This little story is about William Armstrong, son of Christie. He was a lineal descendant of Johnnie Armstrong of Gilnockie who was hanged without trial by the seventeen year old King of Scotland, James V in 1529/30. He lived in the reign of Charles 1, 1625 – 1649. He was known as Christie’s Will.

gilnockie tower

In the ‘Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border’ written by Sir Walter Scott and published in 1802, one can find the ballad of ‘Christie’s Will’. Extracts from it will appear throughout this story.

Although by the reign of Charles 1 who was king of both Scotland and England, Border Reiving, the robbing and murder, the feud and blackmail, had been almost eradicated from the English/Scottish Border lands, old habits died hard in some areas and with some of the more recalcitrant inhabitants of Border society.

One such person, who held to the old ways, in a defiant, almost last stand against all authority, was Christie’s Will.

On one of his fierce-some raids he was eventually captured and imprisoned in the tollbooth in Jedburgh.

Whilst he languished and slowly festered and awaited the outcome of his capture, be it death or long sentence, a very distinguished person happened to visit. It was none other than the Earl of Traquair, Lord High Treasurer of Scotland, who, like most folks in the Border country, be they high or low born, had heard of Christie’s Will and his formidable prowess as a Border Reiver.

He asked that he might see Will, and in deference to his exalted position, was granted a visit. Traquair was much taken by the Reiver’s droll humour especially when he explained why he was banged up in Jedburgh. Will told him that he had stolen the halters of two horses. The Lord was stupefied – surely such a theft did not justify a long confinement and the threat of the rope? Will explained that there might be other crimes to take in to account though evidence for them was somewhat circumstantial but pointed out that he had forgotten to say that the two halters each had a bonny horse in tow.

The Earl laughed loudly at Will’s sardonic turn of mind. He liked the man and, using his influence, had Will freed.

A little later a lawsuit involving the Earl was to be heard in the Court of Sessions. The Earl believed that the outcome would be decided on the casting vote of the judge and would go against him. There seemed to be no love lost between the Earl and the Lord of the Sessions appointed to deal with the case.

Accordingly he thought long and hard how he should deal with situation and eventually came to the conclusion that he must make sure that the judge should not preside at the Court of Sessions on the appointed day. But how was this to be achieved? He must not be implicated should the attempt to kidnap the judge go awry. He dare not ask any of his friends to take such a risk. A friend, he deliberated, could soon be an enemy should the clink of gold become a temptation.

Who then? The answer came slowly but the more he thought of it, the more he liked it. He would approach Christie’s Will with whom he had no obvious links. Moreover, Will owed him a favour for obtaining his release from Jedburgh and, true to the code of the Border Reivers, nothing would ever be said of any involvement with the Earl should Will be captured in the attempt.

Will, forever in the debt of Traquair, had no hesitation in offering his services and confidentiality. He was animated by the thought of taking another swipe at high authority.

Will began following the judge, who it might as well be stated now, was Alexander Gibson, the illustrious Lord Durie. He was made a lord of the session in 1621 and died in 1642.

He soon learned that the judge was wont to take the air whilst riding his horse on Leith Sands (Edinburgh). He was always unaccompanied and rode always on a Saturday afternoon if the weather was clement. Will noted carefully that the man was more often than not lost in some reverie and concluded that he took great pleasure in time away from the courts, officialdom and the decisions that determined a man’s destiny.

Will soon struck up a conversation with the judge who was delighted by the humour and lively discourse of his new-found friend; he was unaware that he rode peacefully along the sands with one of the last of the awesome Border Reivers.

After a few meetings, Will enticed the goodly Durie into a little frequented area known as the Frigate Whins, a sheltered and much secluded spot. There he dashed him from his horse and enveloped his unconscious body with a voluminous cloak and rode off with him over his saddle.

Following many a lonely path familiar only to the reiving fraternity, he arrived at the Tower of Graham, not far from Moffat (Scottish Borders), on the Water of Dryfe. There he deposited the luckless, terrified judge with the inmates of the Tower who had already agreed, for a price, to securely house a gentleman of wealth of whom they knew nothing.

On the same day as this daring abduction, the judge’s horse was found contentedly grazing on the grasses behind the beach. It was concluded that the creature had been startled, bucked and thrown its rider into the Firth of Forth.

In due course a successor was appointed to the office formerly held by Lord Durie. The appointment was made by the Lord High Treasurer of Scotland; none other than the Earl of Traquair!

In the Tower of Graham the judge was held in solitary confinement; even his food was pushed through a hole in the dungeon wall. He had no contact with the human race – left to dwell on his fate, alone, uncared for. The only voices he heard were when a shepherd called for his dog Batty or a female servant called up Maudge, the cat.

About three months later, the lawsuit was decided in favour of Lord Traquair, a forgone conclusion one might say, as the presiding judge, as we have already noted, was appointed by the Lord High Treasurer.

Will was asked to set the judge free. He did so at dead of night. He once more muffled the terrified President of the Court of Sessions and rode hard back to Leith Sands in total darkness and dropped the judge on the very spot where he had captured him.

Eventually, much to the pleasure of both family and friends who had gone into mourning at his loss, and the annoyance of his short-lived successor, he reclaimed his office and the honours that went with it.

He let it be known that he had been spirited away by witchcraft; all agreed. They lived in a superstitious age.

A few years later the good Lord Durie happened to be travelling through Annandale, down the Water of Dryfe. As he rode past the Tower of Graham, he was amazed to hear the call of a shepherd for a dog named Batty and the higher, more feminine tones which endeavoured to entice a cat named Maudge back to the Tower.

The story was soon out with the humiliating conclusion that it was not witchcraft that had taken the unfortunate Lord, but the hand of man. Many years afterwards it became known that an Earl of the realm in association with a nefarious Border Reiver were responsible.

