Explore The Borders

Your gateway to the brilliant borderlands

Romans and Reivers

Reivers rule in the Border badlands

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Blood feuds, ruthless vendettas, protection rackets, cattle rustling…and no we are not talking about the mafia or the Wild West.

Welcome to the badlands of the Northumberland and Scottish Borders where the legendary Border Reivers brand of lawlessness held sway for almost 300 years.

These were the men who bequeathed bereavement and blackmail to the English language, whose power was built around family allegiances and whose brand of doing business asked for no quarter – and rarely received it.

Reiving – or stealing – was pursued enthusiastically as a means of stocking up the larder for the winter months and raids south to England or north into Scotland followed old drover trails and ancient tracks that criss-cross the wild border uplands.

Mounted on sure-footed horses bred for stamina, they perfected smash and grab tactics perfected during Scotland’s wars of independence in the 1200 and 1300s.

Famous Scottish reiver family names include Maxwell, Johnstone, Scott, Kerr, Hume, Pringle, Douglas, Armstrong, Turnbull, Elliot…and on the English side Musgrave, Charlton and Dodd.

They were resident in Marches (West, East and Middle) on either side of the border, not surprisingly dubbed the Debateable Lands.

The power of the reivers reached its peak in 1580 and over the next 20 years until the death of Elizabeth 1, recorded its most savage period.

James Vl of Scotland united the two kingdoms on the death of Elizabeth and vowed to break the power of the reivers. Soon after taking the throne in London he mounted a concerted campaign to destroy the reivers and stamp his own authority across the borderlands.

What he failed to do was eradicate the tales that became folklore and gave the Border Reivers legendary status that survives to this day.

The reivers legacy and their strongholds are still very much alive in the Borders and their descendants, now happily engaged in more peaceful pursuits, are still very much part of Borders life.

Face to face with history at Melrose

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A walk around the Trimontium Museum in Melrose will bring you face to face with a historic whodunit.

Staring across almost 2,000 years in time is the face of a man, thought to be a roman soldier, who came to a sticky end at Trimontium.

The victim of a drunken brawl? Maybe someone who ran up one to many gambling debts or who crossed a fellow soldier over an affair of the heart? We will never know.

One thing we do know, however, was that our mystery man was found at the bottom of a well and experts concluded that he died under suspicious circumstances because his skeleton was found almost erect with a spearhead by his side.

Some 150 years after the discovery was made the Trimontium Trust decided to bring him ‘back to life’ by reconstructing his face.

The idea came from Trust chairman Dr John Reid who said: “I suggested we ask the advice of Dr Ian Macleod of the Edinburgh Dental Institute who helped reconstruct the face of Robert Bruce.”

A CT scan of the skull was carried out at the Borders General Hospital and from there the journey of reconstruction travelled to the University of Cardiff in Wales before ‘flesh was put on the bones’ by Dr Caroline Wilkinson at the University of Manchester.

Spare a thought, then, for the man who came to serve Rome’s cause in Scotland little knowing he would still be resident there 2,000 years later.

Rough justice for the reivers

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On a fine day it’s a pleasure to sit and watch the river Teviot and Slitrig Water come together at Hawick as they start the next stage of a journey seawards.

Having drawn a zest for life from the high hills of the Borders they join forces a few yards upstream from the town’s Millenium Bridge.

But this is a meeting place with a distinctly murky past.

Here, where nature has cut a little deeper into the natural landscape, you will find the town’s infamous drowning pool or murder pool, depending which side of the law you were on.

This part of the river was used to dispense a particularly rough kind of justice to the Border Reivers.

For over 300 years, from around 1300 to 1600, the Reivers’ bloody legacy held sway

in the badlands or debatable lands either side of the border between Scotland and England. To ‘reive’ means to rob or plunder but it wasn’t the only contribution these men gave to the English language.

They also bequeathed us blackmail and bereavement, which provides a fair indication of the type of pastimes they got up to.

Hawick’s history, criss-crossed by the nefarious activities of the Reivers, records one of the most savage cases of retribution. In July of 1562 some 22 Border Reivers met a watery end in the ‘pool.’

The Reivers were in the habit of bringing their ill-gotten gains to Hawick market but on this occasion Walter Kerr, warden of Scotland’s Middle March was one step ahead. Acting on the authority of the recently crowned Mary Queen of Scots he sealed off the town and captured dozens of Reivers.

Those on the lower rungs of the social pecking order had their hands bound and were executed at the pool, their bodies held underwater by lances. Their leaders were afforded the courtesy of a trip to Edinburgh and a ‘gentleman’s’ death by hanging.

We are pleased to report that times have moved on and every March Hawick now plays host to a colourful spring  that takes place from March 25 to 27 this year. More information at hawickreivers.com

Trimontium – the place of the three hills

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As the Roman Empire pushed northwards into Scotland the organisational genius that was Rome followed, establishing transport and road systems, supply camps and fortified bases.

One of the most impressive, lying in the shadow of the impressive Scottish Borders landmark of the Eildon Hills, was Trimontium or ‘the place of the three hills’.

Standing on the banks of the River Tweed east of Melrose and extending past the magnificent Leaderfoot viaduct, Trimontium must have been an impressive sight in its day, the like of which the local tribes, the Votadini and the Selgovae, had never seen.

Its 370-acre profile is best illustrated by aerial photographs and you will find a selection displayed alongside artefacts and curios at the Trimontium Museum, www.trimontium.co.uk/visit/museum/ in Melrose – open seven days a week from April to October.

