Click here for part I of the tour
Mid April 1999 presented me with another opportunity to revisit the lands of my forbears, I had only a few hours in Liddesdale en route to a meeting in Newcastle on Tyne so had to have a clear plan of where I needed to go and what exactly I wanted to see. Again I made the border city of Carlisle my base, on leaving Carlisle I headed north on the A7, Luck was truly on my side this time as heavy rain the night before had dissipated yeilding to bright sunshine and a warm spring breeze, a familiar sign greeted me as I crossed over into Scotland from England
Shortly after crossing the border I spotted a sign for Kirkandrews on Esk, a moment later a beautiful peel tower and chapel appeared in the distance, I had not planned for this but decided to make an unscheduled stop.
The Church (or Kirk in local parlance) was situated in Idyllic schenery next to the beautiful river Esk, a popular haunt for salmon fishers, the grand peel tower to its side looked to be in very good condition and appeared to be part of a farm.
The church, with its ivy-mantled walls, forms a very picturesque object in the landscape on the west bank of the Esk, two and a half miles north of Longtown. It was built in 1637 on the site of the old fabric, by Sir Richard Graham, pursuant to the letters patent of Charles I. From the tenor of the grant, it appears that the old church had long been demolished, and the parochial limits not accurately known. The letters patent gave power to Sir Richard to unite and consolidate into one entire parish the old parish of Kirkandrews and Nichol Forest.
I couldn't resist a browse around the graveyard to see if there were many Routledges here, a comprehensive scan of the memorial stones proved negative, I did however see many familiar reiver names here like Armstrong, Bell, Forrester and Elliot.
Moving swiftly on I headed towards Canonbie, again this was not on my list of places to see but as I entered this small town I couldn't resist a browse around the graveyard
There are two burial grounds in the grounds of Canonbie church, one closest to the building appears to be more recent and even had a new excavation in progress as I entered, there is a dividing wall and another graveyard full of much older stones, some bearing dates as early as the late 17th Century.
As I entered the old graveyard I scanned a line of headstones against the perimiter wall, Douglas Routledge was one of the first names I read which inspired me with the hope of finding many more kinsmen at rest here, sadly, that was the only one I could spot in this quite large burial ground and the morning was a'ticking away.
Moving on, I reprimanded myself for losing focus, I had only an hour and a half left, a lot of miles to cover, and had not yet reached my first intended goal of Tarras moss. The Tarras was said to have been a reiver sanctuary and the place where the Routledge clan escaped to when chased out of their homelands by the March Wardern General Dacre and his force of 500, I had missed this place on my first visit and regretted not seeing it so made a concerted effort to track it down.
Stapleton is a tiny hamlet in Bewcastledale about 5 miles south west of Bewcastle itself, I learned through a Canadian Routledge cousin (who's e-mail address I misplaced) that many generations of Routledges were resting here.
A search of the graveyard revealed some 30 memorials that were identifyable as Routledge graves, some dating back to the early 1700's.
Routledge graves of St Marys Stapleton
Click here to take part I of the tour
Back to the Ruttledge history page
Click here to veiw historic & modern maps of the region