Border Reiver Re-Enactment at Hawick,Scottish Borders. The March Warden stands between his Land-Seargents.

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The story of Hobbie Noble of the Crew, one of the English Border Reivers of somewhat dubious reknown, is one such example of Scots and English coming together. He would aid the Armstrongs of Liddesdale, a Scottish Border clan, in their hour of need, yet eventually be betrayed by one of their own.

The Pathetic Remains of Crew Castle. Now nothing more than a Sheep Pen.

Hobbie Flees to the Scottish Borders.

Hobbie was from Bewcastle in what was known in his time as the Waste of north Cumberland; his home was Crew Castle. Little of what would once have been a formidable tower remains today; the earthworks, however, easily recognised, bear testimony to a place of formidable strength: the home of a family of prominence and importance in the region. The Waste is still there to this day. It is a harsh and unforgiving country yet delights in little pockets of sylvan beauty which are a delight to the eyes.

Hobbie spent many years raiding in Tynedale (Northumberland) and even parts of his homeland, to the south of his Cumberland fortress. It would seem that allegiance to his countrymen was of little concern to a man bent on raiding wherever the opportunity presented itself. The product of theft, the ‘reive’, meant more to Hobbie than allegiance to his own countrymen, his own people.

Eventually they disowned him as they tired of the retribution exacted on them by the surnames (families) he had raided within his own country and the clans to the north of the Border. Their lives were dominated by the relentless raids from Tynedale, other parts of Cumberland, and southern Scotland which, with regular monotony, raided the homesteads of the folk of Bewcastledale.

He was much prized by the English West March Warden, the law in Cumberland. Doubtless there were many crimes laid at his door in which he had taken no part.

Hobbie fled to Liddesdale in the Scottish Borders were he was well received by the Laird of Mangerton, head of the Armstrongs. Anyone on run from the law, irrespective of nationality, was welcomed by the Armstrongs of Liddesdale.

Hobbie is True to his Scottish Hosts.

When Jock Armstrong of the ‘Side’, a stalwart and leading member of the Scottish clan was captured and thrown into gaol in Newcastle to await a fate which would inevitably see him dangle at the end of a rope, Hobbie was a major force in planning and achieving his rescue. He was lauded by the Armstrongs of Mangerton for the sterling part he played in the rescue of Jock but there were other Armstrongs, within Scottish Liddesdale, who resented the popularity of the Englishman.

Mangerton Tower. Once home to the Chief of the Armstrongs of Liddesdale.

The remains of Mangerton Tower, Liddesdale

Hobbie is asked to lead a raid into England by the Armstrongs of the Mains

Sim Armstrong was Laird of the Mains, today a peaceful farm in Liddesdale, but in the days of the Border Reivers, the most dangerous valley in the whole of Europe. Sim had grown to hate the great English Reiver whilst the English Warden was bent on wresting Hobbie from the Scottish Border lands and bringing him to account for his crimes in England. Sim and the Warden made a deal whereby, in return for English gold, Sim would betray Hobbie into the Warden’s hands. Accordingly, on the pretext that Hobbie knew the English ground better than he did, Sim persuaded Hobbie to lead a raid south of the Border into England. The cattle and sheep were fat and ripe for the picking.

Hobbie is betrayed by Sim of the Mains

Hobbie led the Armstrongs of the Mains into England but at the same time Sim Armstrong sent word to the English Keeper of Askerton that Hobbie was back on English ground. Hobbie and the Armstrongs had rested overnight before their final assault on their target. At the first light of the following day Hobbie woke to see the English confronting him. He was not unduly concerned because he knew the ground right well. His fertile mind instantly recognised the path in which he and the Armstrongs could evade any confrontation. But it was not to be. The Armstrongs at his back suddenly voiced their allegiance to the English and Hobbie was betrayed for gold.

Askerton Castle.

Defence against the Border Reivers of Liddesdale

Hobbie is bound and taken to Carlisle

Hobbie was bound with his own bow-string and led ignominiously to Carlisle and thrown in the dark damp cells of Carlisle castle. He was told he would hang next day unless he would confess to stealing Peter of Winfield’s horse, a crime that had hung over his head for some time. There is some doubt that Hobbie was involved, that the charge was trumped up by the English to see an end to the great English Border Reiver. He denied the allegation and prepared himself for death. Next morning he was hanged. There was a lot of sympathy in the watching crowd for the man who had risked life and limb to rescue Jock of the ‘Side’ from the Black Tower of Newcastle.

Sir Walter Scott, avid lover of Scottish English Border history and eminent writer of the early nineteenth century gathered the story of Hobbie Noble and committed it to verse in his ‘Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border’.

Here are two particularly poignant verses from the ballad:

‘And fare thee weel , sweet Liddesdale, (weel = well)

Baith the hie land and the law;

Keep ye weel frae the traitor Mains,

For gould and gear he’ll sell ye a’ (goud = gold, a’ = all)

‘Yet wad I rather be ca’d Hobbie Noble, ( wad = would, ca’d = called)

In Carlisle , where he suffers for his fau’t, (fau’t = fault)

Than I’d be ca’d the traitor Mains,

That eats and drinks of the meal and maut’. ( maut = malt)

English Gold was no benefit to Sim of the Mains

When the Laird of Mangerton, head of the Armstrongs, heard of Hobbie’s fate and Sim’s involvement, he was furious. Normally, as Hobbie was executed by the English, his retribution would have been aimed against the English families who dared to steal in his domain, Liddesdale or its surrounds. For once he directed his wrath against his own. He planned a great reprisal against the Armstrongs of Mains even though they were a sect of the clan. Sim fled to England but within two months, thanks to intelligence furnished to the English by Mangerton, Sim of the Mains also dangled at the end of a rope on Harrabee Hill, the killing ground of Carlisle. No tears were wept by a crowd who were pleased that he had got his come-uppance for the betrayal of Hobbie Noble of the Crew.

