Debatable Lands
Encyclopedia
The Debatable Lands, also known as Debatable ground, batable ground or thriep lands, was land lying between Scotland
and England
, formerly in question to which it belonged, when they were distinct kingdoms. It signifies the same thing as litigious or disputable ground.
near Carlisle to Langholm
in Dumfries and Galloway
, the largest population centre being Canonbie
. The lands included the baronies of Kirkandrews
, Bryntallone and Morton. They were around ten miles (16 km) long from north to south and four miles (6 km) wide. The boundaries were marked by the rivers Liddel
and Esk
in the east and the River Sark
in the west. For over three hundred years they were effectively controlled by local clan
s, such as the Armstrongs
, who successfully resisted any attempt by the Scottish or English governments to impose their authority. In his history of the Border Reivers
(The Steel Bonnets (1971)), George Macdonald Fraser
says that the Armstrongs alone could put 3,000 men in the field. They launched frequent raids on farms and settlements outside the Debatable Lands, the profits enabling them to become major landowners. Other clans in the area were the Elwands, Ellwoods, or Elliots who extended into Teviotdale; the Nixons who were more numerous in Cumberland
; the Crossars in Upper Liddesdale
, with their chief stronghold in Riccarton
; and the Grahams
, who owned five towers
in the Debatable Land. The Irvings
, Olivers, Bells, Dicksons, and Littles were also present in varying numbers.
In 1530, King James V
took action against the lawless clan
s of the Debatable Lands and imprisoned the Lords Bothwell
, Maxwell
and Home
, Walter Scott of Buccleuch
, and other border laird
s for their lack of action. James took various other steps, but significantly he broke the strength of the Armstrongs by hanging Johnnie Armstrong
of Gilnockie
and thirty-one others at Carlanrig Chapel, under questionable circumstances.
In 1551 the Crown officers of England and Wales, in an attempt to clear out the trouble makers, declared that "All Englishmen and Scottishmen, after this proclamation made, are and shall be free to rob, burn, spoil, slay, murder and destroy all and every such persons, their bodies, buildings, goods and cattle as do remain or shall inhabit upon any part of the said Debatable Land without any redress to be made for the same."
In 1552 a border line was agreed by commissioners, and soon after the Scots' Dike
was built to mark it the line; this did not, however, stop the lawlessness.
When the thrones of Scotland and England were united in 1603, King James VI of Scotland became James I of England, and he embarked on the so-called "Pacification of the Borders", purging the Border reivers
, destroying their fortified tower houses
, rounding up their families and sending them to Ireland
and elsewhere.
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
and England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, formerly in question to which it belonged, when they were distinct kingdoms. It signifies the same thing as litigious or disputable ground.
History
The Debatable Lands extended from the Solway FirthSolway Firth
The Solway Firth is a firth that forms part of the border between England and Scotland, between Cumbria and Dumfries and Galloway. It stretches from St Bees Head, just south of Whitehaven in Cumbria, to the Mull of Galloway, on the western end of Dumfries and Galloway. The Isle of Man is also very...
near Carlisle to Langholm
Langholm
Langholm , also known colloquially as the "Muckle Toon", is a burgh in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, on the River Esk and the A7 road.- History:...
in Dumfries and Galloway
Dumfries and Galloway
Dumfries and Galloway is one of 32 unitary council areas of Scotland. It was one of the nine administrative 'regions' of mainland Scotland created in 1975 by the Local Government etc. Act 1973...
, the largest population centre being Canonbie
Canonbie
Canonbie is a small village in Dumfries and Galloway in south west Scotland, six miles south of Langholm and two miles north of the Anglo-Scottish border. It is on the A7 road from Carlisle to Edinburgh, and the River Esk flows through it...
. The lands included the baronies of Kirkandrews
Kirkandrews-on-Eden
Kirkandrews-on-Eden or Kirkandrews-upon-Eden is a small village in the parish of Beaumont, in the City of Carlisle District of the county of Cumbria, England. Nearby settlements include the city of Carlisle and the village of Monkhill.-References:...
