An old drum has been stored in a cupboard in Langholm Town Hall for many years. It is much older than two other drums whose emblazonment identifies them as belonging to the Flute Band. All three are currently in the custody of the Langholm Library Trustees.
In trying to establish the provenance (origin and history)
of this ancient drum, it was shown to the oldest members of the towns’ three bands,
i.e., Lennie Bell (Pipe Band), David Calvert (Town Band) and David Latimer
(Flute Band). They do not remember ever
having seen this drum. It is much older than any drum used in living memory or
in old photographs.
The drum has a painted emblazonment on its shell resembling
a Royal Crest/Coat of arms.
During my enquiries,
several people confirmed that, around the time of 1975 local authority
regionalization, many artifacts in the Town Hall and Library were dispersed one
way or another, including the contents of the small museum which then existed
in the Town hall. An item in the
Transactions of the Dumfries and Galloway Natural History and Antiquarian
Society of 1967 has a reference to the “breaking up” of the museum including this remark:
It was decided to leave
in Langholm the “Waterloo Drum”. Langholm Town Band claims to
be the oldest
established band in the country, and was founded in 1814. One of their first
public appearances was
when they played in front of the Scots Greys as they marched
through the town on
their return from Waterloo. This drum is the only surviving
instrument from that
occasion.
Note that this
legend does not claim that the drum was played at Waterloo- a common myth about
some old drums! Also, it almost
certainly did not belong to the Scots Greys. The painting of the crest is too
crude and inaccurate. However a drum with this kind of crest could have
inspired a local painter to try and copy the Royal Crest and overpaint it onto
the Town drum. There are credible reasons explained below why such a crest
could have been used for a Burgh of Barony Town Drum.
In my
researches I contacted several authorities on old traditional drums and sent
photos of this Langholm drum to:
1.
The Court of the Lord Lyon, the government
Heraldry authority
2.
Professor Hugh Cheape formerly Curator of
Scottish Collections at the National Museum of Scotland (now at the University of the Highlands and
Islands)
3.
Professor Arnold Myers, Reid School of Music,
Edinburgh College of Art, University of Edinburgh and Chairman of the Edinburgh
University Collection of Historic Musical Instruments
Here are their observations:
The Lord Lyon
Mr. Bruce Gorie, secretary
to Lyon Office feels that the emblazonment painted on the shell of the drum was
a Royal Crest intending to be the Hanoverian Arms, though “painted by someone who was perhaps a little short on heraldic
knowledge”. Having compared it with some early Royal Arms, Mr. Gorie thinks
this “might have been the Royal Arms
used in the period from 1714 to 1801, George I to George III”.
This of course was a period during which the Burgh of Barony
of Langholm employed a Town Drummer and Crier as an officer of the Burgh. It should be appreciated that most Scottish
burghs employed a Town Piper and drummer whose duties involved going round the
town, morning and night, acting as watchmen and criers. While there is no
record of a Langholm Town piper we know that the burgh retained a town drummer
as late as 1858, the last of whom was Peter Graham, known as Pete Wheep. His duties included intimations of business,
which involved going round the town by “tuck of drum”. The
most famous Town Drummer and Crier of course was his predecessor, Archibald
“Bauldy” Beattie. There would have been Town Drummers before Bauldy, but we have
no record of them. Bauldy Beattie became the Drummer and Crier
from around 1760, and retired in 1814, when Peter Graham took over. When Bauldy died in 1823, he already had legendary
status. In 1829 the Common Riding Committee erected a gravestone in the Auld
Kirkyard memorializing him thus:
Interred here
Archibald Beattie
Town drummer who for
more than half a century kept up the ancient and annual custom of proclaiming
the Langholm Fair at the cross when riding the common granted to
the town and pointing out to the inhabitants thereof the various boundaries of
those rights which descended from their ancestors to posterity.
He died in 1823 aged 90 years.
Professor Cheape
Hugh Cheape is an
authority on piping, and has written about the institution of Town Pipers and
Drummers, so he is well aware of the tradition of Scottish burghs maintaining a
Town Piper and/or Town Drummer. When I
sent him images of this Langholm drum, and
mentioned the well-documented tradition of the Langholm Town Drummer and Crier,
especially the legendary Bauldy Beattie,
and his role in crying the fair and
safeguarding the burgh boundaries, Professor Cheape found the images “rather persuasive for the wished-for
provenance…… the type and proportions of the body of the drum seem right, and
closer examination of the pseudo-heraldry might support a 1760-1814 date, or
the latter end of it”. He feels that
“an odd survival like this must have a
local or specific reason-or even ‘tradition’ behind it, and that at least it
was believed, a generation after Bauldy’s day, that this must have been his
drum”.
