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In 1525 the Archbishop of Glasgow pronounced an exceedingly lengthy, and remarkably comprehensive, blood-curdling curse on Scottish reiver families (see ssss1). On the English side, the preacher Bernard Gilpin spent his summers evangelising with great success among some of the roughest and toughest Northumberland communities, becoming known as the ‘Apostle of the North’.

Following the Union of Crowns in 1603, England and Scotland suddenly found themselves ruled by the same monarch, in the person of James I of England and VI of Scotland. This paved the way for a complete cessation of hostilities between both nations, but initially had little effect where the reiver lifestyle was ingrained in the population. Drastic action was required, and even the use of the word ‘Borders’ was forbidden, being replaced by the term ‘Middle Shires’. Families who refused to obey the law were rounded up and evicted, resettling in Ireland or North America. Those who accepted the law were rewarded with land, so that a measure of peace and prosperity settled on the region. The Union of the Parliaments was achieved in 1707, but the Borders saw a little more action during the Jacobite ‘risings’ of 1715 and 1745.