Don Beattie, L510 ([email protected]) passed this on to me and asked me to share it. --Laurel Baty, L252 Hi Laurel and Nelda, Please share with whomever you wish. Don Beattie I forget who is doing Bauldy Beattie but David Johnsone Beattie in his book, LAND SYNE IN ESKDALE (1950) has this to say about Bauldy and the Common Riding on page 136-37. Maybe others have seen this book. It was given to me by David's son, Kenneth, Beattie, in 1974. "Just previous to the year 1778, when, as we have seen, Meikleholm Farm was being dismantled and the Duke's surveyor engage in pegging out the broad meadows preparatory to the erection of dwelling houses and other property in furtherance of the new scheme outlined by His Grace, there might have been seen a certain day in July, the familiar figure of Bauldy Beattie, town drummer and fair crier, making his own way on foot up the Kirk Wynd to the hill ' to see gif a' oor marches be clear.' The Parish Kirk up the brae would at that time be in process of rebuilding and we wonder whether 'Bauldy' lingered for a crack with the masons on his way by. The present forlorn and weather-beaten ruin in the Auld Kirkyard is all that is left of the freshly-hewn stone kirk that Bauldy would see slowly rising from foundation to belfry, for he lived nearby, and would doubtless be a frequent visitor to the mason's shed in the Auld Kirkyard. It is said that for more than fifty years he walked the marches and 'cried the Langholm Fair' on the steps of the Cross, which at that time stood in the Market Place." "Since the stranger or incomer in our midst may not yet be initiated into the mysteries of the "Muckle Toon' and the Common Riding, here is the story." "The Award of the Court of Session in 1759 recognised that the burgess of Langholm hd certain legal (136) rights in the Commonty. Consequently it became a public duty om their part to see that these rights were maintained. The boundaries were set forth in the Award, and in order that these might be maintained intact, the inhabitants engaged a man to go out on ce a year to inspect the boundaries, report encroachments, and generally protect the interests of the people of Langholm. This duty of policing the Marches was assigned to Archibald Beattie, the town's drummer, and this worth walked the Marches annually, pointing out their boundaries to all who cared to accompany him. Up to the year 1814, 'Bauldy,' as he was popularly called, went over the Marches on foot. In 1816, the year after Waterloo, Arciv Thompson, an inn-keeper in the town, who succeeded Bauldy Beattie went over the boundaries on horseback alone, but soon he was accompanied by other townsmen. Since then that tiny stream of horsemen, going out once a year to the Common Moss and Kilngreen to protect the interests uphold the rights of the people, has swollen to a cavalcade sometimes numbering over a hundred and more,* led by a Langholm lad bearing aloft the town's standard." (137) There are a few other citations in this book as well about Bauldy Beattie. These are on pages 140 and 141 but I will just quote, here, the main section which appears on page 140. BAULDY BEATTIE "In his day--fully a century and a half ago--there was no more popular personage in the Muckle Toon that 'Bauldy Beattie, the Town Drummer and Fair Crier. On these festal occasions while performing his duty, 'Bauldy' wore a very fancy suit of clothes. His head was adorned with a three-cornered hat, while he was dressed in a drab coat with red plush knee breeches, a vest of the same colour, white stockings and broad-nebbed shoes. He lived in a thatched house at the foot of the Kirk Wynd, and he died in 1825 at the ripe age of 90 years. 'Bauldy' Beattie is buried in the aulds Kirkyard, and his tombstone may be seen nearby the south end of the kirk ruin. General Sir Charles Pasley, one of Langholm's distinguished soldier sons of that period, has commemorated 'Bauldy' Beattie in these lines:-- First 'Bauldy' Beattie, glorious chief appears, Who joins to youthful force the sense of years; Majestic! how he moves, born to command; Heather his brow adorns, a sword his hand. While other men by Fashion led astray, He, against all her gaudy tricks secure, Preserves the manners of our father's pure. (140)