Filmed at Crichope Linn and Gilchristland:
To play this short film please click here or on the image above.
Music credit: Take Me I’m Yours – an acoustic cover by Amelia Street
A poem about inscriptions carved into the sandstone of Crichope Linn.
LANDSCAPES HELD US
‘Antiquary’ since childhood
I ‘began’ in a churchyard
That had no church.
Aged seven years
asked by my father to find namesakes:
Peter Gordons’ inscribed on tombstones –
all, of course, dead!
‘Sixty years since’
my friend; makar and scriever
told me how ‘Old Mortality’
had been written into Crichup Linn.
Centuries and more of flowing water
has carved Crichup into fantastical whimsical shapes –
inviting generations on pilgrimage.
James and William –
that ‘SUMMER EXCURSION’ of 1879,
from the Commercial Hotel to Crichup Linn.
A memorable trip back to the parish of your birth,
your childhood!
The inscriptions you carved that day
into the red Crichup sandstone
not only survive, but remain easily read.
Oh, the nearness of distance!
James, when you died, a newspaper stated:
‘he took no part in public life’,
and William, that you had been:
‘an enthusiastic bowler’.
Landscapes held us.
♥️
From: livefreeordelhard@gmail.com
Why would you cut away other people’s initials that have been there for over a hundred years? there’s miles of stone to cut surly you could have went to a place that wasn’t the main attraction. I’ve been going up there for over 40 years and I can’t believe you felt the need to do what you have done all those names gone forever to your badly carved mess. Shocking!
Dear Frustrated local,
Before starting I carefully brushed the sandstone to ensure that I did not carve over any legible initials.
I am sorry to have caused upset and shocked you.
Yours sincerely
Peter Scott-Gordon
Sun, Sep 6, 8:17 PM
To: me
Dear Peter Scott Gordon
Thank you for your email, I appreciate you checked first and apologies for a harsh email, us locals get very protective of our surroundings and that one is a real special hidden place.
Thanks
—————–
From: Peter Scott-Gordon
Sun, Sep 6, 9:04 PM
Thank you for this understanding reply.
I really do appreciate and share a need to look after the world around us. I am sorry if I have failed in such a beautiful place as Crichope Linn [Crichup]. I have done what I can to collect stories of landscapes and forgotten everyday people of Scotland.
It was a friend and Scots poet who told me aboot Crichup Linn. I researched what I could of Crichup and then visited. Only afterwards did I return to carve ‘Landscapes held him’. The idea behind this is a poetic one [in my poem ‘Landscapes Held Us’] that seeks to remember folk who carved their names or initials at Crichip.
Here is the research I did on James Kirkpatrick who carved his name into Crichup in 1879: https://holeousia.com/2026/05/20/he-took-no-part-in-public-life/
I also did research on H. P. Clarke of Oswestry, and his wife, who carved their names [also in 1879]. I believe that Clarke and Kirkpatrick went to school together in Closeburn.
Such local stories matter and this is why I took such care in finding a place to carve where there were no legible inscriptions.
I wish that I could carve as well as they once did. Forgive my poor effort.
I am grateful for your understanding and I do hope that my actions will not spoil the pleasure for anyone visiting this beautiful and special place.
Kind wishes,
Peter