123-632: The River Tees ( / t iː z / ), in England, rises on the eastern slope of Cross Fell in the North Pennines and flows eastwards for 85 miles (137 km) to reach the North Sea in the North East of England. The modern-day history of the river has been tied with the industries on Teesside in its lower reaches, where it has provided the means of import and export of goods to and from
246-587: A Karenia bloom could cause the mass death of lobsters and crabs without also killing large numbers of fish, sea urchins and many other species." Monbiot reported that when he asked the UK government to publish its evidence the government refused. Peg Powler is a hag in English folklore who is said to inhabit the River Tees. The River Tees was featured in the television series Seven Natural Wonders as one of
369-582: A PR event, with the King dressed in tartan and greeted by his people, many of them also in similar tartan ceremonial dress. This form of dress, proscribed after the Jacobite rising of 1745 , became one of the seminal, potent and ubiquitous symbols of Scottish identity. In 1825, a UK-wide banking crisis resulted in the collapse of the Ballantyne printing business, of which Scott was the only partner with
492-442: A Gothic anomaly, and the work is complete long before I have attained the point I proposed." Yet the manuscripts rarely show major deletions or changes of direction, and Scott could clearly keep control of his narrative. That was important, for as soon as he had made fair progress with a novel he would start sending batches of manuscript to be copied (to preserve his anonymity), and the copies were sent to be set up in type. (As usual at
615-572: A declined aristocratic family, with Edgar Ravenswood and his fiancée as victims of the wife of an upstart lawyer in a time of political power-struggle before the Act of Union in 1707. In 1820, in a bold move, Scott shifted period and location for Ivanhoe (1820) to 12th-century England. This meant he was dependent on a limited range of sources, all of them printed: he had to bring together material from different centuries and invent an artificial form of speech based on Elizabethan and Jacobean drama. The result
738-649: A determined walker, he experienced greater freedom of movement on horseback. Scott began studying classics at the University of Edinburgh in November 1783, at the age of 12, a year or so younger than most fellow students. In March 1786, aged 14, he began an apprenticeship in his father's office to become a Writer to the Signet . At school and university Scott had become a friend of Adam Ferguson , whose father Professor Adam Ferguson hosted literary salons. Scott met
861-620: A financial interest. Its debts of £130,000 (equivalent to £13,500,000 in 2023) caused his very public ruin. Rather than declare himself bankrupt or accept any financial support from his many supporters and admirers (including the King himself), he placed his house and income in a trust belonging to his creditors and set out to write his way out of debt. To add to his burdens, his wife Charlotte died in 1826. Despite these events or because of them, Scott kept up his prodigious output. Between 1826 and 1832 he produced six novels, two short stories and two plays, eleven works or volumes of non-fiction, and
984-507: A journal, along with several unfinished works. The non-fiction included the Life of Napoleon Buonaparte in 1827, two volumes of the History of Scotland in 1829 and 1830, and four instalments of the series entitled Tales of a Grandfather – Being Stories Taken From Scottish History , written one per year over the period 1828–1831, among several others. Finally, Scott had recently been inspired by
1107-616: A local inn during the circuit. In 1804, he ended his use of the Lasswade cottage and leased the substantial house of Ashestiel , 6 miles (9.7 km) from Selkirk, sited on the south bank of the River Tweed and incorporating an ancient tower house . At Scott's insistence the first edition of Minstrelsy was printed by his friend James Ballantyne at Kelso. In 1798 James had published Scott's version of Goethe 's Erlkönig in his newspaper The Kelso Mail , and in 1799 included it and
1230-773: A member of a cadet branch of the Clan Scott and a Writer to the Signet , and his wife Anne Rutherford, a sister of Daniel Rutherford and a descendant both of the Clan Swinton and of the Haliburton family (descent from which granted Walter's family the hereditary right of burial in Dryburgh Abbey ). Walter was, through the Haliburtons, a cousin of the London property developer James Burton (d. 1837), who
1353-497: A modest price of five shillings (60p) these were an innovative and profitable venture aimed at a wide readership: the print run was an astonishing 30,000. In a "General Preface" to the "Magnum Edition", Scott wrote that one factor prompting him to resume work on the Waverley manuscript in 1813 had been a desire to do for Scotland what had been done in the fiction of Maria Edgeworth , "whose Irish characters have gone so far to make
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#17327661424111476-633: A narrative poem in which I felt the sense of Progress so languid." But the metrical uniformity is relieved by frequent songs and the Perthshire Highland setting is presented as an enchanted landscape, which caused a phenomenal increase in the local tourist trade. Moreover, the poem touches on a theme that was to be central to the Waverley Novels: the clash between neighbouring societies in different stages of development. The remaining two long narrative poems, Rokeby (1813), set in
1599-576: A neighbouring ford used by the monks of Melrose Abbey . Following a modest enlargement of the original farmhouse in 1811–12, massive expansions took place in 1816–19 and 1822–24. Scott described the resulting building as 'a sort of romance in Architecture' and 'a kind of Conundrum Castle to be sure'. With his architects William Atkinson and Edward Blore Scott was a pioneer of the Scottish Baronial style of architecture, and Abbotsford
1722-514: A niece of Lady Margaret Ferguson. In 1799 Scott was appointed Sheriff-Depute of the County of Selkirk , based at the courthouse in the Royal Burgh of Selkirk . In his early married days Scott earned a decent living from his work as a lawyer, his salary as Sheriff-Depute, his wife's income, some revenue from his writing, and his share of his father's modest estate. After the younger Walter
1845-498: A novelist in 1814 did not mean he abandoned poetry. The Waverley Novels contain much original verse, including familiar songs such as "Proud Maisie" from The Heart of Mid-Lothian (Ch. 41) and "Look not thou on Beauty's charming" from The Bride of Lammermoor (Ch. 3). In most of the novels Scott preceded each chapter with an epigram or "motto"; most of these are in verse, and many are of his own composition, often imitating other writers such as Beaumont and Fletcher . Prompted by Scott,
