TRACKING A LEGEND A North
Country Legacy of Jacobite Times
Author: Frances Dickinson Published by Cresset Books
TRACKING A LEGEND is an extended edition of Frances
Dickinson's previous book, The Reluctant Rebel. In this new publication
the poignant story of the Radcliffes, Earls of Derwentwater, a
Northumbrian Jacobite family, is complemented by a jigsaw of curious
and colourful anecdotes relating to the many men and women from
the North of England who supported the exiled Stuarts in the ill-fated
Risings of 1715 and 1745. The book is profusely illustrated and
contains new material, some of which has not been previously published.
It features numerous Jacobite sites and monuments, and provides
a pictorial and informative record of a vast array of Derwentwater
portraits, relics and memorabilia.
Part One, James the Rebel Earl, focuses on James Radcliffe, 3rd
Earl of Derwentwater, a cousin of Prince James Francis Edward
Stuart and a leader in the Jacobite Rising of 1715. After his
execution on Tower Hill in 1716, the Earl became a legendary figure
in Northumberland - his untimely death inspiring an endless string
of ballads, novels, biographies and other creative works. The
story moves through the centuries, tracking the romantic legacy
that lived on long after the downfall of the Radcliffes, Earls
of Derwentwater, due to their steadfast adherence to the Jacobite
Cause. It gives a factual account (with maps and illustrations)
of the 1715 Rising in Northumberland and provides a glimpse of
the Stuart Court in exile.
In Part Two, A Jacobite Trail, the author sets out to explore
the long established traditions that embody the Derwentwater Legend.
On her walks and visits she attempts to unravel the wealth of
facts and folklore relating to the Earl, his family, and many
of the other North-country rebels. Her investigations and discoveries
include: a mission to locate the elusive Fairy Stone, once used
as a Jacobite 'post-office'; a mystery concerning the planting,
by two obscure Derwentwater ladies, of an old white rose bush
in the garden of Middleton Hall; and intriguing new evidence concerning
the adventures in Coquetdale of the intrepid Charles Radcliffe,
the brother of the Earl, who took part in both Risings and was
executed on Tower Hill in 1746. The book concludes with the story
of the present-day Jacobite Cause - namely a project to conserve
the hitherto neglected Radcliffe heritage at Dilston in Northumberland,
formerly the grand ancestral seat of the Earls of Derwentwater.
PAPERBACK, MATT COLOUR COVER, 160 pages; over
100 illustrations (17 colour plates);
4 Maps; 3 Genealogical Trees. ISBN 0 9529113 2 9 Price £14.95
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Name...........................................................Address.........................................................................
Mickley Moor West Farm, nr Hedley on the Hill, Stocksfield, Northumberland,
NE45 7SS
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