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The Haughs o Cromdale

Date May 1954
Track ID 11375
Part 1

Track Information

Original Track ID

SA1954.32.A6

Original Tape ID

SA1955.062

Summary

In this song, the singer meets a man "wi tartan trews" near Auchindoun, whom he asks for news [of the battle at the Haughs o Cromdale]. The man replies that "the Hielan army rues / that e'er it focht at Cromdale". Montrose [James Graham, Marquess of Montrose] then rides into battle, turning the tide in his favour. Various Jacobite clans are listed as among the victors.

Item Notes

2 verses of 6 lines then 1 verse of 4 lines.

This is a somewhat confused performance, with the first 2 stanzas condensed from what are usually 4 individual verses, and the last verse appearing out of order (it should come before the listing of the clansmen).

This song references the Battle of Cromdale (1690), in reality a significant Jacobite defeat, but which this traditional song usually describes as a resounding victory.

The song was first printed in James Hogg's 'Jacobite Relics', appearing as a rewrite of an earlier traditional song, supposedly composed as propaganda by the losing Jacobites sometime after 1690. Bizarrely, the song refers to James Graham, Marquess of Montrose, who died some forty years before the events mentioned in the song; there is some speculation that the song in fact mixes the events of the Battle of Cromdale (1690), with the much earlier events of the Battle of Auldearn (1645), in which Montrose did take part.

See:
Greig-Duncan vol. 1, pp. 314-316
'101 Scottish Songs' (N. Buchan, 1962) pp. 91-92
'The Jacobite Relics of Scotland' (J. Hogg, 1819) pp. 3-5
'Ballads of Scotland' vol. 2 (W. E. Aytoun, 1858) pp. 269-273
'Scottish Songs' vol. 2 (J. Ritson, 1794; 1869 edn.) pp. 382-385
'The Scots Musical Museum' vol. 5 (J. Johnson, R. Burns, 1853 edition) pp. 502-503 (no. 488)

Item Subject/Person

Graham, James (1st Marquess of Montrose)

Recording Location

County - Midlothian

Parish - Edinburgh

Village/Place - Edinburgh

Item Location

County - Moray

Parish - Cromdale, Inverallan and Advie

Village/Place - Cromdale

Language

Scots

Genre

Song

Collection

SoSS

Classification

R5147 GD113

Source Type

Reel to reel

Audio Quality

Good