1968-592: A number of rare alpine plants such as the Starry Saxifrage and a mountain Forget-me-not . Cross Fell is covered by what is known as "siliceous alpine and boreal grassland". It is the southernmost outlier of this vegetation type, which is common to highlands in Scotland and Scandinavia . It is a designated Special Area of Conservation (SAC). Local farmers are required to keep free-roaming sheep off
2091-492: A poet and the tentative nature of Waverley ' s emergence, it is not surprising that he followed a common practice in the period and published it anonymously. He continued this until his financial ruin in 1826, the novels mostly appearing as "By the Author of Waverley " (or variants thereof) or as Tales of My Landlord . It is not clear why he chose to do this (no fewer than eleven reasons have been suggested), especially as it
2214-603: A pollution incident could have contributed to the deaths of the animals." The Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas) labs were also testing crustaceans for disease. There is no evidence of any link to recent strandings of marine mammals and seabirds across the UK and countries along the North Sea coast, according to the EA. By late November the crustacean die-off had spread as far south as Robin Hood's Bay and
2337-560: A raid on his Lowland host's cattle, it "seemed like a dream ... that these deeds of violence should be familiar to men's minds, and currently talked of, as falling with the common order of things, and happening daily in the immediate neighbourhood, without his having crossed the seas, and while he was yet in the otherwise well-ordered island of Great Britain." A more complex version of this comes in Scott's second novel, Guy Mannering (1815), which "set in 1781‒2, offers no simple opposition:
2460-408: A succession of poetasters had churned out conventional and obsequious odes on royal occasions." He sought advice from the 4th Duke of Buccleuch , who counselled him to retain his literary independence. The position went to Scott's friend, Robert Southey . Scott was influenced by Gothic romance , and had collaborated in 1801 with 'Monk' Lewis on Tales of Wonder . Scott's career as a novelist
2583-408: A thousand copies were printed, but the work was an immediate success and 3,000 more were added in two further editions the same year. Waverley turned out to be the first of 27 novels (eight published in pairs), and by the time the sixth of them, Rob Roy , was published, the print run for the first edition had been increased to 10,000 copies, which became the norm. Given Scott's established status as
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#17327661424112706-769: Is adjacent to the east. In early October 2021 thousands of dead crabs and lobsters were washed up on the Tees estuary and beaches along the North-East coast of England. The deaths were first reported in Seaton Carew, Redcar and Seaham. A 95% decline in the lobster and crab catch was noticed by those employed in the local fishing industry. A spokesperson for the UK Environment Agency said, "Samples of water, sediment, mussel and crab have been collected and are being sent to our labs for analysis to consider whether
2829-482: Is as much myth as history, but the novel remains his best-known work, the most likely to be found by the general reader. Eight of the subsequent 17 novels also have medieval settings, though most are set towards the end of the era, for which Scott had a better supply of contemporaneous sources. His familiarity with Elizabethan and 17th-century English literature, partly resulting from editorial work on pamphlets and other minor publications, meant that four of his works set in
2952-467: Is claimed that it is visible in exceptional circumstances from the summit of Carnedd Llewelyn in Snowdonia ( Wales ) at a distance of 123 miles (198 kilometres). Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet FRSE FSAScot (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature , notably
3075-487: Is festooned with turrets and stepped gabling. Through windows enriched with the insignia of heraldry the sun shone on suits of armour, trophies of the chase, a library of more than 9,000 volumes, fine furniture, and still finer pictures. Panelling of oak and cedar and carved ceilings relieved by coats of arms in their correct colours added to the beauty of the house. It is estimated that the building cost Scott more than £25,000 (equivalent to £2,600,000 in 2023). More land
3198-513: Is my own, my native land! Whose heart hath ne'er within him burned, As home his footsteps he hath turned, From wandering on a foreign strand!— If such there breathe, go, mark him well; For him no minstrel raptures swell. Three years after The Lay Scott published Marmion (1808) telling a story of corrupt passions leading up as a disastrous climax to the Battle of Flodden in 1513. The main innovation involves prefacing each of
3321-484: Is no evidence that it conducted such sampling, the government concluded not only that a bloom had occurred, but that it was caused by a particular, toxic species: Karenia mikimotoi . This is the stuff of science fiction. Karenia thrives in temperatures between 20 and 24 °C [68 and 75 °F]. The average water temperature on this coast in October is 13 °C [55 °F]. There is no plausible mechanism by which
3444-574: Is the largest block of high ground in England and tends to retain snow-cover longer than neighbouring areas. Snow can be found in gullies on the north side of Cross Fell as late as May in most years. In some years, lying snow has been known to persist until July and fresh snowfall in June (mid-summer in the Northern Hemisphere) is common. Precipitation on Cross Fell averages around 2,800 millimetres (110 in) per year. Local flora includes
3567-618: The A67 south-east past Gainford and Piercebridge to Darlington , passing under the A1 and A66 . The section from Piercebridge to Hurworth flows over magnesian limestone . It is at Croft-on-Tees that the River Skerne joins the Tees. The river now flows south past Croft-on-Tees before swinging northwards past Hurworth-on-Tees . A series of large meanders takes the course past Neasham , Low Dinsdale and Sockburn to Middleton St George . In
3690-511: The Battle of Melrose (1526). During the summers from 1804, Scott made his home at the large house of Ashestiel, on the south bank of the River Tweed, 6 miles (9.7 km) north of Selkirk. When his lease on this property expired in 1811, he bought Cartley Hole Farm, downstream on the Tweed nearer Melrose. The farm had the nickname of " Clarty Hole", and Scott renamed it "Abbotsford" after
3813-511: The County of Roxburgh , Scotland, on 22 April 1820; the title became extinct upon his son's death in 1847. Walter Scott was born on 15 August 1771, in a third-floor apartment on College Wynd in the Old Town , Edinburgh, a narrow alleyway leading from the Cowgate to the gates of the old University of Edinburgh . He was the ninth child (six having died in infancy) of Walter Scott (1729–1799),
