Tamlane's Well

About Tamlane's Well

‘OI forbid ye, maidens a’
That wear Gowd in your hair,
To come or gae by Carterhaugh,
For Young Tamlane is there.’
Trad

Tamlane (who was the son of Randolph, Earl of Moray), are both referred to in a ballad by Sir Walter Scott: "Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, volume 2". Also it is referred to from 'Tam Lin' by Robert Burns, adding: "Tam Lin was a knight who had been captured by the Queen of the Fairies and was being prepared for sacrifice on Hallowe’en, to pay off the little people’s dues to the devil.

He is saved by Janet in a fearless act of bravery and love, holding tightly on to her man as his shape is shifted from poisonous snake to wild animal, through iron and through lead, until eventually emerging as ‘a naked knight’ in her arms."