Border Reivers: Outlaws on the Edge

Are the Scottish Borders a rebel stronghold? Join Annie and Jenny as they examine the often-overlooked stories of the Border Reivers: the families of raiding, plundering, land-burning, outlaws. 

Jenny explores her ancestry roots in the Scottish Borders, to discover she comes from a family of bloodthirsty brigands. We look at Border clans, curses and, calamities as we unpick the ballad of Johnnie Armstrong. 

This episode is sponsored by Scotland Shop. If you are tempted to check out some of Scotland Shop’s beautiful tartan garments and fabrics, please follow this link to Scotland Shop. https://hubs.ly/H0-0fjl0

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References:

Alistair Moffat, The Reivers, Birlinn, Edinburgh, 2008.

‘Johnny Armstrong’ broadside ballad, National Library of Scotland Collections: digital.nls.uk/english-ballads/archive/74893315

John Veitch, The Tweed, and Other Poems, James MacLehose, Glasgow, 1875.

Katherine Anne Groundwater, The Middle March of the Scottish Borders, 1573 to 1625, University of Edinburgh: era.ed.ac.uk/handle/1842/24651 

‘The Ballad Poetry of Scotland,’ Alloa Advertiser, Feb 1879.

Claire Etty, Tudor Revolution? Royal control of the Anglo-Scottish border, 1483-1530, Durham University: etheses.dur.ac.uk/1283/ 

Walter Scott, Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, James Ballantyne, Kelso, 1802.