Recording
Derwentwater’s Farewell
Sung by Jim Potter
1
Farewell to pleasant Dilston Hall,
My father’s ancient seat,
Some stranger now must call thee his,
Which gars my heart to greet.
Farewell each pleasant, well-known face,
My heart has held so dear,
My tenants now must leave their lands
Or hold their lives in fear.
2
No more along the banks of Tyne
I’ll roam in autumn grey,
No more I’ll hear at early morn
The lav’rocks wake the day.
And who will trim my hawthorn bower,
Where my fond childhood stray?
And who when Spring has been in flower
Shall sit beneath its shade?
3
And fare thee well, George Collingwood,
Since fate has brought us down,
If thou and I must lose our lives
Our King will lost his crown.
And when the head that wears the crown
Is brought down low like mine
Some honest heart may then lament
For the Radcliffe’s foreign line.
4
Oh fare thee well, my lady dear,
Ill, ill, thou counselled me;
I never more shall see you again
That babe sat on thy knee.
And fare thee well George Wittrington
And Forster ever true,
Dear Shaftesbury and Errington
Receive my last adieu.
5
And fare thee well, my bonny grey steed,
That carried me aye so free;
I wish that I had laid a-bed
Last time I mounted thee.
A warning bell now bids me cease,
My trouble’s nearly o’er,
Yon sun that rises from the sea
Shall shine on me no more.
6
Albeit that, here in London town
It is my fate to die,
Pray, carry me to Northumberland,
In my father’s grave to lie.
And chant my solemn requiem
In Hexham’s holy towers;
And let six maids from fair Tynedale
Scatter my grave with flowers.
Jim Potter
James Radcliffe, Third Earl of Derwentwater (1689-1716)
James Radcliffe was the son of Lady Mary Tudor, and from an old Roman Catholic family. He was educated in Paris and inheriting the Derwentwater Estates in 1705. Four years later he came to live in Dilston and married his wife Anna Maria Webb.
He took an active part in the Jacobite Rebellion, in the rising of 1715.
He was forced to surrender at Preston and was condemned to death.
Attempts to reprieve him failed and he was executed on the 24th February 1716 at Tower Hill in London.
His body was secretly taken north and buried in Dilston Chapel.