Noblestown today. Home of the Nobles following the Union of the Crown and the Pacification of the Borders.

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Alexander had been a good king and, for the most part, was friendly with his English counterpart, Edward I. Indeed his first wife, who had died, was Edward’s sister.

Edward had often demanded fealty from Alexander. He viewed England as the superior race, but he declined forcing the Scottish king to bend to his will. Such was their friendship, cemented by the ties of marriage.

Unfortunately for Scotland, Alexander’s children, two sons and a daughter had predeceased him. One of his sons died at the age of nine, the other on his twentieth birthday. He left as his heir a granddaughter Margaret, known to us as the Maid of Norway. She was the child of the marriage of Alexander’s daughter, also Margaret and now dead, and the King of Norway.

The Community of the Realm which, following Alexander’s death, ruled Scotland through six guardians, was keen to safe-guard the minority of the Maid and thus ensure her succession to the Scottish Crown.

In negotiations with the English king the young girl, about six or seven years old, was promised in marriage to Edward’s infant son, the future Edward ll. To the Scots it was a move which sought to maintain the peace which the country had enjoyed during the lifetime of Alexander lll; to Edward l a means by which he would eventually achieve total domination of his northern neighbour. The agreement was ratified at the Treaty of Birgham.

However Margaret died in Orkney on her way to Scotland from Norway in 1290, some say of seasickness. Her death put an end to any alliance of the two countries by marriage and any consideration that Edward had for the Scots as an independent nation.

It is not known how Edward l became involved in the succession for the throne of Scotland but he was seen by the Scots to be a man who could be trusted to make the right decision. Why should they question his involvement? To that time he had always treated the Scots with fairness. More-over he was well respected. He had the authority, the reason, the power and persuasion. He was perceived as a man with a formidable legal mind, the best in Europe it is said. He would sort the wheat from the chaff and chose the rightful successor from the thirteen claimants, the ‘Competitors’, who now squared up to each other in their quest to become the king of Scotland.

Edward’s involvement would, however, come at a considerable cost. He demanded that the Scots accept that England was superior to Scotland and that he was its Overlord. Indeed before he would begin his deliberations on who should be king he had demanded fealty from the Scottish lords. Most had accepted his dictates, the Bruce included, and signed what are now known as the Ragman Rolls which still exist. One name missing from the Roll is that of Wallace, synonymous now with ‘Braveheart’, a name that would resound throughout the lands of Scotland within a few short years.

Edward, satisfied that he was about to gain more than a foothold for the Plantagenet dynasty in the lands north of the Border, gathered the thirteen claimants at Norham Castle.

Norham Castle

The deliberations on who should be king lasted nigh on two years. They would become known as the ‘Great Cause’.

Both countries would suffer as a result.

The two main ‘Competitors’ for the throne of Scotland were the families of de Brus and Balliol. Eventually Edward chose John Balliol as the Scottish King. He would become a mere ‘puppet’ in Edward’s hands and eventually rebel in late 1295. In that year Edward demanded fealty from Balliol; demanded that he join the English in their wars in France. It was a move to far for Balliol; As king of Scotland he would not be treated as an ordinary English Baron whose lands were held at the behest of the King. He made an alliance with the French and invaded northern England.

The English Border people were savaged by the Scottish attacks into their lands. Not suspecting any inroads from the north, their lands were devastated by the Scots; crops and houses burned, both people and animals butchered in the merciless acts of retribution from the humiliated Scottish king.

Edward l Monument at Burgh by Sands, Cumbria

Edward’s response was quick and savage. At Easter 1296 he invaded Berwick, then in Scottish hands, and put all to the sword it is said. Tytler, a historian, tells us that 17000 folk lost their lives in the English attack on Berwick. Men women and children, he said, were put to the sword. Whilst this is not true, the population of Berwick in 1296 would be little more than 500, it is an indictment of Edward l’s policy of Scottish domination, that he was utterly ruthless in his treatment of the people of Berwick: people who, for the most-part were not in a position to defend themselves.

River Tweed

Thus began the Scottish Wars of Independence with the emergence of William Wallace (Braveheart) and Robert the Bruce.

The Wars would last, off and on, for 250 years.

The people on both sides of the English Scottish Border would suffer untold loss for their birthright. They were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Vast armies of English or Scots would lay waste the lands that they inhabited; their houses, harvests and beasts were razed, burned or stolen to satisfy the hatred of the soldiers of a foreign nation or fill the bellies of an army on the move.

The Border folk lost life, limb and loved one in the relentless surge for domination and were left destitute of the basic needs of life and living.

They were nothing if not hard and obdurate and they reacted in the only way left open to them in such dire circumstances. They stole where they could, be it from erstwhile friend on the same side of the Border Line or enemy on the other.

The Borderer became the Border Reiver. His dominance of the English-Scottish Border lands would last for centuries as feud, blood-feud, murder, death and extortion and blackmail would become the norm; a result of allegiance to the only people he could trust – his clan or family. It seemed, for centuries, that there was no answer to his disreputable activities.

In 1603, the Union of the two crowns of England and Scotland would eventually bring a form of peace to a troubled land. The two nations would be united under one King, James VI of Scotland and l of England. The Border Line from the Solway Firth in the west to the North Sea at Berwick in the east would still exist, indeed it still does to this day, but it would no longer divide two peoples.

The Border country became the Middle Shires of a new United Kingdom.

The Border Reivers were summarily executed, transported to the bogs of Roscommon in Ireland or conscripted to the protestant Low Countries in their fight against catholic Spain. They would slowly disappear from the landscape.

It would take another century but peace would eventually reign in the lands of the Scottish English Border.

The Statue of Robet the Bruce at Bannockburn

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Kirkconnel Church

In the 16th century a tragedy of particular poignancy is said to have taken place very near to the churchyard.