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3936-718: The Eden Valley on its south-western side and drops off more gently on its north-eastern side towards the South Tyne and Tees Valleys. Cross Fell summit is crowned by a cross-shaped dry-stone shelter. On a clear day there are excellent views from the summit across the Eden Valley to the mountains of the Lake District. On the northern side of Cross Fell there are also fine views across the Solway Firth to
4059-707: The Industrial Revolution , particularly for the shipment of coal from the Durham Coalfields and also for the steel industries that later developed around Middlesbrough . In the early years merchant ships left the River Tees after loading in Yarm and Stockton on Tees ; but as merchant ships became bigger, these smaller docks were superseded by bigger and deeper docks in Middlesbrough, and later even further downstream at Teesport close to
4182-512: The North East England . The need for water further downstream also meant that reservoirs were built in the extreme upper reaches, such as Cow Green . The name Tees is possibly of Brittonic origin. The element *tēs , meaning "warmth" with connotations of "boiling, excitement" ( Welsh tes ), may underlie the name. *Teihx-s , a root possibly derived from Brittonic *ti (Welsh tail , "dung, manure"), has also been used to explain
4305-540: The Portrack Cut , were made to straighten its course in 1810 and 1831 respectively. Before these cuts were made, the journey by sailing barge from Thornaby to the mouth of the Tees, allowing for tides and other factors, could take as long as seven days. The Mandale Cut was the shorter of the two, at about 220 yards (200 m), with the Portrack Cut being considerably longer (1,100 yards (1,000 m)), although
4428-580: The Southern Uplands of Scotland . The fell is prone to dense hill fog and fierce winds. A shrieking noise induced by the Helm Wind is a characteristic of the locality. It can be an inhospitable place for much of the year. In ancient times it was known as "Fiends Fell" and believed to be the haunt of evil spirits. St Augustine of Canterbury is said to have blessed the hill when he arrived here on his travels so it became known as Cross Fell in
4551-466: The Tees Barrage between these ports, turning tidal downstream from the barrage. Teesport is built on reclaimed land on the south side of the Tees estuary below Middlesbrough. Before the heavy industrialisation of the Tees, the flats at Seal Sands in the estuary were home to common seals . For around 100 years this species was absent from the estuary but have now returned and can be seen on
4674-749: The Yorkshire estate of that name belonging to Scott's friend J. B. S. Morritt during the Civil War period, and The Lord of the Isles (1815), set in early 14th-century Scotland and culminating in the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314. Both works had generally favourable receptions and sold well, but without rivalling the huge success of The Lady of the Lake . Scott also produced four minor narrative or semi-narrative poems between 1811 and 1817: The Vision of Don Roderick (1811, celebrating Wellington's successes in
4797-520: The ceremonial counties of County Durham and North Yorkshire , while in the highest part of its course it forms the boundary between the historic counties of Westmorland and Durham . The head of Teesdale (the name of valley especially at this end), has a desolate grandeur, surrounded by moorland and hills, some exceeding 2,500 feet (760 m). This area is part of the North Pennine Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty . The source of
4920-448: The northern frontier . It was first built in wood around 90 AD, before being rebuilt in stone, possibly when the first bridge washed away. The use of the bridge may of continued into the sub-Roman period. Crossings of the Tees continued to be important in the journey from north to south, and vice versa, along the east coast, during the medieval period. During the 13th century it was described as "the major obstacle to speedy travel out of
5043-502: The 0.75-mile (1.2 km) South Bank Quay project to provide a deep water facility. It is expected that two million tonnes of material will be dredged to allow GE Renewable Energy to load huge wind turbine blades onto ships. The 351-foot (107 m) long blades are destined for the Dogger Bank wind farm . The Heavy Fuel Oil Farm and Tarmac jetties are to be removed. The River Tees has been used for transporting industrial goods since
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5166-427: The 1679 Covenanters as fanatical and often ridiculous (prompting John Galt to produce a contrasting picture in his novel Ringan Gilhaize in 1823); The Heart of Mid-Lothian (1818) with its low-born heroine Jeanie Deans making a perilous journey to Richmond in 1737 to secure a promised royal pardon for her sister, falsely accused of infanticide; and the tragic The Bride of Lammermoor (1819), with its stern account of
5289-611: The 1790s for modern German literature. Recalling the period in 1827, Scott said that he "was German-mad." In 1796, he produced English versions of two poems by Gottfried August Bürger , Der wilde Jäger and Lenore , published as The Chase, and William and Helen . Scott responded to the German interest at the time in national identity, folk culture and medieval literature, which linked with his own developing passion for traditional balladry. A favourite book since childhood had been Thomas Percy 's Reliques of Ancient English Poetry . During
5412-464: The 1790s he would search in manuscript collections and on Border "raids" for ballads from oral performance. With help from John Leyden , he produced a two-volume Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border in 1802, containing 48 traditional ballads and two imitations apiece by Leyden and himself. Of the 48 traditionals, 26 were published for the first time. An enlarged edition appeared in three volumes
5535-501: The 1822 visit of King George IV to Scotland . In spite of having only three weeks to work with, Scott created a spectacular, comprehensive pageant, designed not only to impress the King, but in some way to heal the rifts that had destabilised Scots society. Probably fortified by his vivid depiction of the pageant staged for the reception of Queen Elizabeth in Kenilworth he and his "production team" mounted what in modern days would be
5658-470: The Canongate (1827). Crucial to Scott's historical thinking is the concept that very different societies can move through the same stages as they develop, and that humanity is basically unchanging, or as he puts it in the first chapter of Waverley that there are "passions common to men in all stages of society, and which have alike agitated the human heart, whether it throbbed under the steel corslet of
