Lost chambers beneath a castle, treasures protected by magical guardians and a choice which reveals the hero’s purity of character. The story of Sir Guy the Seeker’s supernatural experiences at Dunstanburgh Castle occupies similar thematic territory to the tale of Walter and the wizard in the caves beneath Tynemouth Castle and variations exist from all around the United Kingdom. The Dunstanburgh story, however, has a very different ending suggesting a moral and literary influence. Sir Guy the Seeker was first published in verse as part of Matthew Lewis’ Romantic Tales (1808). Lewis was famous for his pioneering gothic horror novel The Monk and so was no stranger to complex themes.
The castle at Dunstanburgh makes impressive use of its topography, clinging to a dramatic cliff edge along two sides and once protected by a system of lakes around the inland curtain walls. The remains of the original gatehouse are especially imposing given the structure’s age, comparative short occupation and abandonment since at least the 1520s.
In the story Sir Guy is travelling in the area when he finds himself caught in a storm and urgently seeks shelter, riding towards the only visible structure, the castle ruins. Every entrance was blocked so Guy shelters in an entranceway by a single yew tree and waits for the storm to end. At midnight lightning strikes and the door behind him opens revealing a mysterious vault and ancient wizard who leads Guy inside, promising reward for the right, true-hearted hero or ruin for any who fails. The pair walk the twisting passages and staircases beneath the castle encountering unearthly sounds and visions until they finally reach an opulent vault containing a crystal tomb at its centre and sleeping warriors all around. Inside the tomb was a beautiful enchanted lady, suspended in sleep. To either side were the giant skeletons of ancient kings, one holding a sword and the other a shield. Both would be required to awaken the lady and free her from her crystal encasement but which to use first? Guy lays his hand upon the hilt of the sword but second-guesses himself and lifts the horn and sounds a note. Immediately the light disappears from the room and the voices of the awakening warriors mock Guy for his choice from all around, advancing upon him with swords and spears. The wizard becomes frightening, saying:
“Now shame on the coward who sounded a horn, When he might have unsheathed a sword!”
As a poisonous vapour permeates the air Guy passes out and wakes up stiff with cold back at the closed doorway by the yew. He experiences visions of the sleeping beauty and the vault’s treasures, compelling him to try again. Guy spends the rest of his life exploring the castle, trying to find a way back to the vault and after his death his spirit continues the search.
But still he seeks, and aye he seeks, And seeks, and seeks in vain; And still he repeats to all he meets, —”Could I find the sword again!—” Which words he follows with a groan, As if his heart would break; And oh! that groan, has so strange a tone, It makes all hearers quake!
Both Sir Guy and Walter of Tynemouth act with pure hearts and make the decision to sound an ancient horn at the climax of their quests but the circumstances and outcomes are very different. Walter is forced to act on impulse and triumphs while Guy’s indecision is the implied cause of his failure.
A version of Sir Guy the Seeker’s exploits was written by Robert Owen of North Shields who also collected the Tynemouth story although it is unclear whether this unpublished work predates Lewis’ version. Owen was a Northumberland folklore enthusiast but abandoned work on his table-book when his health deteriorated. He was said to have moved to “distant climes” later in life.
Whilst checking the catalogue entries of our Police posters which were completed by the Twixt Thistle and Rose volunteers, I came across this one which caught my attention, particularly as it was a local one relating to Berwick. It was very striking and made me want to find out who Maggie Park was and what happened to her.
REF: BA-P15-1-104
Firstly I looked to see if her disappearance had been reported and there was this short snippet in the Local News section of the Berwick Advertiser on 16 September 1887 :
GIRL MISSING – On Saturday forenoon about half past nine o’clock, a girl named Maggie Park, 12 years of age, living with her brother, James Park, shoemaker, 14 Church Street, Berwick, was sent a message to Mr Rankin’s shop in High Street. Since that time the girl has not been heard of or seen anywhere. She wore a brown felt hat, grey ulster and cape, green dress and lacing boots at the time of her disappearance.
This gave me some additional information as I originally assumed that James was her father, not her brother. Searching the 1891 census revealed that James was a shoemaker, aged about 25 in 1887, originally from Scotland and married to Catherine.
I was intrigued to find out if Maggie was ever found and this was where it got very interesting. The Berwick Advertiser contained the following article on 23 September :
A YOUNG GIRL’S ENTERPRISE – Last week we stated that Maggie Park, a girl twelve years of age, living with her brother, James Park, shoemaker, Church Street, had not been seen since the forenoon of Saturday 10th September. It has now been ascertained that she set out from Berwick to walk to the house of her father, near Glasgow, a distance of fully 100 miles. She had got as far as Edinburgh before she was discovered.
