September 9-11, 2005

INTERNATIONAL PORTEOUS FAMILY GATHERING
EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND

The "Big" Porteous Gathering takes place at the same time of year - around Sept. 9 - every five years. There is an annual pilgrimage Tam Porteous makes and is always glad to have someone join him & Robbie Scott at Hawkshaw and at the "Cruik for a pint." Porteii from all over the world who can make the trip are encouraged to attend.

This year there were over 50 Porteouses, coming from: U.S.A., Canada, England, Scotland, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa.
[ Porteous Associates site ] Thanks to Bruce Porteous, Doug Porteous, and Pat Allan for editing and adding some tidbits to my story.

OUR AIRBUS BMI Out of O'Hare Airport at 6:30 p.m. Sep 6. Arrival in Manchester, England at 8:30 a.m. on the 7th (England time 2:30 a.m. our time). We picked up our car and headed north...first stop Carlisle, County Cumberland, for the night. Bob and I decided to just take our time driving to Edinburgh. Instead of taking the big Motorways, we took the "A" routes which gave us the best scenery and we were able to go through a lot of nice villages and towns.

 

 

BREAKFAST IN CARLISLE We had a very nice breakfast here. Bob had a full English breakfast - bangers (sausage), potatoes, eggs, bacon, mushrooms, black pudding, and BEANS! I just had bacon and toast. The coffee was good, too. Then we went on to look for a stamp store which was near by or so we thought...

WOULDN'T YOU JUST KNOW WE'D FIND THIS We always find something which uses our surname - GLASS! Now we are in search of the stamp store we saw advertised. This trip is not all about genealogy and the Porteous family. Bob needs his "fix."

STAMP STORE IN A BACK LANE I don't know how we ever found this. It was down this lane that looked more like an alley. The store was literally inside the middle of the city block. No wasted space!

BOB IS IN! LOOK AT ALL THOSE STAMPS! Didn't take him long to dig into the boxes. He found a couple things, but not much. I asked about passenger ship picture postcards. You never know when the ship an ancestor took shows up as a postcard.

FIRST GLIMPSE OF SCOTLAND The hills were so green and
the heather was in bloom. There were sheep everywhere and a few cows grazing.

These are interesting "hills" - actually they reminded me of
the foothills to the Colorado Rockies or possibly somewhere in
West Virginia.

WHAT A BEAUTIFUL RIDE THROUGH THE SCOTTISH BORDERS Even though at any moment it would be raining, we still enjoyed our drive. A7 route took us through some interesting villages we wouldn't have seen if we had taken the motorway. Every turn of the road, the scenery was more beautiful.

ABOUT 16 MORE MILES TO EDINBURGH It has to be over that rise...somewhere.

We arrived at our hotel with not much problem. We checked in and the rain came.

ROOF TOPS OF EDINBURGH IN THE RAIN Jam-packed housing in the city of Edinburgh. This is a city of Labyrinths for sure. It is built on "seven hills."

We met up with Doug and Mary for a walking tour of Edinburgh. First we went down the road from the hotel to have breakfast at a little shop that served scones and coffee. Mmmmm.

BRASS RUBBINGS When it is raining hard in Edinburgh, what else would you do but rubbings? This was a great time. This entertainment was located in a church which wasn't being used as such anymore. It was a wonderful atmosphere to do rubbings in.

Karen's rubbing of Ann Boleyn is in the bottom right corner of the first picture. Here Doug is rubbing a "griffin" on the right Bob is rubbing a medieval geometric image. Below, Mary has undertaken a larger medieval female figure.

It took us about 1 1/2 hours to complete our rubbings. It was a lot of fun and we wished we could have done a few more, but we had to start heading back to the hotel. The rain let up a little. Then we walked to the library for access to the internet. Another thing you do when it rains.

PICTURE FROM ROOF OF NATIONAL MUSEUM OF SCOTLAND This is taken at the normal camera setting to give perspective to the distance of the Edinburgh Castle from high on top of the museum.

PICTURE FROM ROOF OF NATIONAL MUSEUM OF SCOTLAND This is a zoomed look of Edinburgh Castle from high on top of the Scottish History Museum. It was very foggy and rainy that day.

THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF SCOTLAND A pig war trumpet is one of the many displays of early war paraphernalia. We only looked at the early Scottish exhibit floor.
EARLY PEOPLE IN SCOTLAND Actually this is Doug and Mary getting acquainted with PORTEII rellies! Nah. We were still at the National Museum of Scotland...

