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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