It is managed by the Trimontium Trust, a group of local people that has enjoyed support from the late Rosemary Sutcliff and Lindsey Davies, both famous for their fictional forays into Roman times.

It is managed by the Trimontium Trust, run by a group of local people that enjoyed support from the late Rosemary Sutcliff and from Lindsey Davies, both famous for their fictional forays into Roman times.

Special mention is appropriate here for Sutcliff’s wonderful ‘Eagle of the Ninth.’

It has a direct link with Trimontium by the fact that men from the Ninth ‘Hispania’ legion were stationed there.

The borderlands also provided a backdrop for her novel Frontier Wolf.

The museum provides an interesting but by no means finished story of Trimontium, which is thought to have been abandoned in 180AD.

Evidence of Roman connections were uncovered when a railway cutting for the Waverley Line was started in 1846.

Trimontium’s importance was assured when local amateur archeologist James Currie carried out excavations on behalf of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.

As layer after layer was uncovered it became clear that Trimontium was the ost important Roman military complex between Hadrian’s Wall and the Antonine Wall.

Excavations have revealed some of Trimontium’s secrets, including an amphitheatre, but much more is waiting to be done. Helpful boards and viewing platforms have been erected around the site and guided walks take place throughout the summer months.

A long way from Rome 

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It might have been the extreme edge of Empire, home to the farthest flung frontier outposts, but the Romans certainly left a size -12 sandal print on the borderlands of Northumberland and Scotland.

The man we have to thank is Gnaeus Julius Agricola, and while he might not be the first name that comes to mind when considering Roman related tourism in the borders – he deserves more than a passing nod of gratitude.

His legacy, as the Roman Governor of Britain (77-85AD), to this unique and beautiful region was to oversee a drive northwards from York and for establishing the first road from England into Scotland.

Dere Street, already a main highway from York to Corbridge, was extended through the wild countryside of Northumberland and the Scottish Borders, and on to Edinburgh and the Firth of Forth.

Nearly 2,000 years on, long stretches of Dere Street are now part of the main A68 road north from Corbridge, while original routes that deviate into the borderlands north of Rochester, are never far away from the main road.

The A68 is a natural route north for an outstanding Roman experience that includes Hadrian’s Wall, Vindolanda, Housesteads and Chesters, to the joys of Northumberland and the Scottish Borders.        

Hadrian’s Wall, built between 122-30AD extends for 80 miles (128 km) from coast to coast across northern England. The wall, still magnificently preserved over long stretches, was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987.

Forts, milecastles and garrison towns, are lasting evidence of Rome’s substantial presence in this part of the world. 

But long before the wall was even thought of the Romans had taken ‘Pax Romana’ much further north. With England and Wales no longer a cause for concern, the Romans were marching across the Cheviots near Carter Bar (the present day border dividing England and Scotland) in 79AD. 

In front of them lay the green and pleasant lands of today’s Scottish Borders stretching north as far as the eye could see and, as we know, new horizons always presented a particular challenge to the Romans. 

Sooner or later curiosity got the better of them and they had to find out what lay beyond. For the next hundred years or so the Romans invested considerable time and effort in this, the most northerly part of their Empire.

Dere Street, was driven north to reach the Firth of Forth by 81AD. Its main centres through the English and Scottish borderlands took in Corbridge, Bryness and Cappuck before passing to the east of Trimontium near Melrose and on to the coast. 

Stretches are still very much in evidence in the Scottish Borders

Trimontium, arguably the most important Roman base throughout the Roman occupation of Scotland, supported a frontier presence that ebbed and flowed over 120 turbulent years, ending in a final campaign led by the Emperor Septimius Severus in 210AD.

And for a more detailed picture we have compiled the following useful links.  

Borderlands history that’s still as large as life

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Entwined into the borderlands rich history, still as large as life, it’s the R word – for Romans and Reivers – that continues to reign supreme.

The legacy left behind by the Romans, who marched north from Corbridge to the Solway Firth, is unparalleled; a network of forts and settlements that are still giving up their secrets, crowned by Hadrian’s Wall, a magnificent UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The Roman Wall stretches over 70 miles from the Solway Firth to Wallsend on the River Tyne and links a collection of well preserved forts and camps including Birdoswald, Housesteads, Chesters and Vindolanda.

In 2003, a National Trail was opened that follows the line of the wall from Wallsend to Bowness-on-Solway, a walk that weaves through the magnificent Northumbrian countryside and on to Cumbria.

The route north from Corbridge to the Firth of Forth at Edinburgh was the Roman road of Dere Street, sections of which are still clearly in evidence, particularly in the Scottish Borders, where the most significant Roman presence is found at Trimontium, a major fort and settlement near Melrose.

Trimontium was abandoned after an inconclusive campaign into Scotland led by the Emperor Septimius Severus in 210AD and, like all of the region’s rich Roman legacy, has secrets waiting to be discovered.

It is commemorated with the Trimontium Museum in Melrose

A thousand years on and another borderlands legend was stirring – the Border Reivers.

The line of the Scottish English border, set and agreed in the 13th century, was a minor distraction for the Reivers who held a tight and bloody grip on local life for nearly 300 years.

They raided and plundered as far south as Durham and Carlisle as the borderlands became the badlands and the Reivers a byword for ruthlessness.

We have James the Vl of Scotland (and First of England) to thank for destroying the power of the Reivers, doling out plenty of rough justice of his own along the way.

Today the Borders Reivers reputation lives on in local folklore and and is marked with an annual festival at Hawick in the Scottish Borders…thankfully a peaceful and jovial affair.