Otherworld North East Research Society Journal 01 | Page 15

Journal 2007

2. The Haunted Jacobite Trail
By Tony Liddell

A

T THE BEGINNING OF THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY, the term ‘Jacobite’ is familiar
to most people only through old buildings and other references, such as rooms
being labelled ‘The Jacobite Room’ in many of the region’s stately homes. But who
exactly were the Jacobites, and what was the origin of the Jacobite cause?
In 1688, the ‘Glorious Revolution’ established William of Orange and Mary Stuart on the
English Throne, and saw the deposed King James II fleeing to France. The Latin name for
James is Jacobus, and it is from this Latin name that the supporters of the deposed King
James gained the label Jacobites.
King William and Queen Mary had no children, and when they died the throne passed to
Mary’s younger sister Anne. She died in 1714, again leaving no children to succeed her.
A distant relation to hers, the Protestant George, Elector of Hanover, was crowned King
of England and the Catholic Jacobites decided it was time to act.
In 1715, the first Jacobite uprising took place in an attempt to place James II’s son (James
II himself had died in 1701), Prince James Francis Edward Stuart on the English throne and
overthrow George I. On the 6th September 1715, the Earl of Mar raised the Stuart banner
at Braemar in the Scottish Highlands, and by a month later the English Jacobites had
mobilised, led by James Radcliffe, third Earl of Derwentwater and Thomas Forster, MP.
The Northumbrians waited for two weeks for French reinforcements, and when the latter
failed to appear, the English Jacobites marched north to Kelso to meet with a large force
of Highlanders.
The combined force travelled south down the western side of the Pennines and met the
Government army in Battle, where the Jacobites were defeated on the 14th November.
Over 1500 Jacobites were taken prisoner, many being executed in Lancashire. A couple of
hundred prisoners were taken to London to face trial for Treason. Lords Derwentwater
and Widdrington, as well as five Scottish lords, were taken to the Tower of London, with
Thomas Forster and Charles Radcliffe (the younger brother of the Earl) being taken to
Newgate along with a number of other gentlemen.
James Radcliffe, Third Earl of Derwentwater, was found guilty and executed alongside
Lord Kenmure, a Scottish peer, on Tower Hill on the 24th February 1716. Lord Widdrington,
Left: Dilston Chapel, looking from outside the Castle, near Corbridge, Northumberland.
Photography © Tony Liddell 2007.

13