I was relieved to hear that she had been found but was amazed that she had tried to walk that distance, not something many people, never mind a child would contemplate. I wondered what happened to her in the interim and quite by chance. In the same bundle of posters, I came across a handwritten letter, dated 13 September 1887 about Maggie which had been sent by Inspector M Fraser of Dunbar Police Station to John Garden, Superintendent of Berwick Police.
REF: BA-P15-1-236
In the letter Inspector Fraser indicated that she had arrived there by train from Haddington at 3.30 pm, stayed until 7pm and then travelled back to North Berwick. If the police were contacted at North Berwick, they could detain her. Obviously that didn’t happen as she wasn’t found until much later in Edinburgh. What happened to her in between is a mystery.
Where was she going and who was her father ? The 1911 census indicated that James Park was born in Linlithgow about 1862. I checked the 1871 census and found a James Park, aged 9 living with his mother and father, Peter and Margaret in High Street, Linlithgow. Peter was also a shoemaker. By the next census, 1881, Peter was a widower and neither James nor Maggie were with him on the census night. However, I found Maggie, aged 7 in Cambuslang in the household of her married sister, Helen, now called Ellen. James at this stage was working London and was a boarder in a house in the Cavendish Square area . His occupation was listed as shoemaker. Peter, the father is missing from the 1891 census but he appears again in 1901 – listed as a patient, aged 76 in Linlithgow. Presumably in a hospital or institution. He died in 1908, aged 84.
What happened to Maggie ? So far, I have not been able to find out anything further about her. She doesn’t appear on later censuses and so she is a mystery.
However, I have been able to find some additional information on her brother. James who remained in Berwick through local newspapers. He married Catherine Elizabeth Redfearn, daughter of a local innkeeper on 30 June 1883 at St John’s Church in London and must then have moved to Berwick. In the 1901 census, James and his wife, Catherine were living at 1, Marygate. By 1911, they were living at 3 Summerhill Terrace in the north end of the town. They had no children. The couple continued to live there for the rest of their lives – Catherine died on 23 January 1933 (not long before their golden wedding anniversary), aged 71 whilst James died on 6 February 1951, aged 89.
It was only when I looked at James’ obituary that I realised who he was.
Berwick Advertiser, 8 February 1951
The obituary which appeared in the Berwick Advertiser on 8 February 1951 stated that he was one of the last surviving makers of hand made boots who had come to Berwick 67 years previously ( around 1884) . His business was originally in Church Street and then he moved to his premises at the corner of Marygate and Hide Hill. To many a person with connections to Berwick , this was Park’s corner, the home of “The Bootman” , a business which closed its door for the last time on 31 May 2003
REF: BRO 1250-1
Undertaking family history research can take you in so many different directions and along the way, you never know what you will find. When looking at the poster, I wanted to find out about the young girl but in the end, I found out more about her family and her brother, whose business was very much a part of Berwick in the past. One thing leads to another !
A sensational affair took place on the Tweed about 9.30 p.m. on Wednesday night, when Capt. F. B. Cowen, M.C., Berwick, and Mr Thos. Smart, Tweedmouth, nearly met their death by drowning as the result of a sailing canoe upsetting near the Tweedmouth side of the river, opposite the Boathouse.
Capt. Cowen and his friend have been frequently out on the river lately, sailing this canoe, and on the night of the accident they were sailing up the “gut” between the fishing bat and the Tweedmouth side when a squall of wind struck the sail and the frail craft overturned.
Tom Smart was lucky enough to fall clear of the boat but Capt. Cowen getting entangled in the sail was held under the water beneath the overturned boat and was being slowly drowned.
THE RESCUE
The accident was observed by many friends at the Boathouse, people on the Tweedmouth side, and a large number of pedestrians on the Old Bridge and New Road. Rescue work was immediately begun. A boat was manned at the Boathouse and pulled with all speed to the scene, while Mr R. J. Moor, a member of the B.A.R.C., who happened to be in his house at West End, was quickly sent for and entered the water and swam out to the boat which was only about 12 yards from the Tweedmouth shore. Mr Thomas, who is at present at the Queen’s Theatre with his Welsh Choir, also took the water and swam out, but being an elderly man was soon exhausted and had to himself seek safety.
The water at the point was about seven feet deep and when the boats arrived on the scene Smart had gone down for the second time and was making rather feeble efforts to keep afloat. Capt. Cowen had been under water all the time and Mr A. A. Crisp dived from a boat fully dressed to assist Mr Moor in the work of rescue. Happily their united efforts were successful. Moor released Capt. Cowen, who was too far gone to struggle and at the same time Smart was pulled aboard and the rescue boat with the aid of an oar where he collapsed.
Moor having raised Capt. Cowen from the bottom handed him to Mr Crisp who bore him to the wherry and safety. The rescuers were in a very exhausted condition and were violently sick owing to having swallowed so much river water.
