Don’t keep your tar next to your bonfire!
There’s a short piece in James Turnbull’s Hawick in Bygone Days book about a bonfire incident. Its not actually about Bonfire Night but its topical all the same!
It seems it was common practice to have celebratory bonfires in Tower Knowe, the example given in the book was when victorious news was sent back from the Crimea. During one of the fires a tar barrel burst and caused flames to head towards the drapery shop owned by William Kedie. Fortunately the flames were put out by bystanders but the front of the shop was badly burnt. Ever since then, such bonfires took place away from buildings, “in the Upper Haugh and on the Vertish Hill” at the time Turnbull was writing.
There is more on Hawick’s bonfire traditions in Robert Wilson’s A Sketch of the History of Hawick http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=RvIvAAAAMAAJ&dq=Hawick%20bonfire&pg=PA163#v=onepage&q=Hawick%20bonfire&f=false
The story above is a good lesson on safety for Bonfire Night! We hope you have fun and keep safe!
Posted by: Rachel
