Kinmont Willie Escapes from Carlisle Castle
A STORY ABOUT THE REIVER KINMONT WILLY Text from the story telling of Peter Shaw, at Carlisle Castle. Click here for violent life and grave slab (Click here for Audio version ) [Click for song…
Sir Walter Scott Links with Carlisle
SIR WALTER SCOTT'S LINKS WITH CARLISLE Had it not been for Scott's collecting and reworking of many of the border ballads, much of the tradition, character and mythology of the Reiver story would be lost.…
Hazelslack Tower Cumbria
Hazelslack Tower Cumbria The substantial remains of this interesting little L-shaped Border tower-house stand about a mile east of Arnside in Cumbria. The tall tower of four storeys is roughly built from limestone rubble and…
Arnside Tower Cumbria
Arnside Tower. Arnside Tower, Arnside, Cumbria, drawing from a 1986 sketchbook by Pete Armstrong. Arnside Tower stands about a mile from the town of Arnside on the River Kent, near the northern end of Morecambe…
Places of Interest
Places of Interest Sites Scottish Borders Abbotsford House Melrose Aikwood Tower Selkirk Bowhill House Selkirk Drumlanrig’s Tower Hawick Dryburgh Tower St Boswells Dryhope Tower Yarrow East Port Peebles Floors Castle Kelso Greenknowe Tower Gordon Hermitage…
The Church in Cumbria hammered by the Scots
The Church in Cumbria hammered by the Scots! From the time of the early church to the time of the union between England and Scotland in 1603, there was trouble from Scottish invaders. Until 1157…
Reiver Truce Days and Locations
Reiver Days of Truce and Locations The Wardens of opposing Marches agreed upon a day and place of meeting usually on the frontier but sometimes elsewhere. In the west, Dumfries and Carlisle were convenient venues,…
Reiver Routes
Reiving Routes The following text is from text in the Callendar of Border Papers and dates from the 16th century. It gives an impression of the routes that Reivers may have taken on their raids…
Complaints of Losses from Reiver Raiders
Record of Theft, Damage, Injury and Cost of Raids by Reivers These are some of the complaints made by victims of raids by Scottish and English Reivers at the end of the 16th century. The…
Rules to Protect Carlisle from Scots
Rules to Defend Border Towns - Carlisle Scotland and England feared theft and invasion from each other. Towns were where the wealth resided, thus invaders and thieves sought to strip towns of their valuables. Towns…
Passport for English Man in Scotland
Permission to Pass in Scotland's Middle March A copy of a letter allowing an Englishman to pass through the Middle March of Scotland. Each town in Scotland had its legal representations recorded in a protocol…
Battle of Solway Moss 1542
Solway Moss, The Battle Of, 1542 The Battle of Solway Moss, 1542; Thomas Wharton's “prickers” rout the Scots Painting of The Battle of Solway Moss, by Rick Scollins, c.1986. The illustrator Richard Scollins specialised in…
Battle of Otterburn with Harry Hotspur
Harry Hotspur At The Battle of Otterburn Harry Hotspur or Henry Percy at The Battle of Otterburn Henry Percy or “Hotspur” played a prominent part in Border warfare in the late 14th and early 15th…
Battle of Flodden Field 1513 “False Borderers”
Flodden Field, 1513 “False Borderers” Flodden Field, Battlefield 1513, Branxton, Northumberland and the behaviour of the borderers Flodden was fought on 9th September 1513 and was a disaster for Scotland. As night fell over the…
