Athelstaneford: The Saltire has a history – we must preserve its legacy

My 18th birthday was May 6, 1999, so my first ­opportunity to vote coincided with the first-ever Scottish Parliament elections that very same day. It strikes me again that the emblem of Scotland’s ­parliament is not the martial symbol of the crowned portcullis of Westminster but rather the welcoming and open symbol of the Saltire.

In 2007, Alex Salmond’s new SNP government changed its name from the Scottish Executive to the Scottish Government and in so doing put Scotland and the Saltire at the heart of government branding. Out went the royal arms used by the Secretary of State for Scotland (with the words Scottish Executive added) and in came a clear visual identity focused around the inclusive image of Europe’s ­oldest flag. This was a deliberate shift from the armorial and martial symbolism of governance pre-devolution to an identity which is more open and focused on ­people and which is distinctly for and of Scotland.

So symbols do matter.

And on St Andrews Day 2020, the home of Scotland’s most powerful symbol needs help to survive.

No, not St Andrews but Athelstaneford.

Today marks the 55th anniversary of the inauguration of the Saltire Memorial in the East Lothian village in 1965. Urgent investment is needed to restore the monument and ensure that the story of Scotland’s national flag is given the prominence it deserves. Without this the opportunity to tell a new, vigorous digital story of Scotland’s historic flag will be lost.

The history of Scotland’s flag is the history of all its people. As Professor Emeritus Sir Tom Devine said: “It is essential that the memorial to the origins of Scotland’s national flag is suitably preserved for posterity. I therefore warmly commend this fundraising campaign to Scots both at home and abroad and indeed to all who have a love of Scotland.”

Unlike the Lion Rampant (the Royal Standard), the Saltire is the flag of the people. Sir Thomas Innes of Learney, a former Lord Lyon King of Arms, said: “The Cross of St Andrew is the flag which any ­Scotsman (or woman) is entitled to fly or wear as ­evidence of his (or her) national identity or patriotism.”

It’s meaning and purpose is that simple.

But the story of the Saltire’s connection with ­Athelstaneford is anything but.

Tradition has it that in 832AD, an army of Picts under Angus mac Fergus, High King of Alba, aided by a contingent of Scots led by Eochaidh, King of Dalriada, had been on a punitive raid into Northumbrian territory and was being pursued by a large force of Angles and Saxons led by Athelstan. The Scots and Picts were caught by their pursuers to the north of the present day village of Athelstaneford.

Fearing the outcome, King Angus led prayers for deliverance and was rewarded by the dramatic appearance above the fighting of a white saltire, the diagonal cross on which St Andrew had been martyred, against a blue sky. The king vowed that if he was victorious, Andrew would thereafter be the patron saint of Scotland. The Scots and Picts did win, and in due course, the St Andrew’s Cross became the flag of Scotland.

Though little documentation survives from the ninth century, the story of the cross appearing above the battle is ­recorded in print by each of Scotland’s early mediaeval historians – Bower,

Major, Boece, Buchanan, Leslie and Spottiswoode.

Interestingly, Denmark’s flag originated at the Battle of Lyndanisse in 1219AD in which the appearance of a white cross against a red sky also inspired King

Valdemar II’s army to victory. The Danes claim their flag, the Dannebrog, is the world’s oldest, but the Saltire predates it, though perhaps not its formal use as a flag, by almost four centuries.

In 1963 the local minister of the tiny village of Athelstaneford, Alexander Downie Thomson, received a letter from Rognwald Livingstone, who had recently retired home to Scotland after time working in India where, as a resident of

Lucknow, he witnessed “the Scottish Flag, raised and lowered daily”, a task that “gave him great pleasure and thrilled him immensely”. On returning to his native Aberdeen, Mr Livingstone was dismayed that nothing of this kind happened in his own country and that nothing had been done to commemorate the origin of the Scottish Flag. He wrote to ask the minister of the parish where the national flag originated and suggested that he take steps to set up a Saltire Memorial.

The letter was clearly well received and the request did not fall on deaf ears in the small village. The minister immediately spoke to the schoolmaster and in turn to the Earl of Wemyss and March and the three of them formed a committee. The architect Dr Eric Stevenson was approached to design the memorial which takes the form of a huge plinth with a large pictorial plaque set into it showing two armies respectively elated and cowed by the vision of the Cross of St Andrew set against the blue sky, with the victors the Scots and Picts shown in the foreground as taller men with their vanquished foe pictured smaller and in a state of disarray.

