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Debatable Land
An area on the England Scotland border between Esk and
Sark was for a long while in neither one kingdom or the
other; which river was the border? It was threap, disputed,
land lying in the West March, about 4 miles wide and 12
miles long, called the Debatable Land perhaps from the 15th
century. Neither kingdom would admit the other had
responsibilty there, and so could not hold the other
responsible for what went on in the area. The land was
no-mans land, home to rogues; Lord Wharton described it as
a
most strong ground for offenders to be relieved in
Although it was cleaned out now and then it was the home
of several families of border raiders, amongst whom, the
Armstrongs and the Grahams.
When the wars between England and Scotland in the 1540s,
the Rough Wooing, were ended, the Treaty of Norham signed,
it was thought to resolve this problem area. The English
suggested they should take it all. The Scots proposed a
division
so that ilk realme might ken their awin part and puniss the
inhabitants thereof
As a preliminary it was agreed to clear out the area once
more. Lord Maxwell, the scottish march warden, devastated it
in 1551, leaving not one building standing.
In 1552 commissioners met to divide the land in two:
Douglas of Drumlanrigg leading the Scots; Lord Wharton
leading the English; the french ambassador acting umpire.
The new frontier was a trench dug from Esk to Sark, with
stones set up bearing the arms of England and of Scotland.
It didn't stop the raiding, but the march wardens each now
knew where their writ ran.
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Ridpath
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George Ridpath comments on the Debatable Land,
p.573:-
Early in the following year [1552], it was agreed between
the court of England and the French ambassador residing
there, that an effectual remedy should be applied to a
perpetual source of contention between the English and
Scots; which arose from a small tract of ground, commonly
called the Debatable land†, situated between
the rivers Esk and Sark, on the extremity of the western
border. As no authority was exercised in that tract by the
kings of either nation, it naturally became a place of
refuge for the most abandoned criminals after their
expulsion or flight from their own country. From thence they
made their plundering inroads into the countries adjacent on
either side, and thither they retired with their booty; and
often by fear or favour induced the neighbouring inhabitants
to be partakers of their crimes. It was first proposed,
that, agreeably to an article in the treaty of Norham, that
district should be wholly evacuated and laid waste; but it
was afterwards thought better to make a division of it
between the kingdoms. For this purpose, after some scruples
and delays, commissioners appointed by each of the powers,
met on the spot, and agreed on a line to be marked by a
ditch and marchstones; the ground of one side thenceforth to
belong to England, and that on the other to Scotland
‡.
† Terra contentiosa.
‡ The ratification of this division was given by the
governor of Scotland at Jedburgh, Nov. 9.
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William Camden, and Richard
Gough
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The Debatable Land is described in the 1789 edition of
Camden's Britannia. This is in Gough's 'Additions' and is
referenced to Burn, p.xvi:-
Page 199:-
...
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-
Page 200:-
"[Har]venburne till it fall in Eske and through Eske to the
foot of Terras, and go up Terras to the foot of Reygill and
up the Reygill to the Tophous and so to the standing stone
and to the Mearburne head, and down Mearburne to it fall in
Lyddal at the Rutterford, and down Lyddal to it fall in Eske
and down Eske to it fall into the sea." It was in length
eight computed miles of the country and in breadth four
miles. ...
Identifying the way points in this description is not
always easy.
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White Scyrke;
Scyrke
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River Sark
Sark foot - NY32426631
about the end of the more recent
Scots Dike - NY33257402
Sark Bridge - NY33257526
junction with the Pingle Sike -
NY32307769
It is not clear where the Pingle ends and the Sark
begins.
The Black Sark is a tributary to the Sark at NY333692;
Blaeu calls the Sark the White Sark.
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Pyngilburne
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Pingle Sike
foot, into the Sark -
NY32307769
runs towards - NY31967896
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Pyngilburne Knowe
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unidentified
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Righeads
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unidentified
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Monke Riland Burne
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unidentified
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Harvenburne
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Irvine Burn
runs from - NY35118217, through
NY35227981
foot of burn, into the Esk -
NY37408035
The boundary is possibly just the latter stretch of
river.
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Terras
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Tarras Water
Tarrasfoot, into the Esk -
NY37528070
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Reygill
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Raegill Burn
foot of Raegill, into the Tarras
- NY39208272
head of Raegill about -
NY411842
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Tophus
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uncertain, probably
The Haunches - NY4285, on the
side of Tinnis Hill
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standing stone
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standing stones
at - NY43048387
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Meaburnehead
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Muirburnhead
about - NY450823
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Meaburn
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Muir Burn
foot of the Muir Burn, into the
Liddel - NY45327966
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Rutterford
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Ruterford on Blaeu's map of Lidisdail
about - NY449795
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Lyddal
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Liddel Water
foot of Liddel, into the Esk -
NY39447386
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Eske
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Esk, River
bend near Liddel Strength -
NY402743 - notice the mismatch of the current national
boundary and the present river course, the river has
moved
end of Scots Dike -
NY38847316
by Sarkfoot Point -
NY32456595
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These identifications are made with the limited resources
of our own library: modern 1:25000 maps; OS County Series
sheets; reproduction of Blaeu's atlas; etc etc.

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Burghley 1590
Lord Burghley had a Plott of the Opposete Border of
Scotland to ye West Marches of England, on which we have
drawn the likely boundary of the Debatable Land:-

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Clarke 1787
There is a briefer description of the extent of the
Debatable Land in James Clarke's description of the Lakes,
1787:-
Preface page x:-
...
There still remains to mention another trifle, which was a
nursery to the disorders, and an inexhaustible source of
contention: this was the debateable ground; of which
I shall relate nothing but what the order for its settlement
in the days of Edward VI. authorises. Its length could not
exceed 5 miles, extending from Esk to Sark at Dimmisdale
Syke-foot, and thence to Kirk-ling: yet this was only the
boundary of the kingdoms then made; for the real boundary
was never known before, with certainty, in this piece of
ground, on account of the immemorial disorders which had
prevailed there, and even the antiquity of its being
debateable was too remote for the longest-lived
tradition. It is said that this trifling piece of ground,
from the most striking circumstances, had given birth to
prodigious, and, if we respect the causes, astonishing
commotions between the two kingdoms; being the sink and
receptacle of proscribed wretches, who acknowledged neither
King, obeyed the laws of neither country, and feared no
punishment: ...
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References
Camden, William & Gough, Richard (ed): 1789: Britannia:
(London)
Clarke, James: 1787: Survey of the Lakes of Cumberland,
Westmorland and Lancashire: (Penrith, Cumberland, and
London)
Fraser, George MacDonald: 1971: Steel Bonnets; the story of
the Anglo-Scottish Border Reivers: Barrie and Jenkins:: ISBN
0 00 217261 5
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