5781-492: The Canongate to Castle Dangerous ). In his last years Scott marked up interleaved copies of these collected editions to produce a final version of what were now officially the Waverley Novels , often called his 'Magnum Opus' or 'Magnum Edition'. Scott provided each novel with an introduction and notes and made mostly piecemeal adjustments to the text. Issued in 48 smart monthly volumes between June 1829 and May 1833 at
5904-716: The Christian tradition, although it has been speculated that the fell became known as Cross Fell ("cross" meaning "angry") because of the evil spirits. The upper parts of Cross Fell and the adjoining fells are formed mainly from beds of mudstone , sandstone and siltstone of the Yoredale Group whilst lower ground is formed by multiple layers of the Carboniferous Limestone . Where erosion-resistant beds surface, there are steep rock faces. There are also strata of shale and gritstone that surface on
6027-642: The England of that period – Kenilworth (1821), The Fortunes of Nigel and Peveril of the Peak (1821), and Woodstock (1826) – present rich pictures of their societies. The most generally esteemed of Scott's later fictions, though, are three short stories: a supernatural narrative in Scots, "Wandering Willie's Tale" in Redgauntlet (1824), and "The Highland Widow" and "The Two Drovers" in Chronicles of
6150-522: The English familiar with the character of their gay and kind-hearted neighbours of Ireland, that she may be truly said to have done more towards completing the Union, than perhaps all the legislative enactments by which it has been followed up [the Act of Union of 1801]." Most of Scott's readers were English: with Quentin Durward (1823) and Woodstock (1826), for example, some 8000 of the 10,000 copies of
6273-545: The Last Minstrel (1805), in medieval romance form, grew out of Scott's plan to include a long original poem of his own in the second edition of the Minstrelsy : it was to be "a sort of Romance of Border Chivalry & inchantment". He owed the distinctive irregular accent in four-beat metre to Coleridge 's Christabel , which he had heard recited by John Stoddart . (It was not to be published until 1816.) Scott
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#17327661424116396-838: The Literary Society in 1789 and was elected to the Speculative Society the following year, becoming librarian and secretary-treasurer a year after. After completing his law studies, Scott took up law in Edinburgh. He made his first visit as a lawyer's clerk to the Scottish Highlands, directing an eviction. He was admitted to the Faculty of Advocates in 1792. He had an unsuccessful love suit with Williamina Belsches of Fettercairn, who married Scott's friend Sir William Forbes, 7th Baronet . In February 1797,
6519-785: The Past and the Ancient, the Desire & the admiration of Permanence, on the one hand; and the Passion for increase of Knowledge, for Truth as the offspring of Reason, in short, the mighty Instincts of Progression and Free-agency , on the other." This is clear, for example, in Waverley , as the hero is captivated by the romantic allure of the Jacobite cause embodied in Bonnie Prince Charlie and his followers before accepting that
6642-500: The Peninsular Campaign, with profits donated to Portuguese war sufferers); The Bridal of Triermain (published anonymously in 1813); The Field of Waterloo (1815); and Harold the Dauntless (published anonymously in 1817). Throughout his creative life Scott was an active reviewer. Although himself a Tory he reviewed for The Edinburgh Review between 1803 and 1806, but that journal's advocacy of peace with Napoleon led him to cancel his subscription in 1808. The following year, at
6765-431: The Prince Regent (the future George IV ) gave Scott and other officials permission in a Royal Warrant dated 28 October 1817 to conduct a search for the Crown Jewels (" Honours of Scotland "). During the Protectorate under Cromwell these had been hidden away, but had subsequently been used to crown Charles II . They were not used to crown subsequent monarchs, but were regularly taken to sittings of Parliament, to represent
6888-526: The River Tees are manufacturing and servicing the North Sea oil and gas industry as well as the renewable energy industry sector, including offshore wind turbines . The south bank of the mouth of the River Tees has the 62-megawatt Teesside Offshore Wind Farm , built 2011–13. Near the mouth of the River Tees is the large dry dock facility of ABLE UK , named TERRC ( Teesside Environmental Reclamation and Recycling Centre ), used to dismantle or oil rigs and other large vessels. Hartlepool Nuclear Power Station
7011-450: The Scotland represented in the novel is at once backward and advanced, traditional and modern – it is a country in varied stages of progression in which there are many social subsets, each with its own laws and customs." Scott's process of composition can be traced through the manuscripts (mostly preserved), the more fragmentary sets of proofs, his correspondence, and publisher's records. He did not create detailed plans for his stories, and
7134-559: The Scottish Borders: there he attended Kelso Grammar School , where he met James Ballantyne and his brother John , who later became his business partners and printers. As a result of his early polio infection, Scott had a pronounced limp. He was described in 1820 as "tall, well formed (except for one ankle and foot which made him walk lamely), neither fat nor thin, with forehead very high, nose short, upper lip long and face rather fleshy, complexion fresh and clear, eyes very blue, shrewd and penetrating, with hair now silvery white". Although
7257-433: The Tees is joined by the River Greta . From the area near Eggleston, the river is crossing over millstone grit . From here the valley begins to open out, and traverses the rich plain east and south of Darlington in large meandering curves. The course of the valley down to here has been generally east-south-east, but it now turns north-east near the village of Whorlton . Passing Ovington and Winston it runs parallel to
7380-433: The absent monarch, until the Act of Union 1707 . So the honours were stored in Edinburgh Castle, but their large locked box was not opened for more than 100 years, and stories circulated that they had been "lost" or removed. On 4 February 1818, Scott and a small military team opened the box and "unearthed" the honours from the Crown Room of Edinburgh Castle . On 19 August 1818 through Scott's effort, his friend Adam Ferguson
7503-415: The blind poet Thomas Blacklock , who lent him books and introduced him to the Ossian cycle of poems by James Macpherson . During the winter of 1786–1787, a 15-year-old Scott met the Scots poet Robert Burns at one of these salons, their only meeting. When Burns noticed a print illustrating the poem "The Justice of the Peace" and asked who had written it, Scott alone named the author as John Langhorne and
