Clan Carruthers: Our origins, Caer ‘Rydderch’ or Caer ‘Rydderch (Hael)’ ?

There is an assumption that the Caer Ruthers (Fort of Rydderch) we take our name from was in some way associated with Rydderch Hael the Brythonic king of Strathclyde, who lived in and around the latter stages of the 6th Century.

However, archaeological evidence would suggest that the ‘Fort’ may have been in situ at least 400 years earlier, backing up the theory that the Rydderch of ‘Caer Rydderch’ was not in fact Rydderch Hael, but someone else.

As we all know the name Carruthers came from the Brythonic language meaning Fort of Rydderch (Roderc). In the Cumbric dialect of the area, which is not dissimilar to ancient Welsh, the pronunciation would be spoken as Caer ‘Ruthers’ ie Car-Ruthers. It is from the land around this ancient ‘fortification’ that our name derives.

In Blacks book the ‘Surnames of Scotland’ he states about Carruthers: From the lands of Carruthers in the Parish of Middlebie, Dumfriesshire in local speech pronounced Cridders. Henderson (N.I p202) renders the place name Fort of Rydderch, the King Roderc of Adamnan, but Watson (William John Watson, Historian, published (1926) ‘Celtic Placenames of Scotland’ , professor of Celtic studies in the University of Edinburgh, 1865-1948.ed) more cautiously states “the second part is probably a personal name” (i,p. 368). 

The family tome, the Records of the Carruthers Family by Stanley Carruthers and R C Reid, seems to agree with Watson where they suggest that the Ruther in the name does not suggest it was Rydderch Hael, king of Strathclyde, but rather ‘a leader of a small section of the Britons of Strathclyde who still maintained Christian traditions after the withdrawal of the Romans’.

John Gillespie on the other hand in his publication Carruthers Family-an interesting Record (1905), suggests; Ruther was believed to have come to the country at the time of the Norman conquest and settled in a place called Carruthers in the Parish of Middlebie. He built a fort on the heights above the site of the ancient hamlet of Carruthers (Birrens hill ed.) and the fort was given the name Caer Ruthers (from the Saxon name Caer for fort). But again, if the lands of Carruthers existed before the Norman conquest, then the fort itself had to have existed before then as well.  And why use a Saxon term to describe the fort, rather than the word in the Scots/Old English language, which was spoken in the region at the time, and which actually called a fort, a fort?

Reading in the 1878 publication, the Historical Families of Dumfriesshire and the Border Wars, written by CL Johnston, there is a suggestion that Carruthers, along with many other Border families intermarried with Norman settlers. This could be true, but again would suggest that the people living on the land and therefore the place called Carruthers, existed well before 1066 and the Norman invasion by William the Conqueror.

Caer Ruthers

The site of the Caer (Fort) sat on Birrens Hill (also known as Carruthers Hill) in the parish of Middlebie and above the old parish of Carruthers. It is well known locally as the site of the Caer which gave Carruthers its name.

Interestingly, the evidence on the ‘fort’ on Birrens hill confirms that there was an ancient  ‘structure’ which has been described archeologically as; the remains of an enclosure likely to date to later prehistory (most probably the end of the first millennium BC or early centuries AD).

It also includes the remains of a later farmstead and the upper boundary dyke of a field system. The enclosure is subrectangular in shape with rounded corners and a probable entrance to the south. The later farmstead remains cluster at the South end of the enclosure and the boundary dyke follows the line of the enclosure’s East side.

The monument is located in rough pasture on the crest of Birrens Hill at about 250m above sea level. Birrens Hill is a ridge projecting south from Carruthers Fell and the monument has long views to the south over the Solway Plain. The Ordnance Survey 1st Edition map surveyed in the mid-19th century depicts the upstanding remains and labels the site as a ‘fort’. The 2nd Edition map also maps the upstanding remains, labelling the site ‘earthwork’.

There have been more inscribed and sculptured stones found at Birrens than anywhere else in Scotland. An altar stone dedicated to the Celtic goddess Ricagambeda was found at Birrens.

It is now believed that the Rydderch of ‘Caer Ruthers fame, was most likely not Rydderch Hael, but instead a local warlord of the Selgovae tribe, who lived above Hadrians wall during the early centuries AD in what was to become the kingdom of Strathclyde.

If this were the case, the name of Caer Ruthers, may be older than first thought, dating as far back as the 2nd or 3rd centuries AD.

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Rydderch Hael 

The dating of the Birrens hill site would seem to exclude Rydderch Hael, King of Strathclyde as the owner of the ‘Fort”. Rydderch Hael ruled over a Brythonic kingdom, which was established in the 5th Century after the Romans left Britain.  The timing therefore calls his association with Caer Ruthers into doubt.

Furthermore, as king, his stronghold was in Dumbarton, the capital of the Brythonic Kingdom of Strathclyde. This is situated on the north bank of the river Clyde being at least 90 miles north west of Birrens hill using todays road network, a huge distance for anyone in those days to travel, and most certainly there is no evidence the capital of Strathclyde was ever in Annandale.

Historically, Rydderch Hael reigned around the mid 6th century, 400 years after the foundations of the archaeological site of Caer Ruthers on Birren hill.

Even the nearby Burnswark hill situated west of Birrens,  shows that the Brythonic tribe who lived there were moved on by the Romans after the death of the Emperor Hadrian and during Antonines assault on Caledonia in 120AD. It is thought that Burnswark hill may have been the opening shot of that campaign. Interestingly our DNA reserch shows the Carruthers snp arriving in what is now Scotland in 500 BC, you cant get more Scots than that.

Did Rydderrch Hael give Carruthers land?

There is also a strange claim that Rydderch Hael ‘gave’ the land to the Carruthers as a gift. This is quite simply not supported by any evidence, historical facts nor any level of common sense.

Simplistically, the land of Carruthers was named after the area around where the fort of Caer Ruthers lay. Carruthers therefore existed only after the fort was built and the land was subsequently named after it. The family name taken from that land, is recorded as first appearing as a surname in the early 1200’s. Surnames in Scotland were intially used by landowner ie ‘of Carruthers’ in the 12th and 13th centuries. Until then the ‘name’ of the family never existed.

Secondly, the lands of Carruthers, were lived on by the descendants of the Selgovae whose lands it seemed had always belonged to them. This was before, during and after the reign of Rydderch Hael.

 

Accepting that the kings of Strathclyde had their seat in Dumbarton, near Glasgow, it seems that Rydderch Hael may not have actually been associated with ‘Carruthers/Caer Ruthers’ at all and all the evidence supports this.  The fact that Rydderch was not an uncommon name in the Cumbric dialect, it is more likely, and in fact accepted that the fort belonged to someone less prominent in the legendary and historical scheme of things and from a much earlier time.

To summarise, Birrens Hill was it seems,  the site of Caer Ruthers due to its proximity to ‘Carruthers’, the ‘fort’ would both have existed before the reign of Rydderch Hael and in fact in place during the Roman occupation, who were there until 411 AD.

This would put Rydderch Hael squarely outside the archaeological timescale of the fort being built by him or his followers, and far more likely to have been built, whatever the structure, by a local tribal leader of the Selgovae in the 2nd – 3rd century AD leading to the name of the lands, still in existance.

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