, Bryntallone and Morton. They were around ten miles (16 km) long from north to south and four miles (6 km) wide. The boundaries were marked by the rivers Liddel
Liddel Water
Liddel Water is a river running through southern Scotland and northern England, for much of its course forming the border between the two countries, and was formerly one of the boundaries of the Debatable Lands....
and Esk
River Esk, Dumfries and Galloway
The River Esk is a river in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, that flows into the Solway Firth. It also flows for a small way through the English county of Cumbria before entering the Solway....
in the east and the River Sark
River Sark
Disambiguation: for other meanings, please see Sark The River Sark or Sark Water is a river best known for forming part of the western border between Scotland and England...
in the west. For over three hundred years they were effectively controlled by local clan
Clan
A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, clan members may be organized around a founding member or apical ancestor. The kinship-based bonds may be symbolical, whereby the clan shares a "stipulated" common ancestor that is a...
s, such as the Armstrongs
Clan Armstrong
Clan Armstrong is an armigerous clan whose origins lie in Cumberland, south of the frontier between Scotland and England which was officially established in 1237....
, who successfully resisted any attempt by the Scottish or English governments to impose their authority. In his history of the Border Reivers
Border Reivers
Border Reivers were raiders along the Anglo–Scottish border from the late 13th century to the beginning of the 17th century. Their ranks consisted of both Scottish and English families, and they raided the entire border country without regard to their victims' nationality...
(The Steel Bonnets (1971)), George Macdonald Fraser
George MacDonald Fraser
George MacDonald Fraser, OBE was an English-born author of Scottish descent, who wrote both historical novels and non-fiction books, as well as several screenplays.-Early life and military career:...
says that the Armstrongs alone could put 3,000 men in the field. They launched frequent raids on farms and settlements outside the Debatable Lands, the profits enabling them to become major landowners. Other clans in the area were the Elwands, Ellwoods, or Elliots who extended into Teviotdale; the Nixons who were more numerous in Cumberland
Cumberland
Cumberland is a historic county of North West England, on the border with Scotland, from the 12th century until 1974. It formed an administrative county from 1889 to 1974 and now forms part of Cumbria....
; the Crossars in Upper Liddesdale
Liddesdale
Liddesdale, the valley of the Liddel Water, in the County of Roxburgh, southern Scotland, extends in a south-westerly direction from the vicinity of Peel Fell to the River Esk, a distance of...
, with their chief stronghold in Riccarton
Riccarton, Ayrshire
Riccarton is a village and parish in East Ayrshire, Scotland. It lies across the River Irvine from Kilmarnock. The river Irvine divides the parishes of Riccarton and Kilmarnock and the river used to form the boundary between the districts of Kyle and Cunninghame.- History :The village became a...
; and the Grahams
Clan Graham
Clan Graham is a Scottish clan who had territories in both the Scottish Highlands and Lowlands.-Origins:Legend has it that the first Graham was one Gramus who forced a breach in the Roman Antonine wall known as Graeme's Dyke in 420 A.D...
, who owned five towers
Peel tower
Peel towers are small fortified keeps or tower houses, built along the English and Scottish borders in the Scottish Marches and North of England, intended as watch towers where signal fires could be lit by the garrison to warn of approaching danger...
in the Debatable Land. The Irvings
Clan Irvine
-Origins of the clan:As a surname Irvine is of territorial origins from one of two places of the same name. Firstly from Irving, an old parish in Dumfriesshire and from Irvine in Ayrshire....
, Olivers, Bells, Dicksons, and Littles were also present in varying numbers.
In 1530, King James V
James V of Scotland
James V was King of Scots from 9 September 1513 until his death, which followed the Scottish defeat at the Battle of Solway Moss...
took action against the lawless clan
Clan
A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, clan members may be organized around a founding member or apical ancestor. The kinship-based bonds may be symbolical, whereby the clan shares a "stipulated" common ancestor that is a...
s of the Debatable Lands and imprisoned the Lords Bothwell
John Ramsay, Lord Bothwell
John Ramsay, 1st Lord Bothwell, later Sir John Ramsay of Trarinzeane, was born about 1464 and died in 1513.He was the son of John Ramsay of Corstoun in Fife and Janet Napier .He was married to Isabel Cant in 1484...
, Maxwell
Earl of Nithsdale
Earl of Nithsdale was a title in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created in 1620 for Robert Maxwell, 9th Lord Maxwell, with remainder to heirs male. He was made Lord Maxwell, Eskdale and Carlyle at the same time...
and Home
George Home, 4th Lord Home
George Home, 4th Lord Home was a Scottish nobleman. The son of Alexander Home, 2nd Lord Home and his wife Nicola Ker, daughter of George Ker of Samuelston, he succeeded his brother, Alexander Home, 3rd Lord Home, when he died on October 8, 1516....
