Searching for Gilnock Hall

by James Armstrong III and James Armstrong IV of Silver Spring, VA, USA

"Farewell! my bonny Gilnock hall
Where on Esk side thou stoodest stout!
Gif I but looked but seven yeirs mair,
I wad hae found thee round about."
                JOHNIE ARMSTRANG (Parody on an Old Ballad)

To Armstrongs, a natural mystique of the Armstrong Country of yore
(Liddesdale, Eskdale, the Debatable Land and Cumbria) is its ever-compelling
power to let one reach beyond what can be seen and to grope for phantoms of
an indistinct past.  Armed with such a sixth sense, we began our quest.  We
wanted to be counted among the valiant, not among those who sought for El
Dorado, but among those modern Armstrongs who have sought for Gilnockie, the
ancient seat of Johnie, our family's most celebrated ancestor.
 A successful exploration into the past must be funded with knowledge.  Why
did not the balladeer tell us on which bank the "bonny Gilnock-Hall... on
Eskside... standest stout"?  Old maps and land records cannot supply the
answer, especially since almost none survive from the early 1500's.  We
consulted with DeWitt of Alexandria.  In 1987 he and his West Point
classmate, the late Jack of McLean, also experienced in close combat, had
walked the ground on both sides of the Esk River.  Thinking in terms of the
weaponry and tactics of the Late Middle Ages, both of them judged the east
bank site, adjacent to Gilnockie Bridge, to be infinitely stronger, far more
defensible, than Hollows Tower's west bank site.  Beyond question, they
concluded the west-bank Hollows would not have been John of Gilnockie's
choice for his prime seat, since its defensive value was trivial.
 Moreover, most of the Armstrongs were then still located in Liddesdale,
east of the Esk.  During three centuries of unceasing invasions and raids,
the traditional Armstrong sanctuary was the almost impenetrable waste of
Tarras Moss, in the hills east of the Esk valley, into which the swift,
rocky Tarras Water flowed, from elevations higher than a thousand feet.  The
area today is a quite irregular moor land, for in recent centuries it has
been well drained.  But in the 1500s, long before that ditching was
laboriously done, it was a treacherous "sea of moss and pit-mire... the
wildest spot in all the country side."  Seemingly solid ground could swallow
a man, founder a horse.  Routes into and through Tarras Moss, and patches of
dry ground, were well known to the Armstrongs but not to the English.  The
Armstrongs wanted to keep things just that way.  And toward the outer
protection of this Tarras Moss refuge the Hollows site added nothing, while
an east bank fortification added a great deal.

The Clan Armstrong Trust has pioneered most of the twentieth century
research concerning Johnie's Tower.  DeWitt pointed to Bill of Edinburgh's
scholarly analysis, published as two articles in the Milnholm Cross
Newsletter (July and December issues of 1984), and reinforced by his July
1989 and December 1992 articles in the same publication.  To Bill, Gilnockie
is a "Phantom Castle,...the locale of a four-hundred-year-old mystery."
Particularly in the December 1984 article Bill, with great care, reviewed
extant commentaries, including their inconsistencies, which tell of the
existence and site of the "phantom castle."  Robert Bruce Armstrong's
unpublished second volume to his History of Liddesdale, Eskdale, etc.
(1883), James Lewis Armstrong's Chronicles of the Armstrongs (1902),  James
Logan Mack's The Border Line (1926),  and Andrew Lang's Highways and Byways
of the Borders (1913) form important parts of Bill's source material, a must
for the aspiring student of Armstrong legend and folklore.
 For Squire Trelawney and Jim Hawkins, the vital starting point for a
treasure hunt was a map.  For us it was much the same.  A surprisingly
accurate handwritten sketch in the imagined tradition of pirate treasure
maps was drawn for us by Alan of Weardale, when we met him in Hexham en
route to the Armstrong country.

 Alan, befitting his titular role as "head of the family," supplemented our
ever-increasing store of Gilnockie legends and gave us the encouragement
needed to continue our quest.