Kirkconnel Church Graves

On the hill to the east of the churchyard once stood a fine example of the Border Keep or Pele Tower which, in the days of the Border Reiver, dominated the landscape of the lands to north and south of the English Scottish Border. Here stood Bell Tower, alas no longer to be seen as its stone has followed that of the church and its wall to a more prosaic use .

Here lived Helen Irving. By all accounts she was a beautiful girl, much admired by the local lads. There were many suitors for her hand yet she loved but one by the name of Adam Fleming. All who loved her reluctantly accepted that her heart belonged elsewhere – all but one. Robert Bell of Blacket House felt spurned by Helen’s rejections, especially as he was favoured by her family. They were hopeful that she would marry within her station: Robert Bell, from a family of prominence, heritage and financial security, fitted their aspirations of a worthy suitor for Helen’s hand.

But Helen loved another.

She would meet the man she loved, Adam Fleming, in the twilight on Kirkconnel Lea or in the churchyard. Their meetings were brief, infrequent and full of the pledge of undying love. Helen was torn between love of her parents and their desires for her future, and the love she could not restrain for her manly and beautiful Adam. Love supersedes all bounds and though Helen was heart sore at the subterfuge which she employed to meet with her heart’s desire, she knew that Adam was the only man she would ever love. Many were the times she headed home after the brief passionate encounters with Adam, dull of pace in her walk to the Bell Tower, sorry that she deceived her parents, yet dreaming of a future where their happiness would reign.

Unbeknown to the two young lovers, they were watched. Robert Bell of Blacket House was insane with jealousy and determined to rid the world of his competitor for Helen’s hand.

Accordingly one night he followed the two lovers to their secret assignation and waited, watched, profuse with an insane desire to confront his rival. He was armed with a gun which made his intentions clear. When he saw the young lovers embrace any caution he might have felt was thrown to the wind. He lost any reason and waited for the lovers to part so he could get a clear shot at Fleming. The opportunity eventually presented itself and he fired off the gun at his adversary.

The two lovers, Helen and Adam, instinct and that inherent make-up which warns of danger, were instantly aware of the ferocity of ill-feeling which confronted them. Helen threw herself in front of her lover and took the full volley of shot in her breast. She fell dead on the spot. The shot was meant for Adam.

Site where Fair Helen was murdered

Adam, riled beyond any reason, knowing that his dear Helen was dead, launched himself down the banks of the Kirtle Water where the murderer Bell was frantically trying to reload his gun. Before he had achieved this Adam was upon him, sword drawn. In his rage he cut Bell to pieces, hacked him to death. There was no sweetness in the insane revenge. All thoughts of Bell immediately dropped from his mind, the sight of his headless body meaningless in his grief, Adam ran back up the slope of the Kirtle’s bank, cradled the head of his loved one in his arms, and sobbed until it felt as if his heart would break. He nursed his dead lover throughout the hours of darkness.

With the light there came some reason. Adam knew he would hang for the murder, that he had little alternative but to leave his home before he was apprehended. The deaths of Helen and Bell would not be easy to explain should he stay and confront her parents. They were aware that Helen had feelings for Adam which superseded friendship. They had tried to discourage them, hoping their daughter would marry a man of better means to support her through life. Robert Bell was such a man, or so they thought. It would not take them long to reach the conclusion that Adam was responsible for such a heinous crime. The discovery of the corpse of their daughter and the mutilated body of Bell which had all the hall-marks of a fierce encounter with a man of strength and resolution born out of intense hatred, would immediately point to Adam Fleming, thought of initially as the spurned lover. Adam Fleming fled the spot, left the country and was not heard of again.

Initially accused of a double murder in his absence, the truth finally came out. Friends of Helen vouchsafed for the integrity of Adam, for his love for Helen. They told of the meetings in the churchyard and the jealousy of Bell.

A few years later a servant of the Bell Tower, visiting the churchyard, was shocked to find the prostrate body of a man lying atop Helen’s simple grave stone. A quick inspection verified what he had thought as he approached the grave. The man was dead; he recognised the still handsome features of Adam Fleming who had lived at the Bell Tower some years before. He ran as swiftly as his old legs would carry him and informed the aged parents of Helen.

In due course Adam was buried next to Helen, a sign that her parents had forgiven the girl for her love of a man who had never forgotten her; a man who had proved after years on the Continent of Europe he had not forgotten his first and only love.

The Graves of Helen and Adam in Kirkconnel-Churchyard.

Afterword.

There is more than one version of the tragedy that led to the death of Fair Helen. In one Robert Bell escaped after he had murdered Helen and was pursued across Europe by Adam Fleming. He eventually caught up with Bell in the streets of Madrid and shot him dead. It was only then that he returned to Kirkconnel, and on seeing the grave of his lover, succumbed to grief at his loss, and died.

Sir Walter Scott, writing at the beginning of the nineteenth century, recorded the Ballad of Fair Helen in his ‘Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border’.

It is a poignant reminder that the aggression and confrontation which was rife for centuries along the English Scottish Border did not erase the finer feelings of all who were trapped in its maelstrom of death and butchery.

I wish I were where Helen lies,

Night and day on me she cries;

O that I were where Helen lies,

On fair Kirconnell Lee.

Curst be the heart that thought the thought,

And curst the hand that fired the shot,

When in my arms burd Helen dropt, (maid)

And died to succour me!

O think na ye my heart was sair (sore)

When my love dropt down and spak nae mair! (spoke no more)

There did she swoon wi’ meikle care, (with great care)

On fair Kirconnell Lee.

As I went down the water-side,

None but my foe to be my guide,

None but my foe to be my guide,

On fair Kirconnell Lee;

I lighted down my sword to draw,

I hacked him in pieces sma’ (small)

I hacked him in pieces sma’,

For her sake that died for me.

O Helen fair, beyond compare!

