Thomas the Rhymer

Two facts:

• Hazel has family who live in Melrose, so we have visited and stayed in the town many times over the years.
• Steeleye Span’s Now We Are Six has been a favourite Span album of mine for many years (pre-dating my metal and indie phases), and Thomas the Rhymer is the best track on it.

The Rhymer's Stone, Melrose

Until earlier this year those facts were, in my mind, completely unrelated. Then I learned that the Huntley Bank on which True Thomas encountered a lady gay was in Melrose. And the tree under which he sat that fateful day when he met the Queen of the Fairies has been commemorated by a stone erected by the Melrose Literary Society in 1929.

So today, since we were visiting Hazel’s family we also visited the site of Thomas the Rhymer’s encounter.

Steeleye Span - Thomas the Rhymer (play on YouTube)