 We were fascinated by Alan's comments on Johnie Armstrong's Farewell, a
Victorian painting by Henry H. Emmerson (1831-1895) now hanging in the Laing
Gallery in Newcastle Upon Tyne.  According to Alan, the Emmerson painting
was commissioned by his benefactor, William George Lord Armstrong of
Cragside and Bamburgh.  Johnie's facial features are said to be those of the
artist, while Lady Armstrong of Cragside was presumed to be the model for
Johnie's attractive wife.  Emmerson's inspiration for the doorway of Gilnock
Hall may have been the Black Gate of Newcastle.  But as late as 1836, the
Rev. James Donaldson wrote in the New Statistical Account about the remains
of "a building of considerable strength" near the east end of the bridge:
"It has two round turrets with loopholes at each of the east and west
angles."

 We started our search about noon in Langholm, beginning at the Tourist
Information Center.  We'd remembered from our visit there in 1990 the
kindness of Mrs. Hall, who manages the Center, and we stopped to check for
available local guidance.  After we introduced ourselves, Mrs. Hall
exclaimed, "This will certainly interest you!" and showed us the day's
morning paper, the Eskdale and Liddesdale Advertiser of May 25, 1995.  Page
Two's big bold caption startled us: "Armstrongs to feud again over Gilnockie
Tower?"  The "feud" was said to be between Major Roy Armstrong-Wilson, a
former owner and the restorer of Hollows Tower, a.k.a. Gilnockie Tower, and
Edward (Ted) Armstrong of Canonbie, the present curator of the tower, which
is now said to be owned by one Colin Armstrong of Yorkshire.   We asked Mrs.
Hall about the name of the tower.  She replied, "They're insisting on
calling it 'Gilnockie' now.  It's nonsense! Around here we (the local
people) don't care what they want to call it.  We laugh about it because  we
know differently.  My grandfather told me that Gilnockie was on the other
[east] side of the Esk.  They used the stones to make the old bridge [in the
1790's]....."

 The intrigue had intensified!  We decided to try to reach Ted of Canonbie.
Mrs. Hall's telephone call to Ted was unavailing so, after buying a copy of
the daily paper, we proceeded directly to Hollows Tower.  Our hopes were
fulfilled.  As we approached we saw Ted, unmistakably accoutered as an
Armstrong, pacing about the base of the tower.  Ted, awaiting others invited
to see the tower, graciously asked us to enter.  As we toured the building
he read a three-page prepared explanation on the history of "Gilnockie."
The prepared material asserted that the building was Gilnockie, the fortress
of the famous Johnie Armstrong,  although the existence of certain
"earthworks" on the other side of the Esk was acknowledged.
 Historians dispute when the tower was first built or who first owned it.
Some say the tower was the legendary Gilnockie; some say it was erected in
Johnie Armstrong's lifetime as an adjunct to Gilnockie; and some say
otherwise, putting its origin at a later date.  Clearly at sometime during
the sixteenth century it housed Armstrongs.  It was probably burned during
or shortly after "the pacification of the Borders" by James the Sixth and
First in the early part of the seventeenth century.  Hollows was seen by
late eighteenth century travelers, including Sir Walter Scott, as a
"roofless tower," adorning  "a scene, which in natural beauty, has few
equals in Scotland."  Fortunately no railroad came through in later years to
gorge upon its stones, as was the fate of Mangerton.  Yet, more than a
century and a half passed after Scott's visit before Hollows was to be once
again renovated and reoccupied.

 The inside of Hollows gives some insight into the construction of a
sixteenth century Scottish peel tower.  The small ground level entry way,
although apparently designed to accommodate twentieth century inhabitants,
could have served to admit livestock in earlier times.  The entrance opens
into one large rough walled ground floor with a barrel vaulted ceiling about
ten feet high.  Typically, this floor could have been used as a storage room
for grain, food, tools or as a shelter for horses and milking cows during a
reiver raid.  Above the ground floor one would expect to find two or three
planked levels providing living accommodation and additional storage space.
The top of the tower would probably be crowned with a steeply pitched roof,
possibly tiled with stone slabs and surrounded by a narrow gangway enclosed
by a parapet.  Here the balefire would be lighted, to warn others more
distant about hostile invasion.  A tower would generally have been
surrounded by a defensive stone wall or "barmkin."

