Following on from his paragraph about the apparently famous 'Horn of Carslogie' JM Leighton, in his book ‘History of the County of Fife’, continued with this absolute gem:
“Beside the horn, the family of Clephane had long been in
possession of a hand made of steel, in imitation of that of a man, which has
also been brought into notice by Sir Walter. The tradition is that this steel
hand was a present from one of the kings of Scotland to a baron of Carslogie,
who had lost his hand in battle, in defence of his country. It does not seem,
however, to be an agreed point what king this was, or which of the long line of
Barons of Carslogie received the royal gift. It has been said that the hand was
lost at Bannockburn, and that the gift was made by Robert the Bruce; but others
say that it was at a much more recent period, and that it was presented to the
great grandfather of the late General Clephane.” pp37-38
Images of the steel hand can be seen here, pages 206-207:
The last few posts have been mainly concerned with
the life and interests of Rev. George Milne and the previous owners of the
house in which RDM grew up, the Clephanes of Carslogie. Although not directly linked, as far as I can tell, to the
Clephane family it would seem incredible if the Milnes knew nothing of the
legends of Carslogie, especially given Rev. George’s apparent interest in local
history.
An ancient castle; daring-do in the name of King and
country; a steel hand (just how cool is that?):
already sounds like something out of a book! Certainly my first
impressions were of Walpole’s gothic horror ‘The Castle of Otranto’ (1764) but
the steel prosthetic (and one which allowed its wearer to still grasp a sword)
sounds more akin to sci-fi. As yet I haven’t found a tangible link to this an
RDM’s work but it’s hard to imagine that such a place wouldn't have influenced
such an imaginative mind.
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