The Secret History of Here: A Year in the Valley

by Alistair Moffat

The Secret History of Here is the story of a single place in the Scottish Borders. The site on which Alistair Moffat's farm now stands has been occupied since prehistoric times. Walking this landscape you can feel the presence and see the marks of those who lived here before.

But it is also the story of everywhere. In uncovering the history of one piece of land, Moffat shows how history is all around us, if only we have the eyes to see it. Taking the form of a journal of a year, this is a walk through the centuries as much as the seasons, offering a glimpse into the lives of those who came before, as well as those who live here now.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Scotland, Nature

384 pages, Paperback

First published July 2, 2020

About the author

Alistair Moffat is an award winning writer, historian and former Director of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and Director of Programmes at Scottish Television.

Moffat was educated at the University of St Andrews, graduating in 1972 with a degree in Medieval History. He is the founder of the Borders Book Festival and Co-Chairman of The Great Tapestry of Scotland.

Reviews

[Katedurie50 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a deliberately slow read, a gentle exploration of the traditions of one patch of Scottish Borders land, with which the author has family connections and which became his home. It's full of the love of the natural world, but perhaps even more so of the ways in which our ancestors speak to us through the small, broken artefacts they have left scattered in the ground under our feet. It's moving that these artefacts are both found and interpreted by men who are not professionals or academically trained, but who have used their deep knowledge acquired over decades. There might be a flint axe head or arrowhead; a silver coin of Edward the First's reign or the pommel of a crusader sword. It's the unraveling of these puzzles which is satisfying, as well as random details, like why brogues have holes in. There's also the rather nice story of why the house at the centre, rebuilt by him but historically known as the Henhouse, had stables. Why would hens need stables? The answer appears to be that they weren't those kind of hens; the name was an ironical one applied locally to a kind of pop-up brothel for the local gentry in the 18th century. 4.5

[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

An lovely account of musings on people and places over the course of a year spent largely walking the dog around Moffat’s farm near Selkirk Scotland (easily stalkable through Google maps). The historical aspects are fascinating, strengthened with finds by a local detectorist and a dowser who can locate old buildings, plus the amusing final reveal of the origin of the farm’s name of the Henhouse. I also loved the details about the author’s grandmother, particularly tracking down her burial site. Amazing how much history even a seemingly sleepy farm near a small border town can have, from prehistory through the Romans to the modern day.

[Nina · Rating 5 out of 5]

...rtc...

[MavM · Rating 3 out of 5]

I saw Alistair Moffat give a talk about this book in late autumn 2021, at our local-ish book shop. I wasn't familiar with him, but had heard good reviews and it was an evening out. The talk was good, enjoyable. The theme, that he had written a book about the history of his smallholding in the Borders and uncovered enough to show how Roman soldiers had marched past, how various cross border armies of Scottish and English soldiers had done the same, of ancient and modern farming was interesting. The tenet of his idea, that every area would have their own history was a good one. It was a four star talk.

The problem I had was there was little more to the book. Written as a diary (in 2018 or 2019 I think) there are frequent sections about dog walks, on horses. He has a style of writing that is for me more flowery than I would like or more poetic than he can manage. So the book added little to the talk. It felt like a 2 star book in comparison, but that also feels unkind, I suspect had I not had the talk I would have enjoyed it far more.

As I said, the tenet is interesting. Not everyone can own a small holding with four horse paddocks, or allow a talented metal detectorist free range, but the wide range of finds from what is still a relatively small area is impressive. I took delight in finding out recently that the cemetery car park in our town used to be the curling pond. There is a old fort on top of the nearby hill and I often see people with metal detectors on the fields after they are ploughed. I wonder what they find.

[Caroline · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an enjoyable book to read in between more "serious" books, I needed a break to think about other things. Moffat clearly loves his home, and over the course of the year chronicled, friends of his with metal detectors and archaeological skill turn up the way the entire history of northern Europe passed by his farm in the Scottish Borders over the course of a thousand years. This prompted him to look into the UK censuses beginning with the first one in 1841, and find out who lived in his house, which is an impulse I've followed myself with two of the homes in my life. While he may idealize the "auld life" a little, he's also right that its passing left a lot of people essentially rootless. His concern about climate change recurs as he notes the daily weather - where he is, it manifests as more rain and deeper cold, which makes sense given that the Gulf Stream is slowing as there is less of a temperature gradient between arctic and tropic, thus reducing the amount of warming water that keeps northwestern Europe's climate from being like the parts of Canada that are at the same latitude. If you're interested in Scotland, or in the history of the land, you'll like this.

[Jim Bogue · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one year’s diary in the life of a Scottish farmer on the Scotland English border. If that sounds dull, it is in fact anything but. Every day he and his Westie walk, and every day they see, or dream, new vistas - in the past, the present, and, in the person of his three year old granddaughter, the future.
We learn how and why the author and his family moved here. We are presented with slices of family and farming history. And, as the story proceeds, we are introduced to a local historian and a metal detector specialist, who work with the author to flesh out local history.
Every new day makes the reader want to grab a book (or at least access Wikipedia) to find out more about the periods and characters unearthed in this search. When the year ends you wish it wouldn’t.

[Ian Wauchope · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had two attempts to read this book; the first unsuccessful and the second successful.
“A Year in the Valley” is an autobiographical diary by Alistair Moffat of his day-to-day life on his rural farm near Selkirk.
What makes the book interesting is how learned the author is, and his keen interest in who may have lived in the same spot over the last few thousand years. There is a wealth of detail on the local archeology and plant and bird life.
This detail is both a plus and a minus. On my first read I felt swamped by the detail, and stopped reading.
I returned to the book and read it bit by bit, in time with the daily diary entries. This worked well, and allowed my to enjoy and reflect on the daily musings.

[Nancy Effrig · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book given to me by my son and following a theme of reading about the travels of those in Scotland and walking the old well worn paths through the countryside of Scotland and England…This book was written over a year and the author talking about the land he purchased and the history of that land and walking over the ground and paths that transverse it…A quiet gentle read.. with deep insight, I could pick up easily and follow over one of the most of the most difficult years of my life…so much history there and how lovely to be able to travel along those well worn paths…now to just enjoy the beauty and uniqueness of that area of the world..

[Peggy Page · Rating 4 out of 5]

We spend a delightful year with Alistair Moffatt and with him discover the riches both hidden and obvious about the history of the place where he lives. As he writes, “History should not be thought of as rows of books in a library or a bookshop…History is us, it is what made us,the only reliable way of understanding the present or making sense of the future.” And he discovers the history of his own little corner of Scotland by walking through it with curiosity. And a rich history it is, with Neolithic people hunkered down near his local loch or Roman legions building watch hills across his fields. A delight.

[Malcolm Schaffer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This will not appeal to Jack Reacher readers but is a beautiful tranquil record of living in an old farmhouse in the Scottish Borders over a year .it contains plenty of local history inspired by old relics detected in the ground and by the author’s usual meticulous research of local records .Nature is also recorded and star of the show is the authors three year old granddaughter for whom this book will be a treasure when she is older .A lovely read

[Paul]

Much of this was actually interesting. I read the first month of January. I can't say it was a book I "didn't like", but I got a bit tired of the early morning dog walks as the basis for writing about most of the days. And maybe more meandering on too many different topics than I wanted to read about.

[Mike Talvensaari · Rating 1 out of 5]

Couldn't get into it

[Joanna Shillaker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really interesting idea, couldn't keep up with the history

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

I relished every page of this! A lovely evocation of locality and history in the Scottish Borders.