The Haughs o Cromdale

Original Track ID

SA1952.34.A5

Original Tape ID

SA1952.034

Summary

In this pared-down version of 'The Haughs of Cromdale', the singer meets a man in 'tartan trews' near Auchindoun, whom he asks for news of the battle at the Haughs of Cromdale. The man replies that the Jacobite army have suffered a great defeat at the hands of the English. Montrose [James Graham, Marquess of Montrose] then rides to engage the English in a second battle, turning the tide in the Jacobite favour. Various Jacobite clans are listed as among the victors.

Item Notes

4 verses; first and third verses have 6 lines, second and fourth verses have 4 lines; music transcribed in School of Scottish Studies.

This is a somewhat condensed and slightly muddled version.

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

This song was first printed in James Hogg's 'Jacobite Relics' (1819), 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, no. 113
'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
'Scot(t)ish 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]

Item Location

Language

Scots

Genre

Song

Collection

SoSS

Classification

R5147 GD113

Source Type

Reel to reel

Audio Quality

Good