Perfect setting for romantic poem
The scenic Gleniffer Braes provide a romantic setting for the poem Soldier’s Return by local bard Robert Tannahill.
It tells the story of a journey back from the Battle of Aboukir, Egypt, in 1801.
The British army, commanded by Sir Ralph Abercromby, defeated French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte’s army at the skirmish.
Among the regiments that fought so heroically that day was the Renfrewshire Volunteers, with its large Paisley contingent.
Thousands of miles away, a more tranquil scene unfolded on the Braes.
The scene is High Dykes Farm, on the flower-festooned banks of the Brandy Burn. Tenant of the steading is Gaffer. He lives there with his wife, Mirren. The couple are tenants of the Laird of Hartfield, who is off serving as an army officer at Aboukir.
Their daughter Jean is engaged to Hielan’ Harry, a soldier in the Laird’s regiment. There is no news from abroad. Jean fears for her sweetheart’s safety as she walks across bracken-mantled moorlands, where they spent happy times together. Derek Parker knew many of Paisley’s secrets – the grimy and the good.
He wandered every corner in search of the clues that would unlock Renfrewshire’s rich history.
These tales were shared with readers in his hugely popular Parker’s Way column.
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This article was first printed on May 12, 2003.
Mirren wants Jean to marry Muirlan’ Wullie, a rich, old bleacher who lives at nearby Nethercraigs.
Eventually, the girl decides to leave home.
For one last time, she visits the places she and Harry enjoyed so much.
Her footsteps take her through leafy Bardrain Wood to the Dusky Glen, where the Brandy Burn flows through a wooded gorge.
She pauses at their favourite broomy knowe and lapses into deep reverie.
She imagines it’s a dream, when she hears a familiar song: “From the rude bustling camp to the calm rural plain, I’ve come to my dear Jeanie to bless thee again.”
Enraptured, she recognises Harry wearing the green military tartan of a Highland soldier.
The couple return to High Dykes and tell Jean’s parents they are emigrating.
At that point, the Laird of Hartfield, in his scarlet tunic, arrives on horseback.
He reveals how Harry rescued him from drowning at Aboukir when his ship sank.
The Laird offers his tenants a dowry so their daughter can marry Harry.
Unsurprisingly, Mirren agrees and gives the wedding her blessing as she counts the gold coins.
The story has a happy ending all round when Muirlan’ Wullie announces his engagement to a local lass named Nancy o’ the Hazel Glen.
Harry and Jean marry in the Gaelic Church at Paisley.
Soon after, they emigrate to Nova Scotia in Canada.
But they always remembered those youthful days when they promised: “We’ll meet beside the Dusky Glen on yon burnside, where the bushes form a cosy den on yon burnside.”
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