Myth of Sawney Bean
Sawney Bean is reputed to have been a cannibal who lived in the west of Scotland during the reign of James VI of Scotland (and I of England), or else during the reign of James I of Scotland. According to the tale, which is well known in Scotland and beyond, he lived with his family in a cave near Ballantrae, on the Ayrshire coast. Doubts have been expressed about the story from at least the late nineteenth century (for example see the periodical Scottish Notes and Queries, 2nd series, vol. 8 (1906-7), p.101). Nevertheless, versions of the tale proliferated in the twentieth century in books, newspapers and magazines; on television and radio. The story was even adapted for the stage. In the 1970s sightseers were increasingly drawn to a cave at Balcreuchan Port, near Ballantrae, the supposed cave of Sawney Bean, and the local authority, Kyle and Carrick District Council opened a safe pathway to the cave in 1978 (at the same time promoting the location, along with the local tourist board). Many tourist maps, including those published by the Ordnance Survey, now show the location of the cave.

Absence of historical records
At least two serious attempts have been made to trace historical records relating to Sawney Bean and account for the origin of the story. William Roughead (editor of Notable British Trials Series) investigated the story thoroughly in the 1930s. Roughead concluded that Bean was a completely fictional character, as he had ‘sought diligently for Sawney in the official records of the time in contemporary journals, diaries and memoirs, in the pages of gossiping annalists and of grave historians’ and failed to find either in print or in manuscript the slightest mention of him. After a similar attempt in the 1970s, the author, Ronald Holmes, came to the same conclusion.

Literary Origins of the myth
William Roughead found that the story probably dates from the early eighteenth century becoming widely known through a book by a Captain Charles Johnson entitled A General and True History of the Lives and Sections of the Most Famous Highwaymen, Murderers, Street-Robbers etc, first published in London in 1734 and later in Birmingham in 1742. Although the Captain says his account is ‘as well attested as any historical fact can be’, he did not record any source for the story. Roughead suggests that Johnson's source was a similar work by Alexander Smith published in London in 1719 entitled A Compleat History of the Lives and Robberies of the Most Notorious Highwaymen… and that Smith in turn lifted the material from popular chapbooks and broadsheets sold throughout the country by pedlars. Roughead traced four anonymous undated pamphlets in the National Library of Scotland giving the story of Bean. They probably date from the early 18th century and Roughead suggested that they might have been written by Daniel Defoe. Many of the tales from these chapbooks and broadsheets were collected and published in the late eighteenth century under the title of the Newgate Calendar, many editions of which have appeared, and continue to appear, in book and digital form.

Bibliography
William Roughead, ‘The Monster of Ballantrae’ in Juridical Review 45 (1933). Ronald Holmes, The Legend of Sawney Bean (1975) John Nicholson, Historical and Traditional Tales of the South of Scotland (1843) Scottish Notes and Queries, 2nd series, vol. 8 (1906-7), pp.101 and 129.


Links
Entering the words ‘Sawney Bean’ in any Internet search engine will net the researcher no end of references to the story, most of which reproduce a version of the story or refer to it uncritically. Versions of the Newgate Calendar (including the Sawney Bean tale) can be seen on the websites of Exclassics and the University of Texas.

1. What is the derivation of the name ‘Sawney Bean’?

2. What is the Newgate Calendar?

3. Are there no historical records of Sawney Bean?

4. Where can I find chapbooks with the earliest known versions of the Sawney Bean story?