I’ll make a garland of thy hair,

Shall bind my heart for evermair (evermore)

Until the day I die.

O that I were where Helen lies!

Night and day on me she cries;

Out of my bed she bids me rise,

Says ‘Haste and come to me!’ –

O Helen fair! O Helen chaste!

If I were with thee, I were blest,

Where thou lies low, and takes thy rest,

On fair Kirconnell Lee.

I wish my grave were growing green,

A winding-sheet drawn ower my e’en (eyes),

And I in Helen’s arms lying,

On fair Kirconnell Lee.

I wish I were where Helen lies!

Night and day on me she cries;

And I am weary of the skies,

For her sake that died for me.

A Personal Thought.

Until last weekend, it has been some years since I last visited Kirkconnel church yard. It is a wonderful place, replete with an ambience of former times, of centuries long past. To the romantic, with a knowledge of the story of Fair Helen, it is a place to stand, think and consider her fate and that of her lover, Adam Fleming, their love, and the rash impetuousness of a spurned lover.

Such feelings are naturally tempered with thoughts that the story, though based on fact, has clearly been embellished down the years. The romantic in me, whilst succumbing to the sadness of the story, still readily accepts that parts of it cannot be true.

Imagine my surprise then when I viewed the story board set in front of the graves that are the supposed resting places of Helen and Adam.

Story Board in Front of the Graves of Fair Helen and Adam.

The last sentence runs as follows:-

‘The romantic story of the Ballad might be an 18th century invention, and the association of the monuments in the churchyard is questionable’.

Britain is awash with political correctness. Do we really need to take it to the realms of romance, poetry, folk-lore and legend?

Please think about it!

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Border Reivers following the Hue and Cry

In 1530 James V, king of Scotland, was a mere lad of seventeen. Freed at last from the clutches of those men who endeavoured to reign in his stead, in his minority, he was determined to prove that he was the real power in Scotland.

One area where allegiance to the clan and its leader came before any deference to royal power was the Scottish Border country. There the clans were a law unto themselves, particularly troublesome and unruly.

Accordingly he moved south from his seat in Edinburgh intent on doling out justice and punishment to those who were of particular notoriety. It is said he had six thousand armed followers.

The history of Johnnie Armstrong of Gilnockie, a power in the Scottish Borders, is well recorded. By subterfuge, some say as the result of a ‘loving letter’ he was encouraged to wait upon the king at Carlenrig, south of the Borders town of Hawick. There James, incensed by the apparent affluence of the fierce Border Reiver and his twenty-four followers, ordered their execution without trial. Johhnie had fallen into a trap from which there was no way out. He pleaded with the rash, impetuous youth of a king but to no avail. He resigned himself to his fate but not before saying in the Border Ballad which tells his story:-

‘To seek hot water beneath cold ice,

Surely it is a great folly-

I have asked grace at a graceless face,

But there is none for my men and me!’

He and twenty-three of his followers were strung up on the spot. The twenty-fourth was burned alive in vengeance for the burning of a poor women and her son in which he was the instigator.

In time, when maturity replaced the rashness and callowness of youth, James would regret his actions at Carlenrig. He lost any allegiance the Armstrongs of Liddesdale had for the Scottish monarchy on that fateful day in July 1530. In 1542 at the rout of the Scottish army by the English at the Battle of Solway Moss, the Armstrongs withheld their support for the Scottish cause, even harassed the losers as the terrified remnants of the Scottish army fled the field of conflict and headed back north.

James died shortly afterwards. He was about thirty years old.

Before he arrived in Carlenrig in July 1530, James V was determined to mete out the royal justice against two other Border Reivers of particular renown. One was Adam Scott of Tushielaw, known as the ‘King of Thieves’. Not only did he reive both far and wide; he was feared for the way in which he summarily despatched his adversaries. He strung them up from the trees which surrounded his tower at Tushielaw.

He was soon apprehended by the army of James V, and, it is said, hanged from the very trees from which had swung in their death throes many of the Reivers who had contested his bloody and audacious raids.

The other Border Reiver who was the subject of James’ ferocity was William Cockburne of Henderland (near St. Mary’s Loch). It is said he was hanged over the doorway of his Tower there.

Sir Walter Scott tells us in the ‘Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border’ that ‘in a deserted burial place, which once surrounded the chapel of the castle (the Tower of Henderland), the monument of Cockburne and his lady are still shown. It is a large stone broken in three parts; but some armorial bearings may yet be seen and the following inscription is still legible, though defaced:-

HERE LYES PERYS OF COKBURNE AND HIS WYFE MARJORY.

the grave of Perys and Marjorie Cockburne.

The table-topped grave can still be seen on a little knoll of a hill in what was the churchyard of the Tower.

Following the deaths of Johnnie Armstrong and his followers emotions ran high and truth ran second best to fact; an approach handed down to the writers of Scottish Border history of the nineteenth century, including the rightly well-respected Sir Walter.

Perys Cokburne was not the William Cockburne who suffered at the hands of James V.

Neither Adam Scott ‘King of Thieves’ nor William Cockburne were summarily despatched within the confines of their own Towers. Rather they were taken to Edinburgh, tried and beheaded.

Robert Pitcairn (1797 – 1855) compiled the documents which recorded the fate of the Border Reivers who were tried and executed. The compilation is known as ‘Pitcairn’s Criminal Trials’.

For 1530 he records the following:-

William Cokburne of Henderland, Convicted (in presence of the King) of High Treason committed by him, in bringing Alexander Forester and his son, Englishmen, to the plundering od Archibald Someruile: And for treasonably bringing certain Englishmen to the lands of Glenquhome: And for common Theft, common Reset of Theft, outputting and inputting thereof – SENTENCE. For which causes and crimes he has forfeited his life, lands, and goods, moveable and immoveable; which shall be escheated to the King.- BEHEADED.

