The Reivers' Trail

The Reivers' Trail runs from the Irish to the North Sea, through Cumbria, Dumfries, Borders and Northumberland. The Borders of England and Scotland, also called the 'Debatable Land', were controlled for four centuries by the reiver clans, who learned their battle tactics from the Romans and King Arthur. A semi-nomadic cattle culture, the reivers were seen as a problem by both the Scottish and English crowns as they were loyal not to a country but to their own intertwined family connections. Robbery and blackmail were everyday professions, raiding, arson, kidnapping, murder and extortion an accepted part of the social system. Their raids and forays were a way of life and a means of survival and they were the finest light cavalry of the times. Andrew Sinclair is spearheading an international project to create a reivers' trail for the modern traveller and has delved deep into the history and legend of the reivers. In "The Reivers' Trail", he recounts the extraordinary and turbulent history of this beautiful old frontier, with its glorious landscape and the wonderful roll call of Border clans: Maxwell, Johnstone, Graham, Armstrong, Elliot, Kerr, and Hume.