On our recent walk (The Four Cheviot Laws) we stopped for lunch in the clump of woods by the Murder Cleugh, where we encountered this curious memorial stone.
The Cheviot Hills, bleak and remote, are full of tragic stories of lives lost on the moors, and this one is a story of a murder that went pretty much unpunished. The story goes that Robert Lumsden, a local landowner, got Isabella Sudden, a married woman, pregnant. When he found out about the pregnancy, on the 20th of July 1610, he chased Isabella over the hills and hit her with stones, hitting her in the stomach and leading to severe injuries that resulted in her death several days later.
The record, still held at The National Archives states that:
Presentment: Robert Lumsden f. of Horsholes, "Scotchman"; at Oswaiford, murdered Isabella Sudden f. of Oswayford, with stones worth ld., struck against her stomach so that she languished and died on 28 July. Date: 20 July 8 James I 1610 Reference: QSI/1, f138r (633)
There is also another record at The National Archives, which was entered later and states:
Presentment: Robert Lumsden f. of Horshooles, yeoman; at Oswayford, murdered Isabella Sudden, wife of Andrew Sudden, f. of Halliston, with stones, giving her a fatal wound on her stomach so that she languished from 20 July until 4 August next when she died. Date: 20 July 9 James I 1611 Reference: QSI/1, f130v (600)
An arrest warrant was issued for Lumsden and officers rode from Durham to carry out the court orders. The story goes that Lumsden chased them away with pistols and said "I care nothing for the King, I care nothing for the Queen and I care nothing for you”. He was eventually caught in Newcastle, arrested for one month, excommunicated, and made to repent at the marketplace in Alwick. A very light sentence for what was, by all accounts, a murder.
Our walk route:
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