Those Who Went Before

Williamson tells of his mother, Betsy Townsley, and his father, Jock Williamson, and how they came to be married and to settle down for much of the year outside the village of Furnace, by the shore of Loch Fyne, Argyll. He tells of his mother’s birth in a cave and her gifts as a seer, and he sings her favorite dandling song. He tells of his father’s work as a quarryman for the Duke of Argyll and of the Duke’s friendship with his father; of the Duke himself and his belief in fairies; and of his uncle Duncan, an itinerant piper. He also relates anecdotes concerning his grandparents and other close relatives, among whom were pipers, basket-makers, and tinsmiths. The chapter concludes with remarks by Williamson on Traveller burial customs and on his family’s unmarked burial plot in the churchyard at Minard, by the shore of Loch Fyne.