ADAM SCOTT of Tuschelaw, convicted of art and part of theftuously taking blackmail from the time of his entry within the castle of Edinburgh, in ward, of John Browne in Hopprow; and of art and part of theftuously taking blackmail of Andrew Thorbrand and William his brother: and of theftuously taking blackmail from the poor tenants of Hopcailzow: and of theftuously taking blackmail from the tenants of Eschescheill: BEHEADED.

Cockburne, it would seem, was convicted for his alliance with Englishmen which, under the Border Law, was treason, Scott for blackmail which was probably the least of his crimes.

And what of the Border Widow?

One of the most evocative of the Border Ballads is that of the ‘Lament of the Border Widow’. It has always been associated with the death of William Cockeburne following his capture by James V. Although this is historically impossible, it admirably portrays the emotion, the futility, isolation and sorrow which followed many a death in the days of the Reivers.

A BORDER WIDOW’S LAMENT.

My love he built me a bonny bower,

And clad it a’ wi’ lilye flour (all) (flower)

A brawer bower ye ne’er did see,

Than my true love he built for me.

There came a man, by middle day,

He spied his sport and went away;

And brought the king that very night,

Who brake my bower, and slew my knight. (broke)

He slew my knight, to me sae dear; (so)

He slew my knight and poin’d his gear; ( escheated to the king)

My servants all did life for flee,

And left me in extremitie.

I sew’d his sheet, making my mane, (grieving and crying)

I watch’d the corpse myself alane (alone)

I watch’d his body night and day;

No living creature came that way.

I took his body on my back,

And whiles I gaed and whiles I sat; (moved, went)

I digged a grave, and laid him in,

And happ’d him with the sod sae green. (covered) (so)

But think not ye my heart was sair, (sore)

When I laid the moule on his yellow hair? (soil)

O think na ye my heart was wae (weary)

When I turn’d about, away to gae? (go)

Nae living man I’ll love again, (no)

Since that my lovely knight was slain,

Wi’ a lock of his yellow hair,

I’ll chain my heart for evermair.

In the reiving times, the 13th to the 17th centuries, the Scottish English Border was a land in turmoil. Endless confrontation and bloody feud spawned a people who were hard both mentally and physically. The ‘Lament of the Border Widow’ shows another side of the relentless strife which dominated the land of which little is said. Sadness and sorrow followed in its wake.

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Jamie Telfer lost all when raided by the English of Bewcastle. His despair would change to delight when help from the Scotts of Teviotdale brought him an unexpected gain.

English Reivers Raid

Bewcastle lies just south of the English Scottish Border; the remains of a once formidable castle still stand as a stark reminder that it had been a dangerous place to live in times gone-by. The Bewcastle Waste was a hunting ground of the Scottish Border Reivers and a direct route for them in their relentless raids into Northumberland, in particular Tynedale. The castle was well garrisoned in an effort to thwart the Scots as they headed for the Tyne valley.

Late in the sixteenth century the Captain of Bewcastle ventured forth to teach the Scots a lesson. Reprisal was on his mind as he sought to counter the many inroads into England of the Border Scots clans.

Bewcastle was strategically important. There has been a fortress there since Roman times

High in Ettrickdale, a lovely Border valley on the Scots side, once stood the home of Jamie Telfer. Here he lived with his wife and bairns in a somewhat isolated location. The family had little in the way of possessions, and as for many another Borderer of the time, life was harsh. They had only ten cattle and but a meagre smallholding of land which proved hard to tame to provide for almost all their needs. Yet they were happy in their lot; they asked for nothing but to live in peace and tranquillity in their little parcel of heaven.

The Captain of Bewcastle and his marauding band soon came upon the scene and, having gauged the lie of the land and the absence of close neighbours, laughed raucously at their good fortune. They saw only easy pickings.

The clash was but a scuffle; Much as the parents strove to combat the superior English force they were soon overcome, left face down in the mire as their children looked on in howling distress. The Bewcastle horde had soon made off with Jamie’s little herd.

Jamie Seeks Help from the Reiving Clans

After the English had left, Jamie ran the ten miles to Stobs Castle and sought the help of Gibby Elliot, a man of power in the neighbourhood. Elliot would have none of it because Jamie did not pay him blackmail. Blackmail was rent paid for protection against the more powerful reiving clans of either England or Scotland who made their living at the expense of the weak and defenceless: men who could not call on the aid and succour of a powerful overlord or clan chief. Elliot suggested that Jamie move on to Branxholme as it was to the Laird there that Jamie paid his blackmail. In despair, Jamie then ran from Stobs to Branxholme where he received a fairer reception.

This is the Nesby Tower at Branxholme south of Hawick. It was one of four towers joined by curtain walls high above the river Teviot

Scott, the Laird of Buccleuch and Branxholme had very soon called out his neighbours at Goldielands, Harden and Allanhaugh, also by the name of Scott. Together they rode hard to intercept the English before they should reach the Rutterford, a passage across the river Liddel that led into English ground.

The English, slowed by the ponderous pace of the beasts, were eventually caught up with, still on Scottish ground.

A Border Reiver Skirmish

In the ensuing melee a Scottish reiver named Willie was felled when his head was clove in two by an English sword. Wat Scott of Harden swore revenge and roused the Scottish party by his audacity and aggression. The Captain of Bewcastle was to come off badly when his leg was broken by a massive sword swipe onto his upper thigh. This, it is said in the ballad of Jamie Telfer, rendered him ‘useless’ to a woman for the remainder of his days. The Scots soon retrieved Jamie’s cattle.

The Scottish Reivers Move into England

A Scottish Reiver by the delightful name of Watty with the Wudspurs suggested that, as they were near the very Border Line, the Scots should move on to Stanegarthside (pronounced Stingerside) on the English side and chance their luck at the Captain of Bewcastle’s home there. This they duly did. After breaking down the door of the barmkin ( a wall, high and thick, which surrounded the tower), they soon outfought the English garrisoned for its defence and made away with some of the Captain’s cattle.

