The Innerleithen Alpine Club
What did the Victorians ever do for us? Quite a lot as it turns out. Many of the societal norms we take for granted in the 21st century came from this era - flushing toilets, the internal combustion engine, the telephone, moving pictures and so on. A white hot period of invention and industry. I’m not here to romanticise the past - conditions for workers were often shockingly poor (remember the Irish navvies who built Talla?) and in terms of equality this era was some way off the standards of today. It should however be celebrated that the Victorian era brought about an explosion of clubs, societies and associations, many of which are still prominent today. In Innerleithen for example the Golf Club, Masonic Lodge, Bowling Club, Vale of Leithen Football Club, Operatic Society, St. Ronan’s Games & Cleikum Ceremonies and St. Ronan’s Silver Band all come out of this period (give or take a few years either side!!) and have formed the bedrock of social activity in the town for many decades. Many other Scottish towns will have a similar story. This idea of communities coming together and forming clubs was helped by the Industrial Revolution with people working together in large numbers and socialising together too. One club which was eminently Victorian with the ideals of education, fraternity and understanding our little corner if the world was the Innerleithen Alpine Club. Today’s blog will tell you about the Club’s founding President, how the club was formed, the excursions it undertook and how the spirit of the Alpine Club lives on today more than 130 years after it’s founding.
Robert Mathison - The master builder and founder of Innerleithen Alpine Club
Robert Mathison was the first President of the club, but so much more besides. A truly towering figure in the town, whose name may be forgotten or unknown by many but whose work endures. He was born in Peebles in 1832 and later moved to Traquair where his father was the estate forester. Robert became an apprentice to a Galashiels builder, Robert Hall, and showed great aptitude for his craft. He worked on Sir Charles Tennant’s Glen House and by 1871, with his own business established, he moved to Innerleithen. He built a number of Churches and houses, many of which are still standing today. St James Catholic Chapel was built by Mathison to a design by John Biggar. The Congregational Chapel (now more commonly known as The Allotment) was designed and built by Mathison as was Craigside, at the top of Buccleuch Street. This was the United Presbyterian Church which Mathison attended himself and was regarded by many, including my friend and local historian Ted McKie, as his finest work. His hands were also laid to work on Leithen Lodge, Stoneyhill in Walkerburn and the villa of Runic Cross on Waverley Road - his own home. Many more buildings had the mark of the master builder upon them, however when we look past his highly successful professional life we find things are equally as interesting.
Mathison was, in the great spirit of the age, an antiquarian and polymath. He counted botany, curling, liberal politics, astronomy, orchids, geology, early history and natural history among his self taught and strictly amateur interests. He was born of Covenanter stock and had strong faith in god, being both a Church Elder and Sunday School teacher. One of his most enduring legacies to Innerleithen is the ‘Runic Cross’ after which his house was named. This large stone block was found during the demolition of the old Parish Kirk on Leithen Road. Mathison’s antiquarian training immediately informed him that the markings on this block where of Celtic origin and great interest. As the building contractor he now owned it, through chance, and was able to ensure it remained in Innerleithen rather than going to a museum. It can still be seen today in the ‘new’ Parish Church building and is well worth a visit. The stone, believed to be a cross shaft, plays an important part in the Masonic Ceremony held during the towns Games Week, where the legend of St. Ronan is told with fact, myth and a poetic sentiment all intertwined. Mathison never lived to see this ceremony, he was killed by a moving train at Walkerburn exactly 10 years before the first Cleikum Ceremonies and his tragic death left The Borders bereft of one of his finest sons. Before he died however he did have time to set up this club which I will now tell you about as this rambling blog continues…
The Alpine Club
As well as his numerous interests noted above, Mathison also loved nothing more than yomping over the local hills of Peeblesshire, Moffatdale and all surrounding districts. He was often accompanied by another Innerleithen man, Thomas Young, a banker. Such was their knowledge that frequent requests were received to join them on their hikes. This was really how the club started. The hard yards were put in by Robert Stevenson, also of Innerleithen, who became Secretary. It came to pass in April 1889 that the Innerleithen Alpine Club was formed with the aim of ‘organising excursions to the neighbouring hills and glens, to elucidate the botanical and geological features and antiquarian lore of Peeblesshire’. Brilliant. I would definitely have been a member. Mathison was, of course, voted President and he held the role until his untimely death. The membership was open to anyone and represented a broad sweep of the local population. Of course the Patrons were at the more moneyed end of Victorian Peeblesshire - Sir Charles Tennant of Glen, Herbert Maxwell-Stuart of Traqauir, The Ballantynes of Walkerburn, Walter Thorburn MP and so on. In short, it was a big noise in the district. Many of the early excursions are collected in a wonderful book - ‘Principal Excursions of the Innerleithen Alpine Club’. The book was printed twice - first editions have a green cover and second are red. Both are fairly rare now, a second edition will set you back about £70 on eBay, a first will be a fair bit more than that. If you are interested you can read the book for free at the public libraries in Innerleithen and Peebles. The club went to Manor, Cademuir, Glen, Mountbenger, Kailzie, Dollar Law, Eddleston, Minch Moor, Ettrick and so on. Basically the patch I now try to chronicle in a very different style and with a fraction of the knowledge of these outstanding polymaths.
My favourite chapters in the book are the trips to Loch Skene and White Coomb. The image of a train of horse and carts with 63 souls (a third of them women) leaving Innerleithen station to tackle the road to the Grey Mares Tail is a memorable one. Said souls then ascending the not insignificant hill in tweed, tackity boots and, for the women, heavy skirts is quite the contrast to the expensive goretex and technical gear we smother ourselves in today for a hike. Throughout all of these early excursions the figure of Mathison looms large, you can picture the club members and guests almost mobbing the great man to hear his sermon like open air lectures among his beloved cleuchs and crags.
Do try and find the book, it is florid and of it’s time but the hills and rocks have not changed much and the enthusiasm and knowledge leaps off the page, and down the centuries.
Legacy of the Alpine Club
The club survived Mathison’s death and ran into the 20th century. By the time of the First World War numbers had dwindled and in 1913 amalgamated into a new organisation which would become The Tweeddale Society. This association still runs today and celebrated its centenary in 2013. I recently attended one of their lectures on the Trimontium Trust, part of an excellent regular series of talks they put on. Others have researched the Alpine Club in great detail (far more than I have here) - Alastair Learmont delivered a superbly researched talk during the 2013 Borders Walking Festival in Innerleithen. This talk definitely inspired a spark of interest for me so I am indebted to him and his research. Locals in Innerleithen have also made attempts at getting a similar group together - Rachel Mays from Robert Smail’s printing works organised an Alpine Club walk to Peniel Heugh a few years back. These relatively recent events show that there is an interest and fascination in this long gone club which I hope this blog can continue in its own way.
As for Mathison, no permanent memorial exists to him in Innerleithen. No street is named after him, there is no plaque on a wall or statue of him with compass and mallet in hand. We do however have his buildings, and his skill as a stone mason shines as bright today as it did in the 1880’s. So next time you admire one of his churches take a minute to remember this incredible man - the master builder.
