The Old Road of Lumphanan

Vivid family memories and special places are part of the traditional journeys taken by many Travellers. Storyteller and ballad singer, Stanley Robertson, remembers his joy at leaving the city of Aberdeen each summer for one of his family’s traditional camping grounds, the Old Road of Lumphanan, This old drove road, which has known Travellers ‘since time immemorial’, continues to be a source of traditional knowledge, happiness and inspiration to Stanley, though he has not camped there since childhood.

‘I hated living in the city of Aberdeen. There was a terrible prejudice, and the schools were just awful. You couldn’t believe how awful it was to be at school as a Travelling child. But when I saw ma father getting his horse and cart ready, all gaily painted up, always like a show piece, we knew it wis time to go! I can taste every season. I just know instinctively, the time that you should be going away’.

Stanley Robertson 

Exodus o Traivellers

Oor weerie fitsteps leave behind the Babylon o Aiberdeen

An wi lichtsome hairt the folks traivel tae a fairer scene

Whaur Nesmore nature caws oor pining sowel tae repose

An be at een wi bracken, birk and briar rose

Tae savour in the reek o burnin whins

Or lie aboot whaur the lispin burnie rins

An listen tae stories roon a living fire

Big ballads warble oot an niver tire A land o music whaur pipes and

fiddles reign A Traiveller’s Nirvana is maakin in

the main Aye, oor footsteps hiv brought us

oot tae Auld Lumphanan’s fame We’re happy tae be here again “Dear Mither we are hame”.   Stanley Robertson

Journey, for the Travelling people, naturally signified a release from cruel treatment, and the social constraints of enforced schooling or settlement. In sharp contrast to city life, Stanley remembers Lumphanan as a place of community, plenitude and visual splendour. ‘I remember coming down to ma folk. What a welcome there was. And on the edge of the glimmer, the fire, there was a big biling kettle always filled tae the gunnel. And this woman gave us tea and duke’s sharras, this is ducks eggs. And ye ken this, I just thought to maself, The Kingdom of Heaven couldna be ony better than this!’

Childhood Journeys

‘Ye used tae wait until ye could feel the first smell of broom on the air. And how happy ye wi be fin ma father

wid get his horse and his cairt, and we’d tak aa the things that ye needed, and just left the hoose in

Aiberdeen, and we wid come oot intae the Old Road o Lumphanan. Because this wis the place where ye

enjoyed the best pairt o yer life. Ma mither used to say lang ago, that this particular land here, between the

river Dee and the river Don, that the Don wis the warlock and the river Dee wis the witch. And this land

between it wis for her bairns. This land wis oors aa richt because there’s only twa hooses. But this road has

been known for many, many supernatural happenings … there’s a lot o happiness on this auld road. And ever time I ging up it I could aye sort o feel the spirits o the

past …’

To Stanley, this gate marks the entrance to a land of happiness, learning and living connection with the many previous generations of Travellers who have walked the road. It symbolises a point of transition from a world of drudgery to one of timelessness and magic.

The old road has provided the vital spark so apparent in his stories, its landscape woven into many of his traditional tales. These include the human fortunes and experiences of the exemplary ‘Jack’, whose journeys through life contain lessons and challenges. With a parable-like morality, they often illustrate the triumph of growing knowledge over selfish actions or greed.

The First ‘Recyclers’Stanley Robertson

‘Travelling people didn’t just go and pack sticks an say “wir off”’. They had a plan and a method. Ma father worked wi a team o Travellers, to take in the flax. He used to get the contract for the cranberries, which grew in Lumphanan Park Hill. My people never ever went to Blairgowrie, because we never did the strawberries or the raspberries. It was always cranberries when I was a child. The women folk did that work, and the children. They gathered the cranberries, you’d to ging up on the hill, with a rake, an ye brushed the berries.

‘Ma father had his horse and cairt, and he went out ‘hawkin’. Now when he went out hawkin, all the rabbit skins from the farm people were collected. You’d come intill a huge barn, and it’d be full o rabbit skins. Well you got ‘one an thruppence’ a dozen, for rabbit skins. And the coniine fur was used for the RAF jackets. Also, he went out round the doors selling stuff. He always bought big clothes from the Castlegate. And both ma mother and father were invisible menders. They were both very, very talented, ye know, as regards sewing, they could mend kilts and everything. So they could take clothes and ma mother would wash them. And then they wid iron them, with an old fashioned press iron, and then ma father packed everything tight in a big pack. You always got a good feed fin ye went to the country folk, and ma father made us big money. And this stuff … remember. The clothes had been rationed for such a long time, so the people were always glad to get this kind of thing’.

 

On the road as a child, Stanley learned the many skills so essential to the Travelling way of life. As well as a vast repertoire of ballads, stories and tunes, among his family he learned a strong inner resourcefulness and the ability to make a living

A Training Ground

Although Traveller children were frequently denied a conventional education, Stanley emphasises that this road was a living community and a ‘training ground’, a focal point for learning and progress throughout life. As a child he was immersed in knowledge, often conveyed through ballads, stories and music, which were as much teaching mechanisms as entertainment.

‘Remember just before my generation, none o these people could read or write. But I was being taught en route. You were getting yer English, yer History, yer Geography, yer Literature an Language. Because, what better to come to a place like Drum Castle. Ma father was in the war, the First World War, wi the sons o the Drum. To know about the castle. To know the history, and to get somebody like Jeannie Robertson, singing the ‘Laird o the Drum’. So you’d an actual visual aid, and you were part of that’ (EI 2004.037).

Within Traveller culture, the presence of extended family and the natural environment gave life and ever-presence to their traditions. Today, Stanley stresses that they must only be passed on if accompanied by a deep respect for their content and underlying meanings.

The ‘Tree of Life’ [left], where, as children they measured their height, was symbolic of growing into Traveller life and gaining the special knowledge, skills and maturity through interaction with the environment.

The Traveller Woman’s Lament

I’m tired on ma kneesPu’in bracken, pu’in brackenI’m tired on ma kneesOh wi pu’in bracken Pu’in bracken aa day langOh wi pu’in brackenPu’in bracken aa day langOh wi pu’in bracken My hands are fired sairMakin besoms, makin besomsMy hands are fired sairOh wi makin besoms Makin besoms aa day langOh wi makin besomsMakin besoms aa day langOh wi makin besoms My feet are scaa’ded sairHawkin hooses, hawkin hoosesMy feet are scaa’ded sairOh wi hawkin hooses 

Hawkin hooses aa day langOh wi hawkin hoosesHawkin hooses aa day langOh wi hawkin hooses My back’s bent and boo’edCookin habben, cookin habbenMy back’s bent and boo’edOh wi cookin habben Cookin habben aa day langOh wi cookin habbenCookin habben aa day langOh wi cookin habben My sowl’s perjured sairTellin fortunes, telling fortunesMy sowl’s perjured sairOh wi telling fortunes Cookin habben aa day langOh wi cookin habbenCookin habben aa day langOh wi cookin habben

As a traveller, Stanley’s pride in his identity, and his indelible faith in the worth of his culture, springs from the influence of a remarkable line of talented singers and musicians who passed on the traditions to him. Among many in his extended family, he credits his mother, father, and great grandfather for their wealth of tales, and his auntie Maggie Stewart. His mother’s song, using Cant, reflects the frequent hardships of Traveller life.

Stanley describes the Travelling people as a people of rich cultural substance and constant resourcefulness in very harsh circumstances.

Music and Family

I can’t get a house in the CountyI can’t get a house in the TownBut I have my horse and my wagonAnd I travel the country around

For it’s fine to get up in the morningWhen the lark’s flying high in the skyAnd you pack up all your belongingsAnd you bid all the Travellers goodbye

And away to the hills we go roamingTo find our new resting placeIt may be some woodland or clearingIt may be some wide open space

Then why should I go to the armyI’ve no place that I can call homeFor I’d fight like a soldier for my KingBut I’ve no place that I call my own

And away to the hills we go roamingTo find our new resting placeAnd I’m begging of all you rich peopleDon’t close down our only resting place …

Stanley’s repertoire includes many of his auntie Maggie Stewart’s own compositions, which he sings crediting the talent of a woman who he says could not read or write, yet made so much of her often hard life. Her song may resonate with Travellers everywhere.

The SeasonsThe hills are clad in purpleThe autumn winds they are sighingFor a beauty growing oldThe grey grouse and the heatherAnd the evenings where we playedI’m thinking of my childhood In a very special way That merry laughing summerIn her mantle cloak of greenThat merry laughing summerIn her mantle cloak of greenBut it was Autumn gentle AutumnWhen the leaves they start to fallI’m thinking on my childhoodAnd I love him best of all

 

The beautifully descriptive language, the creativity and musicianship that is part of Traveller traditions is something Stanley equates with their knowledge of the natural environment. He believes that Traveller’s music is so distinctive because it takes its timings from the moods and different characteristics of the seasons. This multidimensional awareness is one element that makes traveller culture so uniquely, and intuitively expressive. ‘Travelling folk were very elemental, were very much in tune with the elements, and what was gan on. And that’s where we learnt wir songs, stories, music …’ Ma Mither used to say, ‘If ye listen to mither nature, she’s a living being. What does she say to ye? What does she tell ye?’

Auld Cruvie

Auld Cruvie, the giant, ancient and all seeing oak tree is described as the ‘King of the Road’, and respected for his age and stature. In Stanley’s family it is considered unlucky to pass him by without shaking his hand and asking permission. Auld Cruvie is the focal point of one of Stanley’s favoured Jack tales. At the time of the 50 year solstice, all the trees of the road come out to dance, revealing long hidden jewels and untold treasures. Jack succeeds because he has the wisdom not to take more than he needs; whereas the greedy Laird of the Black Airt is still filling his pockets with treasure when he is crushed by the roots of the returning tree. Stanley uses this tale today to illustrate the very topical environmental message that overpowering greed and lack of respect for nature will result in humanity’s ultimate demise.

The hidden traditional wealth of The Old Road of Lumphanan is carried in the mind and memory, and easily escapes the eyes of the uninformed. The unique potential of the Travelling people to see everything as a resource has created it. The only physical trace of the road’s alternative history is hidden, carefully buried in the midden, where Stanley says Travellers buried rubbish which could not be burned. He emphasises, ‘my folk were very strict and clean’.

Stanley’s faith in the value of his culture and people ensures that the ‘treasures’ of the old road are kept in living memory. His efforts to pass on his traditions to his family and others, brings just credit to the valuable knowledge, skills and traditions of the Travelling People, and enables many to glimpse the enriching wealth of lore nurtured on the Old Road of Lumphanan

Fieldwork

Jeannie Robertson, one of Scotland’s best-known singers

The project has also gathered together

and remastered important old recordings from private collections

Margaret ‘Maggie’ Stewart, recorded by her nephew Stanley

RobertsonElphinstone Institute