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#17327661424117626-405: The broken rocks where the water descends over High Force . After a short turn northwards, the river continues to meander south-easterly. Close to where the B6277 road begins to run parallel to the river is the 69-foot (21 m) High Force waterfall. About 1 + 1 ⁄ 2 miles (2.4 km) downstream is the smaller Low Force waterfall. The scenery becomes gentler and more picturesque as
7749-433: The building of the first suspension railway bridge . This moved the commercial centre of gravity of Teesside further down stream, where many future bridges would be built. Cross Fell Cross Fell is the highest mountain in the Pennines of Northern England and the highest point in England outside the Lake District . It is located in the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty . It lies within
7872-416: The city and the surrounding countryside. His reading included chivalric romances, poems, history and travel books. He was given private tuition by James Mitchell in arithmetic and writing, and learned from him the history of the Church of Scotland with emphasis on the Covenanters . In 1783, his parents, believing he had outgrown his strength, sent him to stay for six months with his aunt Jenny at Kelso in
7995-402: The context of the last judgment with the introduction of a version of the " Dies irae " at the end. The work was an immediate success with almost all the reviewers and with readers in general, going through five editions in one year. The most celebrated lines are the ones that open the final stanza: Breathes there the man, with soul so dead, Who never to himself hath said, This
8118-438: The county of Cumbria and the historic county boundaries of Cumberland . The summit, at 893 metres (2,930 ft), is a stony plateau , part of a 7 + 3 ⁄ 4 -mile-long (12.5-kilometre) ridge running north-west to south-east, which also incorporates Little Dun Fell at 842 metres (2,762 ft) and Great Dun Fell at 848 metres (2,782 ft). The three adjoining fells form an escarpment that rises steeply above
8241-467: The debts encumbering his estate were discharged shortly after his death. Scott was raised as a Presbyterian in the Church of Scotland. He was ordained as an elder in Duddingston Kirk in 1806, and sat in the General Assembly for a time as representative elder of the burgh of Selkirk. In adult life he also adhered to the Scottish Episcopal Church : he seldom attended church but read the Book of Common Prayer services in family worship. Scott's father
8364-438: The defects noted in Marmion largely absent. In some ways it is more conventional than its predecessors: the narrative is entirely in iambic tetrameters and the story of the transparently disguised James V (King of Scots 1513‒42) predictable: Coleridge wrote to Wordsworth : 'The movement of the Poem... is between a sleeping Canter and a Marketwoman's trot – but it is endless – I seem never to have made any way – I never remember
8487-409: The depiction of an unfamiliar society, while having no difficulty in relating to the characters. Scott is fascinated by striking moments of transition between stages in societies. Samuel Taylor Coleridge , in a discussion of Scott's early novels, found that they derive their "long-sustained interest " from "the contest between the two great moving Principles of social Humanity – religious adherence to
8610-401: The diaries of Samuel Pepys and Lord Byron , and he began keeping a journal over the period, which, however, would not be published until 1890, as The Journal of Sir Walter Scott . By then Scott's health was failing, and on 29 October 1831, in a vain search for improvement, he set off on a voyage to Malta and Naples on board HMS Barham , a frigate put at his disposal by the Admiralty. He
8733-404: The diocese of Durham southwards", with the contemporary fords, bridges and ferries proving particularly inconvenient in the winter period. This included the Great North Road , for which the Croft Bridge was built in the 13th or 14th centuries. Yarm Bridge was built around 1400, by bishop Skirlaw . In 1771 a major flood on the Tees, along with others in the North-East, caused major damage to
8856-456: The epistles did not link up with the narrative, there was too much antiquarian pedantry, and Marmion's character was immoral. The most familiar lines in the poem sum up one of its main themes: "O what a tangled web we weave,/ When first we practice to deceive" Scott's meteoric poetic career peaked with his third long narrative, The Lady of the Lake (1810), which sold 20,000 copies in the first year. The reviewers were fairly favourable, finding
8979-412: The fell. On the south and west facing slopes of Cross Fell the rock faces have been broken up by frost action to give a scree slope made up of large boulders. The local terrain shows obvious evidence of recent glaciation and is covered by thin soil and acidic peat . Cross Fell, Great Dun Fell and Little Dun Fell form a block of high terrain which is all over 800 metres (2,625 ft) in elevation. This
9102-421: The fifteenth century, the brocaded coat of the eighteenth, or the blue frock and white dimity waistcoat of the present day." It was one of Scott's main achievements to give lively, detailed pictures of different stages of Scottish, British, and European society while making it clear that for all the differences in form, they took the same human passions as those of his own age. His readers could therefore appreciate
9225-520: The first edition went to London. In the Scottish novels the lower-class characters normally speak Scots, but Scott is careful not to make the Scots too dense, so that those unfamiliar with it can follow the gist without understanding every word. Some have also argued that although Scott was formally a supporter of the Union with England (and Ireland) his novels have a strong nationalist subtext for readers attuned to that wavelength. Scott's new career as
9348-414: The first had been completed. Constable's faith was justified by the sales: the three editions published in 1808 sold 8,000 copies. The verse of Marmion is less striking than that of The Lay , with the epistles in iambic tetrameters and the narrative in tetrameters with frequent trimeters. The reception by the reviewers was less favourable than that accorded The Lay : style and plot were both found faulty,
9471-568: The flats at Seal Sands. The Seal Sands area is now designated as the Teesmouth National Nature Reserve. A proposal was made in 1769 to make cuts in the river which would straighten the course and enable ships to save time and money in navigation. Between Stockton-on-Tees and Middlesbrough, the river previously meandered first south and then north of its current channel. Two "cuts", known as the Mandale Cut and