HEART WHERE CAPT. JOHN PORTEOUS WAS HELD This brick Heart of Midlothian. It is set into the Royal Mile next to the west door of St. Giles Cathedral and symbolizes the position of the 15th Century Tolbooth of Edinburgh. This tolbooth was the administrative center of the town, a prison and one of several sites of public execution. This also shows the location of prison that held Capt. John Porteous before an angry mob set it afire and dragged him down to the scaffold thus starting the Porteous Riots 1736. [ Porteous Riots ]

Spitting on the heart (striking the middle) as you walk by, it is said, will give you luck. It has been a tradition which was started by Tolbooth prisoners as they entered the prison. This tradition is still maintained and as we were standing there -- not too close mind you -- someone walked by and spat.
DOWN THIS STREET THEY DRAGGED THE CAPTAIN The angry mob took the Captain down Victoria St. which when it turns becomes West Bow before entering Grassmarket St.
ONE OF THESE STORES IN 1736 HAD THE ROPE The mob stopped at the Bell's hardware, grabbed a rope for the hanging and continued on its way to Grassmarket St.
THE TOWN'S HANGING SPOT Surrounded by the wraught iron fence, this is the usual hanging spot, but they hanged Captain John [Jock] Porteous about where this picture taken - from a dyers pole on Grassmarket St. this spot might have been more convenient at the moment. Maybe others were hanging from the normal spot and the gallows were crowed - who knows.
AT THIS PLACE IN EDINBURGH This plaque as you can see commemorates that eventful night. Captain Jock was tortured and horrible things were done to his body... too horrible to mention.

NOT TOO FAR AWAY THE CAPTAIN WAS BURIED Captain John was buried in this modest plot in the Greyfriars Cemetery. There was no marker until 1973.

"John Porteous - A Captain of the Edinburgh City Guard Murdered 7 September 1736. All Passion Spent 1973"

JOHN GRAY, MASTER OF GREYFRIARS BOBBY Not far from the gate of the Greyfriars Cemetery, is the grave of John Gray who died 15 Feb. 1858. Greyfriars Bobby died 1872. Bobby was a Skye Terrier who was so devoted to his master, he lay on his grave only leaving it for food after the 1 o'clock gun went off. If it were raining, the faithful friend would lay under the grave next to his master's.

 

A TRIBUTE TO THE FAITHFUL DOG This is a fountain for people and at the bottom for dogs to drink. On top is a statue of Greyfriars Bobby the faithful companion even after the death of his master.

"Greyfriars Bobby, Died 14th January 1872, Aged 18 years. Let his loyalty & devotion be a lesson to us all."

The Dog Aid Society of Scotland erected this headstone in memorial to Bobby. There are still people who visit.

[ More on the Story of Greyfriars Bobby ]

 

 

HEATHER ON THE HILLS Outside of Edinburgh on our way by bus to the 15th Century site of the PORTEOUS family home - Hawkshaw - are these great hills of heather and green fields dotted with sheep.

 

INTO THE SHROUD WE BE GOING Hawkshaw is somewhere over the rise in them thar hills.

Hawkshaw is located south of Edinburgh in Tweedsmuir (over an hour's drive), The Scottish Borders, Scotland. Peebles, Scotland is about 15 miles northeast. The blue box under the word TWEEDSMUIR shows the Hawkshaw location as it was before the dam was constructed and the reservoir covered the valley and village.

SOMEWHERE NEAR HAWKSHAW Stone fences were everywhere. They are called "dry dikes." In some areas, it is truly amazing how the hillside would be sliced up by these dry dikes."

THE RIVER TWEED LAZILY MEANDERS THROUGH THOSE HILLS The dry dikes divide the hills up to the tree line. This is God's country!
THE HEATHER WAS GORGEOUS The weather in the summer made way for an outstanding display on the hills in September. It was overcast this day on our trip to Hawkshaw, you really can't get the full impact of the display.
WONDERFUL HILLS Some hills were filled with heather. Some with trees. And then some had sheep grazing. Here you can see the River Tweed in the middle of the picture and sheep grazing in the field. What gorgeous scenery. It is just too bad the weather didn't cooperate for our pilgrimage to Hawkshaw.

OUR BUSES CROSSED THIS NARROW STONE BRIDGE Just over the bridge our huge tour buses turned to the right onto a narrow one-lane road. We all headed up a winding path-sized road to where we would stop on our way to Hawkshaw another mile's walk over the dam and hill.
YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING! The buses did make it as far as the dam at the reservoir. The drivers need to be commended.

THE FRUID RESEVOIR This body of water actually covers the medieval Hawkshaw village. Hawkshaw valley was flooded in 1968.
See more pictures of the area in the 1930s on the Porteous Research Project website.