 With the change of ownership in recent times, the entire peel has been
fitted with plumbing and electricity.  The ground floor at one time served
as a kitchen, but now it is used for storage.  The walls are whitewashed and
the room is clean inside.  Just inside and to the right of the entrance to
the ground floor is the only stairwell, which probably dates back to the
tower's early years.  We spiraled our way up the staircase to the next
level, which could have been the so-called great hall of the tower.  Today
it has a wooden beam ceiling and a whitewashed plaster interior that cover
the stone walls.  This room has a grand fire place and beautiful recessed
windows.  Windows of any substantial size in peel towers are usually modern
additions because, during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, peels
were said to be furnished mostly with small windows for light and
ventilation and with loopholes for firing on attackers.  The room in the
level above the hall is a smaller room which now functions as a bed chamber
with a private bath.  Above this level is a small museum with recent
Armstrong memorabilia, including a facsimile of Neil Armstrong's moon-boot
print.  Encircling the roof of the tower is a narrow parapet, which offers a
grand view of the Esk, winding its tortuous path southward to meet with
Liddel Water.

 Slightly to the southwest of Hollows stands an old mill, strategically
placed where the Esk is slightly wider and flows more gently.  Beyond the
mill and on the other side of the river, the bank rises abruptly.  Standing
on the parapet at Hollows one can see old trees of various sizes which jut
out crookedly from the rocky east bank.  It is here, downstream on this
bank, where Gilnock Hall should have once stood.  Hollows, standing on low
ground amidst relatively level westwardly extending holmland, seems
inappropriate for the stronghold of a Border chieftain.  However, without an
accurate understanding of the contour of the land to the west prior to the
building of the modern A7 highway, this thought becomes speculative.  But,
in an engraving predating 1833 and also in an early twentieth century
photograph, the land to the west appears to be flat!
 Certainly Hollows could have been an ancillary tower of  Johnie's, rather
than the main stronghold.  James L. Armstrong  gives a undocumented comment
that Hollows was the residence of Johnie's grandson, Christie's Will, in
1630 (an improbability, 100 years after Johnie's death).  So why all the
confusion?  Given that no tower stands on the east bank of the Esk, it is
easy to assume that the structure standing on the west bank must have been
Gilnockie.  Is this romantic assumption but another fiction of Sir Walter
Scott, the great "Wizard of the North?"  Scott called it "Gilnockie" in his
Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, first published in 1802.  This would not
have been Sir Walter's only misconception or misrepresentation of the
Armstrong clan and its domains.  Scott's designation might have inspired the
titling of 1814 and 1838 engravings of "Gilnockie Tower" which we acquired
later.

 From the roof of Hollows tower we could see a storm moving ever closer.  By
the time we left we were forced to run through the rain to our car.  As we
pulled away we took a parting snapshot.  Still determined to search for
"Gilnock Hall" we turned left out of Hollows farm, continued down the road
for about half a mile and took another left over Gilnockie bridge, onto the
east bank of the Esk.

 The supposed location of Gilnockie is eloquently described by Lang in
Highways and Byways of the Borders,  "Here at the Carlisle end of Gilnockie
Bridge, on the high tongue of rocky land that projects into the stream, are
faint but unmistakable outlines of a large building, with outworks.  The
position is magnificent-- impregnable, in fact, to any force of olden days
unprovided with artillery.  On three sides the rocky banks drop nearly sheer
into the water ..."  The location is less impregnable today going from west
to east over the 1961 bridge in a car.  There was a dirt road just east of
our destination, so we turned in and drove through deep puddles for about 50
yards before parking.

 We walked due west toward the overgrown riverbank, soon reaching a fifteen
foot high brush and weed covered mound.  We confirmed it to be the first
landmark on Alan's map.  A small foot path crossed over the mound, a sign of
prior exploration.  The path led us to a plateau at the river's edge, an
almost square area seemingly defined by the course of the Esk below.  We
could see the river's rocky banks that "drop nearly sheer into the water."
By this time bright sunlight was illuminating the water-laden foliage that
surrounded us.