9594-452: The following year. With many of the ballads, Scott fused different versions into more coherent texts, a practice he later repudiated. The Minstrelsy was the first and most important of a series of editorial projects over the next two decades, including the medieval romance Sir Tristrem (which Scott attributed to Thomas the Rhymer ) in 1804, the works of John Dryden (18 vols, 1808), and
9717-402: The former banks, increasing the scouring due to its natural flow. Maps made prior to 1900 show that between Stockton and Middlesbrough the river flowed in a channel up to 330 yards (300 m) wide in places, with many shoals and sandbars. The modern channel varies between about 110 yards (100 m) and 220 yards (200 m). In October 2021 the UK engineering company, GRAHAM, started work on
9840-510: The great men who have loved dogs no one ever loved them better or understood them more thoroughly". The best known of Scott's dogs were Maida , a large stag hound reported to be his favourite dog, and Spice, a Dandie Dinmont terrier described as having asthma , to which Scott gave particular care. In a diary entry written at the height of his financial woes, Scott described dismay at the prospect of having to sell them: "The thoughts of parting from these dumb creatures have moved me more than any of
9963-490: The height of his poetic career, he was instrumental in establishing a Tory rival, The Quarterly Review to which he contributed reviews for the rest of his life. In 1813 Scott was offered the position of Poet Laureate . He declined, feeling that "such an appointment would be a poisoned chalice," as the Laureateship had fallen into disrepute due to the decline in quality of work suffered by previous title holders, "as
10086-487: The industrialisation of the area through the 19th century, many new bridges where needed closer to the ports mouth. When the Stockton and Darlington railway , first opened in 1825, it was realised that the staiths at Stockton where two small to export the desired amount of coal. The decision was made to start exporting closer to the rivers mouth on the other bank, at Port Darlington (later Middlesbrough ). This required
10209-460: The lower reaches of the river valley the water flows over bunter sandstone and pebble beds . Just past Yarm, the River Leven joins the Tees, before passing the settlements of Eaglescliffe , Ingleby Barwick and Thornaby-on-Tees . Now nearing the sea, the Tees becomes an important commercial waterway, with the ports of Stockton-on-Tees and Middlesbrough on its banks. It passes through
10332-467: The mouth of the River Tees. The emergence of the Steel industry in the late 19th century earned it the nickname "The Steel River" owing to the many steelworks that operated along the banks of the Tees. In the 20th century the river also became important to the developing chemical industry , contributing particularly to the development of Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) who used reclaimed land on
10455-463: The name Tees (compare River Tyne ). The river drains 710 square miles (1,800 km) and has a number of tributaries including the River Greta , River Lune , River Balder , River Leven and River Skerne . Before the reorganisation of the historic English counties , the river formed the boundary between County Durham and Yorkshire . In its lower reaches it now forms the boundary between
10578-543: The nave of Carlisle Cathedral ). After renting a house in Edinburgh's George Street , they moved to nearby South Castle Street. Their eldest child, Sophia, was born in 1799, and later married John Gibson Lockhart . Four of their five children survived Scott himself. His eldest son Sir Walter Scott, 2nd Baronet (1801–1847), inherited his father's estates and possessions: on 3 February 1825 he married Jane Jobson, only daughter of William Jobson of Lochore (died 1822) by his wife Rachel Stuart (died 1863), heiress of Lochore and
10701-464: The north bank for import/export facilities. The move to loading coal on bigger ships in Middlesbrough was the economic driver for the development not only of the town of Middlesbrough itself but also of the railway between Stockton and Darlington . This is where George Stephenson developed his railway engine "Locomotion" and this railway was the first steam railway to carry passengers, as well as industrial materials. The Stockton and Darlington Railway
10824-596: The northern meander it removed was smaller than the southern meander. Neither meander is visible today, except for the flow of Stainsby Beck into a waterway which is marked on maps first as " The Fleet " and then " Old River Tees ". The current Tees Barrage is close to the site of the Mandale Cut. Since the cuts were made, the river has continued to undergo alterations to its bed and banks to make it deeper and more navigable. The channel has been made considerably narrower by dumping ship's ballast and ironworks slag along
10947-495: The novels Ivanhoe (1819), Rob Roy (1817), Waverley (1814), Old Mortality (1816), The Heart of Mid-Lothian (1818), and The Bride of Lammermoor (1819), along with the narrative poems Marmion (1808) and The Lady of the Lake (1810). He had a major impact on European and American literature. As an advocate and legal administrator by profession, he combined writing and editing with his daily work as Clerk of Session and Sheriff-Depute of Selkirkshire . He
11070-409: The reflections I have put down". Between 1805 and 1817 Scott produced five long, six-canto narrative poems, four shorter independently published poems, and many small metrical pieces. Scott was by far the most popular poet of the time until Lord Byron published the first two cantos of Childe Harold's Pilgrimage in 1812 and followed them up with his exotic oriental verse narratives. The Lay of
11193-473: The remarks by the figure of "the Author" in the Introductory Epistle to The Fortunes of Nigel probably reflect his own experience: "I think there is a dæmon who seats himself on the feather of my pen when I begin to write, and leads it astray from the purpose. Characters expand under my hand; incidents are multiplied; the story lingers, while the materials increase – my regular mansion turns out
11316-486: The river at Teeshead just below Cross Fell is at an elevation of about 2,401 feet (732 m). It flows east-north-east through an area of shake holes through Carboniferous Limestone . Below Viewing Hill, it turns south to the Cow Green Reservoir constructed to store water to be released in dry conditions to satisfy the industrial need for water on Teesside. Emerging from the reservoir at Cauldron Snout
11439-571: The river descends past Middleton-in-Teesdale (Durham). This locality has lead and ironstone resources. Just to the east of Middleton-in-Teesdale, the River Lune joins the Tees. After passing the village of Romaldkirk to the west, the river is joined by the River Balder at Cotherstone . The ancient town of Barnard Castle , Egglestone Abbey , and Rokeby Park , known through Sir Walter Scott 's poem Rokeby , are all passed. At Rokeby
