Article Title: "The Haunted Jacobite Trail"

Author: Tony Liddell

Society Membership Level: Field Investigation Team

Copyright: Tony Liddell

Year Published: 2004

Miscellaneous: Many thanks go to the North Pennines Heritage Trust.

At the beginning of the twenty-first century, the term 'Jacobite' is familiar to most people only through old buildings and other references, such as rooms being labelled 'The Jacobite Room' in many of the region's stately homes. But who exactly were the Jacobites, and what was the origin of the Jacobite cause?

In 1688, the 'Glorious Revolution' established William of Orange and Mary Stuart on the English Throne, and saw the deposed King James II fleeing to France. The Latin name for James is Jacobus, and it is from this Latin name that the supporters of the deposed King James gained the label Jacobites.

King William and Queen Mary had no children, and when they died the throne passed to Mary's younger sister Anne. She died in 1714, again leaving no children to succeed her.

A distant relation to hers, the Protestant George, Elector of Hanover, was crowned King of England and the Catholic Jacobites decided it was time to act.

In 1715, the first Jacobite uprising took place in an attempt to place James II's son (James II himself had died in 1701), Prince James Francis Edward Stuart on the English throne and overthrow George I. On the 6th September 1715, the Earl of Mar raised the Stuart banner at Braemar in the Scottish Highlands, and by a month later the English Jacobites had mobilised, led by James Radcliffe, third Earl of Derwentwater and Thomas Forster, MP.

The Northumbrians waited for two weeks for French reinforcements, and when the latter failed to appear, the English Jacobites marched north to Kelso to meet with a large force of Highlanders.

The combined force travelled south down the western side of the Pennines and met the Government army in Battle, where the Jacobites were defeated on the 14th November. Over 1500 Jacobites were taken prisoner, many being executed in Lancashire. A couple of hundred prisoners were taken to London to face trial for Treason. Lords Derwentwater and Widdrington, as well as five Scottish lords, were taken to the Tower of London, with Thomas Forster and Charles Radcliffe (the younger brother of the Earl) being taken to Newgate along with a number of other gentlemen.

James Radcliffe, Third Earl of Derwentwater, was found guilty and executed alongside Lord Kenmure, a Scottish peer, on Tower Hill on the 24th February 1716. Lord Widdrington, given the same sentence, was later reprieved and in a venture that has nearly as much folklore surrounding it as it has history, Charles Radcliffe and Thomas Forster escaped from gaol and fled to France. James III then set up a court in Rome and lived there for the rest of his life.

In 1745, James III's eldest son, Prince Charles Edward Stuart, known as 'Bonnie Prince Charlie', sailed to Scotland and led the second Jacobite uprising. Opposed by the English General Pope at Dunbar in the September of that year, the Jacobites won a decisive victory and moved south to within 130 miles of London before it is said dissention arose in the Jacobite ranks. Once again, the promised French reinforcements didn't show up, and the Jacobite forces were repelled at Derby. The Jacobite forces moved back north and took a final stand at Culloden where they were defeated by the English Army. Bonnie Prince Charlie escaped, but the English chose to make an example of the Highlands, with brutal slaughter and suppression reported.

The wearing of kilts and the Tartan was outlawed and the Jacobite cause was lost. The Prince himself lived to the age of 67 in Rome, where he died reportedly an alcoholic. Again, this uprising was suppressed, the Battle of Culloden in 1746 seeing the defeat of the Jacobite army and the slaughter of those suspected in adhering to the Jacobite cause.

Needless to say, the Jacobite Rebellion has left its mark in Ghost Stories around the North-East, the most famous one probably being the ghosts of Dilston Castle.

Dilston, or 'Historic Dilston' as the landscape has come to be known, is situated on the southern bank of the Devilswater (near Corbridge) in the county of Northumberland. In 1888, the Reverend Heslop wrote in the 'Monthly Chronicle':

"The Hall is behind us, and its tragic story haunts the place. It is but a generation since the trampling of hoofs and the clatter of harness was heard on the brink of the steep here, revealing to that trembling listener that 'the Earl' yet galloped with spectral troops across the haugh. Undisturbed, as the reverent hands of his people had laid him and his severed head, the Earl himself had rested hardly in the little vault for a whole century; yet the troops have been seen by the country people over and over again as they swept and swerved through the dim mist of the hollow dene."

Over recent years, the grounds of Dilston Castle and Chapel, now in the grounds of the MENCAP college (Dilston Hall) near to Corbridge have seen a number of possibly paranormal occurances, from a man being seen staring out of one of the castle windows wearing a long curled wig (much like the Earl himself would have worn) to cold spots and strange feelings of being watched being reported by people in the chapel. A couple of years ago, a small group of people camped by Dilston Bridge at Halloween in the hope of witnessing one of the many spectres reported there, and claim to have seen a man shining in moonlight run across the bridge and quite literally through the temporary gate set up across its width: however, this was no ancient ghost, but described as a man in what looked like a jogging suit! There have also been reports of mysterious shadowy figures chasing people down the roads around the Hall and college - reports usually by soild people with no wish or need to make anything up or embellish tales. Historic Dilston was investigated by Otherworld North East on the 18th of June 2004 and consequently on the 5th August 2005, the team investigating the Bridge, the Chapel, the Castle and the current Hall (not the original which was demolished in the 1700s).

The Castle produced a number of photographic and video light anomalies, including a blue-tinged mist, dowsing results, environmental fluctuations not in keeping with natural state, as well as ultrasound readings - from the bats! The Chapel prduced minor poltergeist activity with an environmental meter bag being thrown 6feet, a number of sound and light anomalies, dowsing results, power fluctuations and intermittent EMF bursts. The Bridge over the Devilswater on both investigations produced visible apparitions, with two figures being seen by 3 investigators in 2004 and then a single figure being seen by 3 investigators in 2005. Numerous visible light anomalies were present and recorded, with minor dowsing results. The Hall itself proved reasonably quiet in August 2005, with dowsing results, a few environmental fluctuations and light anomalies being caught on video camera. The sound of a door was also heard opening and closing in an area of the Hall where it was known that no-one was present.

Of course, Historic Dilston isn't the only Jacobite site to report ghostly activity.

Bamburgh Castle, one of the most famous of the Northumbrian Coastal castles has a number of ghost stories attached to it, and it, as well as nearby Bamburgh Hall has many Jacobite connections. Tradition has it that General Tom Forster met with the Scottish forces to plan the attack at Bamburgh Hall. After his capture and imprisonment in the Tower of London, his sister, Dorothy Forster (of Blanchland) is said to have mounted a cunning rescue. The newly escaped Tom is said to have then hidden in a secret room at Bamburgh Castle until he fled to France.

Down in Blanchland itself, the Lord Crewe Arms is said to be one of the most haunted buildings in the region, haunted by the aggrieved and worried spirit of Dorothy Forster as well as white cowled monks.

In Stamfordham, Northumberland, residents of the flats and houses that now occupy the building which once was an inn where the first plots are said to have been hatched report numerous ghostly goings-on, as does the Miner's Arms in Warworth where the Jacobean leaders are said to have stayed and eaten a meal.

Across in Cumbria, Nenthead, once owned by the earl of Derwentwater, also sees its share of ghosts, a diagnostic investigation at the Mining Museum there showing up surprising results...

It seems that wherever the Jacobite cause held sway, you will find tales of ghosts and the supernatural as well as excellent historical remains and rich history.