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start of Cumberland |
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Page 199:-
into murders, maimings, fireraising, violent thefts, deadly
feuds, cutting down trees, sowing corn in the opposite
realm, depasturing cattle, hunting in the opposite realm,
following stolen goods into the opposite realm, pursuit of
hot trod [s] with hound and horn, hue and cry,
reception of fugitives, loiterers, safe conduct, observance
of truce, fouling and swearing of bills, baughling and
reproving, perjury, over-swearing, offender rescuing
himself, retaliation, &c. These several articles of the
border laws, together with the several terms of procedure in
the courts, may be seen at large in the introduction to Dr.
Burns's history of Westmoreland, c.2, 3. and the state of
the borders from the reign of Edward I. to that of James I.
c. 4-9. What kind of achievements were performed in this
peculiar kind of warfare may be learnt from the account of a
forray from July 2d to November 17, 1544, wherein 192
towns, towers, stedes, barnekyns [t], parish churches,
bastel houses [u], were cast down or burned.
403 Scots slain.
816 prisoners taken.
10386 nolt or horned cattle taken.
12492 sheep.
1296 nags and geldings.
200 goats.
890 bolls of corn.
Insight (i.e. household furniture) not reckoned.
In the next year's forray by the earl of Hertford between
the 8th and 23d of September;
Monasteries and friar houses burnt and destroyed 7
Castles, towers, and piles, 16
Market towns, 5
Villages, 243
Milns, 13
Hospitals, 3 [q]
The order of the watches on the West marshes made by lord
Wharton 6 Edward VI. in Burn, I. lxxxiv. will shew the
different stations where such watches were disposed from
October to March.
During the reign of Charles I. the borders were little
attended to. Several acts of parliament passed after the
Restoration for assessing the county of Cumberland and
Northumberland, the former at not above £.200. the
latter at not above £.500. a year for the safeguard
of their inhabitants against the Moss troopers by the
justices of the peace, who were to raise 30 men in
Northumberland, and 12 in Cumberland, under a commander to
apprehend such malefactors [x]. The accession of James I. to
the crown of England, and both kingdoms thus devolving on
one sovereign, was an event fruitful of blessing to each
nation. The borders, which for many ages had been almost a
constant scene of rapine and desolation, enjoyed a quiet and
order which they had never before known. The king, in
pursuance of his favourite purpose of extinguishing all
memory of past hostilities between his kingdoms, and, if
possible, of the places that had been the principal scenes
of their hostilities, prohibited the name of borders
any longer to be used, substituting in its stead that of
middle marches. He ordered all the places of strength
in these parts to be demolished except the habitations of
nobles and barons, and broke the garrisons of Berwick and
Carlisle. Natural prejudices and a mutual resentment owing
to a series of wars between the two kingdoms carried on for
centuries still however subsisted. From the same source
arose frequent disputes and feuds upon the marches, which,
by the attention of the sovereign, were soon easily
composed. But it required almost 100 years, though England
and Scotland were governed all the time by a succession of
the same princes, to wear off the jealousies and
prepossessions of the formerly hostile nations, and to work
such a change in their tempers and views as to admit of an
incorporating and effectual union[y].
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Act of Union 1707
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From the Union of 5 Anne hostilities have, by degrees,
subsided; and as the then generation, which had been brought
up in rapine and misrule, died away, their posterity, on
both sides, have become humanized, the arts of peace and
civil policy have been cultivated, and every man lives safe
in his own possessions; felonies and other criminal offences
are as seldom committed in these parts as in most other
places of the united kingdoms; and their country, from
having been the outskirt and litigated boundary of both
kingdoms, is now become the centre of his Majesty's British
dominions! Nevertheless the old wounds have left some scars
behind. Much common and waste ground remains, which will
require a length of time to cultivate and improve. The
chuches near the Borders are many of them in a ruinous
condition, and very meanly endowed. In many of the parishes
there is not so much as an house for the incumbent to live
in, and in some parishes no church. And some defects there
are in the civil state, which nothing but the legislature
can supply. Whilst the laws of the marche subsisted,
criminal offences were speadily redressed by the power of
the lords wardens or their deputies; and after the abolition
of the laws of marche, the said offences were redressed by
special commissioners appointed for the Borders, and matters
of property of any considerable consequence were commonly
determined at the court at York for the northern parts. The
judges in their circuit came only once in the year, and
sometimes much seldomer. They still come only once in the
year to the bordering counties, which causes determinations
of civil rights to be dilatory, and confines criminals (or
perhaps innocent persons) in prison sometimes near 12 months
before they can come to their trial [z]."
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Debateable ground.
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Debatable Land
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The Debateable ground was a tract of land claimed by
both kingdoms, which was the occasion of infinite troubles
and vexations. The boundary of it in an old roll is thus
described: "Beginning at the foot of the White Scyrke
running into the sea, and so up the said water of Scyrke
till it come to a place called Pyngilburne foot running into
the said water of Scyrke and up the Pyngilburne till it come
to Pyngilburne Know, from thence to the Righeads, from the
Righeads to the Monke Rilande Burne, and from thence down to
Har-
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[s]
Hot trod was a pursuit flagrante delicto, with
red hand, as the Scots term it, by dogs called
slough dogs, from their pursuing offenders called
Moss troopers through the sloughs, mosses, and
bogs, that were not passable but by those that were
acquainted with the various and intricate byepaths and
turnings. They were commonly named blood hounds, and
were kept in use till within the memory of many of our
forefathers. By a warrant 2 James I. it appears that nine of
these dogs were provided and kept by the charge of the
inhabitants of the different parishes. Burn, I. cxxx.
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[t]
The outer ward of a castle, containing the barns, stables,
&c.
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[u]
supposed monasteries or hospitals.
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[x]
Haine's State Papers, p.51-54.
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[y]
Ridpath's Hist. of the Borders, p.706, in which may be seen
an excellent detail of the transactions on the borders from
the Conquest to the Union.
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[z]
Burn, cxxxiii. cxxxiv.
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"venburne
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gazetteer links
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-- Border Marches of England and Scotland
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-- "Debatable Ground" -- Debatable Land
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