Stanegarthside.

A Poor Man’s Despair Turns to Delight

After leaving Branxholme Jamie had made his way home slowly to the Fair Dodhead, lost in wretched thought. He found his wife and bairns forlorn and in despair, huddled together in a corner of the single room that once was filled with laughter but now succumbed to a cheerless state. He was taken aback by the sorrowful sight and soon joined their wailing. What would tomorrow bring, what was their future?

Imagine the relief then when the Scotts of Teviotdale soon brought home their ten beasts. The relief turned to delight when Jamie counted thirty- three kine (cows), twenty-three of which had formerly been pastured at the home of the Captain of Bewcastle.

The Captain must have rued the day he ever looked at the Fair Dodhead. Loss of cattle and manhood was a poor return for a reive which had set out with such high expectations.

An Afterword

There is more than one rendition of this story. From the ‘Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border’ by Sir Walter Scott to the Child Ballads and other versions whose sense is now lost. The location of the Fair Dodhead has never been conclusively proved. There is certainly more than one site with the name in the Scottish Borders. Different versions also cast a shadow over who aided Jamie. Was it the Scotts of Teviotdale or just maybe the Elliots of Stobs?

The original ballad, now lost, was certainly tinkered with down the years as the Scotts and Elliots endeavoured to prove their magnanimity. It matters little now. It is a stirring story of the days of the Reiver.

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Kinmont was well prized by the English who had no answer to his constant raids into northern England. His organised forays south of the English Scottish Border Line, coupled with his contempt for English authority and its hapless attempts to curtail his reiving, had made him enemy number one to the Lord Scropes. They were members of the English aristocracy who, father and son, were Wardens of the English West March from 1561 to 1603.

Kinmont raided Tarset in Tynedale, Northumberland on more than one occasion and was party, in these particularly vicious forays, to the murder of many men. One of these raids was carried out in daylight, unusual in itself as the reivers usually operated at night, and contained over a thousand men from the valleys of southern Scotland. They returned to the Scottish Border valleys with thousands of sheep and cattle and left homelessness and destitution in their wake.

Border Marches showing the Border Line

The ‘Day of Truce’ at the Dayholme of Kershope.

In March 1596 a ‘Day of Truce’ was held near Kershopefoot on the Border of England and Scotland. It was a day purportedly to be held at monthly intervals in each of the East, Middle and West Marches of both countries; a day when felons were brought to the very Border Line to answer for their crimes in an open-air venue. Many men, both English and Scottish, were requested to attend the court and witness that the proceedings were both honourable and fair and upheld the principle and spirit of the Border Law. All who attended were granted safe conduct whilst the Truce lasted through the medium of the ‘Assurance of the Truce’. Such a measure was necessary as both the Scots and English invited to attend as witnesses might, outside the Truce, be at Feud or deadly enemies of each other, the result of previous reiving or family disagreement. Many a man viewed his neighbour of the day with suspicion, hatred or scorn.

Theft of cattle, sheep and ‘insight’, i.e. household and farming goods and tools, were the most common reasons for trial but murder, the result of constant feud and searing animosity against neighbour or enemy from across the Border Line, was ever present. Murder was the inevitable outcome of the hatred that hardened in men’s hearts. It mattered not a whit should such enmity concern a fellow countryman. The product of the Feud often encompassed many generations.

Kinmont Willie is Present at the Truce

Kinmont Willie was called by the Keeper of Liddesdale, Walter Scott of Branxholme and Buccleuch, to attend the ‘Day of Truce’ at the Dayholme of Kershope to represent the Scots. The trials of the Border Reivers on the day went without incident and both Deputy Wardens, presidents of the proceedings, were satisfied that justice had been achieved. Just before sunset both English and Scottish parties began to make their way home. The safe conduct or ‘Assurance’ of the Truce was enshrined in Border Law and lasted until sun-up of the following day. Thereby all who had attended were confident that they could make their way home unmolested by erstwhile enemies who, on this occassion, were required to honour the Law.

Kinmont Willie is Captured by the English.

As Kinmont Willie rode down the Scottish bank of the river Liddel, he was seen by a party of English making their way home on the opposite side of the river, down the English bank. They could not resist the temptation of seeing the greatest Reiver of the age tantalisingly within their grasp. Safe conduct and ‘Assurance’ thrown to the wind, they turned and rode hard across the river Liddel and chased Kinmont down. He was bound and taken to Carlisle castle where he was imprisoned.

War of Words leads to Deadlock

When Buccleuch, Keeper of Liddesdale, learned that Kinmont Willie was in prison as a result of being taken against the honour of the ‘Assurance of the Truce’, he was incandescent with rage. He took no time in writing to the English March Warden, Thomas Lord Scrope, demanding Kinmont’s immediate release. Scrope, like his father Henry before him as Warden, so coveted the neck of the much vaunted Reiver that he refused to succumb to Buccleuch’s forthright petitions. Rather he met the fury with measured indifference and cited more than one spurious reason why he would not comply. Even James Vl of Scotland and Elizabeth l became embroiled in the acrimonious affair.

Eventually tiring of the impasse, Buccleuch resolved to breach the defences of Carlisle castle and rescue Kinmont. He was heartened by the fact that he would have inside help from members of the English garrison of the castle who had tired of Thomas Lord Scrope’s dictatorial rule as well as aid from the premier English clan, the Grahams of Netherby and Mote.

Branxholme-the Nesby Tower-Home of Walter Scott

A Small Rescue Party achieves its Aims

On 13th April 1596 the rescue party led by Buccleuch and consisting mainly of Armstrongs, moved south through English territory to Carlisle. It was a horrendous night of heavy rain and thick cloud. They were adeptly aided by members of the Grahams who had been at odds with the Scropes for years.

