From the first stirrings of Robert the Bruce to agricultural improvement in the 18th century, from St Ninian to the Covenant, Dumfries and Galloway has witnessed the movement of peoples, the clash of arms and faiths, and has produced a vast legacy of lore and legend which has survived even today. The result is this anthology - a vibrant and vivid collection including many of Scotland’s greatest writers.
John Buchan, Walter Scott and Thomas Carlyle are perhaps the best known associated with the area, but amongst many others are James Boswell, Daniel Defoe, John Wesley, Thomas Pennant, J. M. Barrie, John Keats, John Barbour and Blind Harry. Much more than just a literary anthology, Where the Whaups are Crying features a great range of anecdotes and non-fiction as well. The Fossil Oak furniture, the Graitney and Portpatrick marriage market, the Precentor of Wamphray all feature, as does the intriguing civil war in Lockerbie. Of course there were many emigrants and exiles from the area and they too feature in letters from Nova Scotia, Australia, California and Virginia, in stories of teachers in Jamaica and Dominica, and in tales from the Crimea.
And to add even more to the mix there is an array of mummers, headless horsemen, cock fighters, otter hunters, wild goats, Cameronians, levellers and dykebreakers, corner loafers and many others besides. No wonder Lord Peter Wimsey needed to pay a visit as well! |
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