> Louis Killen > Songs > The Bonny Hoose o' Airlie
The Bonny House of Airlie
[
Roud 794
; Child 199
; G/D 2:233
; Ballad Index C199
; Bodleian
Roud 794
; trad.]
Ewan MacColl sang The Bonnie Hoose o' Airlie in 1956 on his and A.L. Lloyd's Riverside album of Child ballads, The English and Scottish Popular Ballads Volume I. This track was included in 2009 on the Ewan MacColl CD Ballads: Murder·Intrigue·Love·Discord. Editor Kenneth G. Goldstein wrote in the original album's booklet:
This ballad describes the burning and sacking in 1640 of the castle of the Earl of Airlie, a supporter of Charles Edward, by the Duke of Argyll. Airlie, aware that he would be forced to renounce the King, left Scotland, leaving his house in the keeping of his oldest son, Lord Ogilvie. Argyll, ordered to proceed against the castle, raised several thousand men for the purpose. When Ogilvie heard of his coming with such a huge force, the castle was abandoned. Lady Ogilvie's defiance is an invention of the ballad muse, for it has been fairly well established that none of the family was there at the time the castle was sacked.
The ballad is rare outside of Scotland, a few versions having been collected in North America. The version MacColl sings was collected from Boston Dunn, an iron moulder from Falkirk, Stirlingshire.
Bella Stewart sang Bonnie House o’ Airlie on the 1968 LP Back o' Benachie: Songs and Ballads from the Lowland East of Scotland, and John MacDonald sang it on the 1975 Topic LP The Singing Molecatcher of Morayshire: Scots Ballads, Bothy Songs and Melodeon Tunes, which recording was also included on It Fell on a Day, a Bonny Summer Day (The Voice of the People Series Vol. 17).
Louis Killen sang The Bonny Hoose o' Airlie in 1978 on his LP Old Songs, Old Friends. He commented on the album sleeve:
Another friend who traded me many songs was Laurie Charlton, borderer, gunsmith, art teacher, ballad singer, and fisherman, who ran Folksong and Ballad in Newcastle after I took off for London in 1961. But well before that he taught me Ca' the Yowes. […] I also got from Laurie The Bonny Hoose o' Aurlie, that ballad of the burning of the home of the Ogilvies by the covenanting Campbells, while the former were supporting King Charles I against Cromwell and Parliament.
Gerry Hallom sang this ballad in 1981 on his Fellside album Travellin' Down the Castlereagh.
Bobby Eaglesham sang The Bonny House of Airlie in 1997 on the Fellside anthology Ballads. Paul Adams commented in the album's liner notes:
Many attempts have been made to ascribe historical events and figures to ballads as has been mentioned elsewhere in this text. Normally the links are tenuous, but in this case the origins are based on fact. !n 1640 the Convention of Estates granted a “commission of fire and sword” to Archibald Campbell the 8th Earl of Argyll against the Earl of Airlie and other adherents of Charles I. They were harsh and brutal times and yet Argyll's actions seem to have offended to such an extend that he was obliged to obtain an “Act of Ratificatioune & Exoeneratioune” to absolve himself from blame. The ballad takes liberties with the historical fact (it is doubtful whether Argyll was there in person). Lady Ogilvie is the Earl of Airlie's daughter-in-law. Airlie had left Airlie Castle (part of the old castle stands within the grounds of the modern mansion which bears its name about 5 miles SW of Kirriemuir) in the hands of his son. Reputedly Argyll raised five thousand men and on hearing this Lord Ogilvie fled for safety. The numbers and names vary from version to version.
Maureen Jelks sang The Bonny Hoose o' Airlie in 2000 on her album Eence Upon a Time. She commented:
I thought it was about time I learned this as I live just a few miles from Airlie. This version is from Scottish Ballads, Cannongate Clasics, edited by Emily Lyle, but I have heard it sung by the late Belle Stewart, another favourite singer. It is about the burning of the House of Airlie by the Argylls, an event that occured on 1645 during the reign of Charles I.
Kate Rusby sang a very much shorter version of The Bonny House of Airlie in 2005 on her CD The Girl Who Couldn't Fly.
Jon Boden sang The Bonny House of Airlie as the 28 August 2010 entry of his project A Folk Song a Day. He gave Louis Killen as his source.
Fiona Hunter learned The Bonny Hoose o Airlie from the singing of Belle Stewart and sang it in 2015 on Malinky's album Far Better Days. This video shows Malinky at TradFest Edinburgh in June 2015:
Lyrics
Ewan MacColl sings The Bonnie Hoose o' Airlie | Bobby Eaglesham sings The Bonnie House of Airlie |
---|---|
It fell on a day, on a bonnie summer's day |
It fell on a day, on a bonny summer's day |
Argylle he has mustered a thousand o' his men, |
Argyll he has mustered a thousand o' his men, |
Lady Ogilvie has looked frae her window so high, |
Lady Ogilvie she looked frae her window sae high, |
“Come doon, come doon, Lady Ogilvie,” he cried: |
“Come doon, come doon, Lady Ogilvie,” he cried: |
“I winna come doon, ye cruel Argylle, |
“Oh I wadna come doon, ye cruel Argyll, |
“Come, tell me whaur your dowry is hid, |
“Come tell me whaur your dowry is hid, |
They socht it up and they socht it down, |
Oh they sought it up and they sought it doon, |
“Eleven bairns I ha'e born |
“Eleven of my bairns oh I hae born |
“Gin my gweed lord had been at hame, |
“Gin my guid lord had been at hame, |
He's ta'en her by the milk-white hand, |
He's ta'en her by the milk-white hand, |
The smoke and flame they rose so high, |
The smoke and the flames they rose so high |
Kate Rusby sings The Bonnie House of Airlie | Jon Boden sings The Bonnie House of Airlie |
It fell on a day, a bonnie bonnie day, |
It fell on a day and a bright summer's day, |
The Duke of Montrose he has written to Argyll | |
The lady was looking over the castle wall, |
The lady looked out of the window so high |
“Come down the stairs, lady,“ he said, |
“Come down, come down, Lady Margaret,“ he said, |
“Oh I would not kiss thee, great Argyll, | |
He has taken her by her left shoulder, | |
Oh they searched east and they searched west | |
He's taken her by her left shoulder |
He has taken her by the middle so small |
“Fire on, fire on, my many men all |
“Oh I have eleven broad sons,” she cried, |
“If the great Sir John had been but at home, |
“And if my good lord he had been at home |
“Seven, seven sons I've born unto him |