These perceptive observations from Professor Cheape
encourage me to believe that this might well have been the Town Drum. He also referred me to the Edinburgh University
Collection of Historic Musical Instruments which provides important comparative
material.
Professor Myers
of the Edinburgh University Collection advised:
“Thank you for the
interesting information about the old Langholm drum. The general design of the
drum is traditional, and typical of drums made over a very long period of
time. So dating can depend solely on the confidently known provenance and
the emblazonment, both of which you are clearly investigating.”
He warns against “unsupported myths which attach themselves all too easily. Usually the myth is 'played at Waterloo'.”
He warns against “unsupported myths which attach themselves all too easily. Usually the myth is 'played at Waterloo'.”
Point taken!
Even if we can never “prove” that this drum belonged to Pete
Wheep or Bauldy Beattie, it is becoming more likely that this is the drum they
used. Its provenance is beginning to fall into place like a jigsaw puzzle.
Edinburgh
University’s collection has 4 old drums which are similar in design shape, size
and construction to ours. Similar
Town Drums can be found in many museums,
e.g. Hawick, Irvine, Greenock, Jedburgh,
Dumfries, Peebles, etc . This convinces me
that ours is important enough to be conserved and displayed with its history
explained to local people and visitors to the town.
It seems quite likely that after Bauldy or Pete Wheep died,
someone with a sense of heritage (not too common in those days) would have
wanted to carefully store the old Town Drum for posterity.
It might be asked why a royal crest is painted on the drum rather
than the Langholm Town Arms. Well, the familiar
Langholm Town crest did not exist until after 1893, when Langholm’s first
provost and town council was elected.
The crest was not designed until then and the Duke of Buccleuch, as lord-superior of the Barony of
Langholm, retained power, until the coming into operation of the Burgh Police
Act of 1892
Langholm’s charters from 1621 onwards were awarded to the Baron
by the monarch. All the privileges and
powers of the Baron were bestowed by the Crown. So, to depict the Crown
authority on the shell of a Burgh drum was not unusual. Also, the additional decoration on the drum
surrounding the crest comprising intertwining thistles and roses, which are beautifully and carefully painted, have a strong
flavor of “Common Riding” about them.
Hawick Wilton Lodge Museum
contains drums described as Town Drums. They are of very similar size,
proportions and pattern to ours. The
emblazonment also has a Royal crest. In
Hawick, up until 1797, the music for the Common Riding was performed by the
Town Piper and Drummer, but in 1797 the piper was replaced by a fife-player. This
developed into the Drum and Fife Band also known as the Cornet’s Band, as it
has the honour of marching immediately in front of the Cornet in all ceremonial
processions at the Common Riding. Hawick, like Langholm, had legendary drummers during
the last 250 years closely associated with the Common Riding. We have Bauldy
Beattie and Pete Wheep. Hawick has Caleb Rutherford and Walter Ballantyne known
as ‘Wat the Drummer’, who is reputed to
have played for 59 Common Ridings; Bauldy Beattie for over 50 years. We do not know exactly when the Town Drummer was
first joined by fife, or flute players on the Common Riding morning, but this evolved
into the phenomenon of the Flute Band,
which annually materializes on the Summer Fair night and the Common Riding
morning.
Custody and
display of the historic drum
It is quite clear that today’s Langholm Flute band is the
direct descendant, or successor, to the Town Drummer. The ancient drum probably played by Bauldy
Beattie and Pete Wheep is currently in the custody of the Langholm Library
Trustees together with two more modern drums belonging to the Flute band. A professional restorer who has dealt with
similar old drums confirms that our “town drum” deserves “stabilisation” rather
than wholesale restoration but will involve some costs. A local trust has already indicated that it
will help to fund this. Meanwhile the drum will be displayed in a High Street
window in its present condition. The drum has been property of the Burgh of
Barony of Langholm long before there was even a town council, so it is not
“owned” by Dumfries and Galloway Council.
The drum is, like the Kilngreen, and Town Hall, a Common Good of the
Burgh of Langholm, so it will be most appropriate for it to be displayed during
the Common Riding week.
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