 The center of the plateau was relatively open.  Trees were growing around
the perimeter where portions of the bank had fallen into the water.  After
climbing and descending through thick growth to reach the plateau, we found
it odd to see a relatively bare patch of land almost devoid of trees.  The
fact that trees are not growing in this lush green bank made us think that a
substantial stone structure sunken below the topsoil would inhibit the
growth of anything larger than forest weeds.  But we were not convinced yet.
We checked Alan's map again to verify our location using his trilinear
coordinates - the mound, the mill and Hollows Tower.  We walked westwardly
to the edge of the cliff and could see the mill correctly positioned almost
directly opposite us on the other side of the river.  Looking north from our
position near the cliff we could see Hollows, so we knew that we were within
the square defined by four hypothetical castle corners shown on Alan's map.
So how can one verify the existence of a "Phantom Castle?"  We needed more
clues to tell us why this elevated bit of earth on which we stood once
sheltered the most mighty of the sixteenth century Armstrongs.

 On two sides of the plateau are cliffs that drop perhaps sixty feet into
the River Esk. In fact, Alan's map suggests that the north-west corner of
the "castle" had long ago slid into the river. Thus, from two sides, a
castle located here would be difficult to attack.  We walked northward along
the ridge of the bluff searching for answers.  Looking down the steep drop
to the river we could see a number of large rocks - one or two looked like
building stones - appearing as if they may have been intentionally dressed.
Bill of Edinburgh had seen (in the presence of two witnesses) similar
stones, which he concluded could have not floated upstream from Gilnockie
bridge.  So far we could detect nothing around the plateau resembling a wall
remnant or foundation of any sort.  Farther along the river bank cliff we
noticed a tree growing precariously from the top of a stone outcrop.
Directly beneath the tree, the exposed portion of the formation extended
downwardly for about ten feet.  From our vantage point we could not tell if
it was natural or shaped at least in part by human hand.  Either way, the
formation looked like part of a strong foundation that was missing a castle.
We edged north to get a closer look, but the deep  mud sucking at our feet
was impenetrable to two American Armstrongs, however determined.
 We once again crossed over the plateau and returned to the high mound to
the east.  The mound seems to suggest the position of the eastern extension
of the castle protecting the "castle's" now unseen keep.  Thus far we had
located two cliffs on which to build walls to defend Gilnockie from two
sides.  The mound logically positions a third wall and the fourth would have
faced the present road that crosses Gilnockie bridge.  Nowadays there is a
only a slight rise from the road to the plateau, but in Johnie's time there
would have been no bridge here. From the pre-1833 engraving the approach
from the south looks to have been much steeper than it is today.
 This rock-based bluff above the Esk is the ideal place for a stronghold -
difficult to attack and easy to defend.  Lang in Highways and Byways had
long ago remarked, "It is impossible to imagine a site more perfect for a
freebooter's stronghold.  To have neglected it, in favor of such a position
as that occupied by the Hollow's Tower, would have been on the reiver's part
to throw away the most obvious of the gifts of the Providence."  Thinking of
Hollows, why would one build a fortress on flat ground, easily accessible
from the west, with a river behind it instead of in front of it?

  Another lingering mystery concerns the old arched bridge over the Esk, now
known only from engravings, built in the 1790's and replaced in 1961.  Bill
of Edinburgh's research has done much to reinforce the local belief that the
stones of Gilnockie were used to build that bridge of bygone days.  James L.
Armstrong, writing in 1902, describes, "a castle which in former times stood
upon the high embankment overhanging the Esk at Gilnockie bridge, where
foundations are still visible, for near this spot was found carved upon a
broken slab his insignia ....and upon another the monogram composed of the
letters J A and a tree."

 Some think that the "J A" stone was part of the bridge.  In the early
1980's Bill of Edinburgh searched for present information about the stone,
but nothing is now known about it since the destruction of the old bridge.
 Gilnockie, the Phantom Castle, must be more than legend.  The high bluff on
Eskside's east bank, as suggested by Bill, Alan, DeWitt and others who have
explored it before us, befits the location of a mighty stronghold.
Excavation work would be of great help to dispel rumors and  to determine
finally which historical account corresponds to the truth.  Who knows how
much of the real Gilnockie has been looted over the centuries to build
bridges and roads?  Without a building to be seen, the terrain creates its
own image of what should have been the once impressive stronghold called
"Gilnock Hall."