, Walter Scott of Buccleuch
Walter Scott of Branxholme and Buccleuch
Sir Walter Scott, 1st of Branxholme, 3rd of Buccleuch , known as "Wicked Wat", was a nobleman of the Scottish Borders and the chief of Clan Scott who briefly served as Warden of the Middle March. He was an "inveterate English hater" active in the wars known as The Rough Wooing and a noted Border...
, and other border laird
Laird
A Laird is a member of the gentry and is a heritable title in Scotland. In the non-peerage table of precedence, a Laird ranks below a Baron and above an Esquire.-Etymology:...
s for their lack of action. James took various other steps, but significantly he broke the strength of the Armstrongs by hanging Johnnie Armstrong
Johnnie Armstrong
Johnnie Armstrong or Johnie Armstrong is a Child ballad number 169 and relates to the story of Scottish raider and folk-hero Johnnie Armstrong of Gilnockie, who was captured and hanged by King James V in 1530.-History:...
of Gilnockie
Gilnockie Tower
Gilnockie Tower is a 16th-century tower house, located at the hamlet of Hollows, 2.3 km north of Canonbie, in Dumfries and Galloway, south-west Scotland. The tower is situated on the west bank of the River Esk. It was originally known as Hollows Tower...
and thirty-one others at Carlanrig Chapel, under questionable circumstances.
In 1551 the Crown officers of England and Wales, in an attempt to clear out the trouble makers, declared that "All Englishmen and Scottishmen, after this proclamation made, are and shall be free to rob, burn, spoil, slay, murder and destroy all and every such persons, their bodies, buildings, goods and cattle as do remain or shall inhabit upon any part of the said Debatable Land without any redress to be made for the same."
In 1552 a border line was agreed by commissioners, and soon after the Scots' Dike
Scots' Dike
The Scots' Dike or dyke is a three and a half mile / 5.25 km long linear earthwork, constructed by the English and the Scots in the year 1552 to mark the division of the Debatable lands and thereby settle the exact boundary between the Kingdoms of Scotland and England.-Introduction:The...
was built to mark it the line; this did not, however, stop the lawlessness.
When the thrones of Scotland and England were united in 1603, King James VI of Scotland became James I of England, and he embarked on the so-called "Pacification of the Borders", purging the Border reivers
Border Reivers
Border Reivers were raiders along the Anglo–Scottish border from the late 13th century to the beginning of the 17th century. Their ranks consisted of both Scottish and English families, and they raided the entire border country without regard to their victims' nationality...
, destroying their fortified tower houses
Peel tower
Peel towers are small fortified keeps or tower houses, built along the English and Scottish borders in the Scottish Marches and North of England, intended as watch towers where signal fires could be lit by the garrison to warn of approaching danger...
, rounding up their families and sending them to Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
and elsewhere.
See also
- List of places in the Scottish Borders
- Anglo-Scottish borderAnglo-Scottish borderThe Anglo-Scottish border is the official border and mark of entry between Scotland and England. It runs for 154 km between the River Tweed on the east coast and the Solway Firth in the west. It is Scotland's only land border...
- Berwick-upon-TweedBerwick-upon-TweedBerwick-upon-Tweed or simply Berwick is a town in the county of Northumberland and is the northernmost town in England, on the east coast at the mouth of the River Tweed. It is situated 2.5 miles south of the Scottish border....
- Border countryBorder CountryBorder Country is a novel by Raymond Williams. The book was re-published in December 2005 as one of the first group of titles in the Library of Wales series, having been out of print for several years. Written in English, the novel was first published in 1960.It is set in rural South Wales, close...
- Scottish MarchesScottish MarchesScottish Marches was the term used for the Anglo-Scottish border during the late medieval and early modern eras—from the late 13th century, with the creation by Edward I of England of the first Lord Warden of the Marches to the early 17th century and the creation of the Middle Shires, promulgated...
- Scots' DikeScots' DikeThe Scots' Dike or dyke is a three and a half mile / 5.25 km long linear earthwork, constructed by the English and the Scots in the year 1552 to mark the division of the Debatable lands and thereby settle the exact boundary between the Kingdoms of Scotland and England.-Introduction:The...