The rescue was achieved with an ease that defied logic. A postern gate was opened from the inside by one of the friends of the English Carletons, another family who had vowed to see the end of Thomas Lord Scrope. Having previously been told exactly where Kinmont was warded, the five of the rescue party who entered the castle lost little time in freeing the great Scottish Reiver. The remainder of the rescue band were outside the castle walls banging on drums, blowing trumpets at a strident pitch and making such a discordant noise that the English garrison, already sheltering under coverlets from the veritable downpour, refused to stir. They thought there was an army outside the walls.

Kinmont was soon across the river Eden and heading north sheltered by his comrades in arms. He was to lie low in the valley of the Ewes, north of Langholm.

The Aftermath

Elizabeth l was furious when she received the news of the rescue. How dare any Scot attack one of her premier Border fortresses when peace existed between the two countries? The diplomatic wrangle between various ambassadors and the two monarchs went on for over a year. Elizabeth demanded that Buccleuch be handed over to the English for punishment as he was the one who had orchestrated the affair. James Vl, reluctant to upset his countrymen who to a man applauded Buccleuch’s outrageous actions, refused to do so.

Tomb of Thomas Lord Scrope in the Village of Langar, Nottinghamshire

As was usual in the Borders of the times where a catalogue of crime superceded the event, the heat finally went out of the situation but not before the strained allegiance between England and Scotland was severely tested.

Kinmont Willie? He went on to reive for many another day and died in his bed about 1603.

Sark Churchyard-Burial Place of Kinmont Willie.

Sark Churchyard-Burial Place of Kinmont Willie.

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HARDEN GLEN

Thus young William was a member of one of the more illustrious Scottish Border clans, the Scotts. Indeed to this day they are one of the premier landowners in Great Britain. In the Border Lands of the 16th century they were a great force, their exploits many and legendary.

Auld Wat joined forces with Walter Scott of Buccleuch in the raid on Carlisle castle in 1596 to rescue William Armstrong of Kinmont who had been imprisoned illegally by the English. It was a deed of derring-do and is remembered with pride by the Border Scots to this day.

The lands of the Harden Scotts bordered and abutted those of the Murrays of Elibank. The two families were constantly at ‘feud’ whereby each took every opportunity to steal from the other. Both families suffered from the endless reprisals.

The animosity and hatred which prevailed between the two families was to be overcome when young William was married. What began as yet another of the endless raids between the two families would have a novel outcome.

Muckle Mouthed Meg was the daughter of Sir Gideon Murray of Elibank. She was one of many daughters who blessed the union of Sir Gideon and his wife. Where some of the others were comely and attractive wenches, Meg was ugly. Her most notable feature was her mouth. Set in a face that invited derision from its angular and protruding jaw, it was wide, oh so wide; her lips were thick and full and, though conscious of the effect they had on any onlooker, Meg was a happy lass and could not refrain from smiling at any given opportunity. When she smiled or laughed her mouth seemed to cover her face from ear to ear. Embarrassed she might be but she could not refrain from giving vent to her disposition for happiness. A smile was a wonder to behold. The eligible young men of the district of Elibank were uneasy in her presence and gave its walls a wide berth.

IIt seemed that Meg, or to be more exact, Lady Agnes Murray, would remain unmarried much to the concern of her parents who were proud of the endearing qualities of their unfortunate daughter. She was loving, considerate and gentle, a source of great content to her doting parents. They had, however, grown resigned that their daughter would be with them until it was time for them to die.

Elibank castle, the ruins of which can still be seen, stands on the banks of the river Tweed. Fifteen miles to the south in the Ettrick valley, at another fortified tower of the Border Reiving days, Aikwood or Oakwood, lived the Scotts of Harden. (Oakwood is still lived in to this day by the former leader of the Liberal Party, and Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament, Sir David Steel).

One day he his avarice overcame his common-sense and he set off with a raiding party intent on lifting Murray’s cattle. The foray went badly awry and young William soon found himself held at Sir Gideon’s pleasure. The dungeons of Elibank were dark, damp and inhospitable.

Sir Gideon was intent on making a great show of the punishment he would dole out to William and advertised to neighbours and friends far and wide that there was to be a hanging. There were all cordially invited to attend.

Lady Murray had other ideas. She was well taken by the appearance of the handsome young man and ventured the proposition to her husband that his life should be spared if he would agree to marry their daughter Meg.

Initially Sir Gideon would have none of it, but on reflection his wife’s proposal had more than one advantage. He would marry off his daughter and cement a relationship with the House of Harden. The wiles of women are sometimes hard to estimate, he thought, but this was a first-rate idea.

The handsome William knew well of Muckle Mouthed Meg. Her ugliness was renowned throughout the valley of the Ettrick water. When he was approached by Sir Gideon and offered marriage to Meg as an alternative to standing the drop that would end his life, he asked for time to consider the proposal. Eventually, though he loved life to the full, he declined the offer and resigned himself to the noose. Hanging would be quick. The thought of a life-time with Meg a far greater punishment.

On the next day he was taken up from the dungeons and out into the woods beyond Elibank. As he approached the tree from which hung the rope that would end his life he saw that Meg was standing there, tearful, ready to intercede for his life even should he spurn her. He was much taken by her solicitude and woeful appearance. As he approached the tree, the rope swinging lazily in the slight breeze, he stopped dead in his tracks. The burly men, who stood at each side of him as escorts to his death, grappled with him and tried to force him forwards. William resisted and looked at the pitiful face of the young woman, ugly as she was. She was clearly tormented by the action that was unfolding. His heart melted at the sight of her distress. He threw off his warders with a mighty and determined show of strength and ran to her open arms.

Meg and young Wat were married within a short space of time. History tells us that it was a loving union, full of happiness and respect.

Border Reivers

The Houses of Harden and Elibank , so long at each others’ throats, would be united at last… if only for a while.

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