weight of water displaced, take 31251b. weight of boat, leaving 1621b. for the boat to carry, which is equal to that of a man near twelve stone weight.
There is another legend that a local farmer took the broken stone coffin away to use to salt pork. Now that sounds genuine!
The spot where
the Tweed receives the Till, its only English tributary, is peaceful
and even if the legend is untrue, it didn't detract from the enjoyment
of watching goosanders fishing in the junction of the waters.
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| Goosander |
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| Goosander ducks and drakes at the rivers' junction |
On the way home, I
remembered the stone coffin in the ruins of the 14th century Priory
in our village and went to measure it
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| Stone coffin at local Priory |
It is about the same size. I wonder if Historic Scotland would let me see if it floats?
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