11562-467: The river traverses a series of hard black basalt and dolerite rocks that intrude through the softer limestone, in a succession of falls or rapids. From this point downstream the Tees forms the boundary between the traditional counties of Durham and Yorkshire almost without a break, although since 1974 much of it is wholly in Durham. The dale widens below Cauldron Snout, and trees appear, contrasting with
11685-525: The river's bridges, completely destroying some. The Wynch Bridge , Supposedly the oldest suspension bridge in Europe, dating from 1741, was lifted from its moorings. The bridge in Gilmonby was recorded as being destroyed after having only been fully operational for 3 years. On the other hand, The medieval Yarm Bridge was not affected by the flood, despite every other building in the town being damaged. With
11808-456: The ruin of Smailholm Tower , the earlier family home. Here, he was taught to read by his aunt Jenny Scott and learned from her the speech patterns and many of the tales and legends that later marked much of his work. In January 1775, he returned to Edinburgh, and that summer with his aunt Jenny took spa treatment at Bath in Somerset, southern England, where they lived at 6 South Parade . In
11931-421: The six cantos with an epistle from the author to a friend: William Stewart Rose , The Rev. John Marriot , William Erskine , James Skene , George Ellis , and Richard Heber : the epistles develop themes of moral positives and special delights imparted by art. In an unprecedented move, the publisher Archibald Constable purchased the copyright of the poem for a thousand guineas at the beginning of 1807, when only
12054-485: The steel and chemical industries made by companies that are members of the Northeast of England Process Industry Cluster (NEPIC). The areas where large scale commodity chemical industry continues to be based are Billingham and Seal Sands , both on the north bank of the River Tees, and Wilton on the south bank. The Teesside Steelworks at Redcar operated until closure in 2015. Other industrial companies that use
12177-514: The threat of a French invasion persuaded Scott and many of his friends to join the Royal Edinburgh Volunteer Light Dragoons , where he served into the early 1800s, and was appointed quartermaster and secretary. The daily drill practices that year, starting at 5 a.m., indicate the determination with which the role was undertaken. Scott was prompted to take up a literary career by enthusiasm in Edinburgh in
12300-523: The time for such enthusiasms has passed and accepting the more rational, humdrum reality of Hanoverian Britain. Another example appears in 15th-century Europe in the yielding of the old chivalric world view of Charles, Duke of Burgundy to the Machiavellian pragmatism of Louis XI . Scott is intrigued by the way different stages of societal development can exist side by side in one country. When Waverley has his first experience of Highland ways after
12423-568: The time, the compositors would supply the punctuation.) He received proofs, also in batches, and made many changes at that stage, but these were almost always local corrections and enhancements. As the number of novels grew, they were republished in small collections: Novels and Tales (1819: Waverley to A Tale of Montrose ); Historical Romances (1822: Ivanhoe to Kenilworth ); Novels and Romances (1824 [1823]: The Pirate to Quentin Durward ); and two series of Tales and Romances (1827: St Ronan's Well to Woodstock ; 1833: Chronicles of
12546-546: The tops of the fells in order to avoid damaging the natural flora. Cross Fell is a conspicuous feature in the landscape. It dominates the skyline on almost the entire 20-mile (32-kilometre) length of the A66 trunk road between Penrith and Stainmore . It can also be seen from many points in the Lake District, including the Helvellyn summit, and from high ground throughout Dumfriesshire and Northumberland . Most remarkably, it
12669-507: The two Bürger translations in a privately printed anthology, Apology for Tales of Terror . In 1800 Scott suggested that Ballantyne set up business in Edinburgh and provided a loan for him to make the transition in 1802. In 1805, they became partners in the printing business, and from then until the financial crash of 1826 Scott's works were routinely printed by the firm. Scott was known for his fondness of dogs , and owned several throughout his life. Upon his death, one newspaper noted "of all
12792-635: The winter of 1776, he went back to Sandyknowe, with another attempt at a water cure at Prestonpans the following summer. In 1778, Scott returned to Edinburgh for private education to prepare him for school and joined his family in their new house, one of the first to be built in George Square . In October 1779, he began at the Royal High School in Edinburgh (in High School Yards). He was by then well able to walk and explore
12915-514: The wonders of the North, and in the post-apocalyptic drama The Last Train having blown its banks. An early crossing of the Tees was made by the Romans , with the construction of a bridge at Piercebridge , along with a corresponding fortress . The bridge was built on the route of Dere Street , and as a result it likely saw a great deal of military traffic going between the fortress at York and
13038-648: The works of Jonathan Swift (19 vols, 1814). On a trip to the English Lake District with old college friends, he met Charlotte Charpentier (Anglicised to "Carpenter"), a daughter of Jean Charpentier of Lyon in France and a ward of Lord Downshire in Cumberland , an Anglican. After three weeks' courtship, Scott proposed and they were married on Christmas Eve 1797 in St Mary's Church, Carlisle (now
13161-405: Was a Freemason, being a member of Lodge St David, No. 36 (Edinburgh), and Scott also became a Freemason in his father's Lodge in 1801, albeit only after the death of his father. When Scott was a boy, he sometimes travelled with his father from Selkirk to Melrose, where some of his novels are set. At a certain spot, the old gentleman would stop the carriage and take his son to a stone on the site of
13284-731: Was a fairly open secret, but as he himself said, with Shylock , "such was my humour." Scott was an almost exclusively historical novelist. Only one of his 27 novels – Saint Ronan's Well – has a wholly modern setting. The settings of the others range from 1794 in The Antiquary back to 1096 or 1097, the time of the First Crusade , in Count Robert of Paris . Sixteen take place in Scotland. The first nine, from Waverley (1814) to A Legend of Montrose (1819), all have Scottish locations and 17th- or 18th-century settings. Scott
