Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
THE BORDER REIVERS
From the thirteenth to the early seventeenth centuries, the wild, inhospitable border country
stretching from the Solway Firth in the west to the Tweed valley in the east, well away from the
power bases of both the Scottish and English monarchs, was overrun by outlaws known as the
Border Reivers
,
reive
being a Scots word for plunder. As George MacDonald Fraser put it in his
book
The Steel Bonnets
, “The great border tribes of both Scotland and England feuded continuously
among themselves. Robbery and blackmail were everyday professions; raiding, arson, kidnapping,
murder and extortion were an accepted part of the social system. ” This, then, was no cross-border
dispute, but an open struggle for power among Borders folk. Those who “shook loose the Border”
included people from all walks of life - agricultural labourers, gentleman farmers, smallholders,
even peers of the realm - for whom theft, raiding, tracking and ambush became second nature.
The source of this behaviour was the destruction and devastation wrought upon the
region by virtually continual warfare between England and Scotland, and the “slash and
burn” policy of the era. With many residents no longer able to find sustenance from the land,
crime became the only way to survive. Cattle-rustling, blackmail and kidnapping led to an
anarchical mindset, where feuding families would habitually wreak havoc and devastation
on each other.
The legacy of the Border Reivers can still be seen today in the region's fortified farms and
churches; in the
Common Riding
traditions of many border towns; in the great family names
such as Armstrong, Graham, Kerr and Nixon, which once filled the hearts of Borderers with
dread; and in the language - the words “blackmail” (first used to describe the protection
money paid by farmers to the local clan chiefs) and “bereaved” (originally referred to being
robbed) have their roots in the mayhem of this period.
2
brothers, is preserved. Beyond, the
presbytery
has its magnificent perpendicular
window, lierne vaulting and ceiling bosses intact, with the most intricate of curly kale
carving on the supporting columns while in the
south transept
, another fine fifteenth-
century window sprouts yet more delicate, foliate tracery. his kind of finely carved
detail is repeated everywhere you look. Outside, the exterior sculpture is even more
impressive: crouching figures holding scrolls bearing inscriptions such as “He suffered
because he willed it”. Elsewhere, look for the numerous mischievous
gargoyles
, from
peculiar crouching beasts to the pig playing the bagpipes on the roof on the south side
of the nave.
Commendator's House
he paltry ruins of Melrose's abbey continue across Cloisters Road where they edge on
to the
Commendator's House
(same hours as the abbey), a lovely red-sandstone
building converted into a private house in 1590 by the abbey's last commendator, and
now housing a modest collection of ecclesiastical bric-a-brac. Beyond the house is the
mill-lade, where water used to flow in order to power the abbey's mills; it was also
diverted to flush the monks' latrines.
Priorwood Garden
Abbey St • Easter-Oct Mon-Sat 10am-5pm, Sun 1-5pm; Nov & Dec Mon-Sat 10am-4pm; Jan-Easter Mon-Sat noon-4pm • £6.50 joint
ticket with Harmony Garden; NTS
As well as the kempt flower and herb borders,
Priorwood Garden
features a heritage
apple orchard, beautifully set within the garden's walled confines with Melrose Abbey
standing tall beyond. Unique for its focus on growing flowers for drying, the shop here
sells some of the produce that you'll see in the drying area en route to the garden.
Harmony Garden
St Mary's Rd • Easter-Oct Mon-Sat 10am-5pm, Sun 1pm-5pm • £6 joint ticket with Priorwood Garden; NTS
More of a pleasant picnic spot than an exotic botanical experience,
Harmony Garden
is
as memorable for its setting as for its plants. Its roomy croquet lawn lies before the