The "before" picture compliments of Gordon Porteous/Pat Allan.
TREK TO THE CAIRN You can see where our bus dropped us off. Most of the Porteous Pilgrims would walk the rest of the way. There was a shuttle to take some who couldn't walk up to the next leg of the pilgrimage. Photo courtesy of Doug Porteous.
TREK TO THE CAIRN They have only just begun....
Photo courtesy of Doug Porteous.
PORTEII COMING OVER THE RISE The group still had to go down this hill, across a bridge, and up another hill to the Cairn.
TREK TO THE CAIRN Where the shuttle couldn't go, a 4 x 4 SUV was waiting at the last leg to take a few who couldn't make that short ascent up to the Cairn. Photo courtesy of Doug Porteous.

THE PILGRIMAGE TO HAWKSHAW AND THE CAIRN As we ascended to the monument positioned next to the spot where the Porteous castle was, the piper played. It didn't matter that the wind was blustery and the clouds threatened rain. the goosebumps we had weren't from the weather...but rather from the thrill of just being there where it all began.

THE PILGRIMAGE TO HAWKSHAW Thomas (Tam) Porteous dressed in the Porteous Tartan - kilt and tie - for the better part of our two days at the Gathering. Tam was a great host and guide. The colorful stories he told... set the stage for a lot of good memories. The piper is Seamus Johnson, a Regiment buddy of Tam's.

 

THE CAIRN "This Cairn is on Hawkshaw castle site in memory of William Porteous (Laird) 1439 and those of the name however spelled worldwide. Erected by the Porteous Associates with kind permission of Mrs. Margaret Moffat. Barry Porteous, Kingston, Canada, Laird Elect 8th September 1990"

 

Image compliments of Bill Mitchell.

CEREMONY AT THE CAIRN Clare Safford (from Montreal, Quebec) laid a wreath at the base of the Cairn in memorial to her father Barry Porteous, Laird Elect. Barry passed away April 6, 2005.

Rachael Dobbie, the vicar in the nearby town came up to say a few words and to be part of the ceremony honoring the memory of Barry Porteous.

THE RUINS OF HAWKSHAW CASTLE The "castle" could probably only have been a smaller fortified structure. The site wasn't quite as big as one would suspect a castle to sit on. This portion of the castle is possibly the kitchen.

The Cairn is standing on stones found around the ruins of the castle. Any artifacts that were found during the construction of the Cairn are now in the National Museum of Scotland.
THE PORTEII POSING AT THE CAIRN It was a very windy day up on that hill. Here is Bruce Porteous, me, and Bruce's wife Shirley.

LOOKING DOWN AT THE CAIRN FROM THE RUINS Some of the Gathering, Doug (green jacket) and Mary (light blue hood) are in the middle. Man in the long coat and hat by the corner of the castle is Robbie Scott, local shepherd and Honorary Porteous who has been guiding folks to the Cairn site for years - even before there was a monument. It didn't snow...

Cairn back: "Porteouses frae near and far far awa come here tae see where ance stood the castle o' auld Hawkshaw" Thomas B. Porteous, Edinburgh, Project Manager 1990
UP AND BEYOND THE HILLTOP ARE REMNANTS OF THE PORTEOUS SETTLEMENT No one seemed to be adventurous enough to jump the fence and hike up there. It was so cold and windy by that time, we all decided to head back to the bus.

CROOK (CRUIK) INN The Gathering was served a wonderful dinner in this old inn. The Crook has been in business giving shelter and serving food and drink to travelers since 1604. Yes, haggis was on the menu!

 

AFTER-DINNER ENTERTAINMENT AT THE CROOK A young dancer doing a traditional Scottish sword dance. A piper played the tune while she danced. Out in the yard of the Crook Inn (circa 1604), the Edinburgh Post Office Pipe Band was piping. What a wonderful sound. Even more so since it was in Scotland and not in a parade somewhere in Midwest United States.

LOOKING BACK IN DIRECTION OF HAWKSHAW FROM THE CROOK INN I couldn't help but wonder how many Porteous had come this way to stop at the Crook for a pint of ale or dinner and a warm bed for the night. Do you think they had any idea there would be a pilgrimage? Maybe. All I can say is - anything for a pint of that great ale at the Crook!
BACK IN EDINBURGH - PORTEII BY THE PORTEOUS PEND Pend we think is a short alleyway and usually a "dead end." Maybe it could also be short for "appended." There are apartments available though. Anyway, from left: Bruce Porteous, me, Doug Porteous, Bruce's wife Shirley, Dave and Pat [a Porteous descendant] Allan.

A FEW PORTEII HAVING LUNCH ON LAST DAY NOT FAR FROM THE PORTEOUS PEND From left front to back: Doug's partner
Mary (Toronto, Ontario), Karen (Illinois, USA), Doug (Toronto),
Bruce (Norfolk, England); Right back to front: Bruce's wife Shirley & son Guy, Jo Babis (Hong Kong), Jo's mother, Shirley [a Porteous descendant] Babis (Australia).

 

 

 

 

 

 

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