Category: Border Reiver

In 1587, King James VI of Scotland issued an Act calling for the 'For the Suppression of Unruly Clannis'. Within that act were mentioned 17 border families but those listed were probably no more unruly that any other riding family on the Borders at that time. However, they did live in area of great concern… Continue reading Clan Carruthers: The Tartans and Crests of the ’17’, an update

As a Society who believe in publishing factual subject matter. We support those who do their research and offer publication based on the evidence at hand. Two of our favourite authors are Brian Dingle and Jon Tait. Today’s blog is from the former. Brian is an accomplished author whose knowledge and understanding of the Reivers,… Continue reading Clan Carruthers: In the Footseps of Reivers by Brian Dingle

This blog was stimulated by the receipt of a piece from one of our supporters, which appeared in a couple of American newspapers. It is an excellent article written by Graham Heathcoat from Carlisle, on the English side of the Anglo-Scottish border. Written for the Associated Press and published in 1996, it appeared in both… Continue reading Clan Carruthers: Tullie House and Allegiance of the Border Reivers

REIVE: Vb. (Military) (intr) dialect Scot and Northern English; to rob or plunder, to go on a plundering raid. Reivers is the name given to those clans and families on both sides of the Anglo-Scottish border who lived, loved and died from the late 13th century to the 17th century in one of the most lawless… Continue reading Clan Carruthers: Reivers, our history

A great piece from Anglo-Scottish Borderlands History 500-1603, taken from "Border Reivers from the 13th to the 17th centuries". Shared by kind permission. All Pics are from the original Post WHY DID THEY NEED THE BORDER-LAW Border Reivers at Hollows Tower. (Bill Ewart of Langholm.) In the eleventh century the Border Line between England and… Continue reading Clan Carruthers: Anglo-Scottish Border Law – A brief Synopsis

In an attempt to clean up the 'unruly' elements in Scotland in 1587, prior to the unification of the crowns, King James VI and his parliament put forward an Act to suppress the Unruly Clans in his kingdom. The Act itself contained 16 'items' and listed 51 named 'Unruly Clans'; 34 in the Highlands and… Continue reading CLAN CARRUTHERS : The 1587 Act and the 17 Border Clans.

Sadly, after James IV's death on Flodden field in 1513, Scotland was left under the government of a Regency Council headed by the Dowager Queen Margaret who was sister to Henry VIII. Her power base was eventually lost after a civil war, initiated in part by her Marriage to the 6th Earl of Angus, Archibald… Continue reading Clan Carruthers: the Battle of Solway Moss.