Medical aid was waiting on the shore when the unfortunate men were landed. Dr T. P. Caverhill and his assistant applying artificial respiration while Dr Badenoch and Dr C. G. Maclagan attended to Smart and assisted on keeping a clear air space. Capt. Cowen was in a bad state and for a time his life was despaired of, but he gradually responded to treatment much to the relief of all present.
GOLF
A start has already been made with preparations for the Northumberland Agricultural Society’s Show to be held on the Magadalene Fields on 15th July. The judging ring is nearly complete, and the grandstand is in process of erection. The two holes affected so far are the “Moat” and the “Cricket Field,” but in a week or so the South end of the course will practically be out of play till after the Show.
On Saturday the Goswick Club ladies meet the Magdalene Fields Club ladies on the town course in a six-a-side match. The home team will be Miss H. F. M. Caverhill, Miss H. Gray, Miss H. Crossman, Miss McKelvie, Miss Gray, Miss Marshall. Goswick – Mrs P. C. Swan, Mrs Marrow, Mrs W. R. McCreath., Mrs T. P. Caverhill, Mrs Collingwood, Miss C. Gough.
The ladies’ June Monthly Medal was played over Goswick Course on Saturday last and was won by Miss Henderson, Coldstream, with 111-26- 85.
After considering the state of the course, the Green Committee have decided to restrict play to 7 holes on and after Monday 14th June. A temporary tee will be made adjacent to No.3 green for play to No. 6 green. The full course must, however, be played in competitions, and members engaged in competitions take precedence at No.7 tee. For the guidance of members the Committee have also decided that a ball lying within 10 yards of any Show structure may, with the consent of opponent or marker, be lifted and dropped no nearer the hole without penalty. If the ball is lying in a hazard, within 10 yards of any Show structure, the ball may be lifted at the option of the player under a penalty of one stroke.
The Green Committee have placed the hollow at the Greens Haven, where the newly erected refreshment hut is situated, out of bounds. Golfers driving into the hollow will require to drive a second ball from the ninth tee.
“NO GAS” THREAT
WORKERS DECIDE TO STRIKE.
SPITTAL MEN AFFECTED
Unless a national settlement of the matters in dispute between the Gasworkers in the United Kingdom and the Gas Companies and Corporations, comes before the night of June 26th, over 1000,000 men employed in the industry will come out on strike at the end of the strike notices.
The demands made by the men are for a 10s per week increase in wages, a 44-hour working week, and double pay for Sundays and holidays.
A ballot was taken recently as to whether members of the Union concerned were in favour of strike action, when 96 per cent of the workers voted in favour of a strike. The position is being laid before the Ministry of Labour.
The gasworkers employed by the Berwick and Tweedmouth Gas Company are affected by the threatened strike. A demand for increased wages was made by them some time ago, but this was withdrawn when a national demand was made by the unions. The seventeen men employed at the Gas Works, Spittal, balloted on the strike proposal recently and unless a settlement comes, they will come out with the rest of the gasworkers in the country on the night of June 26th.
On Wednesday the Ministry of Labour officially invited both sides of the Joint Industrial Council for the industry to meet and try to come to a settlement.
CHEAP FISH
WHY NOT BERWICK?
We learn that the Comrades of the Great War at Alnwick have set about in a business-like way, the provision of cheap fish for the people. The method is to have a list of parties to be supplied regularly and to meet these demands fish are purchased wholesale and given to the customers at a price which is almost 100 per cent. below shop prices. Cod and haddock can be sold by the Comrades at 6d per lb., while the prices charged by fish dealers in Berwick is 1s per lb, for cod and 9d per lb. for haddock.
Why not start this method in Berwick as a means of bringing down prices. Last week on Berwick Quay fishermen got from 8s to 10s per stone for haddocks, and these haddocks were retained in the shops at 9d per lb., an all round rate.
Photograph of the Berwick Quayside early 1900s
Ref: BRO 1636-5-6
The percentage of profit here is reasonable, but a much larger profit iis taken from cod which is retailed at 1s per lb., after having been purchased on the Quay at from 25s to 38s per box for small, and at about 8d per lb. for large fish. Halibut sells on the Quay at 15s and 16s a stone, and is retailed at 1s 6d per lb. upwards. Crabs can be bought from fishermen at 6s and 7s per kit, yet in a shop a purchaser is charged from 6d to 1s according to size. A kit holds some 30 crabs when well packed.
Of course, it will be said that the fish merchant must have his profit, on account of the work he has to do in handling and gutting the larger fish, but surely if men who have no experience in the fish trade can buy and sell at a profit and let the public have fish at 6d per lb., the fishmonger should go one better.