DONATIONS came from all over the world and by 1965 the memorial was completed. It was unveiled by Lieutenant General Sir George C Gordon Lennox, Scottish Command, attended by a detachment of the Royal Scots, the first Regiment to carry the Saltire into battle and whose first Colonel Sir John Hepburn, by a strange coincidence, happened to have been born in the village of Athelstaneford.

In 1984, Dr Allan Macartney, depute leader of the SNP and MEP, founded the Scottish Flag Trust with a remit to maintain the memorial. In 1997, the trust raised funds to establish a Flag Heritage Centre close by, housed in a converted 16th-century doocot, the Hepburn Doocot. Macartney’s vision was to establish a visitor destination that would let people from across Scotland, including school pupils, learn more about their national flag and the legend of its origin. An appeal was launched with author and historian Nigel Tranter and the Earl of Wemyss. Tranter’s story of the battle of Athelstaneford is told inside the centre.

Since then the use of the Saltire has increased dramatically – not just (though most obviously) through the recent surge in support for Scottish independence. We might think of the establishment of the memorial and the increased prominence of the Saltire as part of a trajectory in the re-awakening of interest and confidence in Scottish culture, history, identity and the symbolism of the nation.

It is the thread which runs through the establishment of the Centre for Scottish Studies in the 1950s; the creation of the memorial in the 1960s; 7:84’s Cheviot the Stag and the Black Black Oil; Ally’s ill-fated Tartan Army campaign; the re-establishment of Scotland’s devolved parliament; the 2014 indyref; the granting of a dot.scot country domain name for Scotland in 2014, and even the introduction of a Saltire emoji in 2017.

Last week Andrea Baker, the Mezzo Soprano who lives a few miles from the Athelstaneford memorial, joined Stuart Cosgrove and Professor Eamonn O’Neill on their Talk Media podcast. Asked about her identity, she said described herself as an American-born Scot and elaborated: “I am American born, Scots by choice. I identify as black [rather than African American] and what I really find beautiful about Scotland is the attitude of the country which is no matter where you are born when you get here if you want to be part of what we are trying to do, be part of the community, you are welcomed. I know we aren’t perfect on the racism edge and there’s lots to work on, but it’s a place where I feel at home, where I feel comfortable and a place that’s accepted me as I am, be that black or African American, but I am definitely black and Scottish in my heart.”

The Scottish Flag Trust promotes the use of the Saltire as a welcoming symbol for all Scots whether they are Scots by birth, by choice or through their family roots. The use and love of our flag should make it feel easy for newcomers to gather beneath it.

This rich civic history of the Saltire needs to be captured. So today, to mark the 55th anniversary of the inauguration of the Saltire Memorial, the Scottish Flag Trust is launching a new website saltire.scot and an international fundraising appeal to restore and renew Athelstaneford, so we can continue to share the story of Scotland’s flag with an increasingly interested and digitally savvy world.

Although continuously maintained by volunteers, the memorial was last thoroughly restored almost 30 years ago and it’s showing signs of age. Access pathways are uneven and not easily accessible for people with disabilities. The audio-visual equipment in the Flag Heritage Centre is obsolete. Scotland’s national symbol needs more to tell a bigger story and make maximum impact in the small and unique space of the restored doocot.

The restoration project will see a new accessible pathway with an interpretive timeline, telling the history and adoption of Scotland’s national flag from 832AD to the present. New landscaping and engraved paving around the Saltire Memorial will tell the story of St Andrew’s and Scots societies across the globe. A new immersive audio-visual experience with the latest digital projection will relive the Battle of Athelstaneford and the adoption of Scotland’s national flag. Restoration of the Hepburn Doocot which houses the Flag Heritage Centre will maintain this important historic building and keep it safe for the future.

You can help restore the Saltire Memorial by donating online at www.saltire.scot or by post to the Scottish Flag Trust, Athelstaneford North Berwick, EH39 5BE

Fraser Thompson is a volunteer trustee of the Scottish Flag Trust