13407-405: Was able to draw on his unrivalled familiarity with Border history and legend acquired from oral and written sources beginning in his childhood to present an energetic and highly coloured picture of 16th-century Scotland, which both captivated the general public and with its voluminous notes also addressed itself to the antiquarian student. The poem has a strong moral theme, as human pride is placed in
13530-620: Was affecting catches in Whitby . The Environment Agency has ruled out chemical pollution as the cause of the mass shellfish deaths. Dredging was also rejected as the cause of the environmental disaster . Environment Agency operations manager Sarah Jennings said, "We've used both traditional and innovative screening methods to analyse samples of water, sediment and crab looking for traces of contamination. We’ve screened for over 1,000 potential chemical contaminants but found no anomalies that could lead to an event of this scale." In early February 2022 it
13653-572: Was appointed Deputy Keeper of the " Scottish Regalia ". The Scottish patronage system swung into action and after elaborate negotiations the Prince Regent granted Scott the title of baronet : in April 1820 he received the baronetcy in London, becoming Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet. After George's accession, the city council of Edinburgh invited Scott, at the sovereign's behest, to stage-manage
13776-401: Was attended with uncertainty. The first few chapters of Waverley were complete by roughly 1805, but the project was abandoned as a result of unfavourable criticism from a friend. Soon after, Scott was asked by the publisher John Murray to posthumously edit and complete the last chapter of an unfinished romance by Joseph Strutt . Published in 1808 and set in 15th-century England, Queenhoo Hall
13899-522: Was better versed in his material than anyone: he could draw on oral tradition and a wide range of written sources in his ever-expanding library (many of the books rare and some unique copies). In general it is these pre-1820 novels that have drawn the attention of modern critics – especially: Waverley , with its presentation of the 1745 Jacobites drawn from the Highland clans as obsolete and fanatical idealists; Old Mortality (1816) with its treatment of
14022-530: Was born in 1801, the Scotts moved to a spacious three-storey house at 39 North Castle Street, which remained his Edinburgh base until 1826, when it was sold by the trustees appointed after his financial ruin. From 1798, Scott had spent summers in a cottage at Lasswade , where he entertained guests, including literary figures. It was there his career as an author began. There were nominal residency requirements for his position of Sheriff-Depute, and at first he stayed at
14145-552: Was born with the surname 'Haliburton', and of the same's son the architect Decimus Burton . Walter became a member of the Clarence Club , of which the Burtons were members. A childhood bout of polio in 1773 left Scott lame, a condition that would greatly affect his life and writing. To improve his lameness he was sent in 1773 to live in the rural Scottish Borders , at his paternal grandparents' farm at Sandyknowe, by
14268-641: Was founded after an initial shareholders' meeting in a room in a public house in Yarm. Today Teesport is owned by PD Ports ; it is located close to the North Sea and 3 miles (5 km) east of Middlesbrough. Teesport is currently the third largest port in the United Kingdom, and among the ten biggest in Western Europe, handling over 56 million tonnes of domestic and international cargo per year. The vast majority of these products are still related to
14391-516: Was landed in England, Scott was transported back to die at Abbotsford on 21 September 1832. He was 61. Scott was buried in Dryburgh Abbey , where his wife had earlier been interred. Lady Scott had been buried as an Episcopalian; at Scott's own funeral, three ministers of the Church of Scotland officiated at Abbotsford and the service at Dryburgh was conducted by an Episcopal clergyman. Although Scott died owing money, his novels continued to sell, and
14514-437: Was not a success due to its archaic language and excessive display of antiquarian information. The success of Scott's Highland narrative poem The Lady of the Lake in 1810 seems to have put it into his head to resume the narrative and have his hero Edward Waverley journey to Scotland. Although Waverley was announced for publication at that stage, it was again laid by and not resumed until late 1813, then published in 1814. Only
14637-603: Was prominent in Edinburgh's Tory establishment , active in the Highland Society , long time a president of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (1820–1832), and a vice president of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland (1827–1829). His knowledge of history and literary facility equipped him to establish the historical novel genre as an exemplar of European Romanticism . He became a baronet of Abbotsford in
14760-440: Was purchased until Scott owned nearly 1,000 acres (4.0 km ). In 1817 as part of the land purchases Scott bought the nearby mansion-house of Toftfield for his friend Adam Ferguson to live in along with his brothers and sisters and on which, at the ladies' request, he bestowed the name of Huntlyburn. Ferguson commissioned Sir David Wilkie to paint the Scott family resulting in the painting The Abbotsford Family in which Scott
14883-582: Was reported that, "Defra and partner agencies have completed a thorough investigation of the cause of dead crabs and lobsters which were found washed up on the North East coast between October and December 2021. Following significant testing and modelling to rule out possible causes, Defra and partner agencies consider that the deaths of the crabs and lobsters potentially resulted from a naturally occurring harmful algal bloom ." In June 2022 George Monbiot wrote in The Guardian , "Astonishingly, although there
15006-609: Was thanked by Burns. Scott describes the event in his memoirs, where he whispers the answer to his friend Adam , who tells Burns; another version of the event appears in Literary Beginnings . When it was decided that he would become a lawyer, he returned to the university to study law, first taking classes in moral philosophy (under Dugald Stewart ) and universal history (under Alexander Fraser Tytler ) in 1789–1790. During this second university spell Scott became prominent in student intellectual activities: he co-founded
15129-423: Was welcomed and celebrated wherever he went. On his journey home he boarded the steamboat Prins Frederik going from Cologne to Rotterdam. While on board he had a final stroke near Emmerich . After local treatment, a steamboat took him to the steamship Batavier , which left for England on 12 June. By pure coincidence, Mary Martha Sherwood